Predictors of primary school teachers’ knowledge about developmental dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia is a specific learning disability that is described as a heterogeneous and persistent cognitive disorder. Given the need to detect and intervene as early as possible to minimise its effects, teachers’ knowledge about symptoms, characteristics and effective intervention strategies in dyscalculia is essential. Given the lack of research about this topic and measures to evaluate teachers’ knowledge, this study aims to present a literature-based measure to evaluate knowledge about developmental dyscalculia and to investigate the predictors of this type of knowledge. Data were collected from a sample of 175 primary school teachers. The measure presented adequate psychometric properties. Teachers’ personal characteristics such as age and gender did not predict their knowledge about dyscalculia. Being a Special Education teacher predicted a higher knowledge of intervention strategies in dyscalculia and having heard about dyscalculia predicted higher knowledge about not only intervention strategies but also dyscalculia characteristics. The data are discussed, and suggestions for further studies are presented.     

Assessment of three-and-a-half-year-old children's emerging phonological awareness in a computer animation context

Four computer-animated tasks were created to analyze the underlying structure of emerging phonological awareness at 3.5 years of age and to explore the factors that influence children's (N = 91) performance on the tasks. Our findings indicated that already at this young age, children are able to master tasks demanding identification, blending, and continuation of phonological units when the tasks are presented in a motivating assessment context. In line with earlier research, children showed higher mastery in dealing with words and syllables than in dealing with phonemes. Targets in the initial position of a word were easier for children to identify than those in the final position. Our analysis provided support for two major dimensions of emerging phonological awareness based on the cognitive operations of the tasks: identification and blending of phonological units.     

Positing Organizational Effectiveness as a Second-Order Construct in Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions

The study examines the relative importance of the various organizational effectiveness dimensions in higher education institutions by positing organizational effectiveness as a second-order construct. Based on the findings of a survey administered to university academics in Hong Kong universities, the second-order structure of organizational effectiveness was supported. The findings reflected that the student-related dimensions were not considered as important as the dimensions related to faculty employment and satisfaction and suggested the disproportionate influence of the governing body on universities in Hong Kong.     

Student engagement: rhetoric and reality

Recently, there has been much interest in higher education literature and policy on the concepts of student engagement and disengagement. While most academic writings recognise the significance of student engagement, they have tended to concentrate on it in relation to academic activities. Increasingly, universities are ‘cascading’ down the need to improve student engagement to schools and ultimately to individual academics. This article asserts that ideas about student engagement in the university context are often fragmented, contradictory and confused. Even the meaning of the term ‘student engagement’ is uncertain. Further, while government and universities urge attention to student engagement, many of their actions, it may be argued, have contributed to greater student disengagement. Relying on the available literature, we argue that the student experience as a whole is the key to engagement and, thus, efforts to re-engage students cannot be successful until a ‘whole-of-university’ approach is adopted.     

A structural model of the effects of preschool attention on kindergarten literacy

Factors that lead to poor achievement in literacy are evident prior to a child beginning kindergarten. In the present study, we examined the importance of including attention in a model for predicting emergent literacy in prekindergarten and subsequent reading abilities in kindergarten. The sample was 250 children attending public prekindergarten and kindergarten. Structural equation modeling was used to test our hypothesis that children??s early literacy skills mediate the relationship between preschoolers?? attention and kindergarten decoding abilities. Using early literacy as a mediator between early attention and later decoding provided a good model fit. Results suggest that attention was integral to the fit of the model and that attention in preschool is related to the development of early literacy skills above and beyond the contribution of maternal education to these skills. The implication of our study is that attention in early childhood should be considered an important part of literacy development.     

Longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling across languages varying in orthographic consistency

We examined the longitudinal predictors of nonword decoding, reading fluency, and spelling in three languages that vary in orthographic depth: Finnish, Greek, and English. Eighty-two English-speaking, 70 Greek, and 88 Finnish children were followed from the age of 5.5 years old until Grade 2. Prior to any reading instruction, they were administered measures of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming speed. In Grade 2, they were administered measures of nonword decoding, text-reading fluency, and spelling. The results showed that the model for nonword decoding in Greek was similar to that of Finnish (both have consistent grapheme-to-phoneme mappings) while the model for spelling in Greek was similar to that of English (both have some inconsistent phoneme-to-grapheme mappings). In addition, the models for nonword decoding and spelling in Finnish were similar, because Finnish is consistent in both directions. Letter knowledge dominated the prediction in each language. The predictable role of orthographic consistency on literacy acquisition is discussed.     

Effective formative e-assessment of student learning: a study on a statistics course

The process of formative assessment in universities has the potential to engage students in reflection and to take greater ownership of their learning. We report on a study involving 104 students taking a statistics course in a degree programme in rehabilitation science in Hong Kong. The assessment strategy was redesigned to include a weekly online formative assessment activity for 10 weeks. In this case, it was observed that there was a high participation rate across weeks. An end-of-course online survey was conducted to explore the learning experiences during formative assessment of the cohort, and students reported high satisfaction with the process, particularly how this contributed to a change in their learning approach. Students not only showed regular commitment of time on tasks but also took active steps to find answers for themselves and with their peers.     

Influences of developmental contexts and gender differences on school performance of children and adolescents

This study investigated children and adolescents’ school performance over time focusing on two variables that may influence it: developmental context and gender. The sample comprised 627 participants (M_age?=?11.13, SD?=?1.8), 51% of them female, from grade one to eight, living either with family (n?=?474) or in care institutions (n?=?153). Participants answered individually the Teste de Desempenho Escolar (School Performance Test) and the Structured PRONEX Interview. Findings indicated a main effect of time on school performance (i.e., writing, reading and arithmetic). Furthermore this main effect was further qualified by a time and developmental context interaction and by a time and gender interaction. Interactions revealed that the participants from care institutions attained more significant increases in writing and reading than participants living within a family context; and that girls attained more significant increases in writing than boys. Therefore, school performance progress appears as affected by developmental contexts and gender. The findings reveal how school performance needs to be observed as a multidimensional variable, affected by individual characteristics but also by external ones.