bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Adoption of Information Technology by Self-Managing Service Teams
Authors: de Jong Ad , de Ruyter Ko , Lemmink Jos
Published: October 2003

This article examines antecedents and consequences of the adoption level of standardized information technology (IT) versus customized IT in self-managing teams (SMTs) in a financial services institution. Linkages between specified antecedents and the adoption levels of standardized and customized IT were investigated using data collected from bank employees and in-company databases. The authors find positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management, ease of use, and innovativeness on the adoption level of standardized IT and positive individual-level effects of tolerance of self-management and perceived usefulness on the adoption level of customized IT. These findings suggest that discriminating between different types of IT creates a better understanding of IT adoption in SMTs. A similar investigation of the IT adoption-service performance relationships shows that the adoption level of customized IT rather than of standardized IT has a crucial impact on service performance both in terms of customer satisfaction and productivity.
Rethinking Service Recovery Strategies
Authors: DeWitt Tom , Brady Michael K.
Published: October 2003

Researchers and practitioners have invested heavily in identifying effective complaint management strategies. However, most of the strategies identified to date occur only after a service failure occurs. This article proposes that antecedent states such as an ongoing rapport with service employees can also provide service recovery benefits. Four independent studies test this approach and indicate that an existing rapport between the customer and service provider results in increased postfailure customer satisfaction, increased repatronage intentions, and decreased negative word of mouth. Yet results for complaint intentions suggest that rapport does not increase the propensity for customers to complain about poor service. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.
Asymptotic Analysis for the Curved/Straight Sandwich Panel Junctions
Authors: Skvortsov Vitaly , Bozhevolnaya Elena , Thomsen Ole T. , Lyckegaard Anders , Vinson Jack R.
Published: October 2003

Cylindrical bending of a sandwich panel assembly consisting of straight and curved sections is considered. The sandwich assembly is statically determinate, loaded by a uniform pressure and possibly by forces and moments at its edges. The influence of the change of geometry upon the stresses and displacements at the transition zone between the different panel sections is investigated. An exact asymptotic mathematical model based on a number of small parameters is derived. The model assumes the faces of the sandwich panels to be thin elastic beams obeying the Kirchhoff-Love assumptions, while the isotropic core is treated as a 2-D elastic medium. An asymptotic expansion technique is exploited to derive analytical estimate formulae for calculating the deformation and stress distribution characteristics at the critical sections of the assembly. A numerical example illustrates the applicability of the derived formulae, and the validity of the proposed approach is demonstrated through comparison with FEM calculations.
Foam Core Deformation During Liquid Molding of Sandwich Structures: Modeling and Experimental Analysis
Authors: Binetruy C. , Advani S. G.
Published: October 2003

The rapid manufacturing of composite parts by liquid molding containing foam cores introduces potential processing issues that could lead to degradation in part quality and performance. This paper addresses the key issue of the flow-induced foam core deformation and its effect on the molding pressure. A set of molding experiments are carried out to investigate mechanisms linked to the foam core and fabric deformation during the filling stage. A simplified two-dimensional model is proposed to predict the pressure evolution resulting from the combined deformation of foam core and the fabrics. Computed results show reasonable agreement with the experimental results.
Piezoelectric Actuation for Smart Sandwich Structures - Closed Form Solutions
Authors: Abramovich H.
Published: October 2003

A new piezoelectric actuation mechanism for smart sandwich structures is investigated and its performances are compared with the traditional one, which is based on an induced bending moment.

This piezoelectric mechanism deals with inducing shear forces and it is the result of piezoelectric materials, which are constrained and poled perpendicular to the applied electric field direction (across the thickness).

The three-coupled equations of motion of a general nonsymmetric piezolaminated composite beam subjected to axial and lateral tractions with the new actuation mechanism are derived. The displacement field is based on a first order shear deformation theory. The static case is investigated for continuous piezoelectric layers and for piezoelectric patches embedded into the carrying beam. Closed form solutions for the bending angle and the axial and lateral displacements along the beam are presented for various configurations of lay-up, boundary conditions and lateral tractions.
Female and Male Coaches in The Eyes of Female Elite Soccer Players
Authors: Fasting Kari , Pfister Gertrud
Published: October 2003

