bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EVALUATING THE PICTURE FACILITATION EFFECT IN CHILDREN'S RECALL OF WRITTEN TEXTS
Authors: RUSTED JENNIFER , HODGSON SANDRA
Published: May 2011

Summary. Forty nine‐year‐old children were required to read either factual or fictitious passages, presented with or without a relevant picture. Immediate free recall performance revealed a pictorial facilitation effect, the nature of which differed according to the type of passage. Pictures presented with story passages enhanced the recall of illustrated aspects of the text only, while those presented with factual passages enhanced the recall of both illustrated and unillustrated text content. This differential facilitation effect was related to the qualitatively different role that pictures play during encoding of the two types of texts.
THE EFFECTS OF TEACHER PRESENTATION RATE AND PRAISE ON LD STUDENTS' ORAL READING PERFORMANCE
Authors: DARCH CRAIG , GERSTEN RUSSELL
Published: May 2011

Summary. Four learning disabled students were taught beginning reading with a Direct Instruction programme. The teacher systematically varied the rate of instructional presentation (rapid pace vs. slow pace) and frequency of praising (praise vs. no praise). A modified reversal design was used to evaluate both the isolated and interactive effects of the individual instructional components. Experimentation lasted 25 school days. The results indicated that increases in teacher presentation rate and increased use of praise lead to improvement in levels of on‐task behaviour and correct student responding. Each of the variables in isolation has an effect. Praise appears to be more powerful than presentation rate. The combination of the two variables has the most powerful effect. These findings extend the research of earlier studies to learning disabled students.
IMPACT OF SOCIOMETRIC METHOD AND ACTIVITY CONTENT ON ASSESSMENT OF INTERGROUP RELATIONS IN THE CLASSROOM
Authors: SCHWARZWALD JOSEPH , LAOR TAL , HOFFMAN MICHAEL
Published: May 2011

Summary. The study compared patteras of ethnic and sex relations revealed by nomination versus rating methods for activities at differing levels of intimacy. Integrated junior high school students in 16 classrooms filled out two versions of the Interpersonal Relationship Assessment Technique treating willingness to engage in activities of low, moderate, and high intimacy. In the peer nomination version, students identified three classmates most desired as partners for each activity. In the rating method, students stated positive desire for each classmate. As hypothesised, the nomination technique heightened the extent of group cleavage along sex and ethnic dimensions relative to the rating method. Moreover, it was insensitive to differences in sociometric content. In contrast, the rating method revealed, as expected, reduced social cleavage at less demanding levels of social contact. Discussion focused on the theoretical processes underlying the different methods and their practical implications for the assessment of intergroup relations.
THE USE OF THE BRITISH ABILITY SCALES WITH A GROUP OF AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLCHILDREN — SOME PRELIMINARY DATA
Authors: WARD JAMES , OUTHRED LYNNE
Published: May 2011

Summary. In a preliminary study, the four core tests of the British Ability Scales were administered to a sample of 208 Australian schoolchildren aged 9.6 to 10.5 years. In general the results obtained were comparable with the UK standardisation group although there was a tendency towards higher scores by the Australian sample. Analysis of the scale characteristics of the items were carried out using the Rasch method and a normal ogive model (NOHARM). The Rasch scaling appears to be robust with this population. The NOHARM analysis produced strikingly similar results. Sample estimates of reliability and validity were obtained and were found to be acceptable.
EXTRA VERSION AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN READING PERFORMANCE IN EIGHT‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDREN
Authors: RIDING R. J. , COWLEY J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. 48 children aged 7–8 years were given the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory and three reading tests which differed in the amount of context provided and the task required: (a) the Burt Graded Reading Test (words without context), (b) the NFER Primary Reading Test 2 (PRT2) (sentence completion), and (c) material taken from the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (passage comprehension) of two levels of difficulty. Similar significant interactions were found between sex and extraversion in their effect on performance for all three types of test such that for boys, extraverts did best, while for girls introverts were superior. Further, significant interactions were observed for the passage comprehension between passage difficulty and mode of reading (aloud/silently), in that reading aloud was superior for high difficulty and reading silently for low, and for passage difficulty and extraversion, in that ambiverts performed least well with the difficult material.
APPLICATION OF THE INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH TO THE DESIGN OF A NON‐VERBAL REASONING TEST
Authors: SMITH PAULINE
Published: May 2011

