Improving Prospective Teachers’ Counseling Competence in Parent-Teacher Talks: Effects of Training and Feedback

Counseling parents concerning students’ learning processes is considered to be an increasingly important competence area of teachers. However, few educational programs exist specifically focusing on improving this essential teacher competence, particularly in early teacher education. The current study, which took place at a German university, describes the evaluation of a corresponding training program for prospective teachers as well as a process-oriented feedback intervention. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with three treatment groups (training group, training + feedback group, control group) combining pre-, post-, and follow-up test measures with time–series data. By means of multivariate repeated measures MANOVAs and time-series analyses, we were able to demonstrate that prospective teachers’ counseling competence can be successfully fostered by training and individual process-oriented feedback. Our results provide several practical implications concerning the improvement of teachers’ counseling competence within the context of teacher education.     

Students’ genre expectations and the effects of text cohesion on reading comprehension

This study raises the question what makes school texts comprehensible by analyzing whether students’ genre expectations about literary or expository texts moderate the impact of different forms of text cohesion on reading comprehension, even when the texts are similar regarding their genre. 754 students (Grade 9) from comprehensive schools read one of four text versions with similar content, but different degrees of local and global text cohesion. The four more or less cohesive texts were introduced as literary texts (part of a story) or as expository texts (newspaper article), although the different genres were only purported and the texts contained both literary and expository passages. Reading comprehension was assessed with multiple-choice-items, semi-open, and open-ended questions. Results demonstrate that global cohesion was profitable for reading comprehension with expository expectations, but not with literary ones. Local text cohesion and both forms of cohesion in combination did not interact with students’ genre expectations and had no main effect on comprehension. When students reading skills and prior knowledge were considered, the interaction was still apparent. Moreover, students with lower levels of reading skills tended to profit especially from texts with global cohesion, whereas the readers with higher reading skills achieved equal means in reading comprehension irrespective of the degree of global text cohesion. The findings are discussed with respect to theoretical aspects of text–reader-interactions, cognitive and emotional components of genre expectations, and the composition and instruction of comprehensible school texts.     

Which variables predict teachers diagnostic competence when diagnosing students’ learning behavior at different stages of a teacher’s career?

Diagnosing is one of teachers’ key competences. Lately, a new model of teachers’ diagnostic competence and therewith a new measurement method focusing on diagnosing students’ learning behavior in an interdisciplinary approach have been developed. They can build a basis for promoting teachers’ diagnostic competence. However, some questions relevant to promoting teachers’ diagnostic competence concerning students’ learning behavior still remain unanswered: Which values do teachers-on-the-job in contrast to preservice teachers with or without teaching experience gain through experience and which are the relevant variables that lead to a high level of diagnostic competence focused on learning behavior? Thus, this study aims at enlightening these issues. In a sample of 293 participants (93 German grammar school teachers, 107 German teacher students in their second phase of teacher education, and 93 German preservice students in their first phase of teacher education), teachers’ diagnostic competence concerning learning behavior as well as teachers’ motivation, attitude, self-efficacy, knowledge, and reflection on experience concerning diagnosing was measured. Motivation, attitude, and knowledge were found to be substantial positive predictors of diagnostic competence concerning learning behavior, with differentiated predictions for teachers’ experience. Reflection on experience and self-efficacy unexpectedly was not found to be relevant. Teachers-on-the-job were generally better at diagnosing their students’ learning behavior than were preservice teachers without teaching experience. However, the diagnostic work of preservice teachers with teaching experience was as credible as that of the in-service teachers.     