What are female athletes’ expectations and evaluations of coaches? Is gender still important? These are the main questions discussed in this article. It is based on existing literature and on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 38 elite female soccer players from Germany, Norway, Sweden and the USA. The results showed that the following gender-related trends emerged cross-nationally. Male coaches are more often characterized by a ‘masculine’ style of interaction, and there is a feeling of not having been taken seriously by male coaches. The players seemed to have been more satisfied with female than male coaches, because of their female style of communication. They believed that ‘female coaches were better psychologists’, and some thought that women should not be coached in the same way as men. These results can be interpreted as mirroring the ‘old fashioned gender stereotypes’, but they also question whether there exists a ‘female coaching philosophy’.
Implementing a Game Sense Approach to Teaching Junior High School Basketball in a Naturalistic Setting
Authors: Brooker Ross , Kirk David , Braiuka Sandy , Bransgrove Aarjon
Published: October 2003

Traditional approaches to teaching and learning in physical education classes have concentrated on the development of so-called ‘fundamental sport skills’ rather than account for the contextual nature of games in which those skills are to be employed. In an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional approach, Bunker and Thorpe have proposed a way of teaching games which focuses on the development of game sense through the early immersion of students into modified game situations. Such an approach attempts to integrate the cognitive and contextual dimensions of learning in the physical domain. This paper reports on a study that investigated, using a qualitative research process, the implementation of a game sense conceptualization for teaching games into the naturalistic setting of a junior high school physical education programme. The study found that there were a number of issues in a school context which influence the degree of success of implementing a game sense approach and these are discussed in the paper.
Secondary PGCE PE Studentsí Perceptions of Their Subject Knowledge
Authors: Capel Susan , Katene Will
Published: October 2003

PE teachers in England are required to teach a wide range of physical activities in order tofulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE). The content or subject knowledge necessary to teach all areas of activity in the NCPE is acknowledged as important, both in its own right and as giving students confidence and accuracy for subject application. Subject knowledge is identified as one of the standards for the award of qualified teacher status on completion of an initial teacher education course in England. However, students entering secondary Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) PE courses bring with them a variety of experiences, qualifications and subject knowledge to teach the areas of activity in theNCPE. Most students have a sports-related degree. However, such degrees may not include subjectknowledge appropriate to teach all six areas of activity in the NCPE. Students, therefore, are required to gain subject knowledge on their one year PGCE course. The purpose of this study wasto look at secondary PGCE PE students’ perceptions of amount of subject knowledge in the six areas of activity that comprise the NCPE. At the beginning of each of the second and third terms of their course (January and April) 27 students completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire included a question about knowledge in the six areas of activity in the NCPE and in specific games taught in many schools in England. Results suggested that there were differences in students’ perceptions of amount of subject knowledge. The highest percentage of students perceived good subject knowledge in traditional team games. The highest percentage of students perceived little subject knowledge in outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA) and dance. There were significant differences between male and female students’ perceptions of knowledge in OAA, swimming, football, netball and rounders. There were also significant differences in students’ perceptions of knowledge in dance, gymnastics, OAA and volleyball between the beginning of the second and third terms. Implications of the results are considered in relation to: (i) experiences which students require on PGCE courses to develop subject knowledge; (ii) selection procedures for secondary PGCE PE courses; and (iii) preparation of students for secondary PGCE PE courses on sports-related degree courses.
Physical Activity Promotion in Secondary Schools
Authors: Cale Lorraine
Published: October 2003

This study investigated the nature and extent of physical activity promotion in a sample of secondary schools in central England. Questionnaires were completed by 42 physical education Heads of Department and questions covered a range of contexts for the promotion of physical activity in schools including the curriculum, the informal curriculum, the environment, community, and school policies and ethos. Results showed that schools varied in the amount and nature of physical activity opportunities they provided. Encouraging curriculum developments were evident in some schools and extra-curricular activities and community links appeared to be thriving in most. However, the environments and policies in many schools were not always conducive to physical activity participation and problems were evident with liaison, finance and INSET. It was concluded that, while most teachers were working hard to promote physical activity in some areas of the school, many other avenues for physical activity promotion were being overlooked.
The Role of Contextual Factors in Youth Participation in Organized Sport
Authors: De Knop Paul , Wylleman Paul , Theeboom Marc , De Martelaer Kristine , Van Hoecke Jo , Van Heddegem Lies
Published: October 2003

