Masking,mediators and agency: bilingual children and learning to read

This paper begins with a discussion of some of the key insights of recent sociocultural research that consider bilingual children and learning to read and culminates in a discussion of Syncretic Literacy Studies (SLS). It then presents data from an ethnographic study that focused on the learning experiences of a small group of Year Three Bangladeshi‐heritage pupils during 1 year of their schooling in order to problematise some of the claims made in recent sociocultural work and in SLS, particularly the focus on children's agency. The findings from the study suggest that (a) there are limits to children's agency that are not recognised in recent work and in SLS; (b) that identity has an important role to play: children can successfully mask what they cannot do as readers in order to present a particular identity in the mainstream classroom; and (c) that the access some children have to mediators may be limited and can change over time.     

Parenting Style as a Context for Emotion Socialization

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine parenting style in the domain of emotion socialization through studying the relationships among parenting styles, emotion-related parental practices, and parental goals of Hong Kong–Chinese mothers. Data were collected from 189 Hong Kong–Chinese mothers of 6- to 8-year-old children. Hong Kong–Chinese mothers reported that among authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles, they adopted an authoritative style most often and an authoritarian style least often. They valued both relational and individualistic emotional competence of their children as parental goals but regarded the former as more important than the latter. Structural equation modeling results indicated that parental goals mediated the influences of parenting styles on parental practices. Authoritative mothers who held individualistic emotional competence goals adopted different parental practices (a coaching or an emotion-encouraging approach) from those who held relational emotional competence goals. When mothers adopted authoritarian parenting and endorsed relational emotional competence as a parental goal, they responded to children's expression of emotions in a dismissing way. Practice or Policy: Parenting styles play an overarching role in emotion socialization, influencing both parental practices and goals. The results imply that school personnel, counselors, or social workers should take into account parenting styles, parental goals, and cultural values of participants when they offer training programs to parents.     

The roles of value predispositions,communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content

This study aims to examine the roles of value predispositions, communication, and third person perception on public support for censorship of films with homosexual content in Singapore. Findings from a nationally representative telephone survey of adults showed that the majority of Singaporeans supported stricter censorship of films with homosexual characters. Conformity to norms, intrinsic religiosity, and Asian orientation were positively associated with public support for censorship. Media exposure and perceived negative media effects on self were negatively associated with public support for censorship. Our results supported the perceptual component but not the behavioral component of the third person effect.     

Promoting preventive behaviors against influenza: Comparison between developing and developed countries

Applying the health belief model, this study examined young adults' intention to adopt preventive behaviors against influenza infection in developing countries (Thailand and Cambodia) and developed countries (the USA and Singapore). Self-efficacy was the only variable significantly related to behavioral intention in the developing countries. In contrast, perceived threat, expected benefits, and media attention were significant predictors in the developed countries. Trust in information sources also had a consistent impact across the two samples. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Earnings benefits of Tulsa's pre-K program for different income groups

This paper estimates future adult earnings effects associated with a universal pre-K program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These projections help to compensate for the lack of long-term data on universal pre-K programs, while using metrics that relate test scores to social benefits. Combining test-score data from the fall of 2006 and recent findings by Chetty et al. (2011) on the relationship between kindergarten test scores and adult earnings, we generate projections of adult earnings effects and a partial cost–benefit analysis of the Tulsa pre-K program. For both half-day and full-day programs, benefits are similar across program participants of different income, with benefit-to-cost ratios of 3- or 4-to-1. Because we only consider adult earnings benefits, actual benefit–cost ratios are likely higher, especially for disadvantaged children.     

A Total System of Classroom Management: Consistent, Flexible, Practical and Working

Approaches to discipline derived in one way or another from the work of Lee Canter have become popular in recent years in this country. Interpretation varies between well-developed versions with a key concern for the support of pupils through consistency to the truncated and punitive approaches which no longer really reflect Canter's aims. The approach described in this paper owes its origins to the work of Canter and is of the well-developed type, but the school has taken things a stage further in terms of the quest for consistency through the development of a database. The writer explains the operation of this and the benefits the school feel have resulted.     

教育对妇女的社会与经济水平的影响--玻利维亚个案研究

哈佛大学、世界教育杂志、教育发展中心和波利维亚的研究人员完成了一项在玻利维亚的历时3年多的大规模的纵深研究.我们已发现女童的教育与其发展二者相关,本研究则旨在阐明成人基础教育和妇女的社会与经济水平之间是否有相类似的关系存在. 该研究随机抽样了2200名成年妇女,包括1600名该项目的参与者和600名非参与者.研究人员综合衡量了妇女社会地位与经济水平及其发展结构,他们使用的指数包括1)识字/教育水平;2)挣钱活动的参与度;3)家庭决定权;4)子女教育;5)公民事务参与度与公民意识;6)法律权利参与度与法律意识;7)保健参与度及保健意识.此项研究的一个关键研究成果是综合基础成人教育项目对玻利维亚妇女的生活有重要作用(或影响),甚至在考虑了妇女的个人特点、所受正规教育水平、社会地位、经济地位、家庭所在地以及三年中的种种未知因素后依然如此.该项目参与者在社会与经济水平上比未参与者净增11个百分点.本文解释了所应用的研究框架、方法和得出的重要发现.