bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SOCIAL AND ACADEMIC TREATMENTS IN MIXED‐ETHNIC CLASSES AND CHANGE IN STUDENT SELF‐CONCEPT
Authors: EITAN TAMAR , AMIR YEHUDA , RICH YISRAEL
Published: May 2011

Summary. The efficacy of three pedagogical strategies for the enhancement of student academic and social self‐concept in mixed‐ethnic classes was examined among 594 Israeli children of varying status levels in their first year of junior high school. One treatment approach involved cooperative learning in small groups; a second approach employed a specially designed social relations programme; and the third approach presented the social relations programme and cooperative learning. A comparison group using traditional pedagogical approaches was also investigated. Status level was defined according to student sociometric standing and academic standing. Results indicated that low‐achieving students of Middle Eastern background only in the comparison group sustained a significant negative change in their social and academic self‐concepts. All three treatment strategies succeeded in curbing this decline. Findings were in the same direction when status was defined by sociometric standing. These results suggest that under proper pedagogical conditions minority children in mixed‐ethnic classes need not suffer any decline in their self‐concept.
HANDWRITING AND SPELLING: DYSLEXIC CHILDREN'S ABILITIES COMPARED WITH CHILDREN OF THE SAME CHRONOLOGICAL AGE AND YOUNGER CHILDREN OF THE SAME SPELLING LEVEL
Authors: MARTLEWM MARGARET
Published: May 2011

Summary. Handwriting speed and spelling were examined in a group of 10‐year‐old dyslexic children compared with children of the same age and with younger children of the same spelling level. The children wrote lists of words onto a digitizer pad in three different conditions: a dictation, copying from a sheet on the desk and copying from a wall chart. The words ranged in complexity from simple monosyllabic phoneme to grapheme words to words needing orthographic and morphological information and non‐words. There were differences in writing speed between the 10‐year‐olds and 8‐year‐olds in most conditions. There were no significant differences in speed of writing or pausing between the dyslexic children and the 10‐year‐olds. There was a difference in the number of errors in the spelling of non‐words, the dyslexic children being inferior to both the other groups. The only difference between the dyslexic children and the 8‐year‐olds was in speed of writing in copying from the desk and in writing complex words. The performance of the dyslexic group was more similar to that of the 8‐year‐olds in the dictation but to the 10‐year‐olds in the copying conditions. Independent judges had no difficulty in identifying the 10‐year‐olds' writing but confused that of the 8‐year‐olds with the dyslexic children's. It is proposed that the dyslexic children had automatised movement patterns linked to spelling equivalent to their same age peers but that these patterns were built on accumulated inaccuracies in both letter formation and spelling.
HEAD INJURED CHILDREN AND EDUCATION: A NEED FOR GREATER DELINEATION AND UNDERSTANDING
Authors: JOHNSON DAVID A.
Published: May 2011

Summary. There is continuing professional misunderstanding within education and psychology regarding the effects of head injury upon the immature brain. Children who sustain repeated mild, or single severe head injuries in falls, road accidents, or as victims of physical abuse, may look good but perform badly. There is no acceptable evidence that such children achieve a good or full recovery. Conclusions about good prognosis cannot be substantiated in the present state of inadequate assessment including the perpetual reliance on inadequate or inappropriate global estimates, such as IQ, or Glasgow Outcome scores. The basis of many problems for head injured children within education is the apparent failure to adequately delineate the variables of mechanism and severity of injury, age at insult and time since injury.
SOME NORMATIVE DATA ON THE BENDER GESTALT TEST PERFORMANCE OF IRANIAN CHILDREN
Authors: YOUSEFI F. , SHAHIM S. , RAZAVIEH A. , MEHRYAR A. H. , HOSSEINI A. A. , ALBORZI S.
Published: May 2011

Summary. The Bender Gestalt test of visuomotor coordination was applied to a sample of Iranian children (N=1,600) aged between 6.0 years and 10 years and 11 months attending grades 1 through 5 of 16 public primary schools in Shiraz city, southern Iran. The administration of the test and its scoring followed the standard procedures recommended by Koppitz. The reliability of the test in its new context was investigated through readministering it to a group of 60 children after four weeks, the r being .77. The validity of the test was established by comparing scores of children at different age levels and by correlating test results with marks obtained in two sets of examinations, results of Goodenough Harris Draw‐A‐Person Test and indices of parental education and occupation. The results are mostly in the expected direction and indicate that the Bender Gestalt test may be used as a simple measure of cognitive‐intellectual development in Iran. Observed differences between Iranian norms and those of Koppitz (1963, 1975) for American children are briefly discussed and explained.
Conceptions of teaching and their relationship to student learning
Authors: Gow Lyn , Kember David
Published: May 2011