The participation of youth in organized sport can be regarded as an established aspect of society. The present article reflects on organized youth sport in Flanders – a setting which can be regarded as typical of the western European context. The different sectors of the Flemish organizational youth sport network, in which sport can be regarded as an ‘aim’ or as a ‘means’, are described in terms of structural characteristics and participatory trends. As youth involvement does not occur in a social vacuum, developments and changes in society in general – and in organized sports in particular – have an influence on how youngsters come to participate and remain in organized sport activities. The influence of four major developments and changes (i.e. demographic, socioeconomic, sociopsychological, sport-related) is discussed. It is concluded that a concerted and quality-based youth sport approach is necessary to deal with the different developments that influence organized sport in today’s western European society.
Risks and Opportunities: Adolescents in Top-Level Sport ñ Growing Up with the Pressures of School and Training
Authors: Brettschneider Wolf-Dietrich
Published: October 2003

Though the involvement of adolescents in top-level sport has been a common theme in the literature for many years, studies with an elaborate theoretical framework and empirically verified data are limited.The aim of the present study was (1) to consider the relationship between involvement in youth elite sport and some elements of adolescent development, and (2) to find out how the young competitors cope with the stress resulting from the demands of school and training. About 700 male and female top athletes from elite sport schools, aged between 12 and 17, were asked to complete Marsh’s self-description questionnaire (SDQ II). This group was compared to a control group from regular schools. Additionally 40 qualitative interviews were conducted focusing on the role of academic achievement. Results revealed significant group main effects. Top-level athletes reported significantly higher general self, peer and parent relations and academic achievement scores. Results of the qualitative interviews showed the important role of a positive feedback on academic achievement in developing a positive self-concept even for adolescents with outstanding sporting success.The findings suggest that involvement in elite sport may influence the development of young people’s self-perceptions in a positive way and that a positive academic self-concept may serve as a personal resource in the process of coping with stress.
Changing Gendered Practices in Physi Education: Working with Teachers
Authors: Wright Jan
Published: October 2003

This paper examines new possibilities for gender reform in physical education in the context of what has gone before. The first section of the paper reviews the ways in which gender reform in physical education has been theorized and implemented in the United Kingdom and Australia, and the second reports on an Australian professional development and evaluation project which has been informed by a position which understands gender as socially constructed. While this is not a new position in terms of academic writing about gender in physical education, there have been few reports of physical education initiatives in schools or educational systems which have been specifically informed by such an approach. Finally, this paper will report on how successful, at this stage of the project, professional development workshops have been in motivating initiatives in schools.
I Would Like to be Like Her/Him: Are Athletes Role-Models for Boys and Girls?
Authors: Biskup Claudia , Pfister Gertrud
Published: October 2003

The first part of this contribution deals with theoretical considerations of the meaning of role-models and idols in general and for young people in particular. Then the results of existing studies are discussed. As research shows, the huge majority of idols, especially of sport heroes, are men, and it is boys who admire sport stars. In the second part of the article a pilot study is presented in which we asked female and male pupils about their role-models. A high percentage of boys named sporting heroes or ‘action stars’ whom they admired because of their strength, aggression and their ability to get things done. In contrast, for the girls interviewed, sport stars did not have the function of role-models. They admired the stars and starlets of the movie and music scene. At the end, the potential effects of these orientations are discussed, and the question is asked what kind of answers pedagogy can offer.
Feminisms and Figurational Sociolo Contributions to Understandings of Sports, Physical Education and Sex/Gender
Authors: Colwell Sharon
Published: October 2003

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between various sports feminisms and figurational sociology. A number of feminist and figurational contributions to understandings of sports, physical education and sex/gender are discussed, and their relative adequacy considered. The key differences between feminist and figurational approaches are highlighted, particularly in relation to the role of values in sociology. Particular attention is paid to the work of Scraton on physical education, and Hargreaves’s criticisms of figurational sociology are also addressed. Finally, the difficulties raised when attempts are made to synthesize these approaches are considered, via a critical examination of Maguire and Mansfield’s preliminary attempt at a synthesis of feminism and figurational sociology.
Where are the Childhoods in Childhood Literacy? An Exploration in Outer (School) Space
Authors: Dyson Anne Haas
Published: October 2003

