Measures of reading comprehension: do they measure different skills for children learning English as a second language?     

Amy Grant  Alexandra Gottardo  Esther Geva 《Reading and writing》2012,25(8):1899-1928

The validity of two measures of English reading comprehension was examined across three different groups of English language learners (ELLs; 64 Portuguese, 66 Spanish and 65 Cantonese). All three groups were achieving within the average range in second grade. An exploratory principal components analysis of reading skills was carried out to determine which skills were related to two commonly used tests of reading comprehension, the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery??s test of Passage Comprehension (WLPB-PC; Woodcock, 1991) and the Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4; Wiederholt & Bryant, 2001). The factor solutions were different for the three language groups but showed many similarities in that the GORT-4 and WLPB-R tests of reading comprehension fell on the same factor within each group. Hierarchical regression analyses examining relationships among vocabulary, decoding and reading comprehension showed that language group membership did not significantly predict performance on either measure of reading comprehension. Differences that arose are likely due to issues with task validity and not ELL status. Limitations and future research are discussed.  相似文献   

Toward modeling reading comprehension and reading fluency in English language learners     

Zohreh Yaghoub Zadeh  Fataneh Farnia  Esther Geva 《Reading and writing》2012,25(1):163-187

This study investigated the adequacy of an expanded simple view of reading (SVR) framework for English language learners (ELLs), using mediation modeling approach. The proposed expanded SVR included reading fluency as an outcome and phonological awareness and naming speed as predictors. To test the fit of the proposed mediation model, longitudinal data from 308 ELLs from different linguistic backgrounds were analyzed using structural equation modeling. We examined the mediating role of Grade 2 word-level reading skills in the association between Grade 1 phonological awareness, naming speed, and listening comprehension and Grade 3 reading comprehension and reading fluency. The results indicated that word-level reading skills fully mediated the association between phonological awareness, reading comprehension and reading fluency. Word-level reading skills partially mediated the association between naming speed and reading fluency. Listening comprehension contributed directly to reading comprehension and reading fluency. It appears that reading development in ELLs is better understood when reading fluency is added to the SVR framework as an outcome and naming speed as a building block of SVR. Theoretical aspects of the mediation model in relation to ELL reading development are also addressed.  相似文献   

Making education world-class: “ThinkGlobalOhio”     

Esther E. Gottlieb 《Prospects》2012,42(3):285-301

For over two decades the State of Ohio has been reforming its education system. This article focuses on the 2006 reform initiatives: a newly elected governor pledged to review and revise its 2002 kindergarten to twelfth grad (K-12) academic content standards and benchmark them to international ??best-in-class?? measures, given Ohio??s need to develop human talent for new industries to replace disappearing jobs in manufacturing. Rather than look at only one other country or state in the US, Ohio compared its standards to those of eight countries and one province; based on this analysis, it rewrote its standards. Ohio has formally adopted the U.S. Common Core Standards and joined the national Partnership for 21st Century Skills, using those learning frameworks to pass legislative amendments for new academic standards and model curriculum. US federal funding from both ??No Child Left Behind?? and ??Race to the Top?? ($400 million) confirms and validates the state??s efforts to build a world-class education system that will make Ohio??s students more competitive in a global economy that demands innovation and a highly skilled workforce.  相似文献   

Self-efficacy, job satisfaction, motivation and commitment: exploring the relationships between indicators of teachers’ professional identity     

Esther T. Canrinus  Michelle Helms-Lorenz  Douwe Beijaard  Jaap Buitink  Adriaan Hofman 《European Journal of Psychology of Education - EJPE》2012,27(1):115-132

This study investigates how relevant indicators of teachers’ sense of their professional identity (job satisfaction, occupational commitment, self-efficacy and change in level of motivation) are related. A model is proposed, tested with structural equation modelling (SEM) and refined using data from 1,214 Dutch teachers working in secondary education. Classroom self-efficacy and relationship satisfaction play a key influencing role in the relationships between the indicators. Using multiple-group SEM, the parameters of the overall model are similar for the novice, experienced and senior teachers in a constrained model. This aspect of similarity across experience groups is in line with findings of previous research on teachers’ professional identity. The present study contributes to the further development of a solid theory on teachers’ professional identity, which has been lacking.  相似文献   

