A comparative study of variations in arithmetic fluency between Norwegian and Finnish third graders

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to investigate variations in addition and subtraction fluency by observing grade three students in Norway (n = 253, M_age = 8.38 y.) and Finland (n = 209, M_age = 9.35 y.) while controlling for their age and non-verbal reasoning. Gender differences were also examined. The focus of the study was on the performance of the low-achieving (LA) students in comparison to the typically achieving (TA) group, not neglecting differences in how early educational support was organised across the two countries. Two-minute speed tests in both addition and subtraction within the 1–20 number range were used to assess fluency. The Finnish students outperformed students in the Norwegian sample both in addition and subtraction fluency. There were more Norwegian students in the LA group (i.e. performance at or below the 25th percentile) in both addition (37.9% vs. 20.1%) and subtraction (39.1% vs. 15.8%). In comparison to the TA students, the LA students made more errors and skipped over more arithmetic tasks in an attempt to solve them. Observed differences are discussed in relation to both country characteristics concerning early mathematics education and early educational support.     

情境教学对高职英语口语词块流利性的影响研究

基于实验班与对照班两次限时口语测试语料中的产出性词块,根据产出速度及产出频率分析情境教学对高职英语口语词块流利性的影响。结果显示,情境教学对产出性口语词块流利性的影响具有多层次、多角度和多方位的特征。其中,情境教学对语篇词块流利性的影响呈多样性变化趋势,语篇词块的产出速度变化不明显,但产出频率有显著提高;人际关系词块的产出速度及产出频率因情境教学而降低,故流利性有所减弱;话题内容词块的流利性则受情境教学影响而大大增强,不仅产出速度有显著提高,而且产出频率的增加也具有统计意义上的显著性。     

Do children who acquire word reading without explicit phonics employ compensatory learning? Issues of phonological recoding, lexical orthography, and fluency

Two studies were conducted across three countries to examine samples of beginning readers without systematic explicit phonics who had reached the same level of word reading accuracy as comparison samples with high and moderate explicit phonics. Had they employed any compensatory learning to reach that level? Four hypotheses of compensatory learning or performance were tested on the samples, all of which represented the lower half of the normative distribution of word reading accuracy. The two samples without explicit phonics received teaching that centered on story text reading and some receptive phonics that arose from this text reading. They did not compensate by relatively greater use of a larger psycholinguistic grain size in the form of rime units. Nor did they compensate by trading off comprehension for text word reading accuracy. In a microtraining study, they showed no compensation in proficiency of initial learning of lexical orthographic representations. For all samples, this initial learning was less effective with spelling than reading training trials. In reading text, the samples without explicit phonics did not compensate by trading off speed for accuracy, or comprehension. On the contrary, they read text faster than the explicit phonics samples. The extra classroom instruction time available to them for text reading, with the consequential extra exposure and practice of word reading, would explain this result.     

对高校学生英语口语流利性和正确性的思考

高校学生英语口语水平的高低程度主要取决于其语言表达的流利性与正确性。教师在培养学生的语言表达能力时,应充分考虑各种影响学生口语流利性与正确性的因素,并针对性地采用相应的策略消除障碍,以提高其口语表达水平。     

物理教学中发散性思维的培养

素质教育的目标之一是发展学生的智力,培养学生的创造能力．而创造能力是创造性思维的基础,发散性思维又是创造性思维的核心．故对学生进行发散性思维的培养有着重要意义．     

口语流利性与自我修正类型的研究

口语流利性与自我修正类型的研究是基于微型教学语料库的第二语言口语流利性的实证性研究。本研究借鉴了前人研究第二语言口语流利性的框架,从口语流利性的三个时间性指标出发考察了口语产出流利度不同的说话者采用自我修正类型的频率,发现说话者皆明显多采用相同信息修正,而流利的说话者单位时间的修正次数更多,且较之不流利者明显多采用恰当修正和错误修正,揭示了其注意力更易从内容转移到形式上来以完成更高质量的口语产出。     

英语习语习得方法与语言流利性的培养

语言交际的流利性与语言使用者能否熟练使用该语言的惯用表达法有关。外语教学的目标是培养学习者获得目的语流利交际的能力,这表明有效习得目的语中的惯用表达法具有重要的作用。习语作为惯用表达法的一个重要组成部分,其习得的成效必然影响目的语流利性的培养。为此,本文首先对语言的流利性、习语与惯用表达法的区别、英语习语的特征及功能和在培养语言流利性的作用进行讨论;其次,分析目前英语习语习得不足的原因,提出相应的改进方法。     

非英语专业大学生口语流利性的提升策略

为探讨有利于提高非英语专业大学生的口语流利性的教学方式,以定性分析法,从不同的理论角度阐述了对口语流利性的理解,分析了大学生口语流利性发展过程中容易出现的问题,着重指出其影响因素。在此基础上,从英语教学的角度,提出了提升非英语专业大学生口语流利性的策略和教学技巧。英语口语的习得是一个缓慢的、不断实践的过程。     

Read Two Impress and the Neurological Impress Method: Effects on elementary students’ reading fluency,comprehension, and attitude

This seven-week study examined the effects of the Neurological Impress Method and Read Two Impress on reading comprehension, fluency, and students’ attitude toward reading. The 57 first-, second-, and third-grade students were randomly assigned to three conditions and were pre- and posttested on eight reading measures. Several 3 × 2 factorial analyses of variance revealed significant interaction effects on retell, comprehension questions, and the multidimensional fluency scale as well as time effects on words read correctly per minute and word recognition accuracy. Moreover, a comparison of mean difference effect sizes favored the treatment groups on all reading fluency and comprehension measures. The interventions, however, had little effect on students’ attitude toward reading. Practical implications and future research directions are also discussed.