Reliability of interviewers using the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall

The Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interview is commonly used in epidemiologic research, but the methods of training and certifying interviewers have not been studied or standardized. The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interviews after a structured training program. Twenty-one volunteer interviewers participated in a five-session group training program that targeted standardized interview techniques and scoring procedures. Interviewers scored eight videotaped interviews on two occasions to assess scoring skills. Across all videotapes and interviewers, the test-retest reliability was .99. Two interviewers independently interviewed the same person on the same day, and the reliability of kilocalorie expenditure across interviewers was .86. It was concluded that naive individuals can be taught to reliably conduct and score the Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall interview in a brief training program.     

The use of hyper-reference and conventional dictionaries

A hyper-reference is an online electronic aid that provides immediate access to adjunct information with a direct-return path to the target information. Eighty undergraduate foreign language learners participated in a comparison of hyper-reference and conventional paper dictionary use on the measures of consultation frequency, study time, efficiency, and comprehension. Hyper-reference users consulted over two times as many definitions as conventional dictionary users. Analyses of efficiency (consults per minute) found a higher consultation rate for hyper-reference users than for conventional dictionary users. The study also compared bilingual (Spanish/English) and monolingual (Spanish/simplified Spanish) dictionary use. Bilingual dictionary users consulted 25% more definitions than did monolingual dictionary users. Bilingual dictionary users completed reading in 20% less time than monolingual dictionary users. Efficiency was also higher during bilingual dictionary use than during monolingual dictionary use. Differences in comprehension were not significant. Directions for further research and development concerning electronic text and hyper-references are offered.     

EDUCATION OF THE CANADIAN INDIAN AND ESKIMO

The following statement was presented to the Honorable Gerard Pelletier, Secretary of State Government of Canada, by the Native Council of Canada and its associated members, June 6, 1972.     

“I don’t talk or I decide not to talk? Is it my culture?”—International students’ experiences of tutorial participation

Active participation in university tutorials seems to be commonly argued as one of the learning difficulties of non-English-speaking background (NESB) Asian students enrolled in Western English-speaking universities. These students are often portrayed as being passive in class and this is commonly attributed to their background culture. Using Australia as a setting, this paper challenges these misconceptions through the lens of the contextual approach or ‘small culture’ approach. It is argued that NESB international Asian students’ participation in Australian university tutorials is influenced by the classroom context in which they learn rather than by their cultures. This paper also provides a framework for teachers, who are the most important and powerful member in the ‘context’, to critically reflect on their pedagogical practices.