bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Student teacher anxieties related to class management, pedagogy, evaluation, and staff relations
Authors: Morton L. L. , Vesco R. , Williams N. H. , Awender M. A. 
Published: May 2011

Background. Anxiety is an important consideration in teaching, with implications for classroom success.Aims. We investigated the nature of anxiety in student teachers.Samples. Approximately 1000 student teachers in Canada were involved in four studies to explore education‐related anxieties.Methods. Incorporating a cross‐cultural focus, student teachers were tested on an anxiety measure designed for British student teachers, then examined for (1) the impact of practice teaching, (2) the value of instructional preparation, (3) demographic variables, and (4) models that predict anxiety.Results. Anxiety factors (i.e., evaluation, pedagogical, class management, and staff relations), similar to those for British participants, emerged with evaluation anxiety being highest. A practice teaching experience generated reduced anxiety for both sexes, but more so for females, with the greatest reductions for evaluation and pedagogical anxiety. In one study, participants reported anxieties prior to instruction (PRETEST), following instruction (POST‐INSTR) and following practice teaching (POST‐TEACH). Females showed higher anxiety ratings than males (PRETEST and POST‐INSTR) but were comparable to males after practice teaching. Females in the lower grades division showed higher anxiety scores. Anxiety decreased between PRE‐TEST and POST‐INSTR for all four scales, and between POST‐INSTR and POST‐TEACH for evaluation, pedagogy and staff relations; however, class management anxiety did not decrease after practice teaching. Also, anxiety increased as placement grade level decreased. All models (demographic, experiential, and dispositional) were predictive but the best predictor was the psychological disposition to feel overwhelmed.Conclusions. Student‐teacher anxieties are related to demographic variables, experiential variables, and dispositional variables.
Spelling with apostrophes and understanding possession
Authors: Bryant Peter , Devine Michael , Ledward Andrea , Nunes Terezinha 
Published: May 2011

Background. Many spelling patterns are determined by the grammatical status of the words that contain them. An interesting example, which has been neglected in research till now, is the use of the apostrophe to denote possession.Aims. The aims of the two studies were (1) to find out how well children know that apostrophes can denote possession, before and after they have been taught this at school, (2) to see how sensitive this knowledge is to intervention, and (3) to explore the relations between this knowledge and grammatical awareness.Samples. We report two intervention studies on British school children aged from 9 to 11 years.Methods. In both studies the children were given pre‐ and post‐tests of their knowledge that genitive, but not plural nominative and accusative words, should contain apostrophes. An Experimental and a Taught control group received a 10‐trial intervention between pre‐ and post‐tests. In the second study contracted words were introduced in these tests as well and the children were also tested for grammatical awareness before and after intervention.Results. We found (1) that children of this age have striking difficulties over the use of the apostrophe in genitive words, (2) that it is possible to improve the children's use of apostrophes, and (3) that there is a connection between children's grammatical awareness and the use of apostrophes.Conclusions. We conclude that there are two main constraints on children's learning about apostrophes: (1) the extent of their explicit knowledge of grammar, and (2) the emphasis that is put on this aspect of spelling at school.
Relationships, individual differences, and children's use of literate language
Authors: Pellegrini A. D. , Galda Lee , Flor Douglas 
Published: May 2011

Background. Research in children's oral language and early literacy learning currently stresses the facilitative role of social context. Social context in this literature is typically treated on a macro‐level, e.g., mother‐child interaction or peer interaction. We present a more differentiated model of peer influences on children's learning one oral language register, ‘literate language’. Literate language, which predicts school‐based literacy, is defined as talk about language and literacy.Aims. We suggest that children's temperament and their close relationships, in the form of friendships, play important roles in literate language learning. We present separate models for friends and nonfriends and posit that literate language is learned more effectively between friends because of the emotional tenor of this relationship. When they are with friends children, even those that might be considered ‘difficult’, disagree, resolve disagreements, then express emotions indicative of social understanding. Reflection upon emotion states, in turn, leads to literate language.Sample. The sample comprised 33 males and 23 females attending American kindergarten classes, with a mean age of 65 months.Methods. Dyads of same gender and race were observed 12 times across the school year during which time samples of oral language were taken. Measures of children reading and writing were also collected.Results. The data support our model, and the friendship model accounting for more of the variance in literate language (R2=.69) than did the nonfriend model (R2=.43).Conclusions. Children with friends engage in the sort of conceptual conflict and resolutions which maximise use of literate language. This context seems particularly important for ‘difficult’ children. Future research should continue to examine the interface between individual and group levels variables.
Dramatic play: a format for ‘literate’ language?
Authors: Vedeler Liv 
Published: May 2011

