bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
THE EFFECTS OF TEST MATERIALS AND THE ORDER OF PRESENTATION OF THE MATERIALS ON YOUNG CHILDREN'S UNDERSTANDING OF CONSERVATION OF NUMBER
Authors: HANRAHAN JAMES , YELIN MARSHA , RAPAGNA SOCRATES
Published: May 2011

Summary. A sample of 60 kindergarten and grade 1 children was administered conservation of number tasks. The effects of three variables on conservation of number were measured (familiarity—the degree of familiarity of the materials; order—the order of presentation of the materials; attachment—the nature of the relationship between the two rows of materials used in conservation of number tasks). Of these three variables, only familiarity was significant. Children appear to find conservation of number easier when tested with materials familiar to them as compared to unfamiliar materials.
GENOTYPE‐PHENOTYPE RELATIONS IN MODELS OF EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: A RESPONSE TO GILL ET AL.
Authors: RICHARDSON K.
Published: May 2011

Summary. In their recent paper, Gill et al. (1985) claim to have found evidence for “genetic factors” underlying variation in educational achievement. The conclusion, however, is based on a particular model of genotypes and phenotypes and the relation between them. When we come to consider learning and related characters, as evolved devices for coping with environmental change, other models of the genotype‐phenotype relation have to be considered. These generate expected mean squares in statistical models which can lead to conclusions different from those of Gill and colleagues. This paper examines some of these alternatives. Whilst we have a scientific responsibility to resolve the full range of possible models, before strong conclusions can be drawn formidable difficulties stand in the way. In the meantime, conclusions issuing from the application of one particular model must be treated with great caution.
NOT ALL FAILURES ARE ALIKE: SELF ATTRIBUTION AND PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS‘ ATTRIBUTIONS FOR FAILING TESTS IN LIKED VERSUS DISLIKED SUBJECTS
Authors: KARNIOL RACHEL
Published: May 2011

Summary. Ninth grade students made attributions for failing tests in liked versus disliked school subjects and indicated the attributions their teachers would make for their failure outcomes. Students employed, and expected that their teachers would employ, different patterns of causal attribution to explain their failure in liked versus disliked subjects, with the former yielding more test‐specific attributions. Differences were found between students' attributions and the attributions they expected their teachers to make for the same failure outcomes. The data provide evidence for the important role of ego‐involvement, as indexed by liking of school subjects, in the causal attribution process.
CHILDREN'S BELIEFS ABOUT INSTITUTIONAL ROLES: A CROSS‐NATIONAL STUDY OF REPRESENTATIONS OF THE TEACHER'S ROLE
Authors: EMLER NICHOLAS , OHANA JOCELYNE , MOSCOVICI SERGE
Published: May 2011

Summary. In this paper we present some preliminary research into a relatively unexplored area of social development, children's acquisition of beliefs about institutional roles. We argue that the school is an important source of experience in this area, providing most children with their first close‐up view of organisational roles. A total of 185 children, aged between 7 and 11 years, from Scotland and France, were questioned about aspects of the teacher's role including assessment of performances, distribution of assistance in the classroom, and enforcement of institutional regulations. The findings suggest that children have grasped, albeit often only intuitively, many of the characteristics of this organisational role at an earlier age than has been indicated by previous research. Before 12 years they have some appreciation of the formal constraints on teachers' freedom of action, of the hierarchical character of institutional authority, and of the separation of official duties from personal inclinations. There were, however, class and national differences in beliefs which suggest that these are “social representations” (cf. Moscovici, 1984) and not simply products of individual cognitive development.
SLOW STARTERS VERSUS LONG TERM BACKWARD READERS
Authors: COX T.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The aim of this study was to analyse data from a longitudinal study of a sample of culturally disadvantaged children and a matched control group to see what features distinguished a group of poor readers at age 7.5 years who remained seriously backward in reading throughout their school careers (Long Term Backward Group) from a group of equally low scoring readers of the same age who subsequently made relatively good progress in reading (Slow Starter Group). A discriminant function analysis was carried out using a selection of performance and behavioural measures obtained between ages 6 and 7 years, together with a global measure of the cultural and material provision in the children's home backgrounds. A combination of five of the seven measures produced a discriminant function which successfully distinguished 21 out of the 24 cases (87 per cent) in terms of their group membership. Although both groups obtained very low reading scores at 7.5 years, case records showed a marked difference between them in their pattern of progress through their infant school reading schemes. The findings supported a multi‐factorial explanation of long term reading failure in which a paucity of literary experience in the home and a limited oral vocabulary resulting in a low interest in and concentration upon pre‐reading and reading tasks in school, with associated behavioural problems, are salient features.
A REVIEW OF THE BRUININKS‐OSERETSKY TEST OF MOTOR PROFICIENCY
Authors: HATTIE JOHN , EDWARDS HELEN
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Bruininks‐Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency was examined in an effort to establish its credibility as one of the most widely used tests of motor development in children. The presentation of the test is excellent. However, doubts are expressed about the item development, standardisation, reliability, validity, and grouping of tests into fine and gross motor skills. Changes to the manual are recommended that should facilitate more appropriate interpretations of test results. Without these changes, the use of the test for the assessment of most children remains highly questionable.
ATTITUDES TOWARDS NEW TECHNOLOGY IN RELATION TO SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION AT SCHOOL: A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF UNDERGRADUATES
Authors: FIFE‐SCHAW CHRIS , BREAKWELL GLYNIS M. , LEE TERENCE , SPENCER JUDITH
Published: May 2011