Summary. A major criticism of currently available psychometric tests, particularly those purporting to measure general intelligence, is that they were constructed without any theoretical rationale for the choice of item types (e.g., Levy and Goldstein, 1983). This paper attempts to evolve such a rationale for one particular purpose; namely, the development of a non‐verbal reasoning test for 10‐ to 11‐year‐olds. In order to achieve this end, both traditional psychometric approaches to intelligence and recent work by cognitive psychologists are examined. It is found necessary to analyse critically the nature of the ability which is to be tested. Following this, some recent studies are outlined which may provide a basis for analysing the structure of items within each chosen type. The potential benefits of analysing items at a sub‐type level are discussed, both in terms of theoretical and practical considerations.
THE STRUCTURE OF ABILITIES IN VISUALISING THE ROTATION OF THREE‐DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURES PRESENTED AS MODELS AND DIAGRAMS
Authors: SEDDON G. M. , MOORE R. G.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The aim of this investigation was to determine the structure of abilities underlying the visualisation of rotations about the three Cartesian axes for three‐dimensional structures presented as models, on the one hand, and diagrams, on the other. The investigation was carried out by administering a test as two versions which required students to visualise the same rotations of the same structures presented as models and diagrams respectively. There were no factors common to the rotations with models and diagrams. The resulting factor pattern for models had two factors, one characterising rotations about both the X‐ and Y‐axes, and one characterising rotations about the Z‐axis. The pattern for diagrams had three factors, one for rotations about each Cartesian axis. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.
SEX STEREOTYPES AND ATTITUDES TO SCIENCE AMONG ELEVEN‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDREN
Authors: KELLY ALISON , SMAIL BARBARA
Published: May 2011

Summary. A range of attitude, achievement and sex stereotyping tests were administered to 11‐year‐old children in their first term at comprehensive school. The boys were found to be markedly more sex‐stereotyped than the girls. Able girls and those from middle class homes were slightly less sex‐stereotyped than others. For both sexes a feminine self‐image was weakly linked to low academic achievement, and a masculine self‐image to high achievement. Children who endorsed sex stereotypes showed less interest than other children in learning about the areas of science traditionally associated with the opposite sex.
THE EFFECTS OF ABILITY, STRATEGY, AND EFFORT ATTRIBUTIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL, BUSINESS, AND ATHLETIC FAILURE
Authors: CLIFFORD MARGARET M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The effects of attributing educational, business, and athletic failure to low effort, low ability or use of inappropriate strategy were examined with the use of high school teachers as subjects. Strategy attributions were generally found to produce the most constructive effects. Perceived affect, support for future endeavour, and a measure of negative generalisability were rated significantly more favourably under the strategy attribution condition than under the effort attribution condition. The field in which failure was experienced interacted with sex; males appear to judge failure in business more negatively than failure in sports as measured by perceived affect and negative generalisability, while females show reverse trends. The data generally offer strong support for the contention that strategy attributions can produce more positive effects than effort attributions and that strategy attribution‐training may have greater educational pay‐offs than effort‐attribution training. These data also raise questions regarding the assumption that behaviour is a linear function of the stability dimension.
ASSESSING PERCEIVED SELF EFFICACY IN RELATION TO MATHEMATICS TASKS: A STUDY OF THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF ASSESSMENT
Authors: NORWICH BRAHM
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study investigated aspects of the reliability and validity of assessing perceived self efficacy in relation to mathematics tasks. Perceived self efficacy was assessed in two modes, a direct and generalised mode for two mathematics tasks. Self efficacy assessment was conducted over five trials in a repeated measures design with 72 children, age 9–10 years. Performance accuracy at the tasks was assessed after the first and fourth self efficacy assessment. Results showed moderate to high test‐retest and inter‐interviewer reliability for the self efficacy measures. Results also indicated discriminant validity for self efficacy judgments for different tasks. There was evidence for the association between self efficacy and task performance and mathematics self concept. The study confirms some limited aspects of reliability and validity of self efficacy assessment, but not for the construct in its assumed causal influence on performance attainment.
THE REDUCTION OF DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR IN TWO SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSES
Authors: McNAMARA E. , EVANS M. , HILL W.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The constituent parts of a five component behavioural intervention package are described and the effect of the intervention on the on‐task behaviour of two “disruptive” secondary school classes reported. It is claimed that levels of pupil on‐task behaviour were significantly increased in both classes. Concomitant changes in teacher behaviour were also reported and it is suggested that increased levels of pupil on‐task behaviour may have elicited higher levels of positive verbal behaviour from the teachers.
WHEN NONSENSE IS BETTER THAN SENSE: NON‐LEXICAL ERRORS TO WORD READING TESTS
Authors: THOMPSON G. BRIAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Data are presented to examine alternative interpretations of errors of different lexical status which occur as responses to word reading tests. In a sample of 261 6 1/2‐year‐old children, the incidence of non‐lexical substitution errors was positively associated with level of reading progress, while that of lexical substitution errors was not. Beginner readers of high reading progress apparently made more attempts at phonological mediation and were more susceptible to breaking lexical constraints in their responses than children of low progress.
DIRECT ACCESS AND PHONOLOGICAL ENCODING PROCESSES IN CHILDREN'S READING: EFFECTS OF WORD CHARACTERISTICS
Authors: COLTHEART VERONIKA , LAXON VERONICA J. , KEATING G. CORRIENE , POOL MARGARET M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Nine‐year‐old children were presented with reading tasks in which psycholinguistic properties of words were manipulated. Although word imageability affected reading accuracy, grammatical class of words and regularity of spelling‐to‐sound correspondence did not. Regularity had no effects on lexical decision and judgments of phonology. Accuracy in reading aloud and judgments of phonology was substantially lower for non‐words than for words. Only the best readers had well‐developed skills in grapheme‐to‐phoneme sound conversion, and all appeared to rely on direct visual access when reading. A sentence comprehension task devised by Doctor and Coltheart (1980) was used for investigating the role of phonological coding in reading for meaning. Phonological effects were evident since children found it difficult to reject meaningless sentences which sounded correct. It is argued that the phonological effects could arise through post‐lexical phonological coding. The results support models of reading acquisition which suggest that the development of non‐lexical grapheme‐phoneme conversion skills lags behind the development of direct visual access.
THE NEALE ANALYSIS OF READING ABILITY — REVISED
Authors: NEALE MARIE D. , McKAY M. F. , CHILDS G. H.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In 1980 steps were undertaken in Australia to commence a review of the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Neale, 1958) which culminated in a revision and restandardisation of the test in 1984. This paper outlines the major features of this revision and presents data on the reading performance of boys and girls from the standardisation sample drawn from two Australian states, Victoria and South Australia. The results overall suggest that girls and boys do not differ significantly in performance at different age levels, except in speed of reading (Rate) and word recognition skills (Accuracy), in their first year of schooling. It was also observed that differences exist between the original norms and the revised norms for Australian children and that continued use of the former would result in significantly biased estimation of the reading performance of Australian children.
APPROACHES TO STUDYING BY FILIPINO STUDENTS: A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION
Authors: WATKINS D. , HATTIE J. , ASTILLA ESTELA
Published: May 2011