Background. Research literature discussing the possibility of a relationship between dramatic play and literacy development in school beginners has evoked interest in the context of the formalisation of early years curriculum, particularly relationships between oral syntactic competence in preschool children and later reading ability.Aims. The aim of the present study was to investigate possible differences in syntax between sociodramatic play and other play activities in small play groups. It was predicted that the language in sociodramatic play would be more ‘literate’, i.e., more decontextualised, explicit and linguistically elaborated. The hypothesis tested was that sociodramatic play elicits more advanced syntactic language in children.Samples. Six children (six‐year‐olds) in groups of three girls and three boys were observed in 11 free play episodes (five sociodramatic play episodes and six other group play episodes). Approximately 100 utterances from each child in each play category were analysed. The children had normal intelligence and language ability, and had a middle class background.Methods. The play groups were observed during indoor free play in a playroom equipped for family play and with different toys. No instructions were given. The observations were video‐ and audiotaped and the children's utterances transcribed and analysed syntactically, i.e., utterance types (complexity and completeness), sentence adverbials and expansions. Chi‐square was used to test for statistically significant differences in children's use of syntax.Results. The children's language turned out to be significantly more advanced and ‘literate’ with more syntactically complete and complicated utterances, use of explicit references and elaborated nominal groups in sociodramatic play than in any other play activity.Conclusions. The demands of conveying meaning to peers in dramatic play contexts seem to provide children with opportunities to practise ‘literate’ language, language that is similar to what is demanded when writing for an absent audience.
Examination‐induced distress in a public examination at the completion of secondary schooling
Authors: Hodge Glenda M. , McCormick John , Elliott Robert 
Published: May 2011

Background. The context for this study was the Higher School Certificate examination in New South Wales, Australia.Aims. The main research aim was to investigate the association between the Higher School Certificate, the reported distress and anxiety levels of the adolescent students who prepare for and sit for the examination, and various other internal and environmental variables.Sample. The random sample consisted of 445 students in their last two years of secondary schooling, with approximately equal numbers of males and females from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds.Methods. Analysis was carried out using principal components analysis and multiple regression.Results. The most significant contribution to distress associated with the examination was made by the personality trait, anxiety proneness. Lower socio‐economic status, self‐confidence, academic and verbal self‐concepts and perceived ability to cope were also found, to a lesser extent, to be associated with increased distress. The interactions sex with ethnic background and year with ethnic background were of particular interest. Students who were male and had an English speaking background, and students in year 11 who had an English speaking background were least likely to experience distress than others in the context of the examination.Conclusions. Whilst results must be treated with caution, particular groups of students potentially vulnerable to distress were identified and directions for future research indicated.
Field dependence‐independence and academic achievement: a re‐examination of their relationship
Authors: Tinajero Carolina , Páramo M. Fernanda 
Published: May 2011

Background. It has long been recognised that field dependence‐independence is likely to have important educational implications.Aims. In the work presented here, the relationship between academic achievement and field dependence‐independence cognitive style was examined. We tried to avoid some of the deficiencies of research carried out to date.Sample. We analysed various subjects of the school curriculum in a single sample of 408 students (215 boys and 193 girls) aged between 13 and 16.Method. We considered the bidimensional character of field dependence‐independence by using a test of perception of the upright (the Rod and Frame Test) and a restructuring ability test (the Embedded Figures Test). In addition, we examined possible mediation by the variable ‘sex’ in the above‐mentioned relationship. Multivariate analysis of covariance, with the score in Cattell's Culture‐Fair Intelligence Test as covariate, was used to investigate differences in academic achievement between field‐dependent and field‐independent students, once effect of intelligence had been removed.Results. Results indicate that field‐independent boys and girls performed better than field‐dependent ones in all of the subjects considered, although this superiority was only manifested in the cognitive dimension of field dependence‐independence, evaluated by the embedded figures test.Conclusions. Field dependence‐independence is related to overall academic achievement.
Predictors of academic achievement and academic self‐concept: a longitudinal perspective
Authors: Muijs R. Daniel 
Published: May 2011

