Measuring Motivation to Learn Chinese and English Through Self-Reported Feelings and Behaviours

The socio-educational approach to measuring language motivation has its focus on social attitude rather than language-relevant feelings and behaviours in the classroom context. The development of two scales for measuring elementary students' motivation to learn Chinese and English reported here is an exploration of a psychology-based approach which may be more meaningful to language teachers. The scales share common items and cover both affective and behavioural aspects of language learning. Very high internal consistency was found for both scales. Discriminant validity was established with reference to student backgrounds, including overall academic performance, gender, language examination grade, home language, and self-evaluation of language ability.     

Revisiting Patterson's paradigm: gaze behaviors in deaf communication

Eye contact and eye gaze behaviors within communication contexts are considered vital to clear linguistic transmission. Although much research has been done on eye contact and gaze behaviors, surprisingly little literature exists in this area concerning deaf populations. Due to linguistic necessity, certain factors influencing gaze behaviors during communication will differ between hearing and deaf groups. The present article explains a sequential model of eye gaze and eye contact behaviors (Patterson, 1982) developed and researched among hearing populations and explores possible similarities and differences in these behaviors in deaf people. It is found that characterizations of eye contact and eye gaze behaviors applied to hearing populations are not completely applicable to deaf groups. Empirical research is needed to validate the ideas presented here, and future research directions are indicated.     

Teacher education: Wasteland or watershed?

It is established that the literature presents diverse positions on the impact of teacher education on beginning teacher practices. Teacher education is seen as a wasteland, a watershed for conservatism or progressivism, or a temporary influence quickly washed out by institutional and social conditions of school settings. The literature is unanimous in declaring teacher education inadequate. Data from a small scale interpretive study of entry into secondary school teaching are used to support two major claims. First, teacher education can function as a watershed equipping some beginning teachers with the competence and confidence to attempt reconstruction of existing school conditions. Second, no simple linear relationship exists between teacher education and beginning teacher practices; rather, they exist along with many other personal, institutional and social factors in a complex, interconnected network.     

The development of auditory temporal acuity in children

The development of auditory temporal acuity was studied in 56 children aged 6-12 years and compared with that of 8 adults. Acuity was measured by determining the minimum detectable duration of a brief cessation in a noise band with the 2-alternative forced-choice method. For detection of gaps in a broadband noise, acuity improved significantly with age and reached adult values by 11 years. The minimum detectable duration was significantly shorter at higher levels of the noise. For narrow-band noises, acuity also improved significantly with age and depended on the center frequency of the band. The improvement in temporal acuity with age was attributed to the development of sensory processes and not to age-related changes in nonsensory factors.     

Gender,Media and Protest

This article traces the ways in which the British suffragette Emily Wilding Davison was represented in national newspapers between 1913—the year she died—and 2013, the centenary of her death. We identify three key discourses through which Davison has been represented in four British newspapers throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first: delegitimisation, recuperation and trivialisation. In doing so, this paper provides original insights into the ways that the fight for women’s rights has been figured in different historical moments. A key argument is that over time, Davison’s militant actions—once cast as those of a hysterical lunatic—have slowly come to be recuperated and legitimised as part of the story of British democracy. However, this discursive shift cannot be straightforwardly celebrated as a progressive move in representations of women’s movements, as Davison is frequently invoked to delegitimise contemporary feminism. Our analysis charts the extent to which Davison has been visible (or not) in newspapers through different historical periods; the specific ways in which Davison’s image was transformed along with broader changes in women’s status; and it considers the political implications of these (in)visibilities and representations for contemporary feminism.     

Family and nonfamily support in relation to burnout and work engagement among Italian teachers

Italy had traditionally been considered a family‐oriented culture where support from relatives is primary. The major purpose of this study was to clarify the benefits of social support inside and outside the family for schoolteachers in Italy, focusing on the teacher burnout and work engagement. Findings indicated that the family was by far the most significant source of support. School colleagues who felt close to each other resembled each other in terms of burnout and work engagement. Difficult interactions with colleagues were associated with burnout more extensively at later stages of the teaching career; supervisor support was linked with burnout at an early stage.     

Lying and Truthfulness: Children's Definitions, Standards, and Evaluative Reactions

Preschool ( M = 4.9 years), second- ( M = 7.8 years), and fifth- ( M = 11.0 years) grade children's definitions of, moral standards for, and internal evaluative reactions to both lies and truthful statements were investigated. The influence of 4 factors on these judgments was also examined: the falsity of the statement, the content of the statement, whether or not the statement was believed, and whether or not the statement resulted in punishment. Results revealed that while the older children identified almost all statements correctly, preschoolers correctly identified about 70% of lies and truthful statements. Lies were rated as worse than truthful statements by all age groups; however, only the second and fifth graders ascribed feelings of pride to story characters after truthfulness. Implications of these findings for children's moral development are discussed.