Literacy Instruction in Multiple‐Language First‐Grade Classrooms: Linking Student Outcomes to Observed Instructional Practice

This study examined literacy instruction in 14 first‐grade classrooms of English learners (ELs) in three schools in a large urban school district in southern California over a two‐year period. Pre‐ and posttest measures of oral‐reading fluency for 186 first graders, representing 11 native languages, were the outcome data. Reading‐fluency data were examined in reference to ratings of literacy practices using the English Learners Classroom Observation Instrument (ELCOI). Results indicated a moderately strong correlation (r= 0.65) between ELCOI rating and gain in oral‐reading fluency at the end of first grade. We report patterns of ELs who read below the oral‐reading fluency benchmark thresholds and patterns of students who were ultimately labeled with learning disabilities. Instructional practices of teachers rated “high” and “low” are discussed. Educational implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

'I Want More Freedom,but Not Too Much': British Muslim girls and the dynamism of family values

ABSTRACT This article elucidates the dynamics of Muslim family life and the role of family values in shaping the present experiences and future aspirations of adolescent British Muslim girls. A group of Muslim girls in three schools, their parents and some of their teachers were interviewed. The research shows the dynamism of family values and the way British Muslims are socialising their daughters to construct a British Muslim identity by adopting and rejecting aspects of their Asian and British ethnicities and through a combination of freedom and control. It also argues that British Muslim young women are getting ambiguous messages about freedom and they feel ambivalent about various features of their Asian and British ethnicities. Furthermore, the research notes the stereotypical notions held by some of the teachers, which are apparently based on assumptions regarding the lives of British Muslim girls.     

Impact of end-user search training on pharmacy students: a four-year follow-up study.

The Alfred Taubman Medical Library at the University of Michigan has offered instruction in online literature searching to third-year pharmacy students as a component of the course "Drug Information and Scientific Literature Evaluation" since 1983. In the spring of 1989, a follow-up study was conducted to assess the impact of instruction on four classes of graduates. Of a pool of 151 graduates, 90 (60%) responded to a mailed questionnaire on their use of information and computerized literature searching. The respondents were divided into four subgroups: end-user searchers, users of intermediaries, end users who used intermediaries, and those who did not use computerized literature search systems. Seventy-two percent of the respondents used some type of computerized literature searching, and 42% performed their own searches. The four subgroups differed in general computer use, familiarity with MEDLINE search terminology, information use, reasons for using or not using literature searching, and characteristics of searches (i.e., type, time frame, amount, and frequency). Training in end-user search systems appears to have had an impact on the continued use of computerized literature searching several years after the formal educational program.     

Assessment of the research activities of Russian and Belarussian scientists (according to Scopus data)

The publication activity of Russian and Belarussian scientists, the degree of reflection of their papers in Scopus databases, and the data on the citation of Belarussian authors in the works of other researchers are discussed.     

On rubrication of the division <Emphasis Type="Italic">spintronics</Emphasis> in a separate edition of the abstract journal of the VINITI RAS <Emphasis Type="Italic">solid-state physics</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Electrical Properties</Emphasis>)

The necessity for publishing a separate abstract journal on spintronics, which is a new, rapidly developing branch of physics, is substantiated. The interest in spintronics, which is the study of fundamental processes involving the simultaneous transport of both electron charge and electron spins in solids, as well as the interaction of electrons with a magnetic grating, is determined not only by its fascinating prospects but also the results that have already achieved. The spin and charge “degrees of freedom” open possibilities for the creation of semiconducting devices with parameters that are much superior to the existing ones and also the construction of devices that do not have analogues at present. First of all, this will permit problems of information transmission and processing to be solved in a new way. A detailed rubrication on spintronics is given in order to discuss the possibility of publishing a separate edition of an abstract journal devoted to spintronics.