Summary. Much has been made about the need to train more people to work with the New Technologies though little is known about why such a relatively small number of people actually take up technological training. It seems likely that attitudes towards technology and work will play an important role in people's motivations to train and, as yet, these have received little empirical study. This paper reports findings from a survey of university students' attitudes towards technology and outlines some important relationships between the consistency of past science orientation in examination choices and attitudes. The findings suggest that the content of school examination courses may influence later attitudes to a greater degree than might have been expected particularly in relation to evaluations of the environmental consequences of technological advances.
DIMENSIONS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS IN WEST INDIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Authors: PAYNE MONICA A. , FURNHAM ADRIAN
Published: May 2011

Summary.

Despite a growing body of research on teacher stress and development of stress‐management programmes, studies come almost exclusively from just a few industrialised nations and the applicability of their recommendations for teacher training in developing regions is difficult to ascertain. The present study helps to redress this imbalance, and reports on data from 444 secondary school teachers in Barbados using a 36‐item self‐report instrument. Individual item means indicated that difficulties associated with classroom instructional and management demands were perceived by the majority of teachers to be the most stressful aspects of their work. On the other hand, factor analysis and ANOVA computations revealed that problems associated with time management most clearly differentiated between teachers when compared on the basis of sex, qualifications, and years of experience. Findings are discussed generally with reference to the existing international literature, and more specifically in terms of living and working conditions in the West Indies.
CURRICULUM DIVERSITY IN LONDON INFANT SCHOOLS
Authors: FARQUHAR CLARE , BLATCHFORD PETER , BURKE JESSICA , PLEWIS IAN , TIZARD BARBARA
Published: May 2011

Summary.

This paper describes an attempt to document the curriculum experiences of a large sample (N = 458) of infant school children, in the areas of written language (both reading and writing) and of mathematics. The data were collected as part of a longitudinal study of children's progress in 33 Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) infant schools, and carried out at Thomas Coram Research Unit. Data were collected for each year that the children spent at infant school. Results are presented which show marked differences at every stage of the infant school, not only between the curricula introduced by different teachers but also in the curricula experienced by different children within the same classrooms. Some implications, and possible explanations, of these differences are discussed.
DIFFERENCES AND BIASES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMINATION FORMATS
Authors: BELL RICHARD C. , HAY JOHN A.
Published: May 2011

Summary.

For some time gender differences have been noted in different formats of English language testing. In this study an examination was made of such differences in a Year 12 level examination where both comprehension and composition were tested, the former in both multiple‐choice and extended‐response formats, the latter only in extended‐response format. In addition to considering differences in level of performance, differences in relationship to an aggregate of other subject scores were also considered. These differences could be considered as related to test bias. Complex patterns of difference were noted since males and females were also classified by their pattern of studies as arts or science students. In contrast to previous studies, males were not seen to score higher on multiple‐choice questions; and in considering the relationships with the aggregate, gender differences were found to be small in comparison with subject‐base differences, and the regression lines for the multiple‐choice questions were more similar than those for extended‐response questions.
ATTITUDES TO THE INTEGRATION OF DISABLED CHILDREN INTO REGULAR CLASSES: A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
Authors: WARD JAMES , CENTER YOLA
Published: May 2011

Summary.

As part of a wider study, educationists were asked to rate children with various disabling characteristics with regard to their suitability for mainstreaming. Oblique factor analyses of the resultant Likert scale data revealed five factors which are interpreted with respect to questionnaire and qualitative data. The pattern matrices for school principals, resource teachers and teachers were virtually identical. The method of using functional characteristics rather than categories is recommended as a basis for future research.
THE ASSESSMENT OF MOTOR IMPAIRMENT IN CHILDREN WITH MODERATE LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
Authors: SUGDEN DAVID , WANN COLETTE
Published: May 2011

Summary.

