The Significance of Emulation in the Oral Interaction Between Teacher and Students

The lack of attention to the role of emotions generally has led modern learning theories to neglect the importance of emulation as a pedagogical support to students’ learning. One reason could be that the influence of teacher personality is not considered in relation to learning outcome. Another reason may be that the concept of emulation has been used as a psychological conception for one‐way transmission. From a pedagogical rhetorical perspective, it is here argued that emulation and its pedagogical function is rooted in three human conditions: the biological, moral and political. The framework for this reasoning is discussed, as well as historical changes in pedagogical focus. Finally, it is concluded that the educative character of the teacher has a crucial impact on how willing students are to interact and share the teachers’ knowledge, skills and values. Therefore, there is a need for a greater awareness of these aspects to be developed among teachers.     

Social impact of participatory health research: collaborative non-linear processes of knowledge mobilization

Social impact, defined as an effect on society, culture, quality of life, community services, or public policy beyond academia, is widely considered as a relevant requirement for scientific research, especially in the field of health care. Traditionally, in health research, the process of knowledge transfer is rather linear and one-sided and has not recognized and integrated the expertise of practitioners and those who use services. This can lead to discrimination or disqualification of knowledge and epistemic injustice. Epistemic injustice is a situation wherein certain kinds of knowers and knowledge are not taken seriously into account to define a situation. The purpose of our article is to explore how health researchers can achieve social impact for a wide audience, involving them in a non-linear process of joint learning on urgent problems recognized by the various stakeholders in public health. In participatory health research impact is not preordained by one group of stakeholders, but the result of a process of reflection and dialog with multiple stakeholders on what counts as valuable outcomes. This knowledge mobilization and winding pathway embarked upon during such research have the potential for impact along the way as opposed to the expectation that impact will occur merely at the end of a research project. We will discuss and illustrate the merits of taking a negotiated, discursive and flexible pathway in the area of community-based health promotion.     

Deciding to reveal sexual information and sexuality education in mother-daughter relationships

Communication privacy management theory informed this study of nine mothers and their 18- or 19-year-old daughters who were interviewed to understand privacy rule foundations that influence their decisions to reveal or conceal sexual information. Findings reveal the salience of motivation and the risk–benefit ratio when making decisions about revealing or concealing private information. Namely, mothers may have many motivations to talk to their daughters, whereas daughters are motivated to discuss sex with a trusted source. Mothers’ perceived risks of talking about sex included judgement from other parents, and daughters were concerned about disappointing their parents. Additionally, a privacy rule emerged during joint mother–daughter interviews that stipulated ‘we talk about everything but the details’, and mothers volunteered their privacy rule acquisition of talking about sex with daughters differently from the ways their mothers talked to them. The findings augment sex education research by showing how mothers and daughters who talk about sex assess their decisions to do so.     

Efficacy of a Reading Intervention for Middle School Students Identified with Learning Disabilities

This experimental study reports findings on the effects from a year-long reading intervention providing daily, 50-minute sessions to middle-school students with identified learning disabilities (n = 65) compared with similar students who did not receive the reading intervention (n = 55). All students continued to receive their special education services as provided by the school. Results indicated statistically significant findings favoring the treatment group for sight word reading fluency following intervention. Small effects were found for phonemic decoding fluency and passage comprehension. No other statistically significant differences were noted between groups. The findings suggest that while gains on word reading fluency resulted from the additional reading treatment, accelerating the reading performance of students identified with learning disabilities may be unlikely to result from a one-year, daily intervention provided to students in groups of 10-15.     

A synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes among preschool through third graders at risk for reading difficulties

A synthesis and meta-analysis of the extant research on the effects of storybook read-aloud interventions for children at risk for reading difficulties ages 3 to 8 is provided. A total of 29 studies met criteria for the synthesis, with 18 studies providing sufficient data for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Read-aloud instruction has been examined using dialogic reading; repeated reading of stories; story reading with limited questioning before, during, and/or after reading; computer-assisted story reading; and story reading with extended vocabulary activities. Significant, positive effects on children's language, phonological awareness, print concepts, comprehension, and vocabulary outcomes were found. Despite the positive effects for read-aloud interventions, only a small amount of outcome variance was accounted for by intervention type.     

Promoting turn-taking skills in preschool children with disabilities: The effects of a peer-based social communication intervention

The current study evaluated the turn-taking skills of preschoolers with disabilities who participated in a social communication intervention that targeted initiations, responses, and turn-taking skills, and taught children to repair and revise and to avoid interruptions and overlaps. Ten children who enrolled in an inclusive at-risk classroom met the inclusion criteria. A multiple baseline design across two dyads replicated across three additional dyads was used to determine the effects of the intervention. The social communication intervention was highly effective for five children, moderately effective for three children, and mildly effective for two children in increasing the rate of initiations with an immediate peer response from baseline to intervention. The social communication intervention was highly effective for one child, moderately effective for three children, mildly effective for two children, and ineffective for four children in improving turn-taking skills. Generalization results showed that nine out of ten participants demonstrated increased peer play following the intervention, increased levels of child-initiated interactions with a positive peer response, and decreased levels of solitary play. Several implications for practice were derived from the findings. By teaching children turn-taking strategies, the quality of social interactions that children have with their peers is likely to improve. The intervention offers a more systematic technique for teaching social communication and play skills than do informal strategies commonly used by teachers. Social validity assessments indicated that teachers found the intervention acceptable and produced important changes in behavior.     

The response to intervention of English language learners at risk for reading problems

The response to intervention (RTI) of English language learners identified as at risk for reading difficulties in the fall of first grade was examined at the end of first grade and at the end of second grade. Students at risk for reading problems were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Intervention students received supplemental reading intervention daily for 50 minutes in small groups from October to April. Students in the comparison condition received the school's existing instructional program for struggling readers. Criteria were established to determine adequate RTI at the end of first grade and at the end of second grade. The results indicated that more students who participated in the first-grade intervention in either Spanish or English met the established RTI standards than students who did not, and this finding was maintained through the end of second grade.     

A synthesis of spelling and reading interventions and their effects on the spelling outcomes of students with LD

Previous research studies examining the effects of spelling and reading interventions on the spelling outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD) are synthesized. An extensive search of the professional literature between 1995 and 2003 yielded a total of 19 intervention studies that provided spelling and reading interventions to students with LD and measured spelling outcomes. Findings revealed that spelling outcomes were consistently improved following spelling interventions that included explicit instruction with multiple practice opportunities and immediate corrective feedback after the word was misspelled. Furthermore, evidence from spelling interventions that employed assistive technology aimed at spelling in written compositions indicated positive effects on spelling outcomes.     

The relative effects of group size on reading progress of older students with reading difficulties

This study reports findings on the relative effects from a yearlong secondary intervention contrasting large-group, small-group, and school-provided interventions emphasizing word study, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension with seventh- and eighth-graders with reading difficulties. Findings indicate that few statistically significant results or clinically significant gains were associated with group size or intervention. Findings also indicate that a significant acceleration of reading outcomes for seventh- and eighth-graders from high-poverty schools is unlikely to result from a 50 min daily class. Instead, the findings indicate, achieving this outcome will require more comprehensive models including more extensive intervention (e.g., more time, even smaller groups), interventions that are longer in duration (multiple years), and interventions that vary in emphasis based on specific students’ needs (e.g., increased focus on comprehension or word study).