Dynamic assessment of literacy: English as a third language

The aim of this paper is to valuate the applicability of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and the concept of dynamic assessment to the problem of assessing reading comprehension in English as a third language (L3). The study was conducted with immigrant students from Ethiopia studying at pre-academic centers in Israel. The assessment procedure included a pre-test, mediation, and post-test. The pre-test was based on a standard reading comprehension placement exam. Based upon the pre-test material, a very detailed analysis of the required pre-existing knowledge and necessary strategies was then mediated to the students. The post-test was identical to the pre-test regarding structure, requirements in terms of pre-existing knowledge and strategies, length, etc., but with different content. The results demonstrated: (1) A dynamic assessment procedure significantly improved the text comprehension performance of L3 students; (2) The dynamic assessment procedure added information regarding students’ learning potential over and beyond their initial performance level; (3) The learning potential profile of immigrants from Ethiopia is somewhat different from that of non-immigrant students.     

Contribution to the Collective by Religious‐Zionist Adolescent Girls

The act of contribution to the collective raises a major dilemma in contemporary religious Zionism in regard to girls and women: how to maintain their traditional restriction to the domestic sphere while allowing participation in national tasks that demand their presence in the male‐dominated public sphere. From in‐depth interviews conducted with 37 seventeen‐year‐old religious girls studying in a unisex residential boarding high school, we uncover the manner in which these girls, as they proceed to young adulthood, experience the act of contribution in three social arenas: the Bnei Akiva youth movement, national service and the domestic sphere. Our analysis reveals a gradual recruitment to contribution during the passage from girlhood to womanhood, paralleled by the gradual intensification of feminine’ qualities. This process facilitates the girls’ participation in the public sphere without challenging the traditional gender dichotomy. It also constitutes a central practice by means of which religious‐Zionist society recruits the girls to the Israeli collective yet keeps them within its own socio‐cultural boundaries.     

Contemporary induction to teaching in Australian universities

Australia has 42 universities. In 2015/16, 30 of 40 universities reviewed provided one or more days of teaching induction for their staff, while 10 did not. Twenty-six of the 30 teaching induction program directors were surveyed and 24 of those were interviewed to provide a snapshot of professional development for new teaching staff in Australian universities. The key findings of that research showed that almost two thirds of universities did not pay sessional staff to attend a teaching induction program; just over half the programs included peer observation of teaching; only one in five programs offered mentoring opportunities; three quarters of programs included assessment; and approximately a third of programs provided credit towards an award course. We conclude that all universities need to provide new teaching staff with a longer teaching induction program, which will support them to develop student-centred, scholarly behaviours and attitudes.     

Examining workload models in online and blended teaching

Over the past decade, most Australian universities have moved increasingly towards “blended” and online course delivery for both undergraduate and graduate programs. In almost all cases, elements of online teaching are part of routine teaching loads. Yet detailed and accurate workload data associated with “e‐teaching” are not readily available. A search of the international literature indicated that there is limited rigorous literature and research that points to the actual effects on workload in online and blended higher education teaching environments. This paper reports on a research project in four Australian universities, and the perceptions of a representative group of staff who perceived that e‐teaching had increased their “teaching time” workload, and that Workload Allocation Models (WAMs) did not take account of contemporary teaching modalities.