Effects of Phonological and Orthographic Shifts on Children’s Processing of Written Morphology: A Time-Course Study

We report two experiments that investigated whether phonological and/or orthographic shifts in a base word interfere with morphological processing by French 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders and adults (as a control group) along the time course of visual word recognition. In both experiments, prime-target pairs shared four possible relationships: morphological without modification (nuageux-NUAGE), morphological with phonological modification (bergerie-BERGER), morphological with phonological and orthographic modifications (soigneux-SOIN), and orthographic control (fourmi-FOUR). In Experiment 1 (60-ms prime duration), priming effects were only significant in the morphological condition without modification in children but in the three morphological conditions in adults. In Experiment 2 (250-ms prime duration) priming effects were significant in all three morphological conditions in each group, independently of form shifts. These results indicate that allomorphic variation does allow for the lexical activation of base words only in the later stages of word recognition in children, whereas this activation is automatic in adults.     

The Curriculum and Pedagogic Properties of Practice-based Experiences: The Case of Midwifery Students

This paper outlines curriculum considerations for the ordering, enactment and experiencing of practice-based experiences (e.g. practicums) in tertiary education programs developing occupational specific capacities. Increasingly, these programs are engaging students in practicum experiences (i.e. those in the circumstances of practice). These practice-based experiences require considerable investment on the part of all involved and so need to be used in ways that do justice to those investments. However, such experiences are often provided and engaged in by students without consideration being given to their educational purposes; their likely contributions and how they can be sequenced and utilised to achieve those purposes. Here, the specific concern is to identify bases for considering these purposes and how these might be realised through the selection and sequencing of student experiences. A case study of two practicum experiences comprising midwifery students’ ‘follow-through’ experiences with birthing women and clinical placements is used to identify the kinds of learning that can arise through different kinds of practice-based experiences and how they might be most effectively organised. The concern, therefore, is to identify how the midwifery curriculum (i.e. pathways of experiences) can be ordered and augmented by particular pedagogic practices that assist realise the program’s intended learning outcomes. The two different practice-based experiences are found to generate distinct learning outcomes for the students. The follow-throughs generate understandings about the birthing process from the birthing mothers’ perspectives and provide goal states for midwifery work and understandings about midwifery practice, whereas the development of clinical capacities that arise through clinical placements. Consequently, the formers kinds of experiences might be best provides before, or in conjunction with second. Importantly, rather than viewing these experiences as being supplementary to what is provided within tertiary education institutions, they need to be consider as particular kinds of experiences on their own terms and engage with and utilise their contributions accordingly.     

Private schools and the millennium development goal of universal primary education: a census and comparative survey in Hyderabad,India

Development literature suggests that private schools serving the poor are not part of the solution to meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education. The study conducted a census and survey of schools in notified slums of Hyderabad, India, to contribute to the sparse literature on the nature and extent of private schools for the poor. Of 918 schools found, 60% were found to be private unaided (PUA), enrolling about 65% of total enrolment. On a range of indicators, including pupil–teacher ratio, teaching activity, teacher absenteeism, and classroom and school inputs such as blackboards, desks, chairs, toilets and drinking water, PUA (including unrecognised) schools were found to be superior to government schools. Objections to a role for private schools in meeting the MDG target are explored and challenged.     

USING RETIRED PROFESSIONALS TO VIDEOTAPE CAREER PERSPECTIVES FOR EDUCATING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

In the project reported in this paper retired persons, living historians, were teachers of young adults. Professional persons now retired who were residents of one, large mid‐west retirement home cooperated in the design and development of two career‐history videotapes to benefit pre‐professional university students. Nursing and teaching careers were addressed in the two tapes.

The tape preparation and production methods are detailed. In‐class evaluations from university students and from their professors yielded highly positive results for this personal approach to career history. Likewise, the retired persons who participated expressed satisfaction with the project as having met their contributive and expressive needs. Inter‐generational applications and implications are noted. The authors conclude with specific recommendations for replication of this model project for greater involvement of older adults as educators of young adults.     

Commonwealth Communications

George Boyce, James Curran, and Pauline Wingate, eds. Newspaper History from the 17th Century to the Present Day (London: Constable Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1978—$20.00/10.95)

Frank W. Peers' The Public Eye: Television and the Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1952-1968 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979—price not given)

K. Watson, et al. "A Financial Analysis of the Private Radio Broadcasting Sector in Canada and the United States" (Ottawa: Department of Communications, Social Policy and Programs Branch, 1978—no price given, paper)

Outcomes from the Telecom 2000 Report (Australian Government Publishing Service, P.O. Box 94, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600 Australia—price not given, paper)

Australian Broadcasting Commission: 46th Annual Report (1977-78) (ABC, 145-153 Elizabeth St., Sydney NSW 2001, Australia—apparently free on request, paper)

Media Centre Papers series (Centre for the Study of Educational Communication and Media, School of Education, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia—about A$2.50 each plus postage, paper)     

General Communications

Brent D. Ruben, ed. Communication Yearbook 2 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books (Rutgers), 1978---$24.95)

Eric A. Havelock and Jackson P. Hershbell, eds. Communication Arts in the Ancient World (New York: Hastings House, J978---$12.50)

Kit Laybourne and Pauline Cianciolo's Doing the Media (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978---$6.95, paper, with both library and trade hardbacks also available)

Periodicals: just begun under the (temporary) auspices of the Institute of Communication Research (122B Armory, University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill. 61820)

Warren K. Agee, Phillip H. Ault, and Edwin Emery's Introduction to Mass Communications (New York: Harper & Row, 1979---$7.95, paper)

Godwin C. Chu and Brent Cassan, Modern Communication Technology in a Changing Society: A Bibliography (1977, 162 pp., $1.50)

Syed A. Rahim, et al. Planning Methods, Models, and Organization: A Review Study for Communication Policy Making and Planning (1978, 260 pp., $3.00):     

Motivation and Attribution at Secondary School: The role of ethnic group and gender

Some 985 secondary school students completed a questionnaire as part of an investigation into the experiences of Asian girls in a secondary school arising out of a larger project concerned with motivational factors in educational attainment. Results indicated that (1) Asian girls enjoyed all aspects of school life as much or more than their non-Asian counterparts; (2) across both ethnic groups girls enjoyed all aspects of school except sports and clubs more than boys; (3) enjoyment of subjects followed sex stereotypical lines, irrespective of ethnicity: girls rated English, French, German, drama, music and home economics as significantly more enjoyable, and boys rated science, craft, design and technology, physical education, information technology and mathematics as more enjoyable; (4) irrespective of gender, Asian students reported more enjoyment of religious education, and lower enjoyment of drama, physical education and home economics; (5) irrespective of ethnic group, girls reported that there was not enough choice of subjects; and (6) Asian students of both sexes rated parents and friends as more important in contributing to academic success. These results are critiqued in a context that questions the desirability of conducting investigations such as this which dichotomise students into groups on the grounds of ethnicity.