It is now well established that students can hold differing, but readily identifiable, conceptions of learning. This study attempted to discover whether parallel conceptions of teaching can be identified and, if so, whether they are related to student learning outcomes. Initial investigation was through semi‐structured interviews with lecturers at a polytechnic. Constructs identified from the interview transcript were transformed into scales for a questionnaire. Different sets of polytechnic lecturers responded to trial and final versions of the questionnaire. Analysis of the final version of the questionnaire identified two main orientations to teaching — learning facilitation and knowledge transmission — made up of five and four subscales respectively. Mean scores for the two orientations were then computed for 16 departments in two institutions. The departmental scores were found to correlate with data on student learning from longitudinal surveys employing repeated applications of the Study Process Questionnaire. Departments with high scores on knowledge transmission discouraged students from adopting a deep approach to study. Departments in which learning facilitation predominated seemed less likely to induce surface approaches.
Weaving instructional explanations in history
Authors: Leinhardt Gaea
Published: May 2011

This paper contributes to a growing body of research on the study of classroom learning and instruction in specific subject matter areas. It addresses the broad issue of the nature of and occasions for instructional explanations in history. Based on a study that traced the classroom instruction of one exemplary US history teacher for an entire semester, the paper presents a typology of instructional explanations in this discipline. Analysis of the lessons shows how the teacher uses each type of instructional explanation and how students acquire competence in constructing their own explanations as the year progresses.
Using maps to remember text: an instructional analysis
Authors: Kulhavy Raymond W. , Woodard Kristina A. , Haygood Robert C. , Webb James M.
Published: May 2011

A sample of 45 undergraduate volunteers produced think aloud data while learning one of three versions of a reference map. Following map learning, the students read a text in which the events were related to the map features. Recall of text events was associated with accurate encoding of map structure. Results were interpreted within a dual coding framework, which emphasises cross‐code retrieval and a computational advantage for images of spatial displays.
Training in thesis writing: an evaluation of three conceptual orientations
Authors: Torrance M. , Thomas G. V. , Robinson E. J.
Published: May 2011

Three different two‐day thesis writing courses were designed and evaluated. Forty‐one graduate research students completed a product‐centred course which taught grammatical and stylistic rules for good research writing. Thirty students completed a cognitive strategies course which introduced heuristics for generating and organising thesis content. Thirty‐three students completed a generative writing and shared revision course which entailed the production of an unplanned draft followed by extensive revision on the basis of reviewing by peers. All three courses were well received by the students, but those who attended the product‐centred and generative writing courses showed significantly greater improvements in productivity than did the students who attended the cognitive strategies course. These findings suggest that short writing courses can be of benefit in teaching research writing to graduate students but that such courses should focus directly on the production of text rather than on strategies for generating and organising information and ideas prior to composing.
The relationship between students' behaviour at home and attention and achievement in elementary school
Authors: de Jong Peter F.
Published: May 2011

In this study a model is proposed in which attention in the classroom is supposed to mediate the relationship between home background factors and achievement in school. Home background factors in the study were the socioeconomic status of the parents (SES) and the amount of problem behaviour of the child at home. The latter was supposed to be an indicator of the adequacy of parental discipline practices. For attention a distinction is made between a behavioural component termed attentional behaviour, and a cognitive component termed attention regulation. The effects of attention were studied for two domains of achievement, namely reading comprehension and arithmetic.

The model was tested by means of structural equations modelling in a sample (N = 376) of 9‐year‐old children attending grade 6 of regular elementary schools in the Netherlands.

The results showed that attention can be considered as an important mediator between home problem behaviour and achievement in school. The absence of problem behaviour at home had a substantial positive relationship with attention, the latter having moderate effects on arithmetic achievement and reading comprehension. No effects of SES on attention were found. Distinguishing between attentional behaviour and attention regulation, it appeared that the latter is equally related to both types of achievement. Interestingly, however, classroom attentional behaviour was more closely related to arithmetic achievement than to reading comprehension. Finally, SES appeared not to be related to arithmetic achievement but exerted a small direct effect on reading comprehension.
The effect of cognitive style and mode of presentation on learning performance
Authors: Riding Richard , Douglas Graeme
Published: May 2011

