Phonological processing and emergent literacy in younger and older preschool children

Phonological awareness, phonological memory, and phonological access to lexical storage play important roles in acquiring literacy. We examined the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of these phonological processing abilities (PPA) in 389 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the validity of each PPA as separate from general cognitive ability and separate from each other. Multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) with mean structure demonstrated that older preschoolers have better developed latent PPA than younger preschoolers but that the structure of PPA is equivalent. RAN was found uniquely associated with letter knowledge and text discrimination in younger preschoolers, and PA was found uniquely associated with word reading skills in older preschoolers. Finally, general cognitive ability was only indirectly associated with emergent literacy via PPA. These results highlight the importance of PPA in the early literacy development of English-speaking preschool children.     

The self-concept level of black adolescents with and without African names

The self-concept level of Black adolescents with African names was explored. Black males with and without African names were first identified. All participants and their parents were then administered the Terrell and Taylor Black Ideology Scale and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Differences between groups on the self-concept measures were then examined using a one way MANOVA with parents' scores on the self-concept measures serving as covariates. Significant differences were found between groups. Supplemental analyses revealed no differences between groups on the Coopersmith. However, adolescents with African names had significantly higher scores on the Black self-concept scales than did those without African names.     

Effects of race of examiner and type of reinforcement on the intelligence test performance of lower-class black children

This study examined the effects of race of examiner and type of reinforcement upon the WISC-R performance of lower-class black children. A total of 120 black males were selected and assigned to either a white or black examiner to form two groups. Within each group, children were given no reinforcement, tangible reinforcement, traditional social reinforcement, or culturally relevant social reinforcement after each correct response. Children given tangible rewards, regardless of race of examiner, obtained significantly higher scores than did children given no reinforcement or children given traditional social reinforcement. Also, children given culturally relevant social reinforcement by a black examiner obtained significantly higher scores than did children given culturally relevant reinforcement by the white examiner.     

‘They never go off the rails like other ethnic groups’: teachers’ constructions of British Chinese pupils’ gender identities and approaches to learning

This paper examines the ways in which British Chinese pupils are positioned and represented within the popular/dominant discourse of teachers working in London schools. Drawing on individual interviews from a study conducted with 30 teachers, 80 British Chinese pupils and 30Chinese parents, we explore some of the racialised, gendered and classed assumptions upon which dominant discourses around British Chinese boys and girls are based. Consideration is given, for example, to teachers’ dichotomous constructions of British Chinese masculinity, in which British Chinese boys were regarded as ‘naturally’ ‘good’ and ‘not laddish’, compared with a minority of ‘bad’ British Chinese boys, whose laddishness was attributed to membership of a multiethnic peer group. We also explore teachers’ constructions of British Chinese femininity, which centred around remarkably homogenised representations of British Chinese girls as ‘passive’ and quiet, ‘repressed’, hard‐working pupils. The paper discusses a range of alternative readings that challenge popular monolithic and homogenising accounts of British Chinese masculinity and femininity in order to open up more critical ways of representing and engaging with British Chinese educational ‘achievement’.     

Contextual effects on predicting risk for reading difficulties in first and second grade

This study utilized early reading assessment data from a randomized trial of 210 urban and rural schools in Texas to examine contextual effects on risk prediction in first and second grade. The primary objective was to examine the roles of (a) individual differences, (b) the grade 1 classroom, and (c) the pairing of first and second grade teachers in determining grade 2 outcomes in word reading and fluency. A second objective was to investigate whether the administration format of the assessment (paper, paper plus desktop, handheld plus desktop) or the level of teacher support (web mentoring, no mentoring) moderated the prediction. These moderator variables proved not to be significant. Subsequent analyses found that a combination of student pretest and mean of pretest classroom was a better predictor than student pretest alone. Additionally, the effect of student scores varied by teacher-pair. On average, intraclass correlations (ICCs) ranged from 6% to 17%. Differences in ICCs at the classroom level were much greater than at the school level, and differences in urban schools were twice that of rural schools.