Modality of language shapes working memory: evidence from digit span and spatial span in ASL signers

Deaf children who are native users of American Sign Language (ASL) and hearing children who are native English speakers performed three working memory tasks. Results indicate that language modality shapes the architecture of working memory. Digit span with forward and backward report, performed by each group in their native language, suggests that the language rehearsal mechanisms for spoken language and for sign language differ in their processing constraints. Unlike hearing children, deaf children who are native signers of ASL were as good at backward recall of digits as at forward recall, suggesting that serial order information for ASL is stored in a form that does not have a preferred directionality. Data from a group of deaf children who were not native signers of ASL rule out explanations in terms of a floor effect or a nonlinguistic visual strategy. Further, deaf children who were native signers outperformed hearing children on a nonlinguistic spatial memory task, suggesting that language expertise in a particular modality exerts an influence on nonlinguistic working memory within that modality. Thus, language modality has consequences for the structure of working memory, both within and outside the linguistic domain.     

The case for frequency sensitivity in orthographic learning

This paper positions the importance of frequency sensitivity in the development of orthographic knowledge throughout childhood and promotes learning to spell as a vehicle which may be used effectively to develop this sensitivity. It is suggested that orthographic knowledge is advanced via a process of ‘frequency sensitivity’ to ‘patterns and sequences’ and ‘rules and regularities’ particular to English orthography and that the process of sensitivity to these coarse grain orthographic patterns is influenced by consistency in sound and by morphological knowledge (knowledge of morphemes; words or word parts that form the smallest unit of meaning in language). A model highlighting the increasing importance of orthography and morphology as reading and spelling development progresses is presented. Discussion of the importance of considering phonology, orthography and morphology throughout literacy development and the relative importance of each is discussed. Distinctions are drawn between the processes involved in children who are good readers and good spellers, children who are good readers and poor spellers, and children who are poor readers and poor spellers. This paper outlines how considering these interrelated and developmentally sensitive contributors to literacy development can contribute to the practice of educational professionals in promoting the development of literacy skills throughout childhood.     

Similarities between human and animal spatial memory: Item and order information

Human subjects, sitting at the center of a circle of eight lights, were tested on analogues of radial-maze item-recognition (Roberts & Smythe, 1979) and order-recognition (Kesner & Novak, 1982) tasks. Subjects in the item-recognition condition saw a list of seven lights, and then the nonlist (eighth) light was tested against the first, fourth, or seventh light from the list. The subjects were required to point toward the nonlist light. Subjects in the order-recognition condition saw a series of eight lights, followed by a test of the first and second, fourth and fifth, or seventh and eighth serial positions. They were asked to point toward the light with the earlier serial position. Subjects’ item-recognition serial-position curves exhibited a recency effect with a 0-sec retention interval (Experiments 1 and 2), and were U-shaped (Experiment 1) or flat (Experiment 2) with a 30-sec retention interval. Subjects’ order-recognition serial-position curves were U-shaped at both retention intervals. Subjects’ reported mnemonics were, generally, unrelated to their choice accuracy. The results suggest analogous memory processes in animals and humans.     

Assessment of the Joint Food Science Curriculum of Washington State University and the University of Idaho by Graduates and Their Employers

ABSTRACT: Thirty-two recent graduates from the joint food science program of Washington State Univ. (WSU) and The Univ. of Idaho (UI) and 12 of their employers participated in a survey study to assess food science program outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess the joint curriculum in its ability to prepare undergraduate students for critical thinking, problem solving, and technical competence in the food industry. Two survey tools, 1 for graduates and 1 for their employers, were designed to assess job preparedness and the skill set attained by food science program graduates. Graduates of the joint food science program generally indicated satisfaction with their food science education and suggested that they were adequately prepared for their jobs. Both students and employers indicated that most of the identified Success Skills are used daily on the job, and that graduates were well prepared with Success Skills. Graduates and employers reported adequate preparation in Food Processing and Engineering competence. Some significant differences ( P < 0.05) were found in perceived and assessed competence. Specifically, while student indicated that they were well prepared with Food Chemistry and Analysis, Food Safety and Microbiology, and Applied Food Science competence, employers indicated only adequate preparation in Food Chemistry and Analysis, and Applied Food Science competence, but poor preparation in Food Safety and Microbiology competence. The findings suggest that students should be given opportunities for self-evaluation in undergraduate courses. Because the survey models are based on Institute of Food Technologists requirements, it is expected that the surveys can be readily adopted by other institutions to assess student learning and program effectiveness.     

Relational‐Cultural Theory–Based Interventions With LGBTQ College Students

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community members can encounter daily challenges living in a heterosexist society, including the college milieu. The authors apply the tenets of relational‐cultural theory (RCT) to LGBTQ college students. Furthermore, a case study is included to highlight ways counselors can infuse RCT strategies when working with this population.     

Assessment and the fear of punishment: how the protection of anonymity positively influenced the design and outcomes of postsecondary assessment

This study examines how a state system of higher education, located in the Rocky Mountains area of the United States, allowed faculty members from the state's public institutions of higher education to control the design and implementation of a pilot assessment of statewide general education courses. One of the primary reasons faculty were allowed to control the assessment process was to assuage the commonly held fear by faculty, academic departments, and institutions that they could be punished for the poor assessment results of their students who took the pilot assessment. An important conclusion of this study is that the promise of anonymity, given by the state board of regents (and tacitly by the legislature) to individual faculty members, academic departments, and institutions, was essential to the success of the assessment process.     

Equalizing educational opportunities and its problems

The Editors are glad to be able to open the third year of theInternational Review of Education with an article by Isaac Leon Kandel. They offer him. their respectful greetings and best wishes on the occasion of his 75th birthday, celebrated in 1956, and on his entry into the fourth quartercentury of his life.They admire him as one of the grand old men of Comparative Education and hope that he will continue to bring an unbroken freshness and further stimulus to education in general and especially to his favourite subject.

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Das Problem der Schaffung Gleicher Bildungs-Möglichkeiten Für Alle

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La Démocratisation de L'enseignement et Ses Problémes