The effect of text‐plus‐text versus text‐plus‐picture computer presentation conditions, and the students' cognitive styles, on learning performance was investigated. In the text‐plus‐text condition, the learning material content described the working of car braking systems. The text‐plus‐picture condition consisted of text with additional pictorial information. Fifty‐nine 15–16‐year‐old students in a secondary school were randomly assigned, within sexes, to one of the conditions. Having worked through the computer presented material, they were given a post‐test overall learning performance. Immediately following this, they did the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) (Riding, 1991) which measures an individual's position on two cognitive style dimensions; Verbal‐Imagery and Wholist‐Analytic. It was found that the Verbal‐Imagery cognitive style and presentation condition interacted in their effect on overall learning performance (p<.05). In the text‐plus‐picture condition Imagers were superior to Verbalisers, while the text‐plus‐text condition Verbalisers did better than Imagers. It was also observed that Imagers used more diagrams to illustrate their answers than Verbalisers. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for instruction.
Measurement of self‐perception in multi‐racial context: psychometric properties of a modified Self‐Description Questionnaire
Authors: Tashakkori Abbas , Kennedy Eugene
Published: May 2011

The Self‐Description Questionnaire (SDQ) has been applied in a relatively large variety of cultural settings to measure the components and structure of academic and non‐academic self‐perception among youth. The present report examines the applicability of a modified and short form of that instrument among African American and white middle school students in the US. A modified and short form of the instrument was developed by shortening the instrument to 32 items, and extending its content to reflect self‐perceptions in academic areas of science and social studies. Exploratory factor analysis and latent structural equation modelling were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale among racial and gender groups of middle school students. The results indicated that the factorial structure of the instrument was consistent with theoretical predictions and empirical findings across other cultures. Within both racial groups, the various subscales yielded reliability estimates typically above .80, which is quite satisfactory for short subscales. However, additional analysis indicated that relationships among the subscales of the instrument varied considerably across racial and gender groups. It was concluded that in multi‐racial and/or multicultural applications of the SDQ comparisons between groups should be done on the components (rather than overall measure) of self construct.
Commonality in teachers' and pupils' perceptions of effective classroom learning
Authors: Cooper Paul , McIntyre Donald
Published: May 2011

This paper reports preliminary findings of a qualitative study of teachers' and year 7 pupils' perceptions of effective classroom learning in English and in history. The focus of this paper is the extent of commonality between teacher and pupil perceptions. The findings indicate that there is a high level of commonality between teacher and pupil perspectives of what constitutes effective teaching. Of particular interest is the richness of pupils' accounts of the associations between teaching methods and learning strategies. The findings point to the value of constructivist theories of learning.
Ethnic differences in experiences of bullying: Asian and white children
Authors: Moran Siobhan , Smith Peter K. , Thompson David , Whitney Irene
Published: May 2011

The specific role of ethnicity in the experience of bullying was examined, with a sample of 33 pairs of Asian and white children, matched for gender, age, and school. Each child was interviewed individually, using a modified version of the Olweus questionnaire. No differences by ethnicity were found for reports of enjoying school; having friends at school; disliking other children; likelihood and frequency of being bullied; and likelihood and frequency of bullying others. For those children being bullied, no differences by ethnicity were found for where it happened, or the likelihood of getting help. However, significant difference by ethnicity was found for racist name‐calling; one‐half of the bullied Asian children, but none of the bullied white children in this sample, were called names about their colour. This racist name‐calling appeared hurtful to the recipients and was often a reason for disliking other children. Racist name‐calling should clearly be one focus of work in schools against bullying.
Healthy children's understanding of their blood: implications for explaining leukaemia to children
Authors: Eiser Christine , Havermans Trudy , Casas Rosa
Published: May 2011

Explanations of leukaemia to children usually include details of blood function and structure. In study 1,3‐year‐olds (N=25), 4‐year‐olds (N=25), and 8‐year‐olds (N=21) were interviewed about their understanding of the properties of blood and any occasions when they remembered seeing blood. They were also asked whether other animals and objects had blood or not, and to give reasons for this. Children justified their decisions in three ways: only people have blood, they had seen blood on a particular occasion, or only creatures which shared a human property (walking or talking) could have blood. In study 2, an intervention to increase children's understanding of the function of different blood cells is reported. It was partially successful. Children who reported an incident in which they saw blood were more likely to recall information about the function of red cells, white cells and platelets compared with children who did not report a previous experience (p<.001). In terms of explaining leukaemia to a child, we conclude that explanations should build on previous experience, and not be based simply on chronological age.
Influence of learning context on the relationship between A‐level attainment and final degree performance: a meta‐analytic review
Authors: Peers Ian S. , Johnston Margaret
Published: May 2011

