Preparing novice teachers to develop basic reading and spelling skills in children

This study examined the word-structure knowledge of novice teachers and the progress of children tutored by a subgroup of the teachers. Teachers’ word-structure knowledge was assessed using three tasks: graphophonemic segmentation, classification of pseudowords by syllable type, and classification of real words as phonetically regular or irregular. Tutored children were assessed on several measures of basic reading and spelling skills. Novice teachers who received word-structure instruction outperformed a comparison group of teachers in word-structure knowledge at post-test. Tutored children improved significantly from pre-test to post-test on all assessments. Teachers’ post-test knowledge on the graphophonemic segmentation and irregular words tasks correlated significantly with tutored children’s progress in decoding phonetically regular words; error analyses indicated links between teachers’ patterns of word-structure knowledge and children’s patterns of decoding progress. The study suggests that word-structure knowledge is important to effective teaching of word decoding and underscores the need to include this information in teacher preparation.     

Home and Parental Influences on the Achievement of Lower Primary School Children in Singapore

This study investigated the effects of home environment and parental involvement in the achievement of pupils in the lower primary classes in nine schools found in four zones in Singapore. In total, 3,759 pupils and their parents participated in the study. The study was designed to answer four main questions relating to the effects of the home environment (SES, time engaged in television viewing, reading, school work and ethnicity of parents) and parental involvement in the children's school work and in other school matters. The findings indicated that significant differences in achievement were found for all combinations of SES categories and between most ethnic groups. A higher percentage of high-achieving pupils spent more time on television viewing, reading and school work. Parents of high-achieving children were more anxious about maximising every opportunity for their children including those not directly related to school work.     

Comparing teachers’ views on morality and moral education, a comparative study in Turkey and the United States

In this study, the researchers examined how K-8 teachers approach morality, moral education, and the moral development of children in Turkey and in the United States. Both countries have diverse cultures and long histories with secular education systems. Surveys were sent to teachers in nine cities in both countries. Results suggest that Turkish teachers emphasized societal values and global values, which have implications for the sustainability of the Turkish nation-state. American teachers emphasized moral action and morality in context (cultural relativity) rather than global values. Our findings emphasize the importance of inter-cultural awareness and tolerance.     

Building National Capacity for Research Mentor Training: An Evidence-Based Approach to Training the Trainers

Research mentor training (RMT), based on the published Entering Mentoring curricula series, has been shown to improve the knowledge and skills of research mentors across career stages, as self-reported by both the mentors engaged in training and their mentees. To promote widespread dissemination and empower others to implement this evidence-based training at their home institutions, we developed an extensive, interactive, multifaceted train-the-trainer workshop. The specific goals of these workshops are to 1) increase facilitator knowledge of an RMT curriculum, 2) increase facilitator confidence in implementing the curriculum, 3) provide a safe environment to practice facilitation of curricular activities, and 4) review implementation strategies and evaluation tools. Data indicate that our approach results in high satisfaction and significant confidence gains among attendees. Of the 195 diverse attendees trained in our workshops since Fall 2010, 44% report implementation at 39 different institutions, collectively training more than 500 mentors. Further, mentors who participated in the RMT sessions led by our trained facilitators report high facilitator effectiveness in guiding discussion. Implications and challenges to building the national capacity needed for improved research mentoring relationships are discussed.     

Collaborative creativity in instrumental group music learning as a site for enhancing pupil wellbeing

This study explores the nature of the elements that co-influence collaborative creativity in instrumental group music learning and the intrinsic potential for enhancing pupil wellbeing as evidenced in a particular secondary-school (extra-curricular) group instrumental programme Percussion 1. Wenger’s Community of Practice (CoP) and Engestrom’s Activity Theory (AT) provide an in-depth analytical framework for the analysis of 14 rehearsals, 13 semi-structured interviews and 41 teachers’ and pupils’ reflective diary entries. Findings support the intrinsic potential for enhancing pupil wellbeing by empowering them through supportive statements and decision-making, and engaging them through the embodiment of music learning.     

Self reference in interpretive performance

Self reference, the capacity of language to “talk about itself”, provides a useful paradigm for understanding, directing, and performing oral interpretation. An analysis of the various relationships and interactions within this art form reveals dimensions of self reference, that feature of language which transforms a system of discursive symbolism into a presentational literary art form. To the degree that oral interpretation capitalizes on this reflexive power of language, the transformation is most complete in this literary art form.