자연주의적 탐구조사(Naturalistic Inquiry)

The impact of an international field experience on preservice teachers

Disorienting experiences during study abroad: Reflections of pre-service teacher candidates

In recent years qualitative research has earned an increasingly legitimate place as a form of systematic inquiry in educational scholarship. Special education researchers who draw on qualitative methods have responded by using this research paradigm chiefly to document stories of individuals with disabilities. However, rarely have these studies been extended to consider the broader sociocultural contexts within which disability exists. A case is made in this article for broadening the view of qualitative research that governs its practice within special education in an effort to challenge both the nature of the stories we choose to tell about disability as well as the frameworks by which these stories are disciplined.

The Stories We Choose to Tell: Fulfilling the Promise of Qualitative Research for Special Education:

A phenomenological study of an international teaching practicum: Pre-service teachers' experiences of professional development

The impact of a short-term international experience for preservice teachers

Using a qualitative cross-case methodology over 3 years, I investigated the ways in which gifted students with cerebral palsy and no speech indicated their cognitive abilities. Data collection methods included participant observation, interviewing document analysis, audiotaping, and videotaping, and data were analyzed using analytic induction, constant comparison, diagramming, and cross-case analysis. The participants demonstrated several academic characteristics of giftedness, some of which were modified by effects of the disability. Personality traits which often accompany giftedness were manifested: maturity, goal orientation, persistence/determination, and patience. Giftedness was also apparent in ways which were related to the disability: recognition of limitations at a mature level, desire for independence from human aides and technological devices, and use of the intellect to circumvent the disability.

Academic and personality characteristics of gifted students with cerebral palsy : A multiple case study

This study investigated the differences in reflections of preservice teachers' teaching effectiveness during a unique field experience called Kids' College. This field experience provided selected preservice teachers with complete ownership of the conceptual development, planning, preparation, implementation, and evaluation of their teaching. Preservice teachers team-taught interdisciplinary units involving higher order thinking skills and active involvement on the part of culturally diverse elementary-age learners. Data sources included preservice teachers' reflective journals, group and individual interviews, and professor observations. Results indicated a clear difference in reflections of preservice teachers related to their effectiveness. Systematic, guided instruction in reflectivity and instructional problem solving in field settings may be crucial to the development of teaching effectiveness.

Reflectivity and Effectiveness of Preservice Teachers in a Unique Field Experience.

Do world language students exhibit higher achievement than students who choose not to study a language? This study sought the answer to this question by comparing standardized test scores of language students with those of non-foreign-language students. Additionally, comparisons were made between students who started language study in middle school and those who started in high school. Language students outperformed non-foreign-language students on all sections of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) in 11th grade but not in 8th grade. Students who began language study in middle school outperformed other language students (who began in high school) on all sections of the PSSA and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). This indicates that length of language study is an important factor in subsequent performance on standardized achievement tests. Promoting World Languages in Middle School "What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur-others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments" (National Commission on Excellence in Education [NCEE], 1983, p. 1). In 1983, the NCEE published A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. As part of this project, the commission examined the curricula of several advanced countries and compared the standards or expectations of their schools to those in the United States. This report found that the achievement in U.S. schools was much lower than in countries around the globe, and it made recommendations on how the United States can create stronger curricula. In 1998, Pascal D. Forgione, the U.S. commissioner of education statistics, revisited this issue to examine achievement in the United States and to determine what kind of progress had been made since A Nation at Risk was published. Forgione stated, "Data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) suggest that the relative international standing of the United States' students declines as they progress through school" (p. 3). Once again, the U.S. Department of Education concluded that Americans needed to examine schools in the United States and find ways to continually increase the achievement of their students. In A Nation at Risk, the NCEE suggested that schools broaden foreign language programs by increasing course requirements and implementing language programs in earlier grades. Cruz (1998) agreed with this recommendation and offered additional reasons for doing so: "The world is becoming so interconnected, that Western culture is ceasing to be the global culture, and that the United States is becoming more culturally heterogeneous. Education needs to help students understand and thrive in these conditions" (p. 27). There are many additional benefits of having proficiency in more than one language. For the individual language learner, research has found a positive link between second language proficiency, cognitive ability, and academic skills. Some studies indicate that people who are proficient in an L2 score higher than speakers of only one language on standardized tests of both verbal and nonverbal intelligence (Bruck, Lambert, & Tucker, 1974; Caldas & Boudreaux, 1999; Eddy, 1981; Hakuta, 1986; Sebring, 1987; Thomas, Collier, & Abbott, 1993). More specifically, "the College Entrance Examination Board reported that students who averaged four or more years of foreign language study scored higher on the verbal section of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) than those who had studied four or more years in any other subject area" (Marcos, 1998, p. 1). Many students take the SAT in 11th grade. In order to have completed four years of language study before taking this exam, students would have to begin in middle school. Accordingly, these 11th graders who take the SAT are more likely to perform better on the exam than classmates who waited until high school to start language study. There are other academic benefits as well. …

Colleen Willard-Holt

Papers

The impact of a short-term international experience for preservice teachers

Academic and personality characteristics of gifted students with cerebral palsy : A multiple case study

Reflectivity and Effectiveness of Preservice Teachers in a Unique Field Experience.

Promoting World Languages in Middle School: The Achievement Connection