The Role of Language &; Discourse in the Investigation of Privilege: Using Participatory Action Research to Discuss Theory,Develop Methodology, &; Interrupt Power

Rooted in feminist philosophy, critical race theory, and participatory action research (PAR), I partnered with four faculty and four students at an elite, private, college preparatory day school for boys in order to examine bullying. In this article I closely examine the role of language and discourse when conducting counter hegemonic research with people who are predominantly privileged and within institutions designed to reproduce those privileges. I briefly describe the co-construction of our theory and instrument to illustrate that our close attention to language in regards to bullying both helped us understand our work and changed how we went about conducting the study. I describe how our strategic use of language to broadly define bullying helped us capture interesting data and interrupt power. And finally, I discuss our political use of language to others and suggest that while it paved a safer space for us to conduct our work it also may have restricted our work from having the power to resist co-optation and promote sustainable, systemic change.     

The program risks of work-integrated learning: a study of Australian university lawyers

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a risky business in higher education. The strategic opportunities that WIL presents for universities cannot be achieved without taking on unavoidable legal risks. University lawyers are involved with managing the legal risks as part of their internal delivery of legal services to universities. It is important to identify the risks that potentially arise, so these can then be managed. A case study involving Australian university lawyers reveals the ‘program risks’ of WIL. Program risk is a type of legal risk that relates to the conduct of universities, host organisations and students before, during and after a WIL placement, as well as the personal characteristics of students that can expose the university to legal risk. The research findings may be applied by university lawyers, academic disciplines and university management to evaluate and improve risk management in WIL programs.     

Young children's knowledge about printed names

Four experiments examined young children's knowledge about the visual characteristics of writing, specifically personal names. Children younger than 4 years of age, even those who could read no simple words, showed some knowledge about the horizontal orientation of English names, the Latin letters that make them up, and their left-to-right directionality. Preschoolers also had some familiarity with the shapes of the letters in their own first name, especially the leftmost letter. Knowledge of the conventional capitalization pattern for English names emerged later, after a period during which children preferred names in all uppercase letters. When tested with personal names, the kind of word they know best, young children are surprisingly knowledgeable about the visual characteristics of writing.     

Reflections on the need for continued research on writing

A focused scientific research effort on writing research and its relationship to language development and reading is needed to address the writing and broader literacy needs of today’s and tomorrow’s learners and workers. In the United States, as well as in many other nations, research on writing has been neglected in relation to the emphasis on reading and oral language more generally. The authors argue first for why there is a need for this refocused effort, what should be focused on, and how as a field we should consider moving forward and addressing this imperative. In addressing the why, the authors argue that need is not limited to a particular age or developmental range but rather is broad-based, beginning with our youngest learners and continuing through those transitioning into post-secondary and the workplace. The clear message is that the picture is surprisingly similar across age ranges with a demonstrated need beginning with those coming from less advantaged backgrounds into formal education to the majority of students transitioning from twelfth grade into the workplace or post secondary settings. The authors suggest next steps for research addressing both what and how: what areas of science are areas of high need and how the field may consider moving forward to address these needs. Interdisciplinary research on writing is needed that addresses and integrates cognitive, biological, and social-cultural traditions, contributions, and methods.     

Reliability and validity of a GPS-enabled iPhoneTM “app” to measure physical activity

This study assessed the validity and reliability of an iPhone^TM “app” and two sport-specific global positioning system (GPS) units to monitor distance, intensity and contextual physical activity. Forty (23 female, 17 male) 18–55-year-olds completed two trials of six laps around a 400-m athletics track wearing GPSports Pro^TM and WiSpi^TM units (5 and 1 Hz) and an iPhone^TM with a Motion X GPS^TM “app” that used the inbuilt iPhone^TM location services application programming interface to obtain its sampling rate (which is likely to be ≤1 Hz). Overall, the statistical agreement, assessed using t-tests and Bland–Altman plots, indicated an underestimation of the known track distance (2.400 km) and average speed by the Motion X GPS^TM “app” and GPSports Pro^TM while the GPSports WiSpi^TM device overestimated these outcomes. There was a ≤3% variation between trials for distance and average speed when measured by any of the GPS devices. Thus, the smartphone “app” trialled could be considered as an accessible alternative to provide high-quality contextualised data to enable ubiquitous monitoring and modification of programmes to ensure appropriate intensity and type of physical activity is prescribed and more importantly adhered to.     

Does interpretation influence elaboration and environmental behaviors?

Understanding the development of pro-environmental behavioral intentions and behaviors remains one of the greatest challenges for environmental educators worldwide. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model as a theoretical foundation, we developed surveys to evaluate the influence of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger program on youths’ (ages 8–13) elaboration (comprised of awareness, interest, and cognitive engagement) and stewardship behaviors. Results suggest that these programs had significant immediate influences on both elaboration as well as stewardship intentions and behaviors. We then investigated whether elaboration was predictive of children’s behavioral intentions and self-reported behaviors associated with stewardship using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggest that elaboration accounted for 88% of the variance in participants’ stewardship behaviors/intentions.     

Influences of volitional and forced intentions on physical activity and effort within the theory of planned behaviour

In the present study, we examined the utility of volitional and forced intentions in predicting participation in physical activities and effort within the theory of planned behaviour. Four hundred and forty-four participants (184 males, 260 females) aged 19.1 +/- 3.3 years (mean +/- s) completed self-report measures of intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, volitional intentions, forced intentions, and past behaviour in a physical activity context. Six weeks later, they completed self-report measures of physical activity behaviour and effort. Results indicated that volitional intentions and forced intentions contributed to the prediction of effort over and above intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of control, past behaviour, and the product terms of attitudesxintentions and subjective normsxintentions. Volitional intentions and forced intentions did not predict participation in physical activities over and above effort. We concluded that volitional intentions and forced intentions assist in the explanation of effort in the context of physical activity behaviour.