Two tests of motor behaviour examined the performance of 8‐and 12‐year‐old children with moderate learning difficulties. On the Test of Motor Impairment 50 per cent of 8‐year‐olds and 29 per cent of 12‐year‐olds had motor problems as compared to 5 per cent in a normal population. One third of 8‐year‐olds and one fifth of 12‐year‐olds were performing at least two years below their age level. The Test of Kinaesthetic Sensitivity assessed the kinaesthetic abilities of children, possibly offering explanations for the children's poor performance. On the Kinaesthetic Acuity test only seven out of 61 children reached the mean level score from the normative data, while on the Kinaesthetic Memory test 18 reached this level. There was a variable relationship between the two tests. The children who failed the Test of Motor Impairment did have poorer scores on both parts of the Test of Kinaesthetic Sensitivity, but the difference between these and the scores of the children who passed was not great enough to be predictive.
THE EMERGENCE OF ORDER AND CLASS ASPECTS OF NUMBER IN CHILDREN: SOME FINDINGS FROM A LONGITUDINAL STUDY
Authors: LIDDLE IAN , WILKINSON J. ERIC
Published: May 2011

Summary.

The development of children's understanding of the two logical properties of number—class and relation—is subject to debate (Piaget 1952; Brainerd, 1973, 1979). The study was designed to contribute to this debate by exploring the relative acquisition of “number as class” and “number as order”. This was one of several issues examined in a longitudinal study of the development of the understanding of number emerging in a group of 36 children during the first three years of primary school. A battery of Piagetian and neo‐Piagetian tests was individually administered during each of the three years, together with a test of number skills. The study used operationally‐defined concepts of “number as order” and “number as class”. Trends over the three cycles were analysed. For numbers less than six and small arrays of numbers, order and class were both in evidence. However, as numbers became larger and more numerous, ordination was in evidence sooner than cardination.
THE TRANSFERABILITY OF SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES FOR KENYAN STUDENTS
Authors: SEDDON G. M. , WAWERU G.
Published: May 2011

Summary.

This investigation sets out to determine whether scientific concepts which have been previously acquired in one of the languages, English, Swahili or Kikuyu by multilingual Kenyan secondary school students can be transferred to the other two languages. The investigation is based on practical lessons using worksheets translated into the three languages. The results demonstrate that transfer is possible to the vernacular languages from English and between the two vernacular languages.
FAILURE TOLERANCE AND ACADEMIC RISK‐TAKING IN TEN‐ TO TWELVE‐YEAR‐OLD STUDENTS
Authors: CLIFFORD MARGARET M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The two‐fold purpose of this study was to validate the School Failure Tolerance (SFT) scale and to identify developmental patterns and sex differences in children's academic risk‐taking and tolerance for failure. Fourth‐, fifth‐, and sixth‐graders were given the SFT and a chance to select and work 12 of 80 or 90 problems, of varying difficulty, in each of three content areas: mathematics, spelling and vocabulary. The SFT reliably predicted the difficulty level chosen by students at all grade levels and in all content areas. Students at all grade levels chose problems considerably below their ability levels as defined by mean performance on standardised achievement tests. This low risk‐taking tendency increased markedly with grade level. Students chose problems resulting in mean absolute success of between 77 per cent and 92 per cent — levels far in excess of the 50 per cent level theoretically associated with optimum motivation. Furthermore, mean scores on two of three SFT subscales decreased significantly from grade four to grade six. There were no sex by grade interactions and only one of ten variables revealed a significant sex difference. These findings are interpreted and discussed in terms of motivational theories and classroom factors.
GOAL SOURCE, GOAL DIFFICULTY, AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF RESPONSES TO FAILURE
Authors: KIM AHYOUNG , CLIFFORD MARGARET M.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Three levels of goal difficulty (easy, moderate, difficulty) and three levels of goal source (i.e., self, other, self + other) were simultaneously examined along with two individual difference variables (i.e., mastery and failure tolerance) as predictors of responses to failure outcomes. College students majoring in education studied and gave opinions on a teacher‐training activity as well as on a particular student's failure experience with this activity. This experience was described nine different ways with each student receiving only one goal source by goal difficulty combination. The strongest predictors of responses to the described failure situation were the individual difference variables; least valuable as a single predictor was goal source. Responses to failure were most constructive among students with high failure tolerance or mastery who were exposed to failure under moderate and very difficult goals. Explanations for these results as they relate to goal‐setting theory and the theory of constructive failure as well as the educational implications of these results are discussed.
A PREPARATORY PROGRAMME FOR PASSAGE INTO THE ETHNICALLY INTEGRATED SCHOOL: IMPACT ON SCHOOL CLIMATE AND SOCIAL RELATIONS
Authors: SCHWARZWALD JOSEPH , HOFFMAN MICHAEL , ROTEM TAMAR
Published: May 2011

Summary. It is currently accepted that effective ethnic integration in schools requires supplemental intervention to attain its social and academic goals. The present study evaluated an Israeli preparatory programme addressing the transition into integrated junior high schools. This intensive, one‐week programme of intervention prior to school entrance is aimed at improving school climate and interpersonal relationships between ethnic groups. The evaluation assessed both short‐ and long‐term effects of both newly implemented and veteran programmes in comparison with contrast control schools. A total of 859 seventh grade students from 12 schools completed questionnaires on classroom climate and social relations, immediately following the programme and at year's end. Results indicated that the programme, especially at new sites, had continuing positive impact in reducing ethnic cleavage in interpersonal relationships and in improving perceptions of school and teacher. The benefits in perceived school climate overlaid a more general decline which appeared over time. The discussion focuses on ramifications for future intervention and evaluation with this programme model as well as its broader utility for improving school climate outside the integration context.
THE RELATIVE SEVERITY OF COMMON CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: THE STUDENT'S PERSPECTIVE
Authors: ZEIDNER MOSHE
Published: May 2011