Research on childhood literacy has tended to idealize selected practices of a romanticized childhood; it portrays that childhood as providing the most relevant literacy resources and as launching ‘the child’ most directly into school literacy success. Herein, I argue that the prominence of this assumed direct route is theoretically problematic; moreover, it overshadows the very crosscultural childhood qualities–and the particular, localized childhood symbols and practices–through which children construct written language as a useful medium. In order to make this argument, I draw on data collected in a yearlong ethnographic project in an urban primary school in the USA. In the project, I examined children’s appropriations of diverse cultural material for school composing. In the analysis, I used the productionof a text as the unit of analysis. Through studying these minimal units, I untangled the intertextual threads that linked the children’s present literacy activity to their experiences; for instance, as (pretend) radio singing stars and, beyond that, as radio consumers (or video watchers, superhero enactors, church goers, and so on). I focus on key events from two children’s case histories to illustrate how recontextualization processes (i.e. processes of transporting cultural material across social boundaries) undergirded developmental pathways into school literacy. Children’s illustrated potential to adapt cultural resources in response to changing conditions–to be playful–seems key, not only to furthering literacy development, but also to furthering sociocultural lives on a fragile, ever-changing planet.
Co-Constructing Expertise: The Development of Parents’ and Teachers’ Ideas about Literacy Practices and the Transition to School
Authors: McNaughton Stuart
Published: October 2003

Going to school creates a developmental transition during which new ways of teaching and learning take place and new forms of expertise emerge. This article discusses properties of effective transitions for children in diverse urban schools. A model of socialization is used to explore one component of effective transitions, the ideas that family members and teachers have about teaching, learning and literacy. Studies of literacy over the transition to school are used to show how the development of shared ideas can contribute to more effective transitions for children from diverse language and cultural communities.
Examining the Play–Literacy Interface: A Critical Review and Future Directions
Authors: Roskos Kathleen , Christie James
Published: October 2003

The idea that a seemingly frivolous activity such as play can promote children’s literacy development is very intriguing and has prompted a large amount of research activity over the past several decades. In order to assess the status of this line of inquiry, and to provide guidance for future research, we undertook a critical analysis of 20 recent investigations of the play–literacy interface. We first attempted to understand the ‘story’ that each study told–how the problem was framed, the solution path, the claims that were made, and the evidence that supported these claims. We then engaged in critical analysis of the studies, challenging both what was said (i.e. the claims) and what was not said nor addressed. We agreed with the major claims of 12 of the 20 studies, judging the research to be sound and complete. These studies supplied strong evidence that play can serve literacy by: (a) providing settings that promote literacy activity, skills, and strategies; (b) serving as a language experience that can build connections between oral and written modes of expression; and (c) providing opportunities to teach and learn literacy. However, our critical analysis of these studies also revealed a number of limitations and unresolved issues, including concerns about definitions, theories, methodology, lack of progress in establishing causal connections with development, and dominance of the ‘play as progress’ rhetoric.
Staring at the Page: The Functions of Gaze in a Young Child’s Interpretation of Symbolic Forms
Authors: Lancaster Lesley
Published: October 2003

This article argues that young children are capable of complex abstract reasoning which is rooted in their physical and emotional engagement with the world. It suggests that even apparently commonplace representative objects are not transparent, and children are faced with a major interpretative problem when becoming familiar with symbolic images and objects. It also suggests that young children are motivated by an expectation of significance about the symbolic systems they encounter, including systems of low modality like writing. Their interpretative activity is mediated through physical and bodily resources, of which gaze is of major significance to sighted children when reasoning about visual, spatial modes of symbolic representation. The article presents a micro-semiotic, multimodal analysis of a small section of video film in which a two year old child is engaged, with her father, in drawing and marking: representing and interpreting graphic signs. Three functions of gaze are identified during this activity: analytic, interpersonal and expressive. The systematic and motivated coordination of these types of gaze with other bodily modes, including language, is shown. The article concludes that the boundaries between young children’s bodily and cognitive activity can be seen to be flexible, making many of their processes of reasoning and interpretation about systems of symbolic representation accessible to description.
Family Involvement in Early Writing Instruction
Authors: Wollman-Bonilla Julie E.
Published: October 2003

This article focuses on the daily written replies of four casestudy families to their five to seven year-olds’ messages, about school activities, in Family Message Journals. Analysis of the instructional functions realized through text structure and lexicogrammatical features of families’ replies reveals how family members may have played a role in providing writing instruction. Results demonstrate that all families, regardless of sociocultural background, had the ability to skillfully scaffold learning to write through instructional feedback on children’s messages and modeling of genre conventions. In particular, the one immigrant family of English Language Learners modeled powerful writing that sometimes pushed the boundaries of mainstream genre expectations. Results demonstrate that even families typically considered less capable of participating, have much to contribute to children’s school literacy learning that may both extend classroom instruction and introduce alternative, hybrid text models. These alternative texts complicate issues of genre modeling and family involvement and suggest the need for educators to recognize the value of multiple forms of social communication beyond mainstream expectations.
‘Many Differing Ladders, Many Ways to Climb...’: Literacy Events in the Bilingual Classroom, Homes, and Community of Three Puerto Rican Kindergartners
Authors: Volk Dinah , de Acosta Martha
Published: October 2003