This study reports a meta‐analysis of the published literature on the relationship between GCE A‐level attainment and degree performance. Effect sizes were computed based on 60 univariate analyses from 20 published studies spanning a period of 40 years. Results show the relationship between A‐level attainment and degree performance to be small but significant, to be stronger for university than for polytechnic graduates, and to differ according to discipline studied in higher education. These findings support the conclusion that the predictive utility of A‐levels is questionable, and furthermore suggest that learning approach and learning context may be among the mediating variables. The paper concludes with an appraisal of the psychometric problems encountered when investigating context performance relationships in higher education, and suggests directions for further research.
Reading comprehension in Caucasian middle school students: effects of the race of protagonists
Authors: Casteel Clifton A. , Rider David P.
Published: May 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Caucasian students would read fictional text passages depicting African‐American characters as carefully as they would those depicting characters of their own (Caucasian) race. Fifty‐seven 7th grade high ability and low ability readers read nine African‐American and nine Caucasian fictional passages. Following silent reading of each passage, the students responded to a 20‐item multiple‐choice test designed to measure comprehension. A 2 times 2 ANOVA was conducted on the number of test items answers correctly. Results demonstrated that all readers answered significantly more test items correctly over passages about Caucasian characters than they did over passages about African‐American characters.
Work stress, distress and burnout in music and mathematics teachers
Authors: Hodge Glenda M. , Jupp James J. , Taylor Alan J.
Published: May 2011

Regression analyses were conducted to investigate which work stressors, attitudinal and demographic variables predicted the reported emotional distress (anxiety, depression and physical symptoms) and burnout (emotional exhaustion, use of depersonalisation and feelings of personal accomplishment) of music and mathematics teachers working in secondary schools. Results showed that music teachers gave significantly more problematic responses defining the variables which predicted emotional distress and burnout than mathematics teachers. Also, music teachers were substantially more distressed and burnt out than mathematics teachers. These and other results are discussed in terms of their implications for well‐being of teachers who may feel marginalised within the teaching system.
Children's interpretive strategies for class inclusion tasks
Authors: Mpofu Elias
Published: May 2011

The study examined children's interpretive strategies for verbally presented class inclusion tasks as related to socio‐cultural background, age and level of schooling. A total of 298 black and white Zimbabwe primary school children took part in the study. Children's performance was considered both qualitatively and quantitatively. Significant social class related differences in children's skill orientation were found. However, no socio‐culturally related differences in children's use of interpretive strategies obtained, although age and level of schooling accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in performance. Implications for psychoeducational practice as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.
Attribution of perceived achievement in school in general and in maths and verbal areas: relations with academic self‐concept and self‐esteem
Authors: Skaalvik Einar M.
Published: May 2011

This study examined 6th (N=350) and 9th (N=352) grade Norwegian students' attributions of their perceived results in school in general and in mathematics and language arts (Norwegian) in particular. Strong self‐serving attributional biases were found both for perceived results in school in general and for results in maths and Norwegian. Also, students who had high maths self‐concept and low verbal self‐concept or low maths self‐concept and high verbal self‐concept attributed their perceived results in the two school subjects differently and according to a self‐serving prediction. Sixth grade students with low academic self‐concept had higher self‐esteem if they attributed their results in school to effort or external causes than if they attributed their results to ability. Among 9th grade students attributions were not systematically related to self‐esteem.
Knowledge objects: understandings constituted through intensive academic study
Authors: Entwistle Noel , Marton Ference
Published: May 2011

A small‐scale interview study is used to explore a new idea about the ways in which students experience the development of academic understanding within a degree course. Initial analyses had established differences in both the students' intentions and the process by which they developed understanding during revision for final examinations. These distinctive approaches were called forms of understanding, and were found to differ in terms of breadth, depth and structure. A re‐analysis of sections of the transcripts has now been used to explore students' experiences of the outcomes of their learning — the understandings that were constituted in the process of intensive study. Students' descriptions of their experiences as they brought together substantial amounts of revision material suggested that they had created entities which were ‘perceived’ as knowledge objects. Students showed an awareness of a tightly integrated body of knowledge, aspects of which were reviewed through visualisation but were more commonly described in terms of quasi‐sensory experiences. Students used revision notes to cue up additional material, showing an awareness of unfocused aspects of knowledge. Individual differences in the way knowledge objects were developed varied from surface to deep based on the extent to which students related their knowledge to the real‐life phenomenon. Parallels with descriptions of scientific intuition given by Nobel laureates suggest that the phenomenon is not restricted to the revision process. The concept of a knowledge object provides a way of describing aspects of memory processes and understanding which is not reductionist.
Comprehension and interest in home reading
Authors: Elliott Judy A. , Hewison Jenny
Published: May 2011

This study was designed to provide information on how families from different sociocultural backgrounds help with reading at home, and shed light on the types of helping strategy which tend to be most successful. A further aim was to investigate possible mechanisms through which a home reading project might lead to significant reading gains.