The effect of positive reappraisal on the availability of self-control resources and self-regulated learning*

Effectively regulating negative emotions is important for successful self-regulated learning. However, research has hardly examined which emotion regulation strategies benefit self-regulated learning. In an experimental study, it was examined whether positive reappraisal facilitates self-regulated learning by counterbalancing the depletion of self-control resources. Sixty-one university students engaged in either positive reappraisal or expressive suppression to regulate negative emotions induced by a film clip and then worked on a self-regulated learning task. Participants who engaged in positive reappraisal experienced more positive emotions after the film and had more self-control resources available than participants who used expressive suppression. Moreover, positive reappraisal increased skin conductance during emotion regulation, as compared to expressive suppression. Irrespective of emotion regulation type, positive emotions predicted post-film availability of self-control resources which was positively associated with subsequent self-regulated learning. The results demonstrate beneficial affective and resource-related consequences of positive reappraisal as well as its potential for fostering self-regulated learning.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Temperament in Middle Childhood: Analyses of Teacher and Tester Ratings

Parent ratings of temperament in infancy and childhood yield evidence for genetic influence in twin studies but not in adoption studies. The present study used the sibling adoption design to investigate teacher and tester ratings of temperament in middle childhood. When each child was 7 years old, ratings on the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory were obtained from a teacher and tester for more than 50 pairs each of adoptive and nonadoptive siblings in the Colorado Adoption Project. Significant genetic influence emerged for both teacher and tester ratings of Activity, for tester ratings of Sociability, and for teacher ratings of Emotionality. Results obtained from bivariate genetic analysis suggest that the modest covariance between teacher and tester ratings of Activity is entirely mediated genetically. Except for teacher ratings of Attention Span, evidence of shared family environment was nonsignificant, despite the power of the sibling adoption design to detect it.     

Microform—Not extinct yet: Results of a long-term microform use study in the digital age

This paper presents results taken from 2008 to 2010 of an ongoing microform use study. The number of titles used is evenly distributed over time with microfilm being the most used format and newspapers accounting for half of all usage. When publications are available electronically, users may still use the microform version. This study illustrates how microform and electronic collections are complementary—electronic materials provide better access but microform is better for preservation. Users prefer electronic materials but will also use microform when there is no online version available or when the online version is not an exact copy of the original.     

Inklusion im Sportunterricht

This review article provides an overview of the state of research in the English and German languages on inclusive physical education lessons. Studies published in journals and collected works between 2005 and 2014 were included. A systematic literature search was carried out and articles were selected according to predetermined criteria. A total of 74 articles were included in this review and categorized into the 3 superordinate topics attitude, lessons and qualifications. The compact presentation of the results revealed a tendency towards a positive attitude on inclusive physical education lessons of all participants questioned; however, teaching staff were critical of the concrete implementation of inclusive lessons and admitted that they had been insufficiently prepared for this during training. Pupils also expressed positive as well as negative experiences for participation in inclusive physical education lessons; however, some study results indicated that the acceptance of children with disabilities as well as their effectiveness of learning and physical activity can be improved by special interventional approaches. A core topic of inclusive lessons is a cooperation between the various participants. In this way problems are revealed, which can partly be attributed to the sometimes less clearly defined task profile and to discipline-specific training deficits of some participants. Finally, based on a critically constructive discussion, recommendations on further research approaches on inclusive physical education lessons in German-speaking regions are presented.     

Visual input enhancement via essay coding results in deaf learners' long-term retention of improved English grammatical knowledge

This study explored the efficacy of visual input enhancement, specifically essay enhancement, for facilitating deaf college students' improvement in English grammatical knowledge. Results documented students' significant improvement immediately after a 10-week instructional intervention, a replication of recent research. Additionally, the results of delayed assessment documented students' significant retention of that improvement five and a half months beyond the instructional intervention period. Essay enhancement served to highlight, via a coding procedure, students' successful and unsuccessful production of discourse-required target grammatical structures. The procedure converted students' written communicative output into enhanced input for inducing noticing of grammatical form and, through essay revision, establishing form-meaning connections leading to acquisition. With its optimal design characteristics supported by theoretical and empirical research, essay enhancement is a highly effective methodology that can be easily implemented as primary or supplementary English instruction for deaf students. The results of this study hold great promise for facilitating deaf students' English language and literacy development and have broad implications for second-language research, teaching, and learning.