In this article, we analyze aspects of the complex literacy lives of three Spanish dominant, mainland Puerto Rican kindergartners who were beginning readers at the time of the study. We investigate literacy as a social and cultural practice in the children’s bilingual classroom, homes, and churches, describing the people who supported their developing literacy, their beliefs about literacy, and the characteristics of literacy events that the children coconstructed with them. Our analysis is based on data collected with ethnographic methods, including participant observation, interviews, and audio recording. At home and in church, the children’s developing literacy was supported by a network of people, many of whom believed that reading was about combining sounds into words and that meaning was inherent in text. Literacy events were often social, collaborative interactions as the families created a syncretic literacy by drawing on the multiple resources in their lives, including their religion, their culture, and their knowledge of two languages as well as their experiences in school. Overall, we found both similarities anddifferences between literacy in school and literacy in the children’s homes and community rather than the matches ormismatches described in the literature.
A is for... What? The Function of Alphabet Books
Authors: Nodelman Perry
Published: October 2003

This article is an exploration of the large repertoire of knowledge and strategies for meaning-making that reader/viewers must possess (or be in the process of learning to possess) in order to make sense of the relatively simple information provided by even the simplest of alphabet books. The complex relationships between real objects and concepts, their visual images, the sounds that represent them in language, the visual symbols that represent those sounds, and the names we provide for those sounds make the act of decoding any alphabet book a form of puzzle–and thus, allow creative writers and illustrators to produce intriguingly sophisticated versions of the genre.
A Researcher Goes to School: Using Technology in the Kindergarten Literacy Curriculum
Authors: Turbill Jan
Published: October 2003

This study was prompted by a concern that early literacy classroom activities reflected varying practices and differing perceptions of technology, literacy and how they are related. Furthermore there seemed to be a strong resistance to the use of technology in most early literacy classrooms. These factors it seemed could only lead to greater inequity. While the initial focus question for the research began as, ‘how are teachers of young children incorporating technology into their early literacy programs?’ it soon changed to ‘why do teachers of early literacy find it difficult to implement technology into their literacy curriculum?’ Findings highlighted that implementation of technology was hindered by lack of time and expertise to explore and understand available software, teachers’ narrow definition of literacy as including only paper-based texts, and lack of understanding of and confidence in the potential of the use of technology in the early years.
Sisters and Brothers as Language and Literacy Teachers: Synergy between Siblings Playing and Working Together
Authors: Gregory Eve
Published: October 2003

Over the past three decades numerous studies from the English-speaking world have pointed to the advantages for young children of family involvement in their literacy development. However, their emphasis has always been firmly and almost exclusively upon parentsworking with children in specific waysand often using school-sanctioned materials. This article investigates the role played by young siblings close in age in each others’ literacy development and argues for a unique reciprocity in learning between older and younger child. Thus it steps outside hitherto recognized paradigms of ‘scaffolding’ and ‘collaborative learning’. This reciprocity of learning I refer to as a synergywhereby siblings act as adjuvants, stimulating and fostering each others’ development. Using examples from Bangladeshi and Anglo children living in East London, the article traces ways in which synergy takes place between dyads through play activities in home and community contexts.
Moves in the Territory of Literacy? The Telephone Discourse of Three- and Four-Year-Olds
Authors: Gillen Julia
Published: October 2003

The concept of the ‘new communication landscape’ (Kress, 1998) is propelling a re-examination of what is meant by literacy, and the ways in which we seek to identify and promote literacy practices in young children.This article reviews theoretical moves to destabilize the dichotomy between oracy and literacy. Challenges posed by an examination of new technologies are set against those that draw on evidence from diverse cultural and historical contexts.The telephone presents a contemporary context that has been largely overlooked in child language research – yet this medium possesses its own specific constraints and opportunities for discourse, necessitating a shift away from the ‘here-and-now’ characteristic of very young children’s talk, to a consideration of the interlocutor’s distance characteristic of literacy. An analysis of the practices of three- and four-year-old children’s spontaneous telephone play demonstrates many ways in which their oral practices in this communication channel may be conceptualiz21ed within an understanding of their symbolic meaningmaking practices that is related to literacy, rather than a separate domain of activity. Finally, it is proposed that Bakhtin’s notion of ‘speech genre’ provides a particularly useful characterization of this important aspect of language development in the context of communication technology.
The Boots Books for Babies Project: Impact on Library Registrations and Book Loans
Authors: Bailey Mary , Harrison Colin , Brooks Greg
Published: October 2003

