Excerpt of the interview with Mathew Sands

Face to Face

Excerpt of the interview with Mathew Sands Mathew Sands talks to Finn Aaserud     

Cooperative learning as a correction and grammar revision technique： Communicative exchanges, self-correction rates and scores

This paper focuses on cooperative learning （CL） used as a correction and grammar revision technique and considers the data collected in six Italian parallel classes, three of which （sample classes） corrected mistakes and revised grammar through cooperative learning, while the other three （control classes） in a traditional way. All the classes involved in this study were in their first year of secondary school, and although most students had a level of English which was A2, they made a certain number of mistakes also in grammar topics like the present tense, which is the grammar topic under examination in this study. This paper analyses the sample students＇ communicative exchanges while they performed the error correction activity through CL, compares the self-correction rates reported by the two groups of students after the two types of correction and revision activities （traditional and through CL） and the students＇ scores in tests given to students one, four and eight weeks after the correction lessons. The aim of the study is establishing if the use of CL as a correction and grammar revision technique had a beneficial effect on the students who experienced it and in particular on the low achievers.     

An evaluation of factors influencing reading literacy across Italian 4th grade students

Questionnaire data from the PIRLS 2006 study in Italy provided a number of indices in order to summarize factors of educational context influencing reading achievement. The aim of the present paper is to study the relationships between school factors, teacher factors, family factors, student factors and reading achievement by means of multilevel regression analysis. Results show that pupils＇ attainment in reading is significantly related to： （1） home educational resources （home/student level effect）; （2） parents＇ attitudes toward reading （home/student level effect）; （3） students＇ attitudes toward reading; （4） students＇ reading self-concept; and （5） teacher career satisfaction （school/teacher level）.     

Serial position effects in social transmission of food preference

The serial position effect in Long-Evans rats was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, the effect in a group for which an interstimulus interval (ISI) was introduced between items in a list of demonstrators was compared with that in a group without an ISI. With an ISI, a recency effect was produced. In Experiment 2, a serial position effect group was compared with four groups in which either the distinctiveness or the context of the middle item was changed, relative to the items on either side of it. A von Restorff effect was produced when a rat from a different strain was used as a demonstrator in Position 2. The results for Experiment 1 are discussed in relation to interstimulus effects in monkeys and those for Experiment 2 with respect to changes in the physical properties of middle items.     

Fetal Genotype for the Xenobiotic Metabolizing Enzyme NQO1 Influences Intrauterine Growth Among Infants Whose Mothers Smoked During Pregnancy

Maternal smoking during pregnancy retards fetal growth and depresses infant birth weight. The magnitude of these effects may be moderated by fetal genotype. The current study investigated maternal smoking, fetal genotype, and fetal growth in a large population sample of dizygotic twins. Maternal smoking retarded fetal growth in a dose-dependent fashion. In a subsample of 497 twin pairs whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, a functional polymorphism in the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase gene ( NQO1 Pro187Ser; rs1800566) was significantly associated with fetal growth within families. The effect was strongest among moderate smokers. This is the first demonstration that fetal genotype for an enzyme involved in tobacco smoke metabolism influences intrauterine growth independent of maternal genotype. Future studies should conduct formal tests of Fetal Genotype × Maternal Smoking interactions.     

Roda Boa, Roda Boa: Legitimate peripheral participation in diasporic capoeira

Capoeira, the Brazilian dance and martial art, is taught across the world. Learners acquire vital knowledge and are socialised as capoeiristas through legitimate peripheral participation, in particular when watching games in the roda. The roda, the circle within which the capoeira game is played, is a classic place for learning by legitimate peripheral participation to occur. Watching, listening, and feeling the energy of the roda are central to the acquisition of capoeira abilities and capabilities, especially the tacit, indeterminate knowledge and skills.     

The twilight years? Educational ethnography and the five moments model

The growth and variety of qualitative research in education is used as a test case to challenge the narrative of ethnography proposed by Denzin and Lincoln. Their characterization of qualitative methods in terms of five (subsequently six) ''moments'' is not reflected in research on education. Ironically, their model is shown to be a modernist narrative that does not do justice do the diversity of qualitative research in the past. It is suggested that qualitative research has always been marked by greater diversity than is captured in unilinear developmental histories.     

The politics of data collection: Gathering,analysing and using data about the subsidised cultural sector in England

The gathering of ‘evidence’ about the impact of the sector has assumed centre stage in the management of the subsidised cultural sector in England. It is closely associated with an extension of government control over the sector, and the tendency to value culture for its ‘impact’ rather than its intrinsic value.

This chapter of Cultural Trends considers what has been driving data collection, and how valuable its pursuit has actually been. While not disputing the importance of accountability within the public sector, the chapter observes that much of the data produced about the workings of thecultural sector have been criticised as methodologically flawed and that these say more about policy intentions than about actual impact. Until the collection and analysis of data is carried out more accurately and objectively, and until the evidence gathered is used more constructively, it could beargued that much data gathering in the cultural sector has been a spurious exercise.