Summary. The major aim of this study was to assess students' perceptions of the severity of various classroom management strategies frequently employed by teachers in dealing with student misbehaviours, and to gauge the specific dimensions underlying student perceptions. The sample consisted of 281 junior high school students in Israel who rated the severity of each of 24 commonly found classroom management strategies via a 5‐point Likert‐type rating scale. In addition, for comparative purposes, ratings of the management strategies were obtained for a sample of 80 junior high school teachers and their mean ratings compared with those of the student sample. A principal factor analysis of the scale ratings revealed five meaningful dimensions underlying student perceptions: (a) student referral to school or parental authority; (b) punitive teacher reaction; (c) assigning students unpleasant classroom related tasks; (d) placing constraint on students' time; and (e) assigning students unpleasant extra‐class assignments. Mean ratings of the various management strategies were relatively unaffected by the students' demographic characteristics. Similarly, the rank order of students' mean ratings was remarkably invariant across sex and social group membership. Whereas students' and teachers' mean ratings were significantly discernible for about half the items on the inventory, the two groups rank ordered the classroom management techniques quite similarly with respect to their perceived severity, implying similar classroom management strategy hierarchies for the two groups. The implications of the findings for classroom control are discussed and explicated.
CHILDREN'S RECIPROCATIONS OF TEACHER EVALUATIONS
Authors: WORRALL NORMAN , WORRALL CHRYSOULA , MELDRUM CLAIRE
Published: May 2011

Summary. To what extent do children and teachers form reciprocal evaluations of each other? This study followed three classes over the school year, comparing teacher ratings of children's classroom demeanour, children's interpretations of this evaluation, and children's own ratings of teachers' classroom management. The overall picture was one of girls and high achievers favouring and being favoured by their teachers. Children clearly detected the boy‐girl differentiation but not differentiation by achievement group. Separate occasion analysis showed a pattern consistent with an ab initio causal argument for development of reciprocation on the basis of gender which must have been learned in the present classroom. For achievement group the data pattern was more consistent with a continuing than an original causal process. Among high achievers, a degree of both accurate interpretation and reciprocity developed for both boys and girls. Among low achievers, boys were generally out of touch, both in interpreting teacher evaluations and in reciprocating appropriately. Low‐achieving girls showed an unexpected pattern consistent with striving to hold on to favourable, gender‐based teacher evaluations from the early part of the school year.
SEQUENCE IN HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS
Authors: LISTER CAROLINE , LEACH CHRIS , WESENCRAFT KAREN
Published: May 2011

Summary. The question of sequence in hearing impaired and hearing children's development of concepts was investigated and a similar order of acquisition of conservation was found regardless of delay. The 24 partially hearing unit, 28 deaf school and 30 hearing ordinary school children, with individual exceptions, yielded the ordering: conservation of number, substance, length, weight, area, volume. Scalogram analyses supported the order with coefficients of reproducibility of C1 = 0·93 (z = 4·2 P < 0·0002) for the hearing impaired and C1 = 0·96 (z = 4·9 P < 0·0002) for the hearing. Whilst scalogram analyses clarified the preferred ordering, they also indicated that more than one sequence was significant, and that there was no single fixed order of development.
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS, SELF‐WORTH MOTIVATION AND ATTRIBUTION RETRAINING FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Authors: CRASKE MARIE‐LOUISE
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study examined characteristics of 29 pupils (selected from an initial sample of 69 primary school children) whose performance on an arithmetic task deteriorated after failure. On the basis of their responses to a “mitigating circumstance” which could explain failure without implicating low ability as the cause (a description of the task as “very difficult”), subjects were classified as either learned helpless or motivated to protect self‐worth. Both of these groups had lower self‐concepts than the rest of the initial sample. Attribution retraining resulted in increased effort attributions and decreased inability attributions in the “learned helpless” group, and inoculated these subjects to the experience of failure. In the “self‐worth group” there was an increase in effort attributions but no change in ability ratings or performance after failure, following training.
THE LONG TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN READING: A FOLLOW‐UP TO THE HARINGEY READING PROJECT
Authors: HEWISON JENNY
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Haringey Reading Project was a two‐year educational intervention, which sought, firstly, to increase the amount of parental help given to 6–8 year‐old children learning to read, and secondly, to evaluate the impact of that help on the children's reading performance. As reported previously, at the end of the project children who had taken part in the parent involvement exercise were reading better than comparable children who had acted as controls. No such improvement was apparent in children given extra reading help, on a small group basis, from a supplementary teacher in school.