Background. A large body of research supports the existence of an academic achievement—self‐concept relationship. Path analyses mostly show academic achievement to be causally predominant in this relationship.Aims. This study aims to replicate these findings among Belgian primary school‐age children, controlling for a number of other relevant variables such as school commitment, parental socio‐economic status (SES), gender and teacher expectations. The longitudinal design of this study makes it particularly suited for this purpose.Method. Data were analysed using correlation, regressions of time 1 independent variables on time 2 dependent variables, multiple classification analysis and path analysis using LISREL.Results. Academic self‐concept and academic achievement were found to be strong predictors of one another, even controlling for other variables and stability of both over time. The only other variable to enter significantly into regressions on time 2 academic achievement and academic self‐concept was parental socio‐economic status (SES). Both the regression analyses and path analysis undertaken specifically to test causal predominance found achievement to be causally predominant in this sample.Conclusion. The fact that academic achievement was causally predominant over academic self‐concept, that global self‐esteem was not a significant predictor of achievement, and the significant contribution of parental SES to achievement all suggest that self‐esteem enhancement in itself cannot be a solution to the problem of academic failure.
Achievement goals and perceived ability predict investment in learning a sport task
Authors: Cury Francois , Biddle Stuart , Sarrazin Philippe , Famose Jean Pierre 
Published: May 2011

Background. Contemporary views on motivation suggest that expectancy‐value and social‐cognitive perspectives can shed light on the important issue of student motivation.Aims. To test the predictive value of achievement goals on the investment in learning a sport task. Two studies investigated whether investment in learning is affected by achievement goals and perceived ability.Samples. Study 1:57 school pupils selected from an initial sample of 212. Study 2:99 pupils selected from 400. Selection was based on motivation and perceived ability scores from questionnaires. Pupils were aged 13–15 years and attended schools in northern France.Methods. In Study 1 pupils prepared themselves for a sport task with a five‐minute period of training. Study 2 pupils prepared themselves with a five‐minute period of training after prior failure.Results. Study 1 showed that those who were ego‐involved with a low perceived ability had a weaker investment in the training situation than those ego‐involved with a high perceived ability, or those task‐involved regardless of their perceived ability. Ego‐involved pupils used an attributional bias to minimise the effect of effort on performance. Study 2 confirmed these results by underlining the motivational deficits of ego involvement for those with a low perceived ability.Conclusions. School pupils with high ego involvement in a sport task and low perceived ability show motivational deficits which manifest themselves in less time spent on practising a task. A social‐cognitive and expectancy‐value perspective appears to be valid for the study of motivational processes in school physical education.
Academic goals and emotions: results of a structural equation model and a cluster analysis
Authors: Seifert Timothy L. 
Published: May 2011

Background. Motivational researchers have suggested that the environment plays a key role in students' goal formation. However, some recent work (Seifert, 1996) suggests that students' emotions may play a role in goal formation.Aim. This study examined the relationship between environment, emotions, and goals. Do emotions and perceptions of teachers both contribute to goal orientation, or do emotions mediate the influence of perceptions of teachers on goal orientation?Sample. 559 Grade 10 students in Newfoundland and Labrador.Method. Two structural equations were postulated: one in which students' affect mediated the influence of perceptions of teachers on goal orientation and one in which students' affect contributed to goal formation in addition to perceptions of teachers. A cluster analysis of affect scores was performed followed by between‐group and within‐group contrasts of goal orientation scores.Results. The structural equation model in which emotions mediate the influence of perceptions of teachers on goal orientation fit the data better than the model in which perceptions of teachers directly predicted goal orientation. The cluster analysis showed that groups with different profiles of affect pursued different goals.Conclusions. Emotions seem to be directly linked to goal orientation. Teachers who are perceived as nurturing will foster feelings of self‐assuredness and control in students which will lead to a learning orientation.
Assessing reading difficulties: the validity and utility of current measures of reading skill
Authors: Nation Kate , Snowling Margaret 
Published: May 2011

Background. Accurate assessment of reading difficulties is clearly important if appropriate support and remediation is to be provided. Many different reading tests are routinely used yet it is not clear to what extent different tests tap the same underlying skills.Aims. The nature of the relationships between different tests of reading accuracy, reading comprehension and linguistic comprehension is investigated in this paper.Samples, Methods and Results. In study 1,184 7–10 year old children completed a listening comprehension test, three tests of reading accuracy (reading of nonwords, single words and text) and two tests of reading comprehension (text comprehension and sentence completion). While sentence completion was well accounted for by individual differences in word recognition, text comprehension was more heavily dependent on listening comprehension. Study 2 compared the performance of children with poor comprehension skills with controls matched for age, nonverbal ability and decoding skill. The poor comprehenders had greatest difficulty with those tests most heavily dependent on linguistic comprehension and least difficulty on purer measures of decoding.Conclusions. These findings show that different reading tests measure different aspects of the reading process and that caution should be exercised when selecting tests for the assessment of reading difficulties.
Dyadic and tetradic nursery nurse — preschooler interaction in a numerical reproduction task
Authors: Sfigaki Maria , Houndoumadi Anastasia 
Published: May 2011