Summary. The responses of 212 male and 213 female Filipino students to the short version of Entwistle's Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI‐S), measures of self‐esteem, locus of control, and field‐independence were obtained at two testing sessions six months apart. A comparison of the factor structure of the responses to the ASI‐S at both points in time confirmed the relative stability of the underlying dimensions. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated a main effect over time (i.e., that the student's approach to learning had changed significantly) but these changes were not related to sex, IQ, school grade, self‐esteem, locus of control, or field independence. It appears that as these students progressed through secondary school many of them came to rely less on rote learning methods but this change was not related to the personological variables examined here.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE “TUFTY CLUB” IN ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION
Authors: ANTAKI C. , MORRIS P. E. , FLUDE B. M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Tufty Clubs are the main educational intervention made by road safety officers to educate primary school children in the dangers of pedestrian accidents. The effectiveness of Tufty Clubs was assessed by testing 186 5‐year‐old children on road safety knowledge both in the middle of their first school year and again at its end. Children from schools with Tufty Clubs were no better at either test, nor was there any sign of an interaction that would have indicated that the Tufty Clubs selectively improved knowledge during the year.
SEX AND PERSONALITY DIFFERENCES IN SECOND LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS
Authors: RIDING R. J. , BANNER G. E.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Two experiments investigated the relationship between sex and personality and second language performance in secondary school pupils. In the first, 56 13–14‐year‐old children were given the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory, Raven's Standard Matrices and three French performance tests (comprehension, essay and prose translation). Two significant effects were found: (a) The performance of girls was superior to boys; (b) there was an interaction between Raven's matrices, extraversion and test type such that for extraverts, high Raven's subjects were superior to low Raven's on the essay and translation tasks which required a large amount of translation from English to French, but not on comprehension, while for introverts the pattern was reversed. In the second experiment 48 12–13‐year‐old children were given the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory, Raven's Standard Matrices and two French performance tests (comprehension and essay) which were both scored according to ability to use singular and plural, set phrases and verbs. Again girls were superior to boys. There was also a significant interaction between Ravens, extraversion and skill type.
A COMPARISON OF TWO PROCEDURES FOR TEACHING DISCRIMINATION SKILLS TO DOWN'S SYNDROME AND NON‐HANDICAPPED CHILDREN
Authors: DUFFY LOUISE , WISHART JENNIFER G.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Two different strategies for teaching discrimination to Down's Syndrome (DS) and non‐handicapped children were compared for relative efficiency: trial‐and‐error and errorless learning. Two types of discrimination tasks were used, shape and nonsense figure tasks. A pre‐test was used to match children for pre‐existing ability. Errorless learning proved to be the superior training strategy in each group, both during training and in post‐tests. DS children responded poorly to trial‐and‐error training in both absolute and relative terms. Although order of presentation of training conditions had little effect on performance in the non‐handicapped group, an interesting differential effect emerged in the DS group: initial trial‐and‐error training adversely affected subsequent performance in the errorless task while initial errorless experience enhanced subsequent trial‐and‐error performance. It would appear from these results that errorless learning may be useful as a “primer”, increasing motivation to learn in more conventional learning situations.
THE INCIDENCE OF AND INFLUENCES ON STRESS AND BURNOUT IN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Authors: CAPEL SUSAN A.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study investigated the relationship with stress and burnout of eight selected psychological, organisational and demographic variables in secondary school teachers. Teachers (N = 78) from four secondary schools completed self report measures of stress, burnout, role conflict, role ambiguity, locus of control, and organisational and demographic variables. Regression and follow‐up canonical correlation analyses indicated that six of the eight selected variables were significantly related to stress, total burnout, frequency and intensity of burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and personal accomplishment subscales. Role ambiguity and locus of control explained most variance on stress and all burnout scales except burnout intensity and emotional exhaustion, which were best explained by number of years teaching experience. Overall, however, stress and burnout levels were found to be low. Theoretical implications of the study include identifying whether levels of stress and burnout increase during the course of the school year, and identifying variables which can be included in other studies. Practical implications of how to overcome factors leading to stress and burnout as identified in this study are also discussed.
A‐LEVEL EXPECTANCIES AND UNIVERSITY ASPIRATIONS OF MALES AND FEMALES
Authors: JANMAN KAREN
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study, utilising both an examination of the national statistics and a detailed survey of a smaller group of sixth form students, draws attention to the sex differences still found in expected and actual examination results. In gross numbers of students and passes, girls are likely to reach equality with boys up to A‐level in the fairly near future. However, two areas of sex differences, the sex stereotyping of subject choices and the grade attainments of males and females, still represent sources of grave concern for anyone worried about inequality. In the future the real test will be whether the boundaries break down around the courses that are now still predominantly male or female in recruitment, and whether the more general sex‐typing of higher education as masculine subsides sufficiently for females to both want, and expect, to equal the performance of their male peers.
RECENT COGNITIVE THEORIES APPLIED TO SEQUENTIAL LENGTH MEASURING KNOWLEDGE IN YOUNG CHILDREN
Authors: BOULTON‐LEWIS GILLIAN M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This research was designed to determine sequential length measuring knowledge in children aged 3–7 years. Sequences were predicted in advance logically from measurement theory, from a review of the literature, and from the information processing demand of the tasks. A sample of 80 children from mixed socio‐economic backgrounds was tested on measures of capacity to process information and 15 main measurement tasks. Analysis of the data showed that the empirical sequence of length measuring knowledge was most like that predicted from analyses of the information processing demand of the tasks. It is asserted that mathematics curriculum content could be sequenced on the basis of similar information processing analysis.
A MODEL OF THE COGNITIVE MEANING OF MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSIONS
Authors: ERNEST PAUL
Published: May 2011