Parents from four main target groups were visited at home and interviewed about the help which family members gave with educational activities. The groups involved were middle class families (N=30), working class families (N=40), families from largely low SES areas who had participated in a Paired Reading project a year before (N=30) and families of Asian origin (N=50). About 100 recordings were taken of home reading sessions and these were analysed in terms of parental correction strategies and interaction.

Analysis of data revealed significant differences in the helping styles adopted by the various groups and indicated that success in reading was associated with a parental helping style which emphasised comprehension and interest. The results are discussed in terms of implications for home reading projects.
Three ways to improve the clarity of journal abstracts
Authors: Hartley James
Published: May 2011

Fourteen abstracts, taken from a recent issue of the British Journal of Educational Psychology, were printed in four different versions. Version 1 was the original format. Version 2 matched Version 1, but its type‐size was increased to that of the corresponding article. Version 3 matched Version 2, but paragraphs were introduced to clarify the underlying structure. Version 4 matched Version 3, but the text of the abstract was rewritten in an attempt to clarify the text even further.

The effects of these changes were assessed in four ways. Firstly, undergraduates each ranked for clarity Versions 1–4 of individual abstracts. The results showed that each change in design lead to a significantly greater preference ‐ thus Version 1 was the least preferred and Version 4 the most preferred. Secondly, Flesch readability scores were computed for the original and the revised abstracts. It was shown using this measure that the revised abstracts were significantly easier to read than the originals. Thirdly, academic staff and postgraduates completed cloze (comprehension) tests on original and revised versions of two of the original abstracts. The results showed (i) significantly higher cloze test scores for the revised versions, and (ii) that experienced staff and postgraduates performed significantly better on both versions than did beginning postgraduate students. Finally British and overseas postgraduate students of librarianship completed a cloze version of an original and its revised abstract. The results showed that the British students did significantly better than overseas ones, and that both groups scored significantly higher on the revised abstract.

These four sets of data thus indicate that it is possible to improve the clarity of journal abstracts, and that this can be achieved for many different kinds of reader.
Can discrepancies between IQ and basic skills be explained by learning strategies?
Authors: Søvik Nils , Frostad Per , Lie Alfred
Published: May 2011

Information on discrepancies between children's IQ and their attainments in various school subjects is important as such discrepancies may help to account for specific learning difficulties. The purpose of the reported study was to outline the frequencies and characteristics of discrepancies between children's IQ and their basic skill performance at two different grade levels (Problem 1). Assuming that the concept of learning strategy can be operationally defined and measured, data achieved in conjunction with Problem 1 may further inform whether a relationship exists between students' learning strategies and their discrepancies in basic skills (Problem 2).

First, 110 third‐graders and 148 eight‐graders were randomly selected for observations (group tests in reading and spelling). Second, 32 students from each grade level were chosen and subjected to assessments of individual achievement in reading, writing, arithmetic, and intelligence. They were also assessed on six personality traits: attention, reflection, working speed, accuracy, feedback, and persistence.

The concept of learning strategy was studied in two related fields: across‐domain and task‐specific strategies, and data analyses were carried out in accordance with this view. The results indicated that 18.7 per cent (grade 3) and 25.0 per cent (grade 8) discrepancies occurred. Clear indications were found regarding a general relationship between students' scoring on the six personality traits and the discrepancies. A similar relationship also seems to exist between task‐specific strategies and underachievement. Training programmes related to learning strategies should be developed and implemented, in particular for students with discrepancies between IQ and basic skill performances.
Gender differences in mathematics and verbal achievement, self‐perception and motivation
Authors: Skaalvik Einar M. , Rankin Richard J.
Published: May 2011

This study examined gender differences in mathematics and verbal self‐concept, self‐perceived skills, and motivation and whether such differences were larger than could be explained by differences in achievement. Subjects were 356 sixth grade and 353 ninth grade Norwegian students. Data were analysed by analysis of variance and covariance. There were no differences between the sexes in mathematics achievement, whereas boys had higher mathematics self‐concept and self‐perceived mathematics skill than girls. Girls had higher verbal achievement than boys, but there were no significant differences in verbal self‐concept or self‐perceived verbal skills. Also, boys had higher mathematics motivation and lower verbal motivation than girls. None of the gender differences in self‐perceptions of ability or motivation could be explained by differences in achievement. However, the difference in mathematics motivation was no larger than could be explained by differences in self‐perceived abilities, whereas the difference in verbal motivation could not be explained by differences in self‐perceived abilities. The results are discussed in terms of sex stereotypes.
Assessment of understanding through explanation of phenomena: measurement in sixth form chemistry
Authors: Burns Janet
Published: May 2011

