Analysis of lexical quality and its relation to writing quality for 4th grade,primary school students in Chile

Few studies have addressed vocabulary quality in developing writing skill in Spanish. Even less addressed it within the Chilean educational system. The specific objective of this study was to characterize, using a comprehensive set of indicators, the quality of the vocabulary produced by Chilean 4th grade students. Based on a national writing survey, a sample of 2056 texts written by 685 students was collected (narrative, persuasive, and informative texts). Current literature defines lexical quality as a composite of diverse factors that, while distinct, are interrelated. To represent the properties of the vocabulary, a set of indicators were selected: (a) lexical diversity; (b) lexical sophistication; and (c) lexical density. Using multilevel modeling (students and schools as levels 1 and 2) to explain a global writing score we found that diversity was a significant determinant for narrative and persuasive texts, density was a significant determinant for the three genres and sophistication was a significant determinant for narrative and expository text. In addition, indicators related to gender and socioeconomic conditions were only significant determinants of narrative stories. The parts of speech most often used also varied according to the purpose of each text. In all genres, words had a short extension and were very sensitive to the input presented in the stimuli. These results imply a significant challenge to this education system: how to promote the development of vocabulary in all children in order to support language learning.     

Learning from distance‐teaching materials: a study of students’ mediating responses

It has been suggested that improvements in the quality of distance‐teaching materials could be effected if the mental responses that mediate study of and learning from such materials were known. This project aimed at identifying the types and origins of students’ convert mediating responses to distance‐teaching materials during study sessions. Three one‐half hour study sessions were videotaped for each of four student volunteers in a room set up on the campus. Immediately following each study session stimulated‐recall interviews were conducted, the data from these being audiotaped and then transcribed for further analysis. Interview protocols revealed that approaches to study were influenced by a set of interdependent factors, which, when combined with a set of study strategies, resulted in two broad classes of study orientation. Twenty different types of mental processes were identified, seven of which were used more frequently than the others. Furthermore, textual features which activated mental processes were identified using the stimulated‐recall technique, and promising suggestions for textual design were gleaned from the data. Areas for further research were also identified.     

Tidy minds,untidy solutions: University organization in Ontario

In the years 1957–1966 the universities of Canada, as a result of a vast injection of federal funds directly into higher education, appeared to be at the beginning of a long period of development, largely autonomous, and national in scope and outlook. By the late 1960s the provincial governments, motivated partly by what they perceived as an infringement of their constitutional rights, partly no doubt by a sense that they could make better use of the vast sums involved, persuaded the federal government to direct its grants to them. The more populous provinces then found it desirable to develop advisory bodies to counsel the governments on the broader problems of universities, especially fiscal ones. In Ontario the Ontario Council of University Affairs was created for this purpose. It was conceived of as a buffer body to stand between government and universities, serving both. In fact it had no statutory authority. Its advice to the government on the growing financial needs of universities was persistently rejected, while its advice to the universities themselves to develop methods of genuine cooperation and coordination for the sake of the whole system was largely ignored. The Council began to assume a measure of authority, but the Minister was not satisfied with the state of affairs, and in December 1983 she abruptly announced the appointment of a three-man commission to devise a plan for reshaping the university system, including clarifying the role of the Ontario Council on University Affairs. That role is now almost totally unclear.     

User Fees in Academic Law Libraries

Summary

Fees for services in 58 academic law libraries are reviewed using results from a national questionnaire and interviews with law library staff. Five fee-based services were investigated: printing, document delivery, reference services, unaftiliatcd borrowing, and library access. The primary factors intluencing tees include: the reason for the fee, the type of services, geographic location, and whether the law school is private or public. Additional factors include the receptiveness of the student body to the fees and the impact the fee may have on fund-raising. Libraries should consider reevaluating fee policies based on the data presented.     

Persistence early and late in extinction as a function of number of continuous reinforcements preceding partial reinforcement training

In two experiments rats were given straight-alley training in the following sequence: continuous reward (CR), partial reward (PR), extinction (EXT). Independent groups differed only in the amount of CR training. In both experiments,. early-EXT performance was directly related to amount of CR training and late-EXT performance was inversely related to amount of CR training. These data were related to a possible specific s_F intensity hypothesis, an extension of frustration theory.     

Ontogeny of persistence: Immediate extinction effects in preweanling and weanling rats

In Experiment I rats were trained for 21÷2 days under partial (PRF) or continuous reinforcement (CRF) conditions starting at 18, 22, 28, or 36 days of age and were then subjected to immediate extinction. At all ages there was a strong partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE), and absolute size of PREE was greatest in the youngest rats. Rate of extinction increased as a function of age following both CRF and PRF. In Experiment II the youngest and oldest age groups of Experiment I were run under the two reward conditions of Experiment I and in a third condition, PRF with number of rewards rather than trials equated to CRF (PRF-R). The PRF-R and PRF groups were not different in extinction, and both were more persistent than CRF. The youngest rats were again more persistent than the oldest, particularly after PRF training. In Experiment III it was shown that the well-known paradoxical effect, greater reward in CRF acquisition leads to faster extinction, operates in our youngest and oldest animals, but is more pronounced in the oldest. The results are discussed in terms of whether they require different explanations than those often applied to extinction data from adult rats.     

Maternal antenatal attachment style and potential fetal abuse

OBJECTIVE: Maternal antenatal emotional attachment (MAEA) to the fetus has been proposed as an important factor for the emergence of harm to the unborn child. The present study investigated whether MAEA was associated with self-reported intent to harm the fetus. METHOD: Forty pregnant women, referred for psychological evaluation, completed a self-report measure of MAEA, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-2 (MCMI-2) and confidential self-report questions on irritation with the fetus, urge to harm the fetus and predicted future loss of control with the child. Interview data was used to determine the mothers' adult attachment styles. RESULTS: (1) Negative preoccupied MAEA was associated with increased likelihood of reported irritation with the fetus, preoccupied adult attachment, borderline, histrionic, paranoid personality dimensions and symptoms of anxiety, mood disturbances and depression. (2) Negative disinterested MAEA was associated with a dismissing adult attachment, narcissistic, antisocial, aggressive-sadistic and passive-aggressive personality dimensions, alcohol dependence, but not self-report intention to harm the fetus. CONCLUSION: The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding difficulties which may emerge in mother-fetus bonding and the identification of and interventions for mothers who report an intention to harm the fetus.