Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity

This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants’ home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.     

Write on or write off? An exploration of Asian international students’ approaches to essay writing at an Australian university

This paper investigates the approaches taken to essay writing by five Asian international students at an Australian university. Analysis of their in‐depth interviews reveals links between their perceptions of learning, their perceptions of essay writing, their motivation for completing the task, and their awareness of the structural conventions of the essay as a genre. These links are apparent, irrespective of whether the students were taking a deep or a surface approach to the task. In addition, analysis of the interviews shows that the students who were taking a deep approach to writing had developed high levels of cross‐cultural awareness, specifically in relation to the learning cultures, and the discursive structures of academic writing in Australia and their home country. Implications for the practice of teaching academic writing within the context of increasing cultural diversity in higher education are discussed.     

The role of school psychology in preventing depression

To advance the role of school psychologists in mental health prevention and wellness activities, in this article we describe (a) a social ecological theory for guiding school‐based prevention research, (b) the role of schools in the development and prevention of depression, (c) a continuum of school‐based support for meeting the needs of children who are currently depressed for preventing future internalizing distress for all children, and (d) social and political factors that must be considered if lasting change is to occur. We conclude with specific considerations for school psychologists. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 763–775, 2004.     

Internal and External Barriers, Cognitive Style, and the Career Development Variables of Focus and Indecision

One hundred and thirty final year high school students were administered scales tapping optimism/pessimism, self-esteem, external career barriers, career decision-making self-efficacy, career focus and career indecision. It was hypothesised, first, that cognitive style (optimism/pessimism) would predict both internal (self-esteem) and external career-related barriers, second, that internal barriers would interact with external barriers and impact on career decision-making self-efficacy, and third, the previously mentioned variables would subsequently predict career focus and career indecision. Results demonstrated that cognitive style was influential in determining the perception of internal barriers (for females and males) and external barriers (females only). Internal and external barriers, along with optimistic/pessimistic cognitive style, were found to predict career decision-making self-efficacy (in males, but not in females). There was no evidence that internal and external barriers interacted to predict career decision-making self-efficacy. Last, it was found that career decision-making self-efficacy, internal and external barriers, and optimistic/pessimistic cognitive style were able to predict career focus (males and females) and career indecision (males only). Results are discussed in the context of Carver and Scheier's (1981) control theory.     

Students' perceptions about science: The impact of transition from primary to secondary school

As students move through school, attitudes to school in general, and science in particular, become less positive. This paper reports on a longitudinal study which mapped, from the students' point of view, the transition between primary and secondary school in Western Australia. The study focused on the subject of science, and used both quantitative and qualitative methods. During the transition, there is a considerable change in the organisation of the school, the curriculum and the teacherstudent relationship. Students in this study, especially the girls, were generally disenchanted with the teaching strategies used in their secondary science classrooms, and regretted the loss of the close teacher-student relationship of their primary school years. Their perceptions were that science in secondary school was not what they had expected, and this experience may have long term implications for their subject and career choices.     

Gender Differences for Optimism, Self-esteem, Expectations and Goals in Predicting Career Planning and Exploration in Adolescents

An Australian sample (N=467) of high school students was administered scales tapping optimism, self-esteem, career expectations, career goals, career planning and career exploration. The study tested a career mediational model based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and cognitive–motivational–relational theory (CMR). It was hypothesized that the stable person inputs of optimism and self-esteem would predict career planning and career exploration through the variables of career expectations and career goals differentially for young males and females. For males, optimism and self-esteem influenced career expectations, sequentially predicting career goals, career planning and career exploration. A different pathway was identified for females, with optimism directly influencing career goals, which subsequently predicted career planning and career exploration. Self-esteem predicted career expectations, which then directly influenced career planning and career exploration by bypassing career goals. Results are discussed in the context of SCCT and CMR.     

Evidence for phonological processing deficits in less-skilled readers

Although weaknesses in metaphonological skills are well-documented in poor readers, prior studies have yielded inconsistent findings as to whether less-skilled readers also have deficits in the more primary phonological processes entailed in verbal working memory and speech production tasks. The present study was designed to examine this issue by comparing less-skilled third-graders readers (n=30) with younger children at the same reading level (n=30) and with more-skilled agemates (n=30) on a variety of tasks that require phonological processing (i.e., three “verbal memory” tasks [word span, span with concurrent processing, pseudoword imitation] and three “speech production” tasks [word-pair repetition, tongue twisters, rapid naming]). The results were striking: the less-skilled third-grade readers had significantly lower accuracy scores than both their agemates and the younger normal readers on the word span, pseudoword imitation, word-pair repetition, and tongue twister tasks. Measures of accuracy were more related to reading ability than were measures of speed. Performance on a pseudoword imitation task was the variable most strongly linked to reading achievement.     

Employment and Achievement: Mothers' Work Involvement in Relation to Children's Achievement Behaviors and Mothers' Parenting Behaviors

Mothers' total weekly work hours and psychological work involvement were examined in relation to children's achievement behaviors and mothers' parenting. 105 middle-class children ( M = 6 years old) and their mothers (both employed and not employed) participated in this study. Data were collected from lab observations, teacher ratings, and parent surveys. Findings of interest include. (1) for the full sample, higher weekly work hours were associated with poorer teacher ratings of children's grades, school work habits, and aspects of personality conducive to achievement: (2) within the employed sample, as mothers' weekly hours of work increased, daughters' grades were higher but sons' grades, work habits, and ego control were poorer, and (3) mothers' psychological motivation to work related to mothers' support of children's achievement and girls' stronger achievement motivation. The study findings point to the utility of including multiple measures of work involvement and children's achievement-related behaviors.