Three years after the end of the project, the children were tested in reading by the LEA, as part of their routine monitoring and screening exercise for children transferring from junior to secondary schools. Analysis of these data revealed that the beneficial effects on reading performance of having taken part in the parent involvement exercise were still clearly apparent three years later. Again, no clear pattern of benefit could be seen in the children who had received extra teacher help as part of the project.
REMEMBERING WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS: TAB A GOES INTO SLOT C, OR DOES IT?
Authors: GLOVER JOHN A. , HARVEY ANNE L. , CORKILL ALICE J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Three experiments were performed in an attempt to determine if students' memory for written directions could be facilitated. Experiment 1 contrasted a control condition with a condition in which students expected a free recall post‐test and a condition in which students expected to have to recall the directions in correct order. The results indicated that both experimental procedures resulted in significantly greater levels of overall recall than the control procedures. However, only the condition in which students expected a test of the order of information facilitated the recall of directions in order. Experiment 2 contrasted the learning of directions in a mnemonic (“one is a bun”) condition, a paraphrase condition, and a control condition in which subjects expected a test of their ability to recall information in correct order. The results indicated that in both the paraphrasing and the mnemonic conditions students had significantly more total recall than in the control condition. Further, the students in mnemonic condition recalled significantly more directions in correct order than those in the paraphrase or the control conditions. Students in the paraphrase condition, however, did recall significantly more directions in correct order than students in the control condition. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 but had students actually perform the task from memory. The results confirmed those of Experiment 2. Overall, the results suggest that students' memory for directions can be enhanced through various encoding manipulations. The results seem directly applicable to educational settings.
SCIENCE AND HANDEDNESS
Authors: HARVEY T. J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The aims of this study were (a) to investigate whether left‐handedness is related to intelligence, and (b) as a consequence of investigating the incidence of left‐handedness whether science can be classified as a one‐side of the brain activity. To test for the relationship between left‐handedness and intelligence, 800 fifth formers were given the Oldfield Handedness Inventory, as were a 1,000 sixth formers. The test was also given to 400 university science undergraduates. The results indicated (a) that left‐handedness did not appear to be a function of intelligence, (b) for males science could possibly be considered as a right‐hand side of the brain activity, and (c) for females science is possibly an across‐the‐brain activity.
PATTERNS OF PERFORMANCE ON THE BRITISH ABILITY SCALES FOR A GROUP OF CHILDREN WITH SEVERE READING DIFFICULTIES
Authors: McKAY M. F. , NEALE M. D.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Patterns of subtest performance on the British Ability Scales (Elliott et al., 1979) for a group of 24 children attending a reading disability clinic were analysed in the light of the report by Thomson (1982). The present findings generally support those of the earlier study, and add further credence to the more general attempts of diagnosticians to understand the multi‐faceted nature of reading problems.
STUDY APPROACHES, PROCESSES AND STRATEGIES: ARE THREE PERSPECTIVES BETTER THAN ONE?
Authors: SPETH CAROL , BROWN ROBERT
Published: May 2011

Summary. A sample of 383 students in educational psychology classes at a large American university completed three inventories, one based on cognitive psychology, one on approaches to learning, one on autonomous studying. A series of factor analyses of items and subscales showed common emphases that transcend differences in theoretical background and terminology: effort‐intensive organised study; intention to understand, personalise and integrate the information being learned; strategic or context‐sensitive study behaviour; and an unselective intention to reproduce information, impervious to external cues and without personal involvement.
APPROACHES TO STUDYING AND LEVELS OF PROCESSING IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Authors: ENTWISTLE NOEL , WATERSTON SUSAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Attempts at measuring students' study styles and strategies have been derived from different theoretical standpoints. Traditionally these have emerged from a combination of mainstream psychology and personal experience. More recently concepts have been derived from the qualitative analysis of students' experiences of studying and subsequently operationalised through inventories. This study compares the dimensions emerging from these two contrasting approaches. A sample of 218 mainly first‐year university students were given shortened versions of two inventories, one based on concepts from cognitive psychology and the other from educational research. Correlations between subscales from the two inventories, and factor analyses of them, are reported which show substantial agreement between the main concepts used from the two theoretical traditions to describe study strategies.
TEXT SEGMENTING AND COMPREHENSION: EFFECTS OF READING AND INFORMATION PROCESSING ABILITIES
Authors: KIRBY JOHN R. , GORDON CHRISTOPHER J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. A study is reported which tests the hypothesis that segmenting text into appropriate syntactic units will facilitate the comprehension of readers who have adequate word‐level skills but poor comprehension skills. This specific hypothesis is not confirmed, but evidence is presented that poor comprehenders, regardless of word‐level skills, do benefit from text segmenting. A second hypothesis tested concerns the information processing skills involved in syntactic analysis. Results confirm that simultaneous processing is involved in the forming of syntactic units. In conditions in which the text is already segmented, however, successive processing is shown to be involved, as well as simultaneous processing, it is argued, at a higher level. These results suggest that syntactic analysis is a potential bottleneck in reading, and that training studies should be designed, employing simultaneous and successive processing, to improve syntactic analysis skills and facilitate reading comprehension.
ARE DISABLED READERS DELAYED OR DIFFERENT? AN APPROACH USING AN OBJECTIVE MISCUE ANALYSIS
Authors: WILLICH YVE , PRIOR MARGOT , CUMMING GEOFF , SPANOS TOM
Published: May 2011