Background. Adult‐child teaching interactions have been found to help children move to higher and more advanced levels of cognitive thinking and reasoning.Aims. The investigation of whether nursery nurses offer more verbal and non‐verbal instructions when interacting with 3‐year‐old than 4‐year‐old children, a dyad than a tetrad, girls than boys and as the difficulty of the task increases.Samples. Four hundred and eighty 3‐ and 4‐year‐old preschoolers (240 boys and 240 girls) of middle class background from 25 nurseries in the area of Athens, Greece, were observed interacting with 40 nursery nurses while reproducing a numerical task.Methods. Each nursery nurse interacted with a dyad and a tetrad of children of each age group while solving a task of numerical correspondence consisting of three, six, or nine elements. Each child was expected to reproduce in succession a model array of cubes that the nursery nurse presented to them. All sessions were videotaped.Results. Nursery nurses made significantly more verbal and non‐verbal instructional shifts when addressing 3‐year‐olds, dyads, and as the level of the task became progressively more difficult. Sex was not found to significantly affect nursery nurses' behaviour. Furthermore 4‐year‐olds were more successful in completing the task at all levels of difficulty.Conclusions. Nursery nurses adjust both the quality and quantity of their instructions according to the demands of the children with whom they interact. Their teaching methods in small groups are influenced by variables such as age, group size and task difficulty level.
The impact of gender on primary teachers' evaluations of children's difficulties in school
Authors: Cline Tony , Ertubey Candan 
Published: May 2011

Background. More boys than girls receive provision to meet special educational needs. It has been suggested that teachers' evaluations of children's difficulties in school may be subject to gender bias. But the evidence is inconsistent, and the methodology of some work that reported bias has been criticised because the type of rating task that was used may have encouraged stereotypic thinking (Langfeldt, 1993).Aims. This study investigated whether gender of child would still have an influence on teacher's judgments if a fuller context was provided for the stimulus and there was a more realistic rating task.Samples. The sample comprised 523 teachers in 79 primary schools in London, the home counties and the North‐West of England.Methods. Participants completed questionnaires on what action might be required in their school for children with difficulties who were described in short vignettes. The children's gender was varied systematically. The construct of ‘seriousness’, which had generally been left vague in earlier research, was given a concrete definition.Results. It was found that, when the experimental task was contextualised in this way, the gender‐of‐child effect disappeared. Teacher characteristics such as gender did not influence the results.Conclusions. These findings should be treated with some caution as they relate to the small and restricted range of types of difficulty that were included in the study and to a sample of primary schools in one society. However, they give support to an emphasis on ‘realism’ in the method of investigation that is used for exploring teachers' judgments.
A concurrent validity study of teachers' ratings for nominated ‘problem’ children
Authors: Childs Garry 
Published: May 2011

Background. Behaviour rating scales completed by parents and teachers are widely used in clinical practice, educational guidance and research. Yet evidence for their validity is mostly indirect, and may not address what ratings really signify.Aims. This study examined whether teachers' ratings of particular problem children displayed concurrent validity with independent coded observations of those children based on a time sampling technique. It was specifically hypothesised that ratings of the Distractible subscale from the Learning Behaviours Scale (Stott et al., 1988) would be strongly linked to frequency measures of task related behaviour.Sample. Teachers rated two nominated problem children per class, aged between 5 and 10 years, drawn from 63 different schools which had student teacher placements.Method. Each child was coded in two kinds of lessons (formal and informal), based upon time sampling observations by a student teacher, whilst the regular teacher completed the LBS instrument on the two nominated children.Results. Concurrent validity coefficients for the three LBS subscales relative to these counts were found to be very weak, including for the Distractible subscale. However the frequency of disruptive episodes was a significant predictor of Uncooperative ratings. Ratings were found to reflect rather a wider spectrum of implicit expectations by teachers regarding grade‐appropriate behaviour and lesson context. Concurrent validity as defined was thus very poor.Conclusions. These findings suggested that teachers' ratings need to be treated both as indicators of contemporaneous behaviour and as markers of the ongoing interaction between child and teacher. In particular teachers of younger children used some scales more leniently than teachers of primary age children. Ratings were also more closely related to observed behaviour in formal than informal lessons. These factors helped undermine concurrent validity with other contemporary markers of child behaviour. Clinical interpretation of ratings accordingly needs to be far more circumspect.