A Cross-Linguistic,Longitudinal Study of the Foundations of Decoding and Reading Comprehension Ability

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the moderating role of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension in four language groups (English, n = 179; Spanish, n = 188; Czech, n = 135; Slovak, n = 194) from kindergarten to Grade 2. In all languages, early variations in phoneme awareness/letter knowledge, rapid automatised naming, and emerging decoding skills, but not oral language, predicted variations in decoding skills at the end of Grade 1; these in turn predicted reading comprehension in Grade 2. For the three consistent orthographies (Spanish, Slovak, and Czech), kindergarten language skills were another significant predictor of Grade 2 reading comprehension. This effect was absent in the English sample, where variations in decoding skills were a more powerful predictor. These results provide the first longitudinal evidence for effects of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension and provide support for the simple view of reading.     

Finding facts and constructing memory: the creation and custody of human rights records in South America

Gabriela Andaur Gómez is currently a student in the Master of Archival Studies at the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies at The University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. Her interest in Human Rights records arose from her experience as the Coordinator of the Archives of the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECH), the repository responsible for safeguarding the records produced by the student Federation from the dictatorship period to the present, and for documenting the Chilean student movement. Ms Andaur Gomez holds a BA in History from the Universidad de Chile (2010) and is a scholarship holder of the Becas Chile program of the Government of Chile. She will soon start work as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Records in the Cloud project at UBC.

Human rights records have been characterised as those created during the reign of repressive governments or in a transitional context, produced by the state or non-governmental organisations and whose content is related to, or is evidence of, the occurrence of human rights violations. This paper examines three major types of human rights records produced in South America during the second half of the twentieth century, with the aim of identifying their characteristics, the functions that they have served and the challenges that have emerged in relation to their preservation and custody.     

Prediction and the Periodical Aspect as Generators of Knowledge in a Social Practice Framework

We start from the assumption that school mathematics knowledge could be better explained if social practices were considered to be generators of knowledge. This perspective changes the way we look at what school mathematics knowledge is and what it takes to teach and learn it. In this article, we will present a teaching situation about periodic functions, which was designed with this perspective in mind. The design was based on the assumption that the scientific notion of periodic function is related with the social practice of prediction. In the situation, prediction as a social practice is transformed into a situational line of argument which redefines that which is periodical. The situation brings into play meanings for the repetition of a movement, which takes place in time in the context of graphs of functions. Our analysis of the situation will focus on the prediction tools that participants generated in order to define that which is periodical. We will conclude with some implications of our observations for the teaching of mathematics.     

Instructional Activities and the Quality of Language in Chilean Preschool Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examines the association between preschool classroom activity and the quality of the language spoken by teachers and children. Eighteen classrooms serving low-income children between the ages of 3 and 4 in Santiago de Chile were audio-recorded during one morning shift. Recordings were transcribed and segmented into activities (greeting, learning experience, book sharing, book discussion, breakfast, lunch, free play and other noninstructional time). A total of 113 activity segments were identified. Characteristics of teacher and child language were measured in each segment. Differences between the eight activities were examined using analysis of variance. Activities were classified as instructional or noninstructional, and the association between this dimension and language characteristics was examined using multilevel path analysis. Results show that most of the variance in language outcomes occurs within classrooms. Analyses show that a significant portion of the variance in the way teachers and children talk is explained by the instructional/noninstructional dimension. Instructional activities are characterized by more language stimulation, more teaching, fewer directives, and more child talk than noninstructional activities. Practice or Policy Implications: We discuss implications for teacher professional development and early childhood education improvement in general and for Latin-America specifically.     

Using Nonword Repetition Tasks for the Identification of Language Impairment in Spanish‐English‐Speaking Children: Does the Language of Assessment Matter?

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to evaluate the clinical utility of a verbal working memory measure, specifically, a nonword repetition task, with a sample of Spanish-English bilingual children and (2) to determine the extent to which individual differences in relative language skills and language use had an effect on the clinical differentiation of these children by the measures. A total of 144 Latino children (95 children with typical language development and 49 children with language impairment) were tested using nonword lists developed for each language. The results show that the clinical accuracy of nonword repetition tasks varies depending on the language(s) tested. Test performance appeared related to individual differences in language use and exposure. The findings do not support a monolingual approach to the assessment of bilingual children with nonword repetition tasks, even if children appear fluent speakers in the language of testing. Nonword repetition may assist in the screening of Latino children if used bilingually and in combination with other clinical measures.     

The Individual Bases of Political Trust: Trends in New and Established Democracies

The expansion of democracy in the world has been paradoxicallyaccompanied by a decline of political trust. By looking at thetrends in political trust in new and stable democracies overthe last 20 years, and their possible determinants, we claimthat an observable decline in trust reflects the post-honeymoondisillusionment rather than the emergence of a more criticalcitizenry. However, the first new democracies of the ‘thirdwave’ show a significant reemergence of political trustafter democratic consolidation. Using data from the World ValuesSurvey and the European Values Survey, we develop a multivariatemodel of political trust. Our findings indicate that politicaltrust is positively related to well-being, social capital, democraticattitudes, political interest, and external efficacy, suggestingthat trust responds to government performance. However, politicaltrust is generally hindered by corruption permissiveness, politicalradicalism and postmaterialism. We identify differences by regionand type of society in these relationships, and discuss themethodological problems inherent to the ambiguities in the conceptof political trust.     

Nonlinear Mixed-Effects Modeling Programs in R

In this software review, we provide a brief overview of four R functions to estimate nonlinear mixed-effects programs: nlme (linear and nonlinear mixed-effects model), nlmer (from the lme4 package, linear mixed-effects models using Eigen and S4), saemix (stochastic approximation expectation maximization), and brms (Bayesian regression models using Stan). We briefly describe the approaches used, provide a sample code, and highlight strengths and weaknesses of each.     

Ivory-tower or market-oriented enterprise: the role of higher education institutions in shaping graduate employability in the domain of science

This article researches higher education (HE) managers’ perception of graduate professional success and higher education institutions’ (HEI) activity aimed at enhancing graduate employability. The issue is worth examining not only because of growing relative unemployment rates among HE graduates but also because it is a part of a heated discussion on the contemporary evolution of HEIs. We analysed 36 semi-structured interviews with representatives of HEIs offering studies in the field of science in six countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey). Our analysis showed that there are three approaches observed, depending to a large extent on the balance between different HE stakeholders within subdomains (triple-helix theory). Our results support the hypothesis of diversification of HEIs’ models varying from the traditional ivory-tower-type university (with a dominating role of academic oligarchy) to the market-oriented educational enterprise (where the business sector is a key driver of change).