Summary. The central focus of the paper is the nature of the mental representations of the meaning of the linguistic expressions of mathematics. An information‐processing model for the construction of mental representations is presented. The model provides syntactical tree structures as meaning representations. It is argued that the major function of written mathematical language in school mathematics is in the initial presentations of pupil tasks. An information‐processing model for the performance of routine mathematical tasks is proposed. The central feature of the model is the major role that transformations of mental representations play. The overall model is related to children's conceptual development, and a series of stages in the acquisition of mathematical language is proposed. Finally, the model is shown to be consistent with a range of current concepts, theories and observational data.
THE APPLICATION OF THE GOODENOUGH‐HARRIS DRAW‐A‐MAN TEST TO A GROUP OF IRANIAN CHILDREN IN THE CITY OF SHIRAZ
Authors: MEHRYAR AMIR H. , TASHAKKORI ABBAS , YOUSEFI FARIDEH , KHAJAVI F.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper reports on the application of the Goodenough‐Harris DAM test to a representative sample of 1,195 Iranian children (548 boys and 647 girls) aged between 6 years and 13 years and enrolled in grades 1 to 5 of eight public primary schools in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran. As expected, the mean DAM scores of these children increased substantially from grade 1 to grade 5 and from age six years to age 11 years. There were, however, significant sex differences, in favour of girls, across all age and grade levels. Children from high SES schools also scored significantly higher than those attending low SES schools. DAM scores correlated from 0·30 to 0·45 (P < 0·01) with such criteria of academic achievement as teachers' ratings and marks obtained in mid‐term examinations. The split‐half reliability of the test was found to be around 0·80 while its test‐retest reliability over a 12‐week interval was 0·75. The mean score of Iranian children, however, fell substantially below the American norms reported by Harris.
NATURAL RATES OF TEACHER APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL IN BRITISH PRIMARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSROOMS
Authors: MERRETT FRANK , WHELDALL KEVIN
Published: May 2011

Summary. The classroom behaviour of 128 British primary and middle school teachers was observed using a schedule (OPTIC) designed to record the frequency of use of approving and disapproving responses. Whilst the teachers observed tended to use more approval than disapproval, a high proportion of this was in response to children's academic behaviour. In contrast, whilst children were rarely commended for appropriate conduct, they were frequently reprimanded for inappropriate conduct. The implications of these and other findings for classroom management are discussed.
OPEN EDUCATION AND READING COMPREHENSION OF HIGH‐ABILITY AND LOW‐ABILITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PUPILS
Authors: ESHEL YOHANAN , WAINRYB CECILIA , SHACHAR HANA
Published: May 2011

Summary.

