‘We learnt that last week’: reading into the language practices of teachers

The messages teachers convey to their students through their use of language can often go unconsidered, yet such practices can have a significant impact on students and their schooling, and in the creation of learning difficulties. In this paper we employ a discursive and ideological approach to analysing teachers’ language practices and suggest that such systematic examination is warranted given the centrality of ‘teacher talk’ to students’ schooling. We draw attention to these concerns through an analysis of a spoken text between a teacher and student in the context of ‘show and tell’; a dialogue drawn from a larger body of data of interviews with and observations of teachers in six Australian primary schools. The analysis attempts to uncover the meanings conveyed to the student in question, Sam, through his teacher’s language practices and to demonstrate the potentially detrimental effects of these practices on his schooling. Generally, we propose that teachers frequently employ linguistic techniques to refashion students in various ways, according to the norms of schooling; norms that often do not account very well for student difference and which position them as ‘difficult’. Specifically, we argue that Sam’s teacher seems more interested in moulding Sam’s behaviour to conform to the interests of the school than in valuing his heritage and contributions.     

Beyond Hegemony: Classical Propaganda Theory and Presidential Communication Strategy After the Invasion of Iraq

The “hegemonic” tradition argues that the president enjoys unparalleled power to manage news and opinion during war. This approach has dominated political communication literature on war and the media for over a generation. The war with Iraq, however, provides a major challenge to conventional wisdom. We believe that classical propaganda theory provides a useful corrective to the hegemonic perspective and offers a better way to understand the Bush administration's propaganda strategy and its impact on public opinion. Using a combination of content analysis, opinion data, and analysis of the administration's Iraq-related public addresses, we argue that the president neither dominated war news nor managed public opinion in the manner predicted by hegemonic theories.     

Grammar for writing? An investigation of the effects of contextualised grammar teaching on students’ writing

The role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing is contested in most Anglophone countries, with several robust meta-analyses finding no evidence of any beneficial effect. However, existing research is limited in that it only considers isolated grammar instruction and offers no theorisation of an instructional relationship between grammar and writing. This study, drawing on a theorised understanding of grammar as a meaning-making resource for writing development, set out to investigate the impact of contextualised grammar instruction on students’ writing performance. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, with a randomised controlled trial and a complementary qualitative study. The statistical analyses indicate a positive effect on writing performance for the intervention group (e = 0.21; p < 0.001); but the study also indicates that the intervention impact differentially on different sub-groups, benefiting able writers more than weaker writers. The study is significant in being the first to supply rigorous, theorised evidence for the potential benefits of teaching grammar to support development in writing.     

Observation,Perception and Education

Summaries

English

Observations and other forms of perception are fundamental to the practice of science. These involve attention to a stimulus, and discrimination and categorization of the sensory input. The available evidence indicates that perception improves with practice; that it is helped if distinctive and discriminatory features are identified and are highlighted; and that this can be done with contrasting examples. Knowledge of categories into which stimuli may be sorted, and of relevant language, may provide a framework for perception.

The interpretation of a perceptual stimulus is influenced by previously‐learned knowledge, intellectual skills and cognitive strategies, and by the person's mental set.     

Researching social inequalities in education: towards a Bourdieuian methodology

The injustices of ‘allowing certain people to succeed, based not upon merit but upon the cultural experiences, the social ties and the economic resources they have access to, often remains unacknowledged in the broader society’ (Wacquant, 1998 Wacquant, L. J. D. 1998. “Pierre Bourdieu”. In Key sociological thinkers, Edited by: Stones, R. New York: New York University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 216). Cognizant of this, the authors argue that education requires researchers’ renewed examination and explanation of its involvement in the construction of social and economic differences. Specifically, they make the case for researchers to consider the theoretical work of Pierre Bourdieu, outlining what they understand by a Bourdieuian methodology, which is informed by socially critical and poststructural understandings of the world. Such methodology attempts to dig beneath surface appearances, asking how social systems work. By asking ‘whose interests are being served and how’ (Tripp, 1998 Tripp, D. 1998. “Critical incidents in action inquiry”. In Being reflexive in critical educational and social research, Edited by: Shacklock, G. and Smyth, J. London: Falmer Press.  [Google Scholar], p. 37) in the social arrangements we find, Bourdieu can help us to ‘work towards a more just social order’ (Lenzo, 1995 Lenzo, K. 1995. Validity and self‐reflexivity meet post‐structuralism: scientific ethos and the transgressive self. Educational Researcher, 52(1): 17–23.  [Google Scholar], p. 17).     

Optimization of oar blade design for improved performance in rowing

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to find a more optimal blade design for rowing performance than the Big Blade, which has been shown to be less than optimal for propulsion. As well as the Big Blade, a flat Big Blade, a flat rectangular blade, and a rectangular blade with the same curvature and projected area as the Big Blade were tested in a water flume to determine their fluid dynamic characteristics at the full range of angles at which the oar blade might present itself to the water. Similarities were observed between the flat Big Blade and rectangular blades. However, the curved rectangular blade generated significantly more lift in the angle range 0 – 90° than the curved Big Blade, although it was similar between 90 and 180°. This difference was attributed to the shape of the upper and lower edges of the blade and their influence on the fluid flow around the blade. Although the influence of oar blade design on boat speed was not investigated here, the significant increases in fluid force coefficients for the curved rectangular blade suggest that this new oar blade design could elicit a practically significant improvement in rowing performance.