Summary. The question of whether the reading behaviour of disabled readers is qualitatively different from that of normally reading children has as yet received no clearcut answer. An objectively scored and simplified version of the Goodman miscue analysis system was developed as a means of comparing the use of various reading cues by Grade 4 disabled readers and Grade 2 normal readers whose reading level was psychometrically equivalent. The disabled readers were not only delayed but also qualitatively different from controls in that they made significantly less use of syntactic, semantic and text meaning cues. They also differed in self‐correction behaviour with the disabled readers tolerating much more nonsense in their oral reading.
SLOW STARTERS AND LONG‐TERM BACKWARD READERS: A REPLICATION AND EXTENSION
Authors: McGEE ROB , WILLIAMS SHEILA , SILVA PHIL A.
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study analysed data from a longitudinal investigation of reading ability in children from ages 7 to 13 years. Following Cox (1987), boys and girls with long‐term backward reading (LTB) were compared with boys and girls who showed good reading progress at 13, despite being poor readers at 7 (“slow starters” or SS). These two groups were contrasted on various measures of cognitive development, behaviour and family background at age 7 in an effort to identify predictors of reading progress. Only maternal reading ability differentiated significantly between the SS and LTB groups.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARD SCHOOL: STUDENT SELF‐REPORTS AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS
Authors: DAROM EFRAIM , RICH YISRAEL
Published: May 2011

Summary. This research compares teachers' perceptions of boys' and girls' attitudes to school with the students' own reports. Students (N = 2670) in Israeli elementary, middle and high school classes (N = 77) reported on their general satisfaction, commitment to schoolwork and relations with teachers and their teachers evaluated each student's attitudes for these domains. Results indicated that in most classes girls have more positive attitudes than boys and that teachers overestimate the magnitude of the difference. Also, as students progress in school the power of student sex weakens as a predictor of teacher perception of student attitudes. Finally, there is evidence that characteristics of the school environment differentially affect teacher perception of boys' and girls' attitudes to school.
BELIEFS CONCERNING HUMAN NATURE: COMPARING CURRENT RESPONSES WITH THOSE GATHERED IN 1945 AND 1956
Authors: FURNHAM ADRIAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study replicated a study published over 40 years ago which was itself replicated just over 30 years ago concerning students' beliefs about human nature. Despite the fact that subjects were younger and of a lower educational attainment in this study than subjects in previous studies they tended on the whole to get more “correct” answers. Other studies looking at changing beliefs and superstitions over time are considered.
SIMILAR‐SEQUENCE AND SIMILAR‐STRUCTURE IN RETARDED AND NON‐RETARDED CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT
Authors: LISTER CAROLINE , LEACH CHRIS , McGRAW DES , SIMPSON LUCY
Published: May 2011

Summary. Three questions important in relation to the developmental‐difference controversy were addressed. The first, to what extent do retarded and non‐retarded children show a similar sequence in their development of concepts, was answered using scalogram analyses which supported a common order of acquisition of conservation concepts when intermediate as well as conservation and non‐conservation categories were used. There was a high degree of similarity in sequence within as well as between attributes.

The second question, how far does the similar‐structure hypothesis hold, was answered in the terms set by the developmental theorists. Multiple regression analyses and comparisons of mean mental ages for each of the conservation subgroups supported the similar‐structure hypothesis. Non‐retarded and retarded children with no known organic condition revealed similar structures.

The third question concerned findings of volume conservation in retarded children and how these might be interpreted. It is argued that recognition of conservation in displacement volume tasks need not imply a generalised stage of formal operations nor be interpreted in terms of ceiling in development. Overall the findings have implications for ordering and providing appropriate levels of experiences for retarded children without assuming fixed limits in their development.
TEACHER EXPECTATIONS IN INFANT SCHOOL: ASSOCIATIONS WITH ATTAINMENT AND PROGRESS, CURRICULUM COVERAGE AND CLASSROOM INTERACTION
Authors: BLATCHFORD PETER , BURKE JESSICA , FARQUHAR CLARE , PLEWIS IAN , TIZARD BARBARA
Published: May 2011

