Lexical- and sentence-level processes in comprehension of written sentences

Two experiments and three measures of lexical skills (word finding, rapid automatized naming, receptive vocabulary) were administered to 24 third and 24 fifth graders. Each experiment included two between-subject variables (grade and sex) and four within-subject variables (mode of sentence presentation – one word and one-sentence-at-a-time; word type – orthographic, phonological and semantic foils; position of foil in sentence – beginning, middle, and end; and sentence type – meaningful and nonsense). The experiments contrasted on reading comprehension task: receptive sentence acceptability (Experiment 1) or expressive sentence reproduction (Experiment 2). One-word-at-a-time presentation, which highlights the lexical unit, resulted in better accuracy on the expressive task that required verbatim reproduction than on the forced choice receptive task. Word finding and rapid automatized naming that require active production of phonologically-referenced name codes, but not receptive vocabulary, were correlated with measures of word recognition and reading comprehension in the experiments and on the psychometric tests. These results are consistent with Perfetti's contention that a phonologically-based name code is the heart of lexical access.     

Green beans: Gardening with two's

The nearby neighborhood garden project provided an almost daily trip for our group of two-year-olds. There we discovered limitless opportunities for learning. Gardening provided a sense of continuity that is hard to achieve with young ones.Karen Hack is the Early Childhood Special Education Teacher of the two's group at the Infant Care Center. Virginia Flynn was the Administrative Supervisor of the Infant Care Center and is currently Assistant Education Director of the Infant Health and Development Program, The New York League for Early Learning, Inc.     

Friendship formation in inclusive early childhood classrooms: what is the teacher’s role?

This study examined strategies teachers reported using to support friendships among young children in inclusive early childhood classrooms. The teachers included 25 general early childhood educators from 9 child care centers and 20 early childhood special educators from 9 specialized programs. The Playmates and Friends Questionnaire for Teachers documented the number and nature of children’s friendships and teachers’ reported use of 11 different strategies to support individual friendships. Overall, the friendship strategies that teachers reported using most frequently included providing sufficient free choice time, allowing children to form their own friendships, and commenting on the play between friends. The majority of teachers reported rarely using two strategies: arranging for children to play together outside of the classroom and allowing two friends to exclude other children from their play. Teachers reported using more active friendship strategies to support dyads in which one or both children had special needs. Implications of these findings to support friendship formation in inclusive early childhood settings and directions for future research are presented.     

‘I love a curry’: student-teacher discourse around ‘race’ and ethnicity at a UK university

This paper presents aspects of a small scale study that considered student teachers’ language and discourse around race and ethnicity at a university in the northwest of England. The first part of the paper critiques current education-related policy, context and practice to situate the research and then draws upon aspects of critical race theory and whiteness theory as frames of reference. In the research, 250 student-teachers completed questionnaires that invited responses to statements about race and ethnicity and this was followed by two semi-structured group interviews. A discourse analysis approach was taken to analyse the language used in the questionnaire responses and, in particular, the group interviews. Recurrent discursive configurations were characterised by language that signified othering, correct knowledge, personalisation and discomfort. Hesitations and silences during group discussions perhaps intimated thinking time and also maybe a reluctance to talk about aspects of race and ethnicity, and what was not said remains significant. It is suggested that a reconstruction of a teacher/educator subjectivity that fosters self-reflection on values and racial positioning, is needed in teacher education, alongside critical examination of the silences and discomfort surrounding race and ethnicity.     

Employees as customers: Exploring service climate,employee patronage,and turnover

The role of retail employees as customers was explored by quantitatively examining the influence of service climate and employee patronage on employee turnover intentions. Employees representing all shifts in two stores of a national retailer participated. Results indicated that employee patronage partially mediates the effects of service climate on employee turnover intentions. The findings suggest that employee patronage is a highly relevant organizational concept that warrants additional study. Practitioners may apply these findings in developing management and supervision training programs and designing employee selection and retention programs. Researchers may incorporate the variable of patronage when studying populations where employees can be external customers. Future research is necessary because the concept of employee patronage has not been adequately studied.     

Children's Engagement Within the Preschool Classroom and Their Development of Self-Regulation

This study used an observational measure to examine how individual children's engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks was associated with gains in self-regulation. A sample of 341 preschoolers was observed, and direct assessments and teacher reports of self-regulation were obtained in the fall and spring of the preschool year. Research Findings: Children's positive engagement with teachers was related to gains in compliance/executive function, and children's active engagement with tasks was associated with gains in emotion regulation across the year. Engaging positively with teachers or peers was especially supportive of children's gains in task orientation and reductions in dysregulation. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in relation to Vygotsky's developmental theory, emphasizing that psychological processes are developed in the context of socially embedded interactions. Systematically observing how a child interacts with peers, teachers, and learning tasks in the preschool classroom has the potential to inform the creation of professional development aimed at supporting teachers in fostering individual children's development within the early education environment.     

Validating racism and cultural respect: testing the psychometric properties and educational impact of perceived discrimination and multiculturation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students

Within the field of quantitative research, the diverse and negative effects of racial discrimination have become increasingly documented across a number of outcome variables (including physical, mental, and social wellbeing); however, research on the direct effects of racism is less evident within educational settings. The present investigation explored the negative impact of perceived racial discrimination, in addition to perceptions of cultural respect (Multiculturation) on both objective (e.g., student grades) and subjective (e.g., importance of school) schooling outcomes for a sample of Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian high school students. Perceived racial discrimination was found to be one of the strongest negative predictors of a number of outcomes for Indigenous Australian students, and Multiculturation was also found to have substantial positive relations with the subjective schooling outcomes for the same group of students. That the results were also generalisable to the non-Indigenous students suggests that attempts to combat racism and promote respect may benefit all members of society.     

Understanding the psychometric properties of the humor assessment instrument through an analysis of the relationships between teacher humor assessment and instructional communication variables in the college classroom

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the newly developed Humor Assessment (HA) instrument. Previous research (Wrench & McCroskey, 2001) noted a construct validity problem with the Humor Orientation (HO) scale created by M. Booth‐Butterfield and S. Booth‐Butterfield (1991). This study examined the relationships between the HA, which corrects the construct validity problem seen in the HO, and affective learning, nonverbal immediacy, cognitive learning, learning loss, student motivation, and teacher credibility.     

Amount of communication as a symptom of distressed marriages based on reports of divorced individuals

Recent research on married couples has indicated that dramatically reduced communication between married partners may be an indication of a marriage under stress and may indicate an increased likelihood of divorce. The present study compared amount of communication in marriage reported by divorced individuals with that reported by married individuals who reported low to moderate levels of marital satisfaction. The results indicate these reports are highly similar. It is recommended that reduced communication be considered as a marker variable for marriages under stress and future research seek to identify the cause(s) of the observed relationships.     

Willingness to communicate and employee success in U.S. organizations

This article presents a view of the influence and effects of individuals’ willingness to communicate in an organizational setting. Definitional explanations of the willingness to communicate construct are provided along with an extensive review of the relevant research and theory in this area. Communication apprehension is explicated and considered in context of willingness to communicate. The manner in which low willingness to communicate affects individuals and fosters specific organizational outcomes is explored. In general, research indicates negative results from low willingness to communicate, both on individual and organizational levels. Appropriate organizational responses to “at risk individuals”; are explored in terms of diagnosis and remediation.