The difficulty students experience in understanding physical science is not apparent through current assessment, which focuses on recall rather than understanding. In this study, a measure for understanding in chemistry was developed which assessed the degree to which student explanation of chemical phenomena, in individual interviews, matched the scientific explanations expected through the relevant curriculum. Understanding of the structure of matter achieved by 39 form 6 (year 12) students was assessed as trivial, isolated, linked or integrated. Overall levels of student scientific understanding achieved were low and were shown to be related to their prior school achievement and their conception of understanding.
The Sociomoral Reflection Measure — Short Form: an examination of its reliability and validity in a Northern Irish setting
Authors: Ferguson Neil , McLernon Frances , Cairns Ed
Published: May 2011

Gibbs, Basinger & Fuller (1992) have developed a new production measure to examine moral judgment, the Sociomoral Reflection Measure Short Form (SRM‐SF). The validity and reliability of this measure have been established using a North American sample only. This study investigates the test‐retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity and concurrent validity of this US production measure using Northern Irish children and young people. The SRM‐SF showed a high level of test‐retest reliability and an acceptable level of internal consistency, along with acceptable validity indicating that the measure is suitable for use in a British or Irish setting.
A structural model of the dimensions of teacher stress
Authors: Boyle Gregory J. , Borg Mark G. , Falzon Joseph M. , Baglioni Anthony J.
Published: May 2011

A comprehensive survey of teacher stress, job satisfaction and career commitment among 710 full‐time primary school teachers was undertaken by Borg, Riding & Falzon (1991) in the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. A principal components analysis of a 20‐item sources of teacher stress inventory had suggested four distinct dimensions which were labelled: Pupil Misbehaviour, Time/Resource Difficulties, Professional Recognition Needs, and Poor Relationships, respectively. To check on the validity of the Borg et al. factor solution, the group of 710 teachers was randomly split into two separate samples. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on the data from Sample 1 (N=335), while Sample 2 (N=375) provided the cross‐validational data for a LISREL confirmatory factor analysis. Results supported the proposed dimensionality of the sources of teacher stress (measurement model), along with evidence of an additional teacher stress factor (Workload). Consequently, structural modelling of the ‘causal relationships’ between the various latent variables and self‐reported stress was undertaken on the combined samples (N=710). Although both non‐recursive and recursive models incorporating Poor Colleague Relations as a mediating variable were tested for their goodness‐of‐fit, a simple regression model provided the most parsimonious fit to the empirical data, wherein Workload and Student Misbehaviour accounted for most of the variance in predicting teaching stress.
Shyness and self‐esteem in middle childhood
Authors: Crozier W. Ray
Published: May 2011

The relationship between shyness and self‐esteem was assessed for two samples of children aged 9 to 12 years. Shyness was measured by a new self‐report questionnaire based on an elicitation of children's conceptions of shyness. Shyness was significantly correlated with measures of global self‐esteem, with external locus of control and with perceived competence across different domains of the self. The relationships among variables were similar to those reported for adolescents and adults. Girls were more shy than boys, and there was a suggestion that 11‐year‐old children were more shy in secondary than in primary school.
The assessment of phonological memory skills in preschool children
Authors: Gathercole Susan E.
Published: May 2011

Findings from a longitudinal study designed to investigate phonological working memory skills in preschool children are reported. Two phonological memory tests, digit span and nonword repetition, were given to a large cohort of children at 3,4 and 5 years of age. The majority of children at all ages cooperated on both tests even at 3 years of age, indicating that the tasks are in principle suitable for use with young children. Individual differences in nonword repetition scores at 3 years were highly stable across the following two‐year period; there was, however, less stability in differences in the children's digit span scores across the same period. It is concluded that phonological memory skills can be reliably assessed in children as young as 3 years, and that the nonword repetition paradigm is highly suitable for this purpose.
Playground behaviour and peer interaction patterns of primary school boys classified as bullies, victims and not involved
Authors: Boulton Michael J.
Published: May 2011

On the basis of peer nominations, 8–10 year‐old boys (N=71) were classified as bullies, victims or not involved in this type of problem. These children were then observed in the playground in order to investigate what activities the three groups typically engaged in and who they interacted with. The three groups did not differ significantly in terms of their social networks (a measure of how many different children the target interacted with). Bullies tended to be in larger groups than other children. Victims spent significantly less time in rule games than the other two groups, but significantly more time in positive social contact with peers and significantly more time on their own. It is argued that these results can advance our understanding of the development and maintenance of bully/victim status, as well as facilitate schools' attempts to reduce this type of problem.
Humour, peer acceptance and perceived social competence in preschool and school‐aged children
Authors: Sletta Olav , Søbstad Frode , Valås Harald
Published: May 2011