Effects of open education on reading comprehension assignments involving both high inference and low inference items were assessed. Seven hundred and thirty‐three primary school children stratified by instructional methods, grade levels, and cognitive ability participated in the study. Open education pupils of both higher and lower IQ levels manifested higher performance than students of traditional classes on all four reading comprehension subtests employed. Differences between instructional methods were more pronounced, the higher the level of inference required. However, no cumulative effects of more prolonged exposure to open education were found. The results are discussed in terms of implementation of open education methods.
OPEN‐ENDED ATTRIBUTIONS FOR OUTCOME ON A MAJOR NATIONAL EXAMINATION
Authors: CHAPMAN JAMES W. , LAWES MERYL M.
Published: May 2011

Summary.

Free response attributions for outcome on the New Zealand School Certificate English examination were investigated. This examination is one of the major external subject‐based assessments in the New Zealand secondary school system. The study was designed to provide information on what attributions are actually made by students in response to outcome on major examinations involving high personal significance. In addition, examination outcome causes were also studied in terms of expected vs. actual examination outcome. Three hundred and eighty‐eight examinees participated in the study. The results indicated that typical and immediate effort attributions accounted for about 50 per cent of all attributions offered. Fewer attributions were made to other causes, with the English examination itself, ability, and teacher‐related factors being the main additional causes cited. Variations in attributions as a function of examination outcome (pass‐fail) and expectancy confirmation (confirm‐disconfirm) were discussed. Finally, implications for failing students were considered in terms of attribution retraining approaches.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOL TYPE AND ADOLESCENT SELF ESTEEM, ATTRIBUTION STYLES, AND AFFILIATION NEEDS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL OUTCOME
Authors: FOON ANNE E.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper explores the notion that the type of school attended will affect adolescents' self esteem, locus‐of‐control orientation, and affiliation needs. It proceeds to examine the view that these are in turn linked to success in particular subject areas, assessments of achievement in these same subjects, perceptions of the importance of school life and future career options.

A sample of 1,675 school children, 896 males and 779 females from sixteen non‐government schools was employed. The majority (79 per cent) attended single‐sex schools while the remainder attended co‐educational schools. Major results indicated that type of school attended did have consequences in terms of adolescents' stated preferences and rated achievement in subjects. Students attending co‐educational school were found to have more traditional subject preferences and assessments of achievement in those subject areas than students attending single‐sex schools. Students attending co‐educational schools were also found to have lower self esteem, and greater affiliation with peers than students from single‐sex schools. However, these relationships were not simple. Sex differences mediated the major associations reported between type of school attended and adolescent self perceptions.

Interpretations of these and other results and suggestions for further exploration of associations are given.
SECTIONAL DRAWINGS FROM SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO PUPILS' UNDERSTANDING
Authors: CONSTABLE HILARY , CAMPBELL BOB , BROWN RON
Published: May 2011

Summary. This paper examines aspects of children's understanding of illustrations used as an adjunct to learning. It reports an experiment designed to determine whether first‐year secondary school pupils could identify the cut surfaces of objects in six biological illustrations taken from commonly used textbooks.

The results show that few children were able to perform the tasks correctly but that the illustrations were not equally difficult. Picture analysis indicated that not only the features of the object depicted but also the number and type of pictorial conventions employed posed significant difficulties.

It is concluded that the findings have implications both for theories of perceptual development and for the role of illustrations in teaching. It is suggested that teachers should regard the use of illustrations as learning aids as problematical and consider the need to teach about illustrations.
CHILDREN FIND FRIENDLY WORDS FRIENDLY TOO: WORDS WITH MANY ORTHOGRAPHIC NEIGHBOURS ARE EASIER TO READ AND SPELL
Authors: LAXON VERONICA J. , COLTHEART VERONIKA , KEATING CORRIENE
Published: May 2011

