Sprachförderung von Kindern und Jugendlichen aus Zuwandererfamilien

Children and adolescents of families with immigrant background are less successful in the German education systems than those without immigrant background. These differences can largely be explained by deficits in the language of instruction, indicating a lack of learning opportunities in the second language. The present paper investigates how it is possible to reduce language disparities before children enter school on the one hand and during the course of schooling on the other hand. This is being done by presenting the current state of research on the acquisition of a second language. In particular, recent findings on the influence of the quantity and quality of early childhood education on the language acquisition of children are summarized. Furthermore, findings on the effectiveness of attending all-day schools and of current programs for language instruction are presented. Finally, potential avenues for further development of language instruction as well as for future research are discussed.     

Re-conceptualizing adult education’s monolithic behaviourist interpretation: toward a new understanding of radical behaviourism

The philosophy of radical behaviourism remains misunderstood within the field of adult education. Contributing to this trend is the field’s homogeneous behaviourist interpretation, which attributes methodological behaviourism’s principles to radical behaviourism. The guiding principles and assumptions of radical behaviourism are examined to highlight distinctions between the two philosophies. Significant differences are found in positions on private events, reductionism, mechanism, operationalism, and logical positivism. Examples of critical misunderstandings in adult education literature are detailed. The philosophy’s impact on adult education is discussed in three areas: instructional design, adult career and technical education, and human resource development. Recent advances in behaviour analytic research and practice are then presented to demonstrate its continued relevance to adult education. It is argued that a re-conceptualization of behaviourism is needed to position radical behaviourism as a unique adult education philosophy.     

Two steps forward,one step back: Effect size reporting in gifted education research from 1995–2000

The APA Task Force on Statistical Inference recently recommended reporting effect sizes alongside results of statistical significance tests. The purpose of this article is to investigate effect size usage in gifted education research and to follow up on a similar investigation published by Plucker (1997). A content analysis of effect size reporting was conducted of articles published in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted, Roeper Review, and Gifted Child Quarterly from 1995–2000. Results of the present study were similar to the findings of Plucker (1997): No statistical difference in reporting was found across journals or across years, and a moderate difference was found between effect size reporting in univariate versus multivariate statistics. The benefits to gifted education research of understanding the relationship among sample size, effect size, and statistical power are discussed.     

Self-concept of students in higher education: are there differences by faculty and gender?

Many studies examine student self-concept during compulsory schooling but few have explored the self-concept of students in higher educational settings. The current study examined self-concept by faculty and gender among higher education students in New Zealand. Participants were 929 undergraduate students from a large New Zealand university. The results showed some differences in verbal and maths self-concept by faculty. Generally, students in faculties teaching subjects more reliant on maths skills had higher maths self-concept than those in faculties where facility in verbal skills was important. The opposite results were found for verbal self-concept. No overall gender differences were found for general, academic, verbal and maths self-concept although a statistically significant difference was found for problem-solving self-concept. This finding suggests students’ choice of faculty may be based on perceptions of their skills and capabilities in the various fields, irrespective of gender.