On not seeing words: Illiteracy and language

Although literacy is realized in particular ways in different cultures, it also has a universal, cognitive dimension: namely, that skilled reading accentuates the distinction between language and meaning. The study of adult non-readers in literate cultures provides supporting evidence for this argument.     

Interventions for reading difficulties: a comparison of response to intervention by ELL and EFL struggling readers

This article explores whether struggling readers from different primary language backgrounds differ in response to phonologically based remediation. Following random assignment to one of three reading interventions or to a special education reading control program, reading and reading-related outcomes of 166 struggling readers were assessed before, during, and following 105 intervention hours. Struggling readers met criteria for reading disability, were below average in oral language and verbal skills, and varied in English as a first language (EFL) versus English-language learner (ELL) status. The research-based interventions proved superior to the special education control on both reading outcomes and rate of growth. No differences were revealed for children of EFL or ELL status in intervention outcomes or growth during intervention. Oral language abilities at entry were highly predictive of final outcomes and of reading growth during intervention, with greater language impairment being associated with greater growth.     

The economic returns to investment in women's education

The paper discusses the problems of measuring the rate of return to women's education, and evidence is presented for nine countries which shows that the returns to secondary and higher education are on average two percentage points lower for women than for men, but in some countries they are actually higher. Education increases the earning capacity of women, and also increases their propensity to remain in the labour market. But some allowance must be made for the value of women's non-market work, for indirect benefits of education, and for psychic income. Various methods are suggested for measuring the non-monetary benefits of education, such as the intergeneration effect of a mother's education on the future achievement of her children, or the non-pecuniary benefits of employment for women in the labour force. The effects of discrimination on women's earnings and job prospects are discussed, and it is shown that a large part of the observed differential between male and female earnings is due to the concentration of women in low-income occupations. The paper concludes that the difference between the returns to education for men and women is less than is often suggested, particularly if some attempt is made to measure nonmonetary benefits. But the returns to women's education would be increased if there were a change in traditional attitudes leading to a more equal occupational distribution and better utilisation of women in the labour force.     

Lifelong learning and the reform of the teaching practicum in Australia

This paper reports the findings of a project—‘Lifelong learning and teacher education’—undertaken by the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Australian Catholic University, under the auspices of the Australian Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training. The study was designed to investigate the operationalization of lifelong learning in Australian teacher education. The study revealed that there is a range of existing, innovative practices regarding partnerships between schools and higher and further education that are in keeping with emerging ideas about lifelong learning. Moreover, some of these take the form of collaborative action research projects focused on improving the learning occurring in the partnership schools. This paper describes some current approaches in Australia to collaborative action research by teacher educators' and their partnership schools and shows how they contribute to lifelong learning. The approaches are then analyzed to suggest ways of advancing lifelong learning within Australian Education Faculties thus helping to make lifelong learning more of a reality for all.     

UK data from 197 undergraduates for the Nelson Denny Reading Test

The Nelson Denny Reading Test (Brown, Fishco & Hanna, 1993) provides measures of comprehension, reading rate and vocabulary. It is widely used in research studies with high school and undergraduate students and for assessment purposes in the USA. No widely used test of this kind exists for adults in the UK. The present paper reports data from 197 undergraduates from the University of Essex on the Nelson Denny test. Analyses were carried out of the data in terms of degree type and year of study. The scores obtained with the present sample were higher than those reported in the manual of the Nelson Denny test for a subset of the standardisation sample. Possible reasons for this difference are discussed. Overall, the results suggest that the Nelson Denny test is suitable for use with UK undergraduate students.     

An experimental comparison of urban children with suburban children on eight tasks of basic skills

About 1500 children from an inner city school district and a suburban school district were asked to perform eight tasks of basic skills. There were differences in the performances of the children. The differences depended upon the socio-economic background of the children. On many of the skills, third grade urban children were similar to first grade suburban children. It is for this reason that the inner city children in this study were considered disadvantaged and a program of skill development has begun. Inner city children must have experiences that will help them acquire the skills that suburban children have acquired before entering school.     

Student and faculty perceptions of plagiarism in health sciences education

Academic misconduct is a problem encountered by many academic programmes, including programmes in the health sciences. The primary purpose of the present study was to assess doctoral student and graduate faculty perceptions of academic misconduct, specifically plagiarism. We used a cross-sectional survey design, and separate surveys were developed for students and faculty. The student survey measured student perceptions of the prevalence of plagiarism among students in general and assessed the occurrence of each student’s plagiaristic behaviours. The faculty survey measured faculty perceptions of the prevalence of plagiarism among students in general and among students in their courses specifically. Two hundred and thirty-eight students and 92 faculty completed the surveys. Students were doctoral health sciences students enrolled in a campus-based, online or hybrid programme. Compared with the self-reported behaviour of students, faculty believed more students were involved with plagiarism. Self-rated knowledge about plagiarism was significantly higher among online students and faculty than among campus-based students and faculty (p<0.001). Both students and faculty believed the most common plagiaristic activity was citing and referencing a full-text source when only the abstract was read, but only a few students reported personally doing this. Additionally, more campus-based students than online students reported working closely with another classmate on an assignment when they were not authorised to do so (p<0.001). In the present study, surveyed students and faculty believed plagiarism was prevalent among the general student population; however, few students self-reported this behaviour.