The gay family in literature for young people

Virginia L. Wolf is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She is the author of nearly fifty articles on literature for young people and is a past president of the Children's Literature Association.     

Another look at the relative impact of workplace design on training transfer for supervisory communication skills

This ethnographic study extends the findings of earlier research that authenticated the impact of workplace design features on newly acquired communication skills back on the job. The qualitative nature of the earlier study, however, limited quantitative measurement of workplace design features that may have an impact on learned skills. This study examined supervisor perceptions about the relative importance of organizational factors that affect transfer and prioritized the importance of specific design features to support learned communication skills. Research findings validate earlier research that workplace design is another work environment influence that may facilitate or impede the ultimate success of a training intervention for performance improvement.     

Representations of single and compound stimuli in negative and positive patterning

In four experiments, rats were trained on different patterning discriminations before being tested with compounds composed of novel combinations of the trained stimuli. In Experiment 1, rats were trained on a negative-patterning schedule (A+ B+ AB-) intermixed with reinforced presentations of a second compound (CD+). On a subsequent test, the rats responded more to two novel compounds, AC and BD, than to A and B, but less than to CD. In Experiment 2, rats were trained on two concurrent negative-patterning discriminations (A+ B+ AB-, C+ D+ CD-). On test, they responded more to AC and BD than to AB and CD, but less than to the single stimuli. In Experiment 3, rats were trained on two concurrent positive-patterning discriminations (A-B- AB+, C- D- CD+). On test, their response rates to AC and BD were not different from the response rates to the trained compounds (AB and CD). Finally, in Experiment 4, rats were trained on a positive- and negative-patterning discrimination concurrently. Once again, on test, response rates to AC and BD were not different from responding on reinforced trials of the trained discriminations (A+, B+, and CD+). We discuss the implications of these findings for elemental and configural models of stimulus representation.     

Introduction to special issue on morphology and the acquisition of alphabetic writing systems

Reading and Writing -     

Thread,Web and Tapestry‐making: processes of development and language

Development models have moved away from the simple export or imitation of western patterns towards local ownership and participatory approaches. This movement has brought with it increasing attention to the place of culture, ethnicity and language in development. In situations of high linguistic diversity, debate has concentrated largely on language choice and use in the formal educational system without reference to wider participatory processes of development in the community. Questions of language choice in both education and development are, however, crucial where local community languages have little written tradition and may have been considered of too little significance to develop. This article will review the major features of participatory development and ask how far similar processes have been or might be applied in promoting the use of local languages for such development. These questions will be explored in selected African contexts. How does intervention for language development dovetail with other kinds of development intervention? What is the interplay between the cultural basis of participatory development and the expression of ethnic identity through local languages? What lessons might be drawn from participatory development for community‐based processes of language development? How significant is the notion of empowerment with regard to the linguistic resources of a community? In conclusion, the article will argue that language development processes must figure prominently in participatory approaches to development multilingual environments and that attention to language must proceed along similar participatory lines.     

It’s never too late to remediate: Teaching word recognition to students with reading disabilities in grades 4–7

Twenty children in fourth through seventh grade participated in 16 one-hour individual tutorials over a four-month period. Half of the children received structural analysis and alphabet principle training; half received only alphabetic principle training; all received training in orthographic and phonological skills, practice in oral reading of connected text, and monitoring strategies for comprehension. Results showed that the children improved reliably in reading and related measures. Treatment condition did not predict rate of growth. Only rapid automatic naming of letters predicted response to intervention and only on rate of real word reading. Results of this study indicate that upper elementary and middle school students who have not yet mastered accuracy and automaticity of word recognition should be given explicit instruction in word recognition, especially in the alphabetic principle. The benefits of structural analysis training were evident only in trends for individual students on hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) growth analyses. This dissertation research by the first author, and supervised by the second, was supported by Grant No. HD-33812 and Grant No. HD-25858-09 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.