Summary. There is still much debate, particularly in North America, about whether teachers' expectations have an effect on pupils' achievement, and through which factors expectations might be mediated. This paper reports on associations between teachers' academic expectations at the beginning, and children's attainments at the end of the school year. The study took place in infant schools in London. Associations were significant during all three years of infant school, and were not explained by children's attainments at the time of the expectation rating. Range of effects, in standard deviation units, of associations between expectations and progress over the school year ranged from 0.4 to 0.8. Two possible mediating factors between expectations and attainment were explored: differential curriculum coverage and differential classroom behaviour. It was found that children for whom teachers had higher expectations were given a wider range of activities in written language and mathematics, and this was so over and above attainments at the beginning of the school year. In contrast, there was no evidence that expectations were related to measures of classroom interaction like teacher praise and instructional contact.
TEACHERS‘ AND BOYS’ AND GIRLS‘ PERCEPTIONS OF COMPETENCE IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL: THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL COMPETENCE
Authors: GRANLEESE JACQUELINE , TURNER IRENE , TREW KAREN
Published: May 2011

Summary. Research into the role of teachers in maintaining self‐concepts which reflect gender stereotypes has been hampered by the lack of parallel multidimensional instruments. The development of the Teachers' Rating Scale of the Child's Competence (TRSCC) and the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (PCSC) (Harter, 1982) answers this problem. Thirty‐six boys and 38 girls of mean ages 10 years 8 months (SD = 3.6 months) and 10 years 9 months (SD = 3.3 months) respectively completed the PCSC while their teachers (N = 12) completed the TRSCC. It was found that: (1) teachers' mean ratings of boys' competence did not significantly differ from their ratings of girls' competence; (2) teachers' ratings demonstrated significant differences between boys and girls in the pattern of interrelationships of the domains of competence; (3) teachers' perceptions and pupils' self‐perceptions in the patterns of interrelationships amongst the domains of competence showed similar patterns for teachers and boys, and almost similar patterns for teachers and girls; (4) teachers were more important for girls' self‐perceived competence than for boys' self‐perceived competence; (5) both teachers and pupils use perceived physical competence as a construct associated with significantly differentiating between boys and girls in other domains of competence. These findings have pedagogical implications for the treatment of girls.
MONITORING CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS BETWEEN 1974 AND 1986
Authors: FRANCIS LESLIE J.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity Form ASC4B was administered to the whole pupil population in years one through five of two co‐educational comprehensive schools in 1974. The study was replicated at four‐yearly intervals in 1978, 1982 and 1986. The results confirm the finding that attitudes towards Christianity decline throughout the years of compulsory secondary schooling and also establish that there has been a significant and progressive decline in attitude scores throughout this age range during the 12‐year period between 1974 and 1986.
THE BRITISH ABILITY SCALES SPEED OF INFORMATION PROCESSING SUBTEST: WHAT DOES IT MEASURE?
Authors: BUCKHALT JOSEPH A. , JENSEN ARTHUR R.
Published: May 2011

Summary. Recent theory and research has focused on the relationship between speed of performing elementary cognitive operations and general intelligence. The developers of the British Ability Scales (BAS) included the Speed of Information Processing (SOIP) subtest as a measure of mental processing speed. To test the validity of the SOIP subtest, a group of 12‐year‐old children were given the BAS short‐form, including the SOIP subtest, and a series of electronically timed reaction time (RT) tasks. Correlations between RT and SOIP were higher than correlations between RT and other BAS subtests, suggesting convergent and discriminant validity. A hierarchical factor analysis of the data shows that the BAS SOIP subtest is related more to speed of apprehension (RT) than to speed of making the motor response, or movement time (MT).
TOWARDS A PERSON‐IN‐SITUATION MODEL OF TEACHER STRESS
Authors: WORRALL NORMAN , MAY DEREK
Published: May 2011

Summary. It is claimed that teacher stress research to date has addressed practical issues at the expense of theory, and that such theory as exists has been too cognitive. A theoretical account is developed which gives representation, (a) to affective as well as cognitive constructs, and (b) to clinical as well as experimental evidence. The account also recognises that triggering of disturbances is frequently non‐conscious or automatic, as well as the fact that stress can be experienced retrospectively or merely reflectively when no threat is present. Explanatory priority is assigned to the teacher's present emotional state which is seen to moderate “appraisal” of both interpersonal and intrapersonal sources of disturbance. For a given episode, the most general determinant of this present emotional state is located in the personality as core stress. The individual teacher then relates to potential stress situations via modes of interpersonal transaction which can offer varying degrees of stress protection. The model thus generated can be understood heuristically; within the present paper it is also used to develop an agenda for future research.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSERVATION CONCEPTS IN CHILDREN WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
Authors: LISTER CAROLINE , LEACH CHRIS , WALSH MAURICE
Published: May 2011

Summary. The investigation was the last in a series examining similarity of sequence and structure in the development of children with different handicapping conditions. It focused on the development of conservation concepts by children who were visually impaired but not blind. Similarity in order of acquisition of conservation concepts for visually impaired and sighted children was found and was supported by scalogram analyses yielding very high coefficients of reproducibility. Similarity in structure or level of understanding of conservation was also evident for these groups of children at comparable chronological ages and was supported by multiple regression analyses. There was no evidence of delay in the visually impaired children's development of conservation concepts.
WHY DOES THE LENGTH OF AN ESSAY‐TYPE ANSWER CONTRIBUTE TO EXAMINATION MARKS?
Authors: LONKA KIRSTI , MIKKONEN VALDE
Published: May 2011

