Inclusive Education in Brunei Darussalam

This paper describes major developments in Brunei Darussalam during the past decade that highlight inclusive education as a significant educational agenda. A brief history of disability services is first described to provide a backdrop of pre-1994 developments and activities that occurred in the country. Next, the education system in Brunei is introduced with specific reference to how special education became relevant to serving the needs of students with special needs within the mainstream school system. Major developments in the inclusion movement during the past decade are then described in terms of policy, implementation and teacher education. The article concludes with a discussion on current local research that seeks to inform the direction of practice and policy of inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam.     

通信电子类院校图书馆网上咨询服务研究

网上咨询服务是网络环境下图书馆信息服务纵深化的主要方式。本文通过对6所大学图书馆的Web调研，提出了目前通信电子类院校图书馆网上咨询服务的主要形式和特点，并就强化网上咨询服务提出了若干对策。     

精神的求乞者——《过客》的深层解读

通过对"过客"意象的分析,认为"过客"有其西方原型——苏鲁支;又有其东方原型——孔子。"过客"是人类整体永恒地"走"的命运的象征;同时也是鲁迅流亡知识分子形象的象征。     

A componential approach to understanding reading and its difficulties in preadolescent readers

The present study is predicated on the logic of interrelated functional information processing components as an approach to understanding reading and its difficulties in preadolescent readers. The structural equation modelling (and its variants) involved these three latent components: (a) orthographic/phonological component, (b) morphological component, and (c) sentence and paragraph comprehension component. These components were subserved by a total of ten measurable tasks, all administered on-line via the microcomputer under laboratory conditions with reaction time measures as indices of mental representation of word knowledge and sentence/paragraph comprehension. The latent dependent component of reading performance was subserved by standardized vocabulary and reading comprehension tests. The total sample consisted of 298 children in grades, 4, 5, and 6. Maximum likelihood analyses using LISREL show that the data in general do not disconfirm the proposed model for grade 4 readers. The three-component model, with some variables set free, provides a reasonable fit for the grade 5 data but less claim could be made about the goodness of fit for grade 6. The results show the mutually reinforcing and mutually facilitating effects of multilevels and multicomponents of reading. Word structure and word knowledge are particularly predictive of reading. The present Phase 1 work would be validated in a follow-up of another cohort of readers and would also lead to the systematic training of some of the components with poor readers. This study was supported by a grant (No. 410-86-0048) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.     

Component skills of text comprehension in less competent Chinese comprehenders

The present study examined the role of verbal working memory (memory span and tongue-twister), two-character Chinese pseudoword reading (two tasks), rapid automatized naming (RAN) (letters and numbers), and phonological segmentation (deletion of rimes and onsets) in inferential text comprehension in Chinese in 31 less competent comprehenders compared with 37 reading comprehension control students and 23 chronological age controls. It was hypothesized that the target students would perform poorly on these cognitive and linguistic tasks as compared with their controls. Furthermore, verbal working memory and pseudoword reading would explain a considerable amount of individual variation in Chinese text comprehension. RAN would have a nonsignificant role in text comprehension. Structural equation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression analyses generally upheld these hypotheses. Our findings support current literature of the role of verbal working memory in reading comprehension found in English. The results, however, suggest differential role of the constructs and the tasks in reading comprehension and provide some answers for comprehension impairment in Chinese students.     

Cultural values and attitudes toward immigrants and multiculturalism: The case of the Eurobarometer survey on racism and xenophobia

The current paper uses archival data to examine variations in Schwartz's and Hofstede's cultural value orientations and their relationship to attitudes toward immigration and multiculturalism reported in the Eurobarometer Survey [Attitudes towards minority groups in the European Union: a special analysis of the Eurobarometer 2000 opinion poll on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Eurobarometer Opinion Poll. Retrieved September 1, 2003, from http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm] on racism and xenophobia. The results demonstrated that mastery, masculinity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism were associated with weaker support for policies that promote social co-existence. Masculinity and mastery were also linked to more pessimistic attitudes towards multiculturalism, and increased harmony was correlated with less desire for cultural assimilation. The results largely converge with research undertaken at the individual-level of analysis, and the data suggest four clusters of cultural values related to immigration attitudes: humanitarianism-egalitarianism, conservation, collectivism, and instrumentality.     

现代汉字中非同音声旁之研究

现代汉字声旁一般分为同音声旁和非同音声旁。非同音声旁因与其含旁字不同音而被各路专家判为“都不表音”,并失去表音功能。文章分类描写了非同音声旁在含旁字中的表音实际,通过统计研究,认为非同音声旁并非“都不表音”,经过处理,其中至少有142个非同音声旁所带的749个相同读音的含旁字,能按声旁音读准字音。     

Aging IQ Intervention with Older Korean Americans: A Comparison of Internet-Based and In-Class Education

Using the translated contents of the National Institute on Aging (NIA)'s Aging IQ, an educational intervention was delivered to older Korean Americans. The educational program was delivered via two different modalities, Internet-based education (n = 12) and in-class education (n = 11), and the overall feasibility and efficacy were evaluated by the Reach, Efficacy, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. A high level of completion and overall satisfaction with the program was observed in both groups. Both groups also exhibited a significant improvement in their knowledge about aging after the completion of the educational program. However, at the one-month follow-up, the Internet-based group showed a greater retention of the knowledge gained. The findings not only support the value of education on aging for older ethnic minorities but also suggest the use of the Internet as an integral modality of intervention delivery.