Edith Cowan University

About: Edith Cowan University is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 4040 authors who have published 13529 publications receiving 339582 citations. The organization is also known as: Edith Cowan & ECU.

Phonological awareness, verbal working memory and the acquisition of literacy

Abstract: This paper describes a 2-year longitudinal study of 76 initially prereading children. The study examined the relationships between phonological awareness (measured by tests of onset and rime, phonemic segmentation and phoneme deletion), verbal working memory and the development of reading and spelling. Factor analyses showed that the verbal working memory tests which were administered loaded on two distinct but highly related factors, the first of which,simple repetition, involved the repetition of verbal items exactly as spoken by the experimenter, whereas the second,backwards repetition, involved repetition of items in reverse order. Factor analyses also showed that, whist the phonological awareness variables consistently loaded on the backwards repetition factor at the beginning and end of Grade 1, by Grade 2 the phonological awareness variables loaded on a separate factor which also included sentence repetition. Results of multiple regression analyses, with reading and spelling as a compound criterion variable, indicated that phonological awareness consistently predicted later reading and spelling even when both simple and backwards repetition were controlled. In contrast, verbal working memory did not consistently predict reading and spelling across testing times. Whilst there was some indication that verbal working memory, especially backwards repetition, measured during Grade 1 did predict reading and spelling in Grade 2, these effects were no longer evident when all three phonological variables were controlled. Nevertheless, with 4 individual reading and 2 individual spelling measures as the criterion variables, it was shown that phonological awareness was not quite such a consistent predictor of reading and spelling: it was most highly related to reading pseudowords and spelling real words; but it was not so highly related to spelling pseudowords, apparently because the processing demands of the task for the young children in the study were extremely high. Given the importance of verbal working memory for the completion of phonological awareness, reading and spelling tasks, in particular for spelling pseudowords, the findings are interpreted as providing some support for a theoretical position which posits that both phonological awareness and verbal working memory contribute to the early stages of literacy acquisition. Whilst the findings suggest some support for a general underlying phonological ability, there is also evidence that, as children learn to read and write, verbal working memory and phonological awareness become more differentiated.

Different forms of bullying and victimization: Bully-victims versus bullies and victims

Abstract: Although much is known about bully-victims, children who bully others and are victimized by others, the forms of bullying they employ and experience have received little attention. The present study examined the extent to which bully-victims (in comparison to pure bullies and pure victims) are perpetrators and targets of verbal, physical, indirect, and cyber bullying. The sample included 19,869 students from grades 1 to 8 (7 to 15 years of age). Bully-victims (whether identified by self- or peer-reports) perpetrated significantly more physical and verbal bullying than pure bullies. They also tended to score higher than bullies in cyberbullying, but not in indirect bullying. With respect to victimization, bully-victims were more frequent targets of all four forms of victimization than pure victims. The frequent victimization experiences of bully-victims may be one factor contributing to their high maladjustment reported in the literature. Challenges for teacher training and bullying interventions are discu...

Exercise and bone mineral density in mature female athletes.

Abstract: An understanding of the relationship between weight-bearing activity and bone mineral density (BMD) is important in devising strategies to maximize and maintain skeletal strength in the female population, particularly those entering menopause. Three contrasting groups (N = 20) of mature female athletes (42-50 yr) with long-term (> 20 yr) histories of significant training and performance in their chosen sport were studied cross-sectionally. The groups were: (i) high impact sport (netball/basketball; HIGH), (ii) medium impact sport (running/field hockey; MED) and (iii) a nonimpact sport (swimming; NON) and (iv) a nonsport control group (CON; N = 20). Whole body and regional BMD and body composition (fat and lean mass) were measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Isometric strength of dominant arm flexors and leg extensors was measured by a strain tensiometer. With an alpha level of significance of 0.05, HIGH showed significantly greater whole body and regional leg BMD than NON or CON. MED registered higher values than CON for whole body and regional leg BMD. Only HIGH had significantly greater leg strength than CON. Regional arm BMD was significantly greater in all exercising groups compared with CON, but no significant difference in arm strength was found between any groups. The athletic groups all had significantly lower body fat and higher height-corrected lean mass than CON. Height-corrected lean mass, height and leg extensor strength, but not calcium intake, arm flexor strength or body fat, were significant predictors of whole body and regional arm and leg BMD. Using the significant predictors as covariates, the impact groups (HIGH/MED) had significantly higher whole body BMD than CON. HIGH also had significantly higher whole body BMD than NON and both impact groups were greater than NON in regional leg BMD. Results suggest that females who participate regularly in the premenopausal years in high impact physical activity tend to have higher BMD than nonathletic controls.

Information systems evaluation: past, present and future

Abstract: The business environment of the new millennium is responsive, dynamic and competitive, and is in a constant state of customer-centred change. This change has been largely initiated by innovations in information and communication technologies, which have led to the creation of the information-based economy. Consequently, many organizations have become reliant upon Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) to support their business processes. Yet, research undertaken by Kempis and Ringbeck (1999) suggests that an alarming proportion of organisations are under-performing with regard to the efficiency and effectiveness of IT utilisation. Why is this the case? Well, the answer to this question is by no means straightforward, and is something that researchers, practitioners and the like, seek to explain. According to McKay and Marshall (2001), there appears to be a dichotomy with respect to the question of investment in IT/IS. On the one hand, the notion of an information-based economy and the arrival of an e-business domain have led to considerable faith being placed in IT to deliver performance improvements. On the other hand, there is concern that IT/IS is not delivering what it promises by vendors and project champions. Irani and Love (2001) attribute this lack of delivery to the difficulty in determining business value from IT/IS investments, and the considerable indirect costs associated with enterprise-wide systems. McKay and Marshall (2001) express concern that managers do not perceive that they are deriving value for money when it comes to IT investments. The measurement of business value of IT/IS investments has been the subject of