The Boots Books for Babies project was a partnership between The Boots Company, Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Health Visitors.The project’s stated aims were to deliver book packs to the parents or carers of babies attending hearing checks at local health centres, via the health visitor, usually at around nine months old, in order to increase awareness among parents and carers of the importance of sharing books with babies, and to increase the registration of babies with local libraries and use of the library service. Over the period of the roll-out of the project (1998–2000), in libraries associated with the project, the total number of babies under 2 years old registering as library members rose by 54%. Baby registrations for a comparison group of 7 libraries showed an increase in baby registrations in a similar period of 6%, concentrated in the first 4 months of the year. Over the last 9 months of the year, the number of baby registrations in non-project libraries was lower than in 1998. Health visitors, other health care workers and library staff were very supportive of the project’s goals and willingly gave extra time to support the project. Many respondents spontaneously shared the view that the project’s work should be continued and sustained, and it has since attracted supplementary funding to continue this work.
Packaging Process: Consequences of Commodified Pedagogy on Students’ Participation in Literacy Events
Authors: Larson Joanne
Published: October 2003

This article presents analyses of the language and literacy practices in one urban kindergarten.The intent is to examine ways in which process-oriented materials and pedagogies are used as decontextualized language arts ‘packages’ to teach isolated literacy skills. Furthermore, I will describe the consequences of this practice on students’ access to literacy events. I draw on Goffman’s (1981) conception of the participation framework as a linguistic structure that organizes and is organized by talk and interaction in activity to analyze what roles were available in the participation framework in this classroom and how these roles mediated access to meaningful participation in literacy events. Discourse analysis of available roles in the participation framework showed that student participation in literacy events was limited to the observation of ‘pedagogized’ literacy practices (Street, 1995).
Ephemera, Mess and Miscellaneous Piles: Texts and Practices in Families
Authors: Pahl Kate
Published: October 2003

This article examines children’s meaning making in the home, drawing on an 18-month long ethnographic study of three low income families of 5–8 year-old boys. It is argued that children’s meaning making in the home is a complex activity shaped by family structure and family narratives.There needs to be a more rigorous theoretical framework in which to set children’s communicative practices, visual, textual and artefactual, in the home; one that both attends to the way the home is structured and the cultural resources the home draws upon. In order to make this argument material is presented from the three homes, including the words of the children’s parents. In particular, the article looks at the concept of ‘mess’ in the home and how this impacts on children’s text making.While much of children’s text making may appear ephemeral it is suggested that it deserves serious theoretical attention in order to begin to construct home-based pedagogical structures that support and credit the ever changing landscape of communication that is the home.
Children, Literacy and the Uk National Grid for Learning
Authors: Lankshear Colin , Knobel Michele
Published: October 2003

This article presents a critical assessment from the standpoint of early childhood literacy of Britain’s ambitious and costly on-line learning resource, the National Grid for Learning. It provides an overview of the aims, scope and administration of the Grid, together with typical examples of content available for users in the early childhood age range (0–8 years).The authors argue that the Grid is headed in an unfortunate and counterproductive direction so far as young learners are concerned.The argument claims that in its current form the Grid is likely to generate boredom among young people in terms of Grid-promoted on-line literacy practices, and to foster mislearningof important new forms of literacy, such as email and interactivity. Furthermore, Grid activities and approaches dumb down literacy acquisition, particularly acquisition of ‘new literacies’, and impede development of personal responsibility for on-line actions. The authors claim that a major change in mindset will be necessary to reform the Grid in ways that are compatible with the official policy goals and aspirations behind its development. Examples are provided of more productive alternatives, together with concepts, principles and data supporting the judgments and suggestions advanced.
Revealing Invisible Worlds: Connecting the Mainstream with Bilingual Children’s Home and Community Learning
Authors: Parke Tim , Drury Rose , Kenner Charmian , Robertson Leena Helavaara
Published: October 2003

