The Literacy Skills of English Language Learners in Canada

The purpose of this article is to review published studies of the English literacy of children in Canada who are English language learners (ELLs) with the goal of understanding the reading development of ELLs and characteristics of reading disabilities (RD) in this population. Phonological processing, syntactic awareness, and working memory of ELLs with and without RD were compared to that of native English‐speaking (L1) students with and without RD. Our review found that ELLs with RD experienced reading difficulties similar to those of L1 students with RD. On the basis of the evidence, ELLs are not at greater risk for RD than their native English‐speaking peers. We propose that the diagnosis of a reading disability can be made in a similar manner in both ELL and L1 students.     

Gender and Leadership in South African Educational Administration

Between 1994 and 1999, new discourses of social justice and gender equity enabled the entry of significant numbers of women into the previously all-male domains of the educational bureaucracy. At the same time, women in one bureaucracy were leaving as fast as they were entering. This article probes this phenomenon of the simultaneous transformation of the educational administration and the apparent consolidation of earlier patriarchal forms of control, albeit on a non-racial basis. On the basis of 16 in-depth interviews conducted in the Gauteng Department of Education with key decision-makers, the article argues that these developments can be explained by the particular constructs and practices of leadership in educational administration that associate leadership and competence with masculinity, rationality and whiteness. This is evident in how interviewees framed their experience of authority and leadership, visibility and recognition and balance between public and private life. The experience overall was such as to lever women out of their positions. All interviewees drew on a range of personal and social resources to deal with the stresses and strains of working in educational administration. Black women drew strength from a belief in the collective strength and capability of women rooted in maternal feminism.     

Advancing communication as a science: Research opportunities from the federal sector

The centrality of communication in health promotion is described in Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health, which noted that "health communication can contribute to all aspects of disease prevention and health promotion." In this paper we build on this argument by suggesting that communication science can be advanced by pursuing a "big-science" strategy where important and challenging questions about the role of communication in modern life are studied through rigorous research designs and research findings are applied to addressing significant social issues and problems. A significant dimension of a "big-science" strategy is the pursuit of programs of research using longitudinal designs and large samples with adequate controls. Given that such large-scale studies necessarily involve funding, we review some major funding initiatives and programs in different agencies of the federal governmental.