Using visual support in preschool phonemic segmentation training

In an earlier training study we found that the use of visual support in phonemic segmentation training provided no additional value for poor readers and spellers from schools for children with learning disabilities, having problems segmenting speech (Kerstholt, van Bon & Schreuder 1994). Previous research (e.g., Hohn & Ehri 1983) suggests, however, that visual support – such as alphabet letters – does facilitate the segmentation teaching of preschoolers. Hence, it was expected that visual support would be beneficial in phonemic segmentation training only prior to formal reading and spelling instruction. The purpose of the present study was to test this expectation. One group of preschoolers was trained in phonemic segmentation with diagrams and alphabet letters as visual support, another group was trained without visual help. Results show the preschoolers to improve their phonemic segmentation, reading and spelling skill significantly. It made no difference, however, whether the children were trained in phonemic segmentation with or without the help of visual support. The findings of the present study and those of our earlier study indicate visual support to be useful in phonemic segmentation training only under certain conditions. It is suggested that differences in orthographic properties of the languages involved may explain the difference between the Anglo-Saxon studies that did show an additional effect of letters and a number of Dutch studies that did not.     

A curriculum compromised

Abstract

Business studies has enjoyed a remarkable change of status in the 14‐18 school curriculum since 1986. This change has been interpreted by Williams and Yeomans (1994) as a case of the ‘new vocationalism’ put into practice. It is argued here that this transformation has been rather more complex. If a school subject changes its status in the academic/vocational spectrum it is pertinent to ask whether this is a sign of an overall change in the curriculum (e.g. the ‘new vocationalism') or the development of a single subject title within a broadly static curriculum structure and philosophy. These alternatives are summarized and the recent history of business studies is reviewed. It is suggested that the changing status of business studies reflects the way in which it has successfully responded to the academic values which dominate the secondary school curriculum in England and Wales. However, it has achieved this transformation while, according to a deputy head interviewed in this study, retaining the image of being ‘vaguely vocational’. This ambiguity has enabled the subject to flourish in vocational (GNVQ) as well as academic (A level) contexts, but it leaves it vulnerable in each sphere. GNVQ advanced business¹ teaching in schools can bear a very close resemblance to A level teaching, prompting the question of whether a ‘vocational course’ is really providing a distinctively relevant preparation for future employment. The association of business studies with the vocational curriculum leaves its academic credentials under question.     

Shaping Literacy in the Secondary School: Policy, Practice and Agency in the Age of the National Literacy Strategy

This article examines the definitions of literacy in operation in secondary schools, and the relationship between official literacy policy and the practices of the agents responsible for implementing this policy. We trace the history of national 'policy' back to the Language Across the Curriculum movement of the 1970s as it provides an illustrative point of comparison with the first five years of the National Literacy Strategy. Drawing on empirical data which illuminate the views, perceptions and practices of key agents on a number of levels, we critically review the concept of 'school literacy' promoted in government policy, defining it as 'school–centric literacy' and question its ability to facilitate participation in the practices associated with the media and technological literacies which are increasingly a feature of school life. There is evidence of some unplanned effects of the current national policy but also that levels of agency, for literacy teachers in particular, may be rapidly diminishing.