Summary. Two samples of essay‐type answers in examinations of high school graduate candidates were analysed applying a two‐way classification scheme. The unit of classification was “a thought”, expressing by one or more sentences a coherent idea. Both the subject matter treated and the way it was treated were taken into account in the classification of thoughts. The treatment in expressions was rated as reproductive or as elaborative. Consistent with previous findings, the length of an essay answer correlated strongly with grades. Here it is also shown that elaborated thoughts were significantly longer than reproduced ones. Accordingly, the well‐known correlation between length and grade is not a triviality: it also reflects qualitative properties of essays which are appreciated by teachers. Among these are the amount of elaboration as well as the amount and quality of school knowledge.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE PREDICTION OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT USING THE CHILDREN'S MOTIVATION ANALYSIS TEST
Authors: BOYLE GREGORY J. , START K. BRIAN
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Children's Motivation Analysis Test (CMAT), together with standardised achievement tests in mathematics and reading, was administered to a large sample of Australian elementary school children. Stepwise forward regression analyses were conducted on subsamples of 209 males and 179 females (cases with missing data previously excluded). Several of the CMAT dynamic traits significantly predicted achievement scores. The most useful predictors were conscientiousness (Superego) and family (Home) orientation. These results, based on objective motivation measurement, represent the beginnings of a new approach for research into children's motivation structure.
GENDER‐STEREOTYPIC PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES
Authors: ARCHER JOHN , FREEDMAN SARA
Published: May 2011

Summary. Sixty college students, aged 16–20 years, rated 10 academic disciplines along seven 7‐point dimensions including masculine‐feminine, in a 2 (sex) X 3 (academic background) factorial design. Engineering, physical sciences, and mathematics were rated as significantly masculine whereas English, biology, psychology, French and sociology were rated as significantly feminine. There was no effect of the sex of the rater, and only in the case of biology was there a significant influence of academic background. For the mean ratings for each discipline, masculine‐feminine was correlated with several other dimensions, but a stepwise regression revealed only difficult‐easy as a significant predictor. On the individual ratings for three specific disciplines, correlations between masculine‐feminine and other dimensions were small and nonsignificant, and the regression analyses were all non‐significant. These results cast doubt on a previous conclusion that there is a cluster of other attributes associated with “masculine‘ when academic disciplines are rated.
THE PREDICTIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BELIEFS, ATTITUDES, INTENTIONS AND SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS LEARNING: A THEORY OF REASONED ACTION APPROACH
Authors: NORWICH BRAHM , JAEGER MARIANNE
Published: May 2011

Summary. This study investigated how attitudes and intentions about learning mathematics might be related to subsequent mathematics learning and achievement using the Ajzen and Fishbein theory of reasoned action. The sample consisted of 142 boys and girls between 12 and 14 years old in a large inner city comprehensive school who were assessed in a follow‐up design over a nine‐month period. Beliefs about the outcomes of learning, attitudes to learning, perceptions of significant others' prescriptions about learning, intentions to engage in learning behaviours, self and teacher reported learning behaviour and mathematics achievement were assessed at both stages. Regression analysis suggested that while the expectancy‐value components of attitude did relate to learning behaviour intentions, perceived prescriptions did not relate to intentions. There was a weak relationship between the two measures of learning behaviour, but with neither measure did intention independently predict future behaviour once prior behaviour was taken into account. The best predictor of subsequent mathematics achievement was prior achievement, though teacher‐reported learning behaviour did have an independent relationship with subsequent achievement. The findings are discussed in terms of the assessment of learning behaviours, the relevance of the behaviour intention construct for repeated multiple behaviours and future work on how affective variables might be related to cognitive achievements.
PUPILS‘ PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL AND TEACHERS II ‐ RELATIONSHIPS WITH MOTIVATION AND APPROACHES TO LEARNING
Authors: ENTWISTLE NOEL , KOZEKI BELA , TAIT HILARY
Published: May 2011

Summary. The previous article has described the development of scales designed to measure pupils' perceptions of school and teachers. Previous comparative studies have shown interesting differences in motivation and approaches to learning between Britain and Hungary, which were considered to reflect different methods of teaching. This article explores the relationships between a set of inventory scores describing perceptions of school and teachers and another set indicating school motivation and approaches to learning. Thel complete inventory was given to samples of 516 12–15 year‐old pupils in five British schools and a comparable sample of 602 pupils in Hungary. The factor structure of the combined inventory was investigated, together with correlational analyses at scale and item level which suggested that relationships did exist between perceptions of school and teachers, levels of school motivation, and approaches to learning.