Analysis of lexical quality and its relation to writing quality for 4th grade,primary school students in Chile

Few studies have addressed vocabulary quality in developing writing skill in Spanish. Even less addressed it within the Chilean educational system. The specific objective of this study was to characterize, using a comprehensive set of indicators, the quality of the vocabulary produced by Chilean 4th grade students. Based on a national writing survey, a sample of 2056 texts written by 685 students was collected (narrative, persuasive, and informative texts). Current literature defines lexical quality as a composite of diverse factors that, while distinct, are interrelated. To represent the properties of the vocabulary, a set of indicators were selected: (a) lexical diversity; (b) lexical sophistication; and (c) lexical density. Using multilevel modeling (students and schools as levels 1 and 2) to explain a global writing score we found that diversity was a significant determinant for narrative and persuasive texts, density was a significant determinant for the three genres and sophistication was a significant determinant for narrative and expository text. In addition, indicators related to gender and socioeconomic conditions were only significant determinants of narrative stories. The parts of speech most often used also varied according to the purpose of each text. In all genres, words had a short extension and were very sensitive to the input presented in the stimuli. These results imply a significant challenge to this education system: how to promote the development of vocabulary in all children in order to support language learning.     

Technology as ‘a human practice with social meaning’–a new scenery for engineering education

In a world sustained and interconnected by technology, people make choices. Therefore, they have to consider that technology is subject to analysis and interpretation because it is designed by humans with varied histories, experiences and cultures. To generate an understanding of the technological phenomenon, this article proposes to view the technology as a human practice, with social meaning and an attending change in classical technology-related education. The hidden resumé of the professors, the development of contents and didactic methods to be used in the educational process are fundamental elements in the appropriation of knowledge. Modifying these elements requires paradigmatic shifts, especially in the education of engineers, which would have to be focused on the knowledge acquisition and capabilities to allow an adequate practice of the technology management.     

Learning paths in synthesis writing: Which learning path contributes most to which learning outcome?

Instructional Science - This paper presents a secondary analysis of data collected during an intervention study in which students learnt to synthesise pairs of texts presenting opposite views on...     

Personal metaphors of prospective secondary economics and science teachers

Using the responses to open questions, this qualitative study examines the personal metaphors expressed by prospective secondary education teachers, 46 science graduates and 41 economics graduates. The metaphors are classified into the four categories of Leavy, McSorley, and Boté: the behaviourist/transmissive, the cognitivist/constructivist, the situative, and the self-referential. The results showed most metaphors to fall into the behaviourist/transmissive category, followed by the cognitivist/constructivist, self-referential, and situative categories, although some teachers expressed metaphors framed in more than one category. Of the 129 metaphors detected in the study, only one, of a chemistry graduate concerning the equilibrium between reactants, was associated with the prospective teachers' specific undergraduate education. The rest were expressions of their overall vision of teaching and learning, regardless of the speciality.     

Difficulties in semantically congruent translation of verbally and symbolically represented algebraic statements

Educational Studies in Mathematics - This paper describes the difficulties faced by a group of middle school students (13- to 15-year-olds) attempting to translate algebraic statements written in...     

Guidance and education,an analysis of young peoples’ discontinuous school pathways: the guidance-oriented approach of educational institutions

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article presents results of an investigation that explored the school pathways of young Argentine unskilled workers without a...     

Effects of Population Heterogeneity on Accuracy of DIF Detection

Heterogeneity within English language learners (ELLs) groups has been documented. Previous research on differential item functioning (DIF) analyses suggests that accurate DIF detection rates are reduced greatly when groups are heterogeneous. In this simulation study, we investigated the effects of heterogeneity within linguistic (ELL) groups on the accuracy of DIF detection. Heterogeneity within such groups may occur for a myriad of reasons including differential lengths of time residing in English-speaking countries, degrees of exposure to English-speaking environments, and amounts of English instruction. Our findings revealed that at high levels of within-group heterogeneity, DIF detection is at the level of chance, implying that a large proportion of DIF items might remain undetected when assessing heterogeneous populations potentially leading to developing biased tests. Based on our findings, we urge test development organizations to consider heterogeneity within ELL and other heterogeneous focus groups in their routine DIF analyses.     

Modeling the impacts of national and institutional financial aid opportunities on persistence at an elite Chilean university

Much of the recent Chilean educational debate and reform has centered around issues of higher education cost, debt burden, and availability of grants versus loans. This quantitative case study of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile sought to understand the longitudinal contributions of combinations of types of financial aid to persistence of low-income students. The results identified that the aggregate availability of both grants and loans at the university-level has a net positive contribution beyond the contributions of national-level grants and loans. In finest distinction, however, only ministry aid (in the form of need-based grants and loans) decreased the likelihood of dropping out. Such findings suggest that universities may want to consider carefully as part of a comprehensive persistence plan how they leverage institution-level contributions to student aid packages.