Relations between children's humour, behavioural characteristics, acceptance by peers in kindergarten and school, and self‐perceptions are examined in the study. In a sample of preschool children (aged 4 to 7 years) humour as assessed by preschool teachers was not consistently related to peer acceptance or rejection, or to self‐perceived humour and behaviour. A theoretical model is presented to analyse predictive relations between humour, behavioural characteristics, acceptance by classmates, and self‐perceptions of humour and social competence in school‐aged children. The model was tested on a sample of 4th and 8th grade students, with teacher assessment (in grade 8 also peer assessment) of humour and behavioural characteristics. In general, results were consistent with the model for 8th grade students with peer measures of humour and behaviour. Humour was predictive of perception of own humour, and, when assessed by peers, humour also predicted peer acceptance. Self‐perception of social competence was affected directly by students' perception of their own humour. Thus perceived social competence was linked indirectly to humour as assessed by peers or teachers in 8th grade. In grade 4 no direct links from humour were found, but self‐perception of humour still affected perceived social competence.
The effect of Canter's Assertive Discipline Program on teacher and student behaviour
Authors: Nicholls Denise , Houghton Stephen
Published: May 2011

A multiple baseline research design across sample and settings was utilised to examine the effects of Canter's Assertive Discipline Program (1979) on teachers' rates of verbal approval and disapproval, student on task behaviour, and the frequency of students' disruptive behaviour. Classes from Years three, four and five in five separate British primary schools were the participants (in total 15 teachers and 120 students) of the study. During daily mathematics lessons the teachers and a target group of eight students from each class were video‐recorded for 30 minutes. These observations were undertaken prior to and following the teachers completing a workshop in Assertive Discipline. Data were analysed in two ways. First, a one‐way repeated measures analysis of variance was calculated to test for significant differences in pre‐ and post‐group means. Second, data for individual teachers and classes were analysed using DMITSA 2.0 (Crosbie & Sharpley, 1991) which is a statistical programme specifically developed to analyse data from interrupted time‐series designs. Overall, teacher approval increased and teacher disapproval decreased, student on‐task behaviour increased, and the frequency of disruptive behaviour decreased, all significantly. Analyses of individual teacher trends showed, however, that not all teachers' and students' behaviour changed significantly.
The effects of gender and ability on students' behaviours and interactions in classroom‐based work groups
Authors: Gillies Robyn M. , Ashman Adrian F.
Published: May 2011

This study examined the effects of mixed gender and ability compositions on students' behaviours and interactions in structured work groups. The students in the study were 440 Year 6 children (age range 10 years 1 month to 11 years 4 months) who worked on class‐based activities in small groups which were structured so that all the members had to cooperate in order for the group to achieve its academic objectives. Contrary to expectations and the findings of other researchers, the effect of the different ability and gender compositions in the groups on the members' behaviours and interactions was minimal. It appeared that as the group members (irrespective of gender and ability) had more time to work together they became more responsive to the needs of each other and gave more explanations to assist each other's learning so that all groups achieved comparable learning outcomes.
The effect of motivation training on approaches to learning and self‐concept
Authors: Purdie Nola M. , Hattie John A.
Published: May 2011

The effects of a motivation training programme on the approaches to studying and the self‐concepts of a sample of secondary school female students was investigated. The Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ, Biggs, 1987) was used to assess changes in three basic approaches to learning (Surface, Deep and Achieving). Each approach consists of two dimensions (a strategy and a motive). Changes in seven dimensions of self‐concept were measured by the self‐concept questionnaire About Myself (AM, Hattie, 1992). The study also investigated the patterns of response to motivation training of students of different levels of academic performance.
Prediction and qualitative assessment of five‐and six‐year‐old children's reading: a longitudinal study
Authors: Stuart Morag
Published: May 2011

This paper describes a longitudinal study comparing the power of two screening batteries (that of Clay, 1979, and that of a set of tests of phonological awareness and sound‐to‐letter correspondence knowledge) to identify, in the first term at school, children at risk of failing to learn to read successfully. A single test from one of the batteries is shown to provide an adequate screening procedure. There is no significant gain in predictive power if screening is delayed until the end of the first year at school.

