‘What do you call the dull words?’ Primary school children using corpus‐based approaches to learn about language

This article reports on a study in progress which is exploring the potential for teaching Key Stage 2 pupils about the grammar and vocabulary of English with materials based on an electronically stored corpus of texts and associated software. It includes examples of the teaching activities used and extracts of discussions between the researcher and two groups of pupils. It illustrates children beginning to explore the distinction between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ classes of words.     

如何保住你的工作

除非你是希尔顿失散多年的妹妹,否则你一定要为经济状况（以及如何保位你的职业）担心。莱昂纳多·兰黛作为雅诗·兰黛公司的主席管理数千人,他的建议可以帮助你远离被解雇的风险。     

On the relevance of the mathematics curriculum to young people

In this article we draw upon focus group data from a large study of learner trajectories through 14–19 mathematics education to think about the notion of relevance in the mathematics curriculum. Drawing on data from three socially distanced sites we explore how different emphases on what might be termed practical, process and/or professional forms of relevance affect the experiences and aspirations of learners of mathematics. We consider whether an emphasis on practical relevance in schools serving relatively disadvantaged communities might aid the reproduction of students' social position. This leads us to suggest that a fourth category of curriculum relevance – political relevance – is largely missing from classrooms.     

Socio-economic position and higher education in Australia

The proportion of students enrolled at university from the lowest quartile of socio-economic position has remained static at around 15% for at least the past 15 years (DEEWR, Transforming Australia’s higher education system, 2009). This paper argues that the apparent lack of progress towards equity of access has been exacerbated due to how socio-economic position (SEP) is measured within higher education. Three major methodological issues are identified: (a) the use of socio-economic indicator for areas (SEIFA) at an inappropriate unit of geographic area (postcode), (b) an inappropriate choice of index (education and occupation), and (c) using the index of education and occupation as the sole indicator of SEP thereby increasing the risk of misclassification of individuals through the operation of ecological fallacy. This paper argues that to address these methodological deficiencies, alternative methods of determining SEP are required at both the aggregate and individual level. Possible options are proposed for use as replacements for the geographic area (postcode) and index (education and occupation) as well as additional measures at the individual or household level.     

Models of Language,Models of Childhood in the English National Curriculum

This paper explores the versions of language and of childhood which implicitly underpin the official National Curriculum for English at Key Stages 1 and 2. It considers the politically charged context of debates about ‘grammar’ and ‘standards’ within which a standardised curriculum is imposed, and the assumptions about language, learning and children which are involved in assessing children's talk. Finally, the article draws on an empirical study of the informal talk of six 8‐ and 9‐year‐old children to present some alternative perspectives on children, language and learning.