Nonword recall and phonemic discrimination in four‐ to six‐year‐old children

Previous research has established that the degree of ‘wordlikeness’ of nonwords affects young children's nonword repetition performance. Experiment 1 examined the possibility that output processes are responsible for the wordlikeness effect by using a probed recall procedure. Wordlikeness was defined in terms of phonological neighbourhood density, although this measure was found to be related to the traditional measure of wordlikeness involving adult ratings. A significant effect of number of phonological neighbours/wordlikeness was observed in favour of nonwords with many neighbours. In Experiments 2 and 3 the wordlikeness effect was qualified by a significant interaction with nonword repetition ability. Children with poorer repetition ability were affected by number of neighbours/wordlikeness, while children with better repetition ability were not. Children with poorer repetition ability were significantly poorer than the better repeaters with nonwords with few neighbours. The results were interpreted in terms of theories of phonological development that suggest progressive segmentation of lexical representations. In Experiment 4 the relationship of children's nonword repetition ability to phonemic discrimination ability was investigated. The results demonstrated that children with better nonword repetition ability had superior phonemic discrimination performance than children with poorer nonword repetition ability.     

Exploring the Structure and Benefits of an Integrated Yearlong Dual Certification Student Teaching Internship

Abstract

Many teacher preparation programs offering dual certification have engaged in program redesign to establish greater integration between general education and special education. This article presents findings from an exploratory case study that examined the perspectives of former preservice teacher candidates and school personnel regarding an integrated yearlong dual certification internship. Findings indicated research participants (a) placed value on the breadth and authenticity of the experience; (b) built deep relationships with students and staff that contributed to building confidence; and (c) felt the structure and impact of the model yielded positive outcomes for both the school and for preservice teacher candidates. Implications for practice include suggestions for how teacher preparation programs might move toward integrated models of dual certification teacher preparation and explore the importance of clinically rich partnerships that benefit both preservice teacher candidates and field sites.     

Reading and Generalist Genes

ABSTRACT— Twin-study research suggests that many (but not all) of the same genes contribute to genetic influence on diverse learning abilities and disabilities, a hypothesis called generalist genes . This generalist genes hypothesis was tested using a set of 10 DNA markers (single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs]) found to be associated with early reading ability in a study of 4,258 7-year-old children that screened 100,000 SNPs. Using the same sample, we show that this early reading SNP set also correlates with other aspects of literacy, components of mathematics, and more general cognitive abilities. These results provide support for the generalist genes hypothesis. Although the effect size of the current SNP set is small, such SNP sets could eventually be used to predict genetic risk for learning disabilities as well as to prescribe genetically tailored intervention and prevention programs.     

A Critique of the Existing Research into Small Primary Schools

Major studies carried out in the United Kingdom on small primary schools are drawn upon and evaluated. It is argued that research in this area is flawed for the following reasons: there is no agreed definition of a 'small primary school'; investigations have been biased in their favour as a result of problems in research design and the ways in which data have been analysed; and, finally, there has been a neglect of certain key issues, notably those affecting pupil grouping.     

‘That extra sparkle’: students’ experiences of volunteering and the impact on satisfaction and employability in higher education

Research suggests that students entering Higher Education are doing so with greater expectations around their graduate employability. Students’ volunteering activities have been of interest to academics, but the impact of these activities on learning, employability and student satisfaction has been neglected. The current study investigated whether students who volunteered felt it benefited them, whether they felt they were more employable and whether they perceived their course as satisfying in combination with their volunteering. This small-scale qualitative study used a sample of psychology undergraduate students in focus groups (n = 11), and also a number of psychology graduate interviews (n = 6) from one UK university. Thematic analysis produced several key themes including students’ motivations to begin volunteering, which were mainly career-oriented; their motivations to continue, which included rewarding feelings and personal development; the impact of volunteering on their psychology degree, which included situated learning; and their perceptions of their volunteering and its impact on their employability. The findings indicated many reasons for both starting and continuing with volunteering activities with a clear narrative among this sample that volunteering enhanced their employment and postgraduate prospects. Findings are discussed in line with the current context of Higher Education and the implications for both students and Higher Education Institutions.     

What is individualized instruction?

Individualized instruction is aphylum rather than aspecies of approaches to teaching. Problems of definition, usage, and shifting point of view contribute to the increasingly indiscriminate use of the term. One way of analyzing the collection of individualized programs, practices, and materials is to sort outfamilies of approaches and to organize them into a simple classification system according to their distinguishing characteristics. The differentspecies within families can be more precisely described in profiles that outline the treatment given to each major element of instruction. The ideal implicit in the programs seems to be separate, appropriate instruction for each student, but the ideal program has yet to be developed.

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Résumé L'Instruction individualisée est unphylum plûtot qu'uneespèce d'approche à l'enseignement. Les problèmes de définition, d'usage, et de point de vue changeant contribuent au fait qu'on emploie ce terme de plus en plus sans discrimination. Une méthode d'analyser la collection des programmes et des matériaux individuels est de classer par catégories desfamilles d'approches selon leurs caractéristiques spécifiques. On peut décrire les divers genres dans les familles de façon plus précise en esquissant la méthode de traiter chaque élément d'instruction. II semble que l'idéal implicite des programmes est l'instruction séparée et propre à chaque étudiant, mais on n'a pas encore développé le programme idéal.

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This article is based on a monograph in preparation at Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. It will appear in the seriesTheory and Research in Teaching, A. A. Bellack, general editor.     

The Strong African American Families Program: translating research into prevention programming

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a contextual model positing that regulated, communicative parenting causes changes in factors protecting youths from early alcohol use and sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use. Youth protective factors included negative attitudes about early alcohol use and sexual activity, negative images of drinking youths, resistance efficacy, a goal-directed future orientation, and acceptance of parental influence. Intervention-induced changes in parenting mediated the effect of intervention group influences on changes in protective factors over a 7-month period.     

Social issues

Rachel Theilheimer teaches early childhood education at Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York City. Emma C. Winger has just completed fifth grade at P.S. 84 in Manhattan.