Reading processes of the screened children are investigated at the end of their first year in school, and again seven months later. Almost all the best readers can use some phonological recoding processes by the end of their first year at school. Seven months later, this is true of all the best readers, with children who had now learned to use phonological recoding processes showing greater gains in reading age than those who had not.
Individual differences in story comprehension and recall of poor readers
Authors: Wilkinson Ian A. G. , Elkins John , Bain John D.
Published: May 2011

This study sought to identify poor readers and characterise weaknesses in their knowledge and use of story structure in comprehension and recall. Eighty year 3 children, 20 good readers and 60 poor readers, were selected from an initial pool of children based on factor analysis of scores from three measures of reading ability. The poor readers were then divided into relatively homogeneous subgroups, using eight additional measures of language‐reading comprehension, according to a numerical classification procedure. This procedure helped identify specific weaknesses in their language‐reading comprehension. All children listened to three stories and retold the stories under free and probe recall conditions. Story recalls were analysed using the Stein and Glenn story grammar. Comparison of recalls between the good readers and each of the subgroups of poor readers showed that poor readers in two subgroups evidenced reduced sensitivity to story structure. The children in these subgroups recalled less of the stories overall, recalled less information from story grammar categories to varying extents, and showed patterns of category recall that differed from those of normal readers. Children in one of the subgroups also displayed poor perception of causal relations across story episode boundaries. These results provide evidence of marked heterogeneity in poor readers’ story comprehension and recall. Certain subgroups of poor readers may have qualitatively different problems processing stories, relative to other poor readers, which may require a more concerted approach to instruction in story structure.
The effect of prior knowledge activation on text recall: an investigation of two conflicting hypotheses
Authors: Machiels‐Bongaerts Maureen , Schmidt Henk G. , Boshuizen Henny P. A.
Published: May 2011

Two hypotheses, the cognitive set‐point and the selective‐attention hypothesis, try to account for the facilitation effects of prior knowledge activation. These hypotheses appear to be mutually exclusive since they predict different recall patterns as a result of prior knowledge activation on text recall. However, in experiments supporting these hypotheses different knowledge structures were activated, resulting in different ways of text processing. In this study the assumption was tested that differences in the nature of the prior knowledge activated can result in these different ways of text processing, which, in turn, can explain the divergent recall patterns; thus, that the cognitive set‐point and the selective‐attention hypothesis could co‐exist.

One group activated prior knowledge that was represented in a schema, which would result in processing and recall patterns as predicted by the selective‐attention hypothesis. The second group activated prior knowledge that had not evolved into such a fixed cognitive structure, which would lead to the patterns predicted by the cognitive set‐point hypothesis. The results of these experimental groups, opposed to a control group, largely confirmed the postulation that differences in the nature of the prior knowledge activated can result in different information processes and recall patterns.
Inferring the use of recall in simple addition
Authors: Threlfall John , Frobisher Len , MacNamara Ann
Published: May 2011

This article considers the approach to assessment of knowledge of addition number facts which is based on response time to addition questions: whether it is possible to infer from the time taken the strategy used by the child to arrive at the answer, and in particular whether one can infer the use of recall. Data in the form of the time taken by a total of 75 children to answer 40 simple addition fact questions presented on a computer screen are analysed. The analysis of grouped data indicates that a relationship does exist between strategy and response time, but is not able to come to unequivocal conclusions. The analysis of individual data illustrates circumstances in which knowledge of number facts can be reasonably inferred, even though there is not a simple relationship between strategy and response time. However, the analysis also reveals the limitations of the approach.
Motivational styles in English and mathematics among children identified as having special educational needs
Authors: Galloway David , Leo Elizabeth L. , Rogers Colin , Armstrong Derrick
Published: May 2011

This study is concerned with the identification, development and prevalence of three different motivational styles: learned helplessness, self‐worth motivation and mastery orientation in two National Curriculum core subjects: English and mathematics. These three motivational styles are concerned with the ways in which children respond in the face of difficult and challenging educational tasks. Using Craske's (1988) procedures, a total of 437 children in their first year of secondary school (aged 11–12) were categorised into one of the three motivational styles. Children with special educational needs were identified using a battery of cognitive ability tests (Thorndike, Hagen & France, 1986). This study compares the prevalence of each motivational style in English and mathematics in children of different abilities and presents empirical support for the view that learned helplessness and self‐worth motivation are more prevalent among children identified as having special educational needs. Further analyses indicate that: overall, learned helplessness and self‐worth motivation are more prevalent in English than mathematics; learned helplessness is more prevalent among girls and self‐worth motivation among boys in mathematics. Implications for teachers in developing teaching strategies which foster mastery orientation in their children are discussed.