Metacognition and EFL/ESL reading

Several distinct research streams are converging in the field of foreign or second language reading in the U.S. Separate research streams in metacognition, in reading strategies, and in the training of reading strategies are converging in the field of English as a foreign or second language. This confluence of research is dramatically impacting the teaching of English to adult non-native speakers for academic purposes. In this article we will briefly review these distinct research streams for their relevance to the population in question, and will then describe the research design for an empirical study we are currently conducting to further investigate the efficacy of metacognitive strategy training for adult EFL/ESL reading.     

Television and Radio

TVPE (1826 Spaight St., Madison, Wisconsin 53704; to begin publication on a monthly basis in February 1973 at $6.00 per year)

Television Quarterly

Terry Galanoy's Tonight! (New York: Doubleday, 1972 -- $7.95)

Gene Kievan, Turn That Damned Thing Off: An Irreverent look at TV's Impact on the American Scene (Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1972 -- $6.95)

John Gambling's Rambling with Gambling (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972 -- $6.95)

Mary Francis Rhymer (ed.) The Small House Halfway Up in the Next Block: Paul Rhymer's Vic and Sade (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972 -- 9.50)

Charles E. Lowman's Magnetic Recording (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972 -- $14.50)     

French Mass Media Books: 1980-81

TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY MONITOR by David A. Irwin (Bethesda, Md.: Phillips Publishing, 1984—$297.00 for loose -leaf binder and contents, plus one year's quarterly updates)

COMMUNICATIONS FLOWS: A CENSUS IN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN by Ithiel de Sola Pool, et al. (Amsterdam: North-Holland/Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, 1984—$39.00)     

DEVELOPING PARENT‐PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIPS IN A POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Opportunities are increasing for students with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to attend postsecondary education programs located at college campuses around the nation. Students who attend postsecondary education programs experience numerous positive outcomes, including independent living skills and expanded social networks. However, although parent‐professional partnerships could significantly enhance long‐term outcomes such as competitive employment and independent living, there is a paucity of information about the nature of these partnerships in postsecondary settings. The purpose of this expository article is to describe how staff from a midwestern postsecondary education program facilitate parent‐professional partnerships through parent involvement and support.     

What does the teaching and learning of sexuality education in South African schools reveal about counter-normative sexualities?

ABSTRACT

Using the interlocking concepts of power, knowledge and discourse, this article focuses on how counter normative sexualities are discursively constructed in the sexuality education classroom and with what effects. Drawing on in-depth interviews with teachers and classroom observation, the evidence highlights the presence of specific discourses about the teaching and learning of sexuality diversity. First, while many teachers argued for the inclusion of counter-normative sexualities, in their teaching and responses they privileged heterosexuality as legitimate and natural and same-sex sexualities as deviant and Other. Second, teachers’ discourses construct queer youth not only as innocent and childlike but also as hypersexual and rebellious – requiring discipline and intervention. These constructions link closely to discourses of pity and tolerance, or blame when counter-normative sexualities were expressed. Finally, despite heterosexuality being privileged in the classroom, teachers’ and pupils’ questions about gender and sexuality diversity suggest the need for a more defined and inclusive curriculum sexuality education curriculum. Findings justify concern about how counter-normative sexualities are addressed in the sexuality education classroom and advocate for improvement in teaching and learning about counter-normative sexualities in South African secondary education.     

Multiracial Children in Child Development Textbooks

The 2000 US census was the first to allow respondents to check more than one race/ethnic response for their identity. About 6.8 million Americans did so, and a disproportionate percentage of them were children under age 18 years old. The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which this change is reflected in contemporary child psychology textbooks. Twelve books were examined to determine whether they covered multiracial and multiethnic children. Results of this study showed that only two of these books addressed issues related to the healthy development of multiracial/multiethnic children in any detail; and, while several used terms such as biracial and bicultural, these terms were always used to describe single-race minority children living in a majority context. The discussion section covers possible reasons for this omission.     

Effectiveness of Spanish intervention for first-grade English language learners at risk for reading difficulties

The effectiveness of an explicit, systematic reading intervention for first-grade students whose home language was Spanish and who were at risk for reading difficulties was examined. Participants were 69 students in 20 classrooms in 7 schools from 3 districts who initially did not pass the screening in Spanish and were randomly assigned within schools to a treatment or comparison group; after 7 months, 64 students remained in the study. The intervention matched the language of instruction of their core reading program (Spanish). Treatment groups of 3 to 5 students met daily for 50 min and were provided systematic and explicit instruction in oral language and reading by trained bilingual intervention teachers. Comparison students received the school's standard intervention for struggling readers. Observations during core reading instruction provided information about the reading instruction and language use of the teachers. There were no differences between the treatment and comparison groups in either Spanish or English on any measures at pretest, but there were significant posttest differences in favor of the treatment group for the following outcomes in Spanish: Letter-Sound Identification (d = 0.72), Phonological Awareness composite (d = 0.73), Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised Oral Language composite (d = 0.35), Word Attack (d = 0.85), Passage Comprehension (d = 0.55), and two measures of reading fluency (d = 0.58-0.75).