Seniors as Assistants in Freshman Orientation     

Esther Kronovet 《College Teaching》2013,61(1):45-46

The author studied the pedagogy of Socrates looking for teaching techniques that help maintain students' interest in an ongoing discussion. Socrates' use of such strategies as asking probing questions, expanding the discussion into its relationship to other ideas, assuming the role of the devil's advocate, and spending time on group maintenance can be extremely helpful.  相似文献   

A Comparative Citation Analysis of Web of Science,Scopus, and Google Scholar     

Michael Levine-Clark  Esther L. Gil 《Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship》2013,18(1):32-46

This article presents the results of a comparative study of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Google Scholar (GS) for a set of 15 business and economics journals. Citations from the three sources were analyzed to determine whether one source is better than another, or whether a new database such as Scopus, or a free database such as GS could replace WoS. The authors concluded that scholars might want to use alternative tools collectively to get a more complete picture of the scholarly impact of an article.  相似文献   

THE WRITING OF RELIGIOUS PLAYS     

Esther Willard Bates 《Religious education (Chicago, Ill.)》2013,108(10):993-996

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Examining interpersonal dynamics among adult learners through the lens of place     

Esther Prins 《International Journal of Lifelong Education》2013,32(1):91-106

The purpose of this article is to analyze interpersonal problems among adult learners in three family literacy programs and to identify how these tensions were connected to place or distinctive community contexts. Drawing on the critical geography literature, the article argues that interpersonal problems must be understood in light of socio‐cultural and spatial factors such as the history of steel‐era industrial capitalism and immigrant settlement patterns resulting from global economic restructuring. By linking micro‐level interactions to contextual factors, the article provides a sociological, place‐conscious alternative to individualistic explanations of relational conflicts. In short, the group dynamics adult educators and learners encounter in the classroom should be understood as a microcosm of spatially produced social relations outside the program.  相似文献   

Evaluation of reflective practice in teacher education     

Esther Belvis  Pilar Pineda  Carme Armengol  Victoria Moreno 《欧洲师范教育杂志》2013,36(3):279-292

Teacher education based on ‘reflective practice’ consists of observing, analysing and reflecting on teacher performance in order to improve professional practice. This article presents the results of an evaluation of a programme on mathematics teaching carried out using reflective practice. It was targeted at 284 teachers in various stages of the education system, using an approach that combines quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews and reports) methods. While the study shows that the education programme generates high levels of satisfaction, pedagogical appropriateness and learning, its achievements in effectiveness are moderate. Although, in general, what is learned through teacher education is implemented in the classroom, it is done so in an isolated fashion, in other words, individually and without becoming a part of the culture of the school. The results show little evidence of its impact on student learning. The article offers proposals for improving the education programme, while, at the same time, analysing the usefulness of the approach and evaluation tools employed.  相似文献   

Exploring young children’s self-efficacy beliefs related to mathematical and nonmathematical tasks performed in kindergarten: abused and neglected children and their peers     

Dina Tirosh  Pessia Tsamir  Esther Levenson  Michal Tabach  Ruthi Barkai 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》2013,83(2):309-322

This article reports on young children’s self-efficacy beliefs and their corresponding performance of mathematical and nonmathematical tasks typically encountered in kindergarten. Participants included 132 kindergarten children aged 5–6 years old. Among the participants, 69 children were identified by the social welfare department as being abused and/or neglected. Individual interviews were conducted where children were asked to assess their self-efficacy regarding sorting tasks, mathematics tasks, and reciting the alphabet. Children were then requested to perform each of the tasks. Results revealed that no significant differences were found between the abused and neglected children and their peers regarding their self-efficacy beliefs and performances for any of the tasks. For some of the tasks, children were able to correctly assess their performance, while for other tasks, children overestimated their performance. Possible reasons for these outcomes are discussed.  相似文献