Summary. Forty‐nine children (aged 8:4 to 10:4) were grouped according to reading ability and were tested on lexical decision, naming and spelling of words and non‐words which differed in orthographic neighbourhood size. Friendly words with many neighbours caused significantly fewer errors on all these tasks. Item analysis demonstrated that these effects were robust when corrected for frequency, regularity, word length and age of acquisition. Good readers showed less reliance on neighbourhood size and more evidence of accurate use of grapheme‐phoneme correspondence rules. The results indicate that children find common orthographic sequences easier to read and spell before they have learned to use grapheme‐phoneme correspondences consistently.
CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION OF AND ANTICIPATED RESPONSES TO RISK
Authors: DICKSON GORDON C. A. , HUTCHISON GILLIAN E.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The study examined children's awareness of, and potential response to, a number of different risks. These risks were categorised as either property risks (that is loss of or damage to property) or life risks (those causing personal injury to the child). Data were collected from 585 children aged 9 to 12 years old attending 12 primary schools in the Glasgow area. The tests were administered in booklet form during normal school hours. The results indicated that (a) the children were more aware of life risks than property risks; (b) the children responded more appropriately to potential property risks than to potential life risks; (c) the girls were more aware of life risks than the boys but there was no difference between boys and girls in terms of their behaviour towards potential life risks; (d) there was no difference between boys and girls in either their awareness of property risks or their anticipated behavioural response towards potential property risks.
LARGE VERBAL — NON‐VERBAL ABILITY DIFFERENCES AND UNDERACHIEVEMENT
Authors: WHITTINGTON JOYCE
Published: May 2011

Summary. In a large‐scale study (over 10,000 11‐year‐olds) of verbal‐non‐verbal ability differences and underachievement it was found that children who had large V‐NV ability differences were more likely to be underachieving in reading comprehension or mathematics or both than children of the same overall ability with more similar V and NV components. The rates for “severe” underachievement (2 standard errors below expectation, based on regression of achievement scores on ability scores) were two to ten times greater among the large V‐NV ability differences group of children, nearly 20 per cent of whom were severely underachieving in reading comprehension, as were over 5 per cent in mathematics.
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE VALIDITY OF THE BRITISH ABILITY SCALES WITH RESPECT TO THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR CHILDREN‐REVISED AND THE WIDE RANGE ACHIEVEMENT TEST‐REVISED ON A GROUP OF CANADIAN CHILDREN
Authors: COOK JOHN
Published: May 2011

Summary. One aspect of the validity of the BAS was assessed for 20 children, mean age 10 years, from British Columbia, comparing their BAS scores with those for the WISC‐R and WRAT‐R. Correlations were found to be high, especially for general ability measures and for verbal IQ scores. Lower but still significant correlations were found between all other scales and the Visual IQ of the BAS, suggesting that the Visual IQ may be more independent of verbal factors than the Performance IQ of the WISC‐R. When using the BAS in North America, it is suggested that individual scores will need to be adjusted upwards by about 3 or 4 points.
INTEGRATION OF DOWN'S SYNDROME CHILDREN IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND ACADEMIC ATTAINMENTS
Authors: CASEY WENDY , JONES DAVID , KUGLER BARBARA , WATKINS BRIAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Thirty‐six Down's Syndrome children, half of whom attended mainstream primary or nursery schools and half schools for children with moderate learning difficulties, were assessed over a two‐year period. Baseline and six‐monthly measurements were taken of their progress in expressive language, comprehension, numeracy, verbal fluency, drawing ability and reading. Mental age was estimated at baseline and at the end of the two years. The mainstream children made significantly greater progress in numeracy, comprehension and mental age and compared favourably on all other measures. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for integrated education.
DETECTING FALSE STATEMENTS IN TEXT: THE ROLE OF OUTLINES AND INSERTED HEADINGS
Authors: GLOVER JOHN A. , KRUG DAMON
Published: May 2011

Summary. Students read text material containing false statements under four instructional conditions. Given directions to underline anything “hard to understand”, students in a control condition identified only about 26 per cent of the false statements. Given the same directions, students who carefully read an outline of the text or who carefully read text headings as they proceeded through the material identified approximately 56 per cent of the false statements. Finally, in a condition in which students read an outline prefacing the text, and also carefully read inserted headings, they identified approximately 87 per cent of the false statements. The results are discussed in terms of schema theory.
REGIONAL DIFFERENCES IN INTELLIGENCE AND EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IN DENMARK
Authors: TEASDALE T. W. , OWEN DAVID R. , SØRENSEN T. I. A.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Intelligence test scores and educational levels of a representative sample of 71,768 draftees are reported for seven geographical regions in Denmark. Differences between the regions were found for both variables. However, analysis revealed that 92 per cent of the regional variation in intelligence test scores could be reproduced from the corresponding differences in educational level. These latter appear to be related to regional urbanisation and population density. The results are interpreted as suggesting that differences in intelligence between urban and rural areas arise from contemporary differences in the provision of education rather than, as is sometimes hypothesised, from the cumulative effect of previous generations of selective migration of relatively more intelligent people from rural to urban areas.
YULE'S “HUMP” REVISITED
Authors: DOBBINS D. ALAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Reading and non‐verbal intelligence tests were given to over 5,000 nine‐ to 10‐year‐old pupils to investigate whether there was evidence to support the existence of Yule's “hump” — a group of children with severe and specific retardation which is not just the lower end of a normal continuum (Yule et al., 1974). The results are inconclusive but may, depending on interpretation, give some support to the notion of a small “hump”.
PREFERRED CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND APPROACH TO LEARNING
Authors: HATTIE JOHN , WATKINS DAVID
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study involved the administration of preferred classroom environment and approaches to learning measures to 1266 Australian high school students. Canonical analysis indicated a relationship between those learning strategies which are likely to lead to high quality learning outcomes and student preference for classrooms to be enjoyable and oriented to independent study and competition.
NATURAL RATES OF TEACHER APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL IN BRITISH SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS
Authors: WHELDALL KEVIN , HOUGHTON STEPHEN , MERRETT FRANK
Published: May 2011