This article sets out to make the point that if teachers and others have, as the evidence by which they will place, teach and assess young bilinguals, only those children’s performance in English, they are not likely to appreciate the full range of their capacities, and their linguistic capacity above all others.The theoretical overview is followed by sets of data deriving from four UK researchers. Rose Drury shows the interface of the home and school environments for a young bilingual girl. Charmian Kenner compares the first-and additional-language literacies of a young child in nursery.Tim Parke investigates the performance of three young potential bilinguals, retelling stories in English and then in their mother tongue. Leena Helavaara Robertson investigates the role of community schools and their construction by central agencies. Finally the authors re-state their focus, stressing what is revealed in young bilingual children’s language abilities by the work they have presented and suggesting some implications for pedagogy and practice in early years contexts.
Early Intervention: Narratives of Learning, Discipline and Enculturation
Authors: Woods Annette , Henderson Robyn
Published: October 2003

Current understandings about literacy have moved away from the belief that literacy is simply a process that individuals do in their heads. These understandings do not negate the importance of the individual aspects of literacy learning, but they emphasize understandings of literacy as a social practice. In many cases, responses to early literacy intervention seem to be grounded in theories that appear out of step with current literacy research and consequent evidence that literacy is socially and culturally constructed. One such response is the Reading Recovery programme based on Clay’s theory of literacy acquisition. Clay (1992) describes the programme as a second chance to learn. However, others have suggested that programmes like Reading Recovery may in fact work toward the marginalization of particular groups, thereby helping to maintain the status quo along class, gender and ethnic lines. This article allows two professionals to bring their insider’s knowledge of Reading Recovery to an analysis of the construction of the programme. The article interweaves this analysis with the personal narratives of the researchers as they negotiated the borders between different understandings and beliefs about literacy and literacy pedagogy.
Dylan’s Routes to Literacy: the First Three Years with Picture Books
Authors: Whitehead Marian
Published: October 2003

This case study of the process of sharing picture books with a child in the first three years of his life at home with parents and visiting grandparents attempts to capture something of the rich detail of the experience. The setting for the study is an English/American household in England and Dylan is the first-born child of professional parents. After locating the study in the context of some of the existing research literature about sharing books with babies, the article focuses on Dylan’s unique responses to picture books and has a developmental emphasis, reflected in the month-by-month observations. The possible significance of particular books for this child and the role of other print materials are discussed. Certain themes that recur in Dylan’s personal routes to literacy are analysed and the article concludes with some indicators of the wider implications of the study for the learning and teaching of literacy in the early years.
‘Five on the First of December!’: What can We Learn from Case Studies of Early Childhood Literacy?
Authors: Brooker Liz
Published: October 2003

This article considers the importance of in-depth case studies in research into young children’s language and literacy learning, and asks how the findings of such research can be utilized. Two case studies from a larger ethnography of home and school learning are offered as exemplars: one child is from an English, and the other from a Bangladeshi, background, but the two were born on the same day, and start school in the same classroom. Their home experiences of literacy and other forms of learning are compared: though neither child’s early literacy experience is ideally matched to the classroom they enter, the English child is enabled to ‘make up’ home disadvantages in ways which are not available to the Bangladeshi child. When differences in their experiences and outcomes are theorized, it is suggested that communication between home and school is the key to successful adaptation to school literacy learning.
Pathways to the Graphicacy Club: the Crossroad of Home and Pre-School
Authors: Anning Angela
Published: October 2003

The article challenges the narrow versions of literacy in current versions of early childhood education in the UK. The theoretical underpinning for the paper is drawn from sociocultural perspectives and what Kress (1997) defines as the ‘broad and messy area... of communication and representation’. It is argued that we need to broaden our understanding of literacy to include young children’s representations in graphic and narrative versions, influenced by the media and ‘everyday’ exchanges with siblings and significant adults, that characterize their journeys towards literacy in home settings. When they enter pre-school and start school the versions of representations they are encouraged to do are driven by a narrow emphasis on school versions of literacy and numeracy. The kind of personal and social drawings done at home are discarded. The argument is illustrated by examples of young children drawing in home and school settings taken from a three-year longitudinal study of seven young children’s meaning making as they moved from home to pre-school and the beginning of schooling.
New Technologies in Early Childhood Literacy Research: A Review of Research
Authors: Lankshear Colin , Knobel Michele
Published: October 2003

Against the background of Michael Kamil and Sam Intrator’s landmark reviews of research about new technologies and literacy development, this article maps recent research concerned specifically with the 0–8 years age group. Drawing on databases of research conducted in North America, Britain and Australasia, it affirms that the early childhood dimension is even more radically underresearched than other age ranges with respect to new technologies and literacy development. The authors develop an analytic framework comprising four quadrants to categorize the various studies conducted in the early childhood age range, and assign these to their appropriate quadrants. This reveals a lopsided distribution of the meagre corpus of studies available. The article provides a map of the field against which early childhood educators can judge ‘at a glance’ how far their personal areas of interest are served by existing research. It simultaneously pinpoints areas where new research is needed to fill important gaps.
‘I’m in a Bad Mood. Let’s Go Shopping’: Interactive Dolls, Consumer Culture and a ‘Glocalized’ Model of Literacy
Authors: Carrington Victoria
Published: October 2003

