Humor and anxiety: Effects on class test performance

Measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety, and achievement were obtained on a sample of undergraduate students, half of whom received additionaal humorous items in the achievement test. In a regression analysis, the trait anxiety × test version interaction was a significant predictor of achievement. Subsequent analyses revealed a disordinal interaction in which highly anxious students had lower achievement on the humorous test than on the nonhumorous test, and students with low anxiety had higher achievement on the humorous test than did students with high anxiety. The results do not support the popular assumption that humor is a positive factor in reducing high anxiety associated with academic evaluations.     

“Well,You Can’t Force Them”: Altercasting in the Home Health Care Context

Home health aides are often low-paid, low-status workers, performing their job in an isolated and interpersonally complex environment. This study, made up of semistructured interviews with 36 home health aides, explores compliance-gaining challenges faced by “low status, remote workers.” It was found that altercasting, a compliance-gaining technique using social roles to govern behavior, is well suited for the home care context. Aides were found to activate four altercast roles, including parent, trainer, employee, and friend. It is suggested that by using positive altercasting as a compliance-gaining technique, aides are able to both persuade their client to complete necessary tasks of daily living at the same time they construct and maintain the moral identity of a good caregiver.     

Language Does Matter: But There is More to Language Than Vocabulary and Directed Speech

In response to Golinkoff, Hoff, Rowe, Tamis-LeMonda, and Hirsh-Pasek's (2018) commentary, we clarify our goals, outline points of agreement and disagreement between our respective positions, and address the inadvertently harmful consequences of the word gap claim. We maintain that our study constitutes a serious empirical challenge to the word gap. Our findings do not support Hart and Risley's claim under their definition of the verbal environment; when more expansive definitions were applied, the word gap disappeared. The word gap argument focuses attention on supposed deficiencies of low-income and minority families, risks defining their children out of the educational game at the very outset of their schooling, and compromises efforts to restructure curricula that recognize the verbal strengths of all learners.     

Family sources of educational gender inequality in rural China: A critical assessment

In this paper, we investigate the gender gap in education in rural northwest China. We first discuss parental perceptions of abilities and appropriate roles for girls and boys; parental concerns about old-age support; and parental perceptions of different labor market outcomes for girls’ and boys’ education. We then investigate gender disparities in investments in children, children's performance at school, and children's subsequent attainment. We analyze a survey of 9–12-year-old children and their families conducted in rural Gansu Province in the year 2000, along with follow-up information about subsequent educational attainment collected 7 years later. We complement our main analysis with two illustrative case studies of rural families drawn from 11 months of fieldwork conducted in rural Gansu between 2003 and 2005 by the second author.     

Preschooler Sleep Patterns Related to Cognitive and Adaptive Functioning

Research Findings: Preschoolers’ sleep patterns were examined related to cognitive and adaptive functioning. The sample consisted of 874 typically developing preschool children with a mean age of 40.01 months. Parent/caregiver reports of children's sleep pattern factors, Stanford-Binet 5 intelligence scale scores, and Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, adaptive behavior composite scores were examined. The results provided evidence of the interaction among preschoolers’ sleep factors, cognitive variations across performance areas, and adaptive functioning. Practice or Policy: Sleep needs vary according to the child, and maintaining optimal sleep habits will help preschool performance and skills acquisition. Practical implications for prevention, early intervention, education, and policy are discussed.     

English Learner Curricular Streams in Four Middle Schools: Triage in the Trenches

Little is known about the curricular experiences schools provide English learner students (ELs) to meet the dual goals of attaining English language proficiency (ELP) and grade-level achievement. I introduce the concept of Curricular Streams to provide a more nuanced comparative analysis of four urban middle schools, focusing on: (a) the extent to which they provided English language development (ELD) instruction and access to the core and full curriculum; and (b) the relative emphasis on ELP versus core academic content, remediation versus acceleration, and isolation versus integration of ELs with non-EL peers. I situate the Curricular Streams within the schools’ broader cultures and practices. The results reveal local definitions of EL status and wide variation in EL Curricular Streams: One school emphasized ELP and remediation over access to the core. Another integrated ELs more quickly into mainstream courses, yet its remediation emphasis limited access to the core. The third provided more access, but isolated ELs. The fourth provided more access to the core, accelerated ELD, and eschewed interventions. The evidence suggests that schools are groping for solutions and it raises questions about the efficacy of EL state policy that relies on local control for interpretation. I provide implications for research, policy, and practice and hypotheses about the characteristics of Curricular Streams and school cultures that might increase ELs’ opportunity to learn and achieve the dual goals.     

The interface of Pacific and other knowledges in a supplementary education site

Because identity (language and culture) are central to Pacific knowledge and knowledge construction processes, Pacific students’ educational experiences should be viewed through a cultural lens that sees Pacific knowledge and practices as valid and valued. This study explores the relationship between culture and educational outcomes as seen in how participation in a school Polynesian club (a cultural education supplementary site) builds youth feelings of self-esteem, identity and the confidence to connect to other educational, cultural and social spaces.