Summary. A sample of 130 secondary school teachers was systematically observed teaching mixed classes varying in age from 11 to 16 years. The OPTIC schedule was employed to record teachers' rates of approving and disapproving responses and the amount of time pupils spent on‐task. Although rates of approval were generally higher than disapproval rates, most of the approval was directed at academic pupil behaviours whereas most of the disapproval was for inappropriate social behaviour. Mean on‐task behaviour of classes at 80 per cent was higher than that observed in a similar sample of primary classes.
SCHOOL LEAVERS‘ CHANGING IDENTIFICATIONS WITH DIFFERENT SOCIAL CATEGORIES AND THEIR “INTERNALISATION” OF THE CATEGORY “SCHOOL LEAVER”
Authors: HONESS T. M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A modified Social Identity Inventory is shown to be a powerful tool for exploring the “internalisation” of social categories by school leavers. It revealed two basic forms of their representation of the category “school leaver”. The first is a relatively stable representation that is negative and significantly underpinned by the attribution of bad qualities. However, this is not generally seen as relevant to self. In contrast, there is a second representation which is both relatively labile and self‐relevant. It, like the first representation, includes worries about boredom and the future, but it involves the attribution of favourable qualities rather than unfavourable qualities. The reliability and sensitivity of different SII scores is also examined.
INTERPRETATION OF FACTOR ANALYSES FROM THE APPROACHES TO STUDYING INVENTORY
Authors: HARPER GREG , KEMBER DAVID
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Approaches to Studying Inventory of Ramsden and Entwistle (1981) has now been used in a variety of educational contexts. Comparison of factor analysis results reveals a high degree of consistency in the first two factors extracted. These are interpreted in terms of a fundamental deep/surface dichotomy. The suggested explanation takes into account styles and pathologies which consistently load on these factors. The other two factors are more variable but do show an element of consistency. They possibly show some influence from the environmental context.
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF FRESHMEN THROUGH ATTRIBUTIONAL TESTIMONIES FROM FELLOW STUDENTS
Authors: VAN OVERWALLE FRANK , SEGEBARTH KARINE , GOLDCHSTEIN MARK
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study investigates the effectiveness of attributional techniques in a remedial programme at university aiming at improving the academic performance of students with learning difficulties. Subjects were 130 freshmen who had failed a mid‐term economics examination. Two experimental conditions were provided. Subjects in the first condition watched a videotape in which senior students related their learning difficulties at the beginning of the first year, the causes of these problems and how they had improved examination scores at the end of the year. Subjects in the second condition watched the same videotape and, additionally, followed an individual study skill training course. Control subjects received no treatment. Results showed that experimental subjects attained higher scores than control subjects at the next economics examination held after the training. This increase was further generalised over all examinations in the first year, where experimental subjects showed a higher marks average than control subjects. Improvements in performance were equally strong for subjects who had only watched the videotape and for those who had received additional skill training. No effects were found with regard to the number of students who eventually passed the freshmen year. The practical implications of this study for counselling programmes at university are discussed.
PREDICTION OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE SCHOOL MOTIVATION ANALYSIS TEST
Authors: BOYLE GREGORY J. , START K. BRIAN , HALL E. JOHN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Mathematics and English achievement was investigated among 277 Year 10 Australian students. Using the School Motivation Analysis Test (SMAT) as the measure of dynamic motivational traits, significant achievement variance (25 per cent for Mathematics; 34 per cent for English) was accounted for independently from that due to abilities and personality traits. Male students tended to invest a greater proportion of intellectual abilities (indexed via the SMAT General Information Intelligence score) than did females in the learning of Mathematics (accounting for 25 per cent of the variance for males), whereas females demonstrated a higher investment of abilities in English. The specific motivational dynamic traits predictive of performance in each subject area are reported and discussed.
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT AND SIXTH FORM PUPILS‘ APPROACHES TO LEARNING
Authors: RAMSDEN PAUL , MARTIN ELAINE , BOWDEN JOHN
Published: May 2011