This article examines the significance of Diva Starz, a new line of interactive dolls aimed at young girls between 6 and 11 years for current models of literacy. It argues that these dolls have much to tell us about the construction of children as consumers, our views about ‘childhood’, and the models of literacy instruction most appropriate for giving children the skills and knowledge needed to deal with the complex pedagogic texts characteristic of childhood in contemporary consumer culture.
Knowledge-Based Societyand Education
Authors: Nagy József
Published: October 2003

In a knowledge-based society, the routes to acquiring knowledge should beopen for everybody. The author argues that in the context of the currentradical social and economic changes the realization of this objectiverequiresa paradigm shift in education, leaving the traditional, content-referenced paradigm and creating a criterion-referenced system ofschooling. In this, academic progress is paced by the fulfilment ofrudimentary requirements and the time necessary for it is allocated to eachindividual. The shift to criterion-referenced education becomes possibleand successful when the basic components of the personality areidentified, in the cognitive, personal and social spheres regarding abilitiesand motives as well - and these are the only components that are targetedthis way. Referring to evidence from empirical research, the spontaneousand the facilitated development of a few basic cognitive skills are discussedto illustrate the operation and potentials of criterion-referenced education.
The Additive Effects of Household Smoking and Housing Tenure on Birthweight Distribution in a Birth Cohort
Authors: Spencer Nick , Coe Christine
Published: October 2003

Objective:to study the additive effects of smoking and housing tenure on birthweight distribution and risk of birthweight <2500g, <3000g and <3500g Setting:Coventry Study design:whole year birth cohort Outcomes: birthweight normal distribution curves with medians (50th centile), 10th and 90th centiles; birthweight <2500g, <3000g and <3500g Participants:2600 infants enrolled into the CoventryCohort Study by the Family Health Visitor at the birth visit Results:birthweight data were available on 2584 infants. The median for the whole cohort was 3340g (3316, 3364) with a 10th centile of 2560g (2536, 2584) anda 90th centile of 4000g (3976, 4024). Medians, 10th and 90th centiles were significantly lower among infants born in smoking households and rented housing: smoking households 3260g (3224, 3294), 2520g (2486, 2554) and 3920g (3886, 3954); rented housing 3250g (3212, 3288), 2470 g (2432, 2508) and 3910g (3874, 3946). Households which are both rented and smoking have the lowest median birthweight (3210g [3162, 3258]), 10th centile (2440g [2392, 2488]) and 90th centile (3856g [3808, 3904]). Risks of birthweight <2500g, <3000g and <3500g show a clear gradient with the highest risk amongsmoking and rented households (odds ratios 1.78 (1.15, 2.81); 1.99(1.52, 2.61); 2.13(1.70, 2.70)) after adjustment for ethnicity, marital status, gestational age and maternal education. Conclusions:these data show a shift to the left of the normal birthweight distribution among infants born into smoking households and those living in rented accommodation – an accepted low income proxy in the UK. An additive effect of smoking and rented housing is shown resulting in a further shift to the left of the distribution. The additive effects of smoking and living in rented housing on the risk of birthweight below optimum levels adjusted for ethnicity, marital status, maternal education and gestational age are demonstrated
Starting Strong
Authors: Bennett John
Published: October 2003

The present paper provides a brief overview of the early childhood education and care policy (ECEC) reviews of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, which began in late 1998 and continue into the present. It is hoped that reviews of 20 countries will be completedby end 2003. The experience of the reviews suggests that a deep-rooted division between care and education continues to delay significant investment in care services for children from birth up to secondary school age. To clarify why this dichotomy persists, the first section of the paper explores the challenge to governments to bring education and care together. The negative consequences of the division are then explored, in particular the great imbalance in investment and supply of services for under-threes and over-threes; the relative neglect of the care in education, including after-schoolcare places for children; and the continuing weak position of women in the labour market. Thirdly, and in contrast, some of the economic (cost–benefit) evidence in favour of public investment in ECEC (including parentalleave policies) is outlined. Finally, some suggestions are offered as to how the divide between education and care might eventually be reduced.