Interactive video for bilingual ASL/English instruction of deaf children

Advances in technology make possible certain instructional approaches that heretofore were difficult to implement. One of these advances is the use of computers to present video instructional materials for student-directed learning. In the experimental program described here, we use a bilingual approach to teach aspects of English to deaf children who are fluent in ASL. The goal of this project is to explore ways that ASL and English can be used cooperatively to help deaf students learn more about English.     

The linguistic base of initial reading and spelling in English: a tutorial review

ABSTRACT

This article summarises the linguistic base of initial reading and spelling in English for the benefit of teachers and others engaged in education who need explicit understanding of parts of the linguistic base in order to teach initial literacy accurately. The aspects covered are those most relevant to children entering formal schooling: spoken language as the foundation of literacy; phonetics and phonology; phoneme-grapheme and grapheme-phoneme correspondences; sequencing in phonics teaching; vocabulary, morphology and syntax; and the linguistic effects of reading to children. Several aspects are discussed from two angles, first describing the full system, then summarising where 5-year-olds have reached in their development towards it.     

Preventing alcohol-exposed pregnancy among American-Indian youth

Research has determined that the prevention of alcohol-exposed pregnancies (AEP) must occur preconceptually, either by reducing alcohol intake in women planning pregnancy or at risk for becoming pregnant, or by preventing pregnancy in women drinking at risky levels. One such AEP prevention programme with non-pregnant American-Indian (AI) women is the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) Changing High-risk alcohOl use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) Programme, which shows promise in reducing AEP risk in AI women aged 18 or older. A community needs assessment was conducted with key informant interviews and focus groups with an emphasis on how to expand OST CHOICES. To identify relevant inter-related themes, a content analysis was conducted on qualitative feedback from the focus groups and interviews. Altogether, key informant interviews were completed with 25 health and social service professionals. Eight focus groups were held with 58 AI participants, including adult women of child-bearing age, elder women, and adult men. Several sub-themes regarding the prevention of AEP with youth were identified, expanding the OST CHOICES curriculum into the schools, and the role of family and culture within AEP prevention.     

Young children's overgeneralizations with fixed transitivity verbs

The present study examined English-speaking children's tendency to make argument structure overgeneralization errors (e.g., I disappeared it). Children were exposed to several English verbs of fixed transitivity (exclusively intransitive or exclusively transitive) and then asked questions that encouraged them to overgeneralize usage of the verbs. Seventy-two children (24 in each of three age groups: 3, 4/5, and 8 years of age) experienced four actions performed by puppets. Each action had two verbs of similar meaning associated with it in the context of the experimental action: one more familiar to young children and one less familiar. Children at all ages were more likely to overgeneralize usage of verbs that were less familiar to them, supporting the hypothesis that children's usage of verbs in particular construction types becomes entrenched over time. As children solidly learn the transitivity status of particular verbs, they become more reluctant to use those verbs in other argument structure constructions.     

An Investigation of Classification Consistency Indexes Estimated Under Alternative Strong True Score Models

Using several data sets, the authors examine the relative performance of the beta binomial model and two other more general strong true score models in estimating several indexes of classification consistency. It is shown that the beta binomial model can provide inadequate fits to raw score distributions compared to more general models. This lack of fit is reflected in differences in decision consistency indexes computed using the beta binomial model and the other models. It is recommended that the adequacy of a model in fitting the data be assessed before the model is used to estimate decision consistency indexes. When the beta binomial model does not fit the data, the more general models discussed here may provide an adequate fit and, in such cases, would be more appropriate for computing decision consistency indexes.     

Social constructivist teaching methods in Australian universities – reported uptake and perceived learning effects: a survey of lecturers

Pragmatic social constructivist teaching methods require students to construct knowledge by engaging collaboratively with realistic problems, cases or projects. It is hypothesised that they are more effective than traditional didactic teaching methods in developing undergraduate students’: (1) theoretical knowledge; (2) profession‐specific skills; and (3) knowledge creation capacity. Results of a survey show the second and third learning effects to be salient among Australian university lecturers, but not the first. Lecturers report that these teaching methods have been adopted more widely in human service‐related faculties and design‐related faculties than in business‐related faculties, possibly owing to the lesser emphasis placed by business lecturers on developing students’ profession‐specific skills and knowledge creation capacity. A corresponding survey of business practitioners revealed a surprising gap between the value that business practitioners place on new graduates’ knowledge creation capacity and the rather limited emphasis that business lecturers place upon developing that capacity in their undergraduate students.     

A phenomenological exploration of children’s school life and well-being

Learning Environments Research - This phenomenological study explored children’s school life as it relates to their subjective well-being in the United States (N?=?22). It was...     

Books of the Month

James Monaco's American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, The Movies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979—$19.95)

Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh's The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present (New York: Ballentine Books, 1979—$19.95/9.95)