The epistemological role of language use in learning: A phenomenographic intentional-expressive approach

In research on learning, one of the fundamental questions concerns issues of language and thought. A number of empirical studies have revealed the interplay between understanding of subject matter and meanings of language expressions to be more dynamic and ambiguous than is commonly acknowledged. The aim of this article is to outline an alternative intentional-expressive approach to the interplay between use of language and understanding of subject matter as a contribution to the theoretical development in research on learning. The approach is based on a conception of language that focuses on the function of learners’ language use in relation to subject matter in developing and expressing understanding. The learner is seen as an agent, and the focus is on the use of language from the learner's perspective. Four aspects of the relation between learners and subject matter are described and discussed. Conclusions concern the value of this approach as a complement and alternative to the dominant communicative and cognitive approaches to the role of language in learning.     

A practical model of development for China's National Quality Course Plan

The Chinese National Quality Course Plan is a large‐scale project by the Ministry of Education, which has led to the production of more than 12 000 courses from some 700 universities since 2003. This paper describes in detail the purpose of the project and how it is organized at all levels, including how individual courses get selected at university level, provincial level and national level. The paper discusses the similarities and differences between the Chinese project and Open Educational Resources projects around the world, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) OpenCourseWare. The Chinese project is unique, not only because of its highly centralized organization and funding but also because its purpose is not just to produce open resources but to use the production of open resources to drive curriculum reform and quality improvement in Chinese higher education.     

It takes two to tango: studying how students constitute political subjects in discourses on sustainable development

A great deal of the ongoing discussion about environmental education and education for sustainable development has to do with democracy and deliberation. Here, for example, the normative approach has been challenged. As an alternative, there is sometimes a call for a curriculum and education that is characterized by democracy, participation, and pluralism. According to this call, it is still far from clear what it actually means to create education in terms of democracy. While the debate is lively, it is not always anchored in empirical research. In this study, three students in a classroom situation talk about resources and solidarity. Using analytical tools developed from a pragmatic base, the study tries to find a methodology to reveal how people create political subjects while engaged in such a discourse. This is associated with the discussion about democracy in education, and the consequences these findings may have in respect of how education on environment and sustainable development can be staged in terms of freedom and pluralism.     

Identifying different registers of digital literacy in virtual learning environments

In this paper social semiotics, and systemic functional linguistics in particular, are used in order to identify registers of digital literacy in the use of virtual learning environments. The framework of social semiotics provides means to systemize and discuss digital literacy as a linguistic and semiotic issue. The following research question was investigated in the paper: What different registers of digital literacy could be identified when students and teachers communicate and interact in a VLE?The research question was answered by, initially, an application of social semiotics to virtual learning environments, and its relation to the knowledge domains of everyday, specialized and reflexive digital literacy. This application was then further developed, using an analysis of a course specific use of a virtual learning environment in a case study. The study identified discrepancies between the digital literacies of teachers, designers and students. These discrepancies mean that a shared semiotic register was sometimes difficult to maintain. The conclusion is that the designers and teachers as co-designers of virtual learning environments need a better understanding of everyday digital literacy in order to design more sufficient learning environments. The paper shows that digital literacy must be considered as a situated practice, and that it concerns functional and communicative competencies rather than acquiring a set of technical skills.     

Performance in solving arithmetic problems: a comparison of children with different levels of achievement in mathematics and reading

The aim of the present study was to investigate the performance in arithmetic related to achievement levels in reading and mathematics. Basic arithmetical facts and multi‐step calculations were examined. The participants were 941 pupils aged 8 (N = 415), 10 (N = 274) and 13 (N = 252) years. The pupils were divided into four groups by standardized achievement tests. One group showed low achievement in both mathematics and reading (MLRL), a second group showed low achievement in mathematics only (ML‐only), a third group in reading only (RL‐only) and a fourth group showed normal achievement in both mathematics and reading (NA). The ML‐only and the MLRL groups did not differ significantly in basic arithmetical facts at any age level, but both groups performed below the RL‐only and NA groups. The two latter groups also performed similarly at all year levels. In multi‐step calculation all groups differed significantly at the lowest age level, with the NA as the group with the best achievement, followed by RL‐only, ML‐only and the MLRL group. At the two highest age levels the relations between the groups, in multi‐step calculation, were in accordance with the results regarding basic facts. The findings indicate, for both normal and low general mathematical ability, that low achievement in reading to a small extent interferes with the pupils’ development of arithmetic performance     

Comprehensive Object-Oriented Learning – An Introduction

With the proliferation of personal computers in the home and in the workplace, there is an ever increasing demand for the integration of computers into the curricula of educational institutions. Invariably, the approach taken to satisfying such demands involves the training of the current staff of educators in the use of personal computers as both a teaching and a research and administrative tool. This article will look at the educator's anxiety prior to training on the computer, and the changes in attitude brought about by continuous exposure to the computer in a classroom setting.     

Learned Helplessness and Psychological Adjustment II: Effects of learning disabilities and low achievement

The present study, a continuation of Valås (2001), is concerned with two categories of low achieving students. The focus is particularly on the consequences of being diagnosed as having learning disabilities compared with not having such a diagnosis. The sample consisted of 1833 students with data collected in grades 4, 7 and 9. Multivariate analyses of variances and analyses of structural equation models showed that students with learning disabilities and low achieving students attributed success in mathematics and first language to ability to a greater extent than other students. They also expressed lower performance expectations in mathematics and verbal skills and showed more helplessness and reported inferior psychological adjustment compared with other students. Moreover, students that were diagnosed as having learning disabilities (LD) and received special education showed more helplessness than the other low achieving children. They also reported lower academic expectations and lower self-esteem. In addition, the results revealed that boys showed more helpless behaviour, as assessed by teachers, than girls. However, on the other hand, girls reported more psychological maladjustment. The conclusion and request is that the process of selection (diagnosing the student as LD) and the organization and implementation of special education should be reconsidered.     

Predicting Achievement Goals in Two Different Academic Contexts: A longitudinal study

The relative contribution is examined of epistemological beliefs and implicit theories of intelligence to students' adoption of mastery, performance‐approach and performance‐avoidance goals in two different academic contexts, business administration and teacher education, in the short as well as the long term. The results showed that epistemological beliefs about the speed of knowledge acquisition predicted achievement goals. Students who believed that learning occurs quickly or not at all were less likely to adopt mastery goals and more likely to adopt performance‐avoidance goals. In addition, students who believed in stable and given knowledge were less likely to adopt mastery goals. Differences in predictive patterns across the two contexts concerned the prediction of performance‐approach goals and gender differences in goal adoption. Epistemological beliefs played a more important role in goal adoption than implicit theories of intelligence.     

Explaining Individual Differences in Reading: on the orthographic component of word recognition

This article first presents a conception of word recognition involving both phonological and orthographic processes. Three different explanations about the origin of orthographic processes in word recognition are then discussed. These explanations are: (1) differences in orthographic memory, (2) differences in phonological processes and (3) differences in leisure time reading. In accord with the third explanation, it is argued that automatic orthographic word recognition is directly dependent on children's amount of reading practice in an out‐of‐school setting. Educational implications of this emphasis on leisure time reading effects are also discussed.