Summary. The paper presents results from a study of Australian pupils in their final year of secondary schooling. The investigation is based on a model of the relation between pupils' perceptions, approaches to learning and learning outcomes derived from the work of Biggs in Australia and Entwistle and Ramsden in Britain. Between‐school differences in perceptions of sixth form environments and their pupils' approaches to learning in three school sectors and 50 schools are identified. A key finding is that perceived school environments and pupils' learning are related in a systematic way. School environments offering supportive teaching, coherent structure, emphasis on autonomy and moderate stress on achievement are associated with learning involving an active search for understanding, organised study methods and avoidance of superficial approaches. Schools characterised by extreme emphasis on formal academic achievement, in which teaching is narrowly focused on examination success, are associated with a tendency towards minimalist, reproductive and uncompromisingly competitive approaches to learning. Interview results are presented that offer support for a causal interpretation of these relations. Examination performance is found to be negatively correlated with surface approach and positively, but very weakly, correlated with deep approach. Some implications of the findings for school effectiveness research are outlined.
EFFECTS OF INFORMATION ON STUDENT‐TEACHERS‘ STEREOTYPIC PERCEPTION OF PUPILS
Authors: BAR‐TAL DANIEL , RAVIV AMIRAM , ARAD MIRA
Published: May 2011

Summary. The present study examines the effect of information presentation on stereotypic perception. One group of student‐teachers received relevant information about the high ability of a pupil, a second group received relevant information about the low ability of a pupil, and another group received information irrelevant to a pupil's ability. Each of these groups was further divided into three subgroups—one third of the student‐teachers were led to believe that the pupil was of Eastern (Asian‐African) ethnic origin, one third of the subjects were led to believe that he was of Western (European‐American) and the final one third did not receive any information about the pupil's ethnic origin. The student‐teachers were asked to form impressions, to evaluate the pupil's achievement, and to make attributions regarding his predicted academic outcome. The results show that the student‐teachers formed impressions of intellectual characteristics and evaluated a pupil's academic performance on the basis of the information provided about the pupil's ability. The impressions of the social characteristics and attributions were determined jointly on the basis of the information about the pupil's ability and his ethnic origin. Also, the results did not show an expression of stereotypic perception in cases where the only provided relevant information was the pupil's ethnic origin.
THE TRANSITION FROM SINGLE‐SEX TO CO‐EDUCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS: TEACHER PERCEPTIONS, ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT, AND SELF‐CONCEPT
Authors: MARSH HERBERT W. , OWENS LEE , MYERS MARGARET R. , SMITH IAN D.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The purpose of this paper is to summarise a five‐year longitudinal study of the effects of the transition from single‐sex high schools to co‐educational high schools. During this period two single‐sex high schools serving the same geographical area formed two co‐educational high schools. The results of the present investigation are presented in three parts: (1) the impact of the transition from the perspective of teachers and staff who taught at the schools before, during, and after the transition; (2) the performance of Year 10 students on externally moderated examinations in English and mathematics before, during, and after the transition, and (3) student responses to a multidimensional self‐concept instrument before, during, and after the transition. In each part the differential effects of the transition on boys and on girls are examined. The findings suggest that the transition benefited both boys and girls in terms of multiple dimensions of self‐concept and that these benefits were not at the expense of academic achievement for either boys or girls.
MODELLING MEDICAL DECISION‐MAKING UNDER UNCERTAINTY
Authors: BOREHAM N. C.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study investigates the heuristic knowledge which underlies expertise in a medical decision‐making task. Data are obtained from a process tracing study of a consultant physician. A production system is developed to simulate his decision‐making, tested on new cases, and compared with the performance of a second consultant physician and a representative sample of medical students. The results indicate that the production system performs at an effective level, and that representing expertise in such terms would make this difficult task more tractable for learners.
CHILDREN'S USE OF COUNTING AND GUIDELINES IN JUDGING RELATIVE NUMBER
Authors: COWAN RICHARD , DANIELS HARRY
Published: May 2011

Summary. Nine 5‐year‐old infant school children, nine children with moderate learning difficulties, and nine children attending a school for the aphasic were selected on the basis of a counting test to judge relative number under three conditions: counting, guidelines, and control. The displays used consisted of two rows of dots and varied in numerosity and configuration. Length consistent displays were judged right by all children in all conditions on all numerosities. Many errors were made in judging length conflict displays. All groups judged better when they were told to count and when guidelines were added to the displays than in the control condition. Counting did not help more than guidelines. Small number displays were judged best in all conditions.
THE EFFECT OF MOOD ON THE RELIABILITY OF ESSAY ASSESSMENT
Authors: TOWNSEND MICHAEL A. R. , KEK LEE YONG , TUCK BRYAN F.
Published: May 2011

Summary. One potential source of bias that has not been examined in relation to the grading of essays is that of the mood of the marker. Several lines of research in social psychology can be generalised to predict different assessment outcomes as a function of mood. This study examined the effect of mood on student grading of children's essays. Markers first watched a film designed to induce either a positive or a negative mood state. They then graded nine essays, including a number of target essays. Mood affected only the first essay graded. The results do not support a mood effect in essay assessment.