Teachers as ‘reform-doers’: developing a participatory curriculum to teach English as a foreign language

Action research concerns action, and transforming people’s practices (as well as their understandings of their practices and the conditions under which they practise). Sometimes we may feel that action research works best when it contributes to our understandings. In this paper, by contrast, I want to explore the ‘happening‐ness’ of action and practice, as they are lived and changed by action research. I want to explore the place of action research in shaping and making history by changing what is done. The central argument of this paper is that, while action research certainly does contribute to theory, it also, and perhaps more importantly, contributes to history.     

Resources in Review

Abstract

Atomic Ghost: Poets Respond to the Nuclear Age , edited by John Bradley with an introduction by Terry Tempest Williams. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press. 1995. 330 pages. Softbound, $15.95.     

Trajectories of Internalizing Problems in War‐Affected Sierra Leonean Youth: Examining Conflict and Postconflict Factors

Three waves of data from a prospective longitudinal study in Sierra Leone were used to examine internalizing trajectories in 529 war‐affected youth (ages 10–17 at baseline; 25% female). Latent class growth analyses identified 4 trajectories: A large majority of youth maintained lower levels of internalizing problems (41.4%) or significantly improved over time (47.6%) despite very limited access to care, but smaller proportions continued to report severe difficulties 6 years postwar (4.5%) or their symptoms worsened (6.4%). Continued internalizing problems were associated with loss of a caregiver, family abuse and neglect, and community stigma. Despite the comparative resilience of most war‐affected youth in the face of extreme adversity, there remains a compelling need for interventions that address family‐ and community‐level stressors.     

Montgomery multiplication over rings

Montgomery multiplication of two elements a and b of a finite field F_q is defined as abr^-1 where r is a fixed field element in . In this paper we define Montgomery multiplication of elements a(x) and b(x) in a polynomial ring modulo the ideal generated by a reducible polynomial f(x). We then show that Montgomery multiplication over a field represented by a polynomial ring modulo an irreducible pentanomial can be performed more efficiently in terms of time delay by embedding the field in a quotient of a polynomial ring modulo a reducible trinomial. The trinomial has a degree that is slightly higher than that of the pentanomial, thereby increasing the number of gates in the multiplier by a small amount.