Teacher commitment trends: Cases of Hong Kong teachers from 1997 to 2007

This article examines the commitment of Hong Kong teachers in the decade after the political transition in 1997, when large-scale education reforms were launched. The life history method was employed to investigate teachers’ self-appraisal of their commitment levels in their career course and factors contributing to such trends. Findings not only affirm the previous view that teacher commitment involves the interplay of personal, workplace and education systemic factors but also illuminate how these factors interplay differently to effect sustained/increased or decreased commitment. ‘Love for students’ is argued to be a crucial personal factor which counteracts unfavorable external conditions to sustain teacher commitment.     

Pre-service teacher education students' epistemological beliefs and their conceptions of teaching

A study using both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted in the final year of a Bachelor of Education programme to examine the student-teachers' epistemological beliefs and conceptions of teaching. The results show that most of the student-teachers (i) strongly believed that learning effort was more important than innate ability, (ii) strongly believed that knowledge changes, and (iii) were inclined to question the authority of knowledge. Although student-teachers who had sophisticated or mixed epistemological beliefs tended to believe in constructivist or mixed conceptions of teaching as predicted, inconsistent cases were identified. Implications for teacher education programmes are discussed.     

The effects of self-efficacy,hope, and engagement on the academic achievement of secondary education in the Dominican Republic

Achievement in the academic settings has long lasting positive outcomes. In this study, hope, self-efficacy, and engagement are linked to academic success. The aims of this study were to test a model which predicts academic success in the Dominican Republic while testing for the mediator role of engagement. The sample was composed of 614 middle-school students. Scales of Dispositional Hope, Academic Self-Efficacy, Academic Self-concept, and Engagement were used. Academic performance was measured with students' grades in Spanish and Mathematics. Three structural equation models were tested. The retained model stated hope and self-efficacy as antecedents, engagement dimensions as mediators and grades and academic self-concept as final outcomes. There were significant effects of hope and self-efficacy on engagement, and behavioral engagement was the best predictor of academic success. These results point out that interventions should target variables, such as hope or engagement to increase academic success.     

Developing and extending the literacy of bilingual pupils through the secondary years

Jean Bleach (a secondary English teacher) and Sylvia Riley (a specialist ESL teacher with in-school experience) together make up the ILEA project team, Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Project (10–14). The Project has an action-research orientation exploring and promoting conditions necessary for bilingual learners to develop English in the whole school context.     

Gender,marital status,and support systems of public school principals

Recent literature on leadership emphasizes the importance of support systems for individuals occupying prominent roles. This research examined the support systems of public school principals, comparing male and female and married and unmarried principals. Specifically, who provided support and the amount and type of support provided were examined. Specific characteristics of spouses who provide support were also explored. Drawing on surveys of over 170 principals from one southeastern state, the study found some significant differences and interesting similarities in the type and amount of support provided to male and female and married and unmarried principals. The findings differed from some of the literature on female principals in terms of the areas of similarity between males and females. Other findings generally supported the literature on support systems.     

Training Future Scientists: Predicting First-year Minority Student Participation in Health Science Research

Using longitudinal data from the UCLA Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) and Your First College Year (YFCY) surveys, this study examines predictors of the likelihood that science-oriented students would participate in a health science undergraduate research program during the first year of college. The key predictors of participation in health science research programs are students’ reliance on peer networks and whether campuses provide structured opportunities for first-year students even though only 12% of freshmen in the sample engaged in this activity. These experiences are particularly important for Black students. The findings inform efforts to orient students at an early stage, particularly under-represented minorities, toward biomedical and behavioral science research careers.

Dyslexia speed problems in a transparent orthography

This study was intended to help clarify the nature of dyslexia in Spanish. A sample of 30 children, 8 to 16 years old, participated in this study. Dyslexic children were compared to two control groups, a chronological age-matched control group and a reading level-matched control group. Measures included nonword and pseudohomophone reading (phonological procedure), homophone choice (orthographic procedure), and phonological awareness tasks (syllabic, intrasyllabic, and phonemic level). For each task, accuracy (error percentage) and performance time were measured. Results showed a deficit in the dyslexic group on all the tasks, which was more evident when time was considered. With the results consistent with studies in other transparent orthographies such as Italian and German, speed problems seem to be more evident and relevant than accuracy problems in Spanish dyslexic children.

Writing and reading: connections between language by hand and language by eye

Four approaches to the investigation of connections between language by hand and language by eye are described and illustrated with studies from a decade-long research program. In the first approach, multigroup structural equation modeling is applied to reading and writing measures given to typically developing writers to examine unidirectional and bidirectional relationships between specific components of the reading and writing systems. In the second approach, structural equation modeling is applied to a multivariate set of language measures given to children and adults with reading and writing disabilities to examine how the same set of language processes is orchestrated differently to accomplish specific reading or writing goals, and correlations between factors are evaluated to examine the level at which the language-by-hand system and the language-by-eye system communicate most easily. In the third approach, mode of instruction and mode of response are systematically varied in evaluating effectiveness of treating reading disability with and without a writing component. In the fourth approach, functional brain imaging is used to investigate residual spelling problems in students whose problems with word decoding have been remediated. The four approaches support a model in which language by hand and language by eye are separate systems that interact in predictable ways.