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Showing papers in "Canadian Journal of Education in 1983"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The impact of Canadian French immersion research on theoretical conceptions of bilingualism and biliteracy is reviewed and four major issues on which immersion research has had a significant impact are identified as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The impact of Canadian French immersion research on theoretical conceptions of bilingualism and biliteracy is reviewed and four major issues on which immersion research has had a significant impact are identified These are: (1) the effects of bilingualism on children's cognitive and academic development; (2) the effects of intensity of school exposure to the second language (L2) on children's L1 and L2 development; (3) the "optimal age" issue in L2 learning; and (4) the suitability of a home-school language switch for all children Contrary to many earlier assumptions, Canadian immersion research findings suggest that: (1) cognitive advantages may accrue to children who develop high levels of bilingual skills; (2) amount of instructional time through the minority language is generally related to achievement in that language but unrelated to achievement in the majority language; (3) older learners make more rapid progress than younger learners in acquiring L2 cognitive and academic skills; and (4) there is no evidence that immersion programs are unsuitable for any identifiable category of students These findings are interpreted in the light of a theoretical framework for examining the relationships between language proficiency, bilingualism and academic achievement

82 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality, and concluded that neither T-unit length nor clause length is a good predictor of writing quality and that the improvement is probably due to factors other than increases in T-Unit and clause length.
Abstract: This article examines the relationship between syntactic complexity (especially as measured by T-unit and clause length) and quality of written composition. Various strands of research over the past fifteen years seem to support the view that the two are positively related. The studies reviewed fall into two broad categories: (a) intervention studies designed to increase syntactic complexity and to examine the effect of such increases on the quality of written composition; and (b) a set of diverse studies which examine the relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality. The conclusions are: (a) that neither T-unit length nor clause length is a good predictor of writing quality; and (b) that, while sentencecombining studies sometimes seem to improve writing quality, the improvement is probably due to factors other than increases in T-unit and clause length. Implications for teachers in the field are listed.

32 citations






Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the problem of redirecting research on teaching from an emphasis on how classrooms function to one on why they function in particular ways by identifying the features of the "functional paradigms" of teachers.
Abstract: This article addresses the problem of redirecting research on teaching from an emphasis on how classrooms function to one on why they function in particular ways The proposal is based on a reformulation of the concept of "paradigm" as it applies to the study of teaching The basic proposition is that paradigms should be considered as characteristic of the community of practitioners as well as of the community of scholars It is argued that an attempt to identify the features of the "functional paradigms" of teachers would help redirect our thinking towards explanatory principles rather than descriptions of classroom functioning Illustrative research examples are given to demonstrate how the implementation of educational innovations is a possible strategic area for the investigation of functional paradigms It is also suggested that an examination of the contrast between the precepts of teacher educators and those of teachers would be a second strategic area Finally, the issue of how established paradigms are perpetuated through the use of models or exemplars is addressed

14 citations




Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that the amount of the teacher's university education contributed more to the variance of the dependent measures than did student characteristics, and that increasing education tends to be associated with more negative expectations about children.
Abstract: Teachers and student teachers (N = 208) enrolled in summer school courses at Memorial University were presented with a fictitious report card for a Grade 6 pupil, with a photograph attached. Report cards were varied only by the gender and attractiveness of the student portrayed; this is essentially a replication of earlier experiments by Clifford and Walster (1973) and Clifton and Baksh (1978). An attempt was made to extend the findings of these studies in two ways: first, by expanding the number of dependent measures included; and second, by using a regression analysis to compare the relative importance of student gender, student attractiveness, and teacher's education in differential expectations. Expectation effects due to attractiveness or gender were rather meagre. Furthermore, for about half the expectation items studied, the amount of the teacher's university education contributed more to the variance of the dependent measures than did student characteristics. In addition, it was noted that increasing education tends to be associated with more negative expectations about children. Implications for research on teacher expectations are discussed with reference to teacher training programs.

8 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an instructional design strategy for improving problemsolving performance in a variety of domains is presented, which emerges from a series of instructional improvement projects undertaken collaboratively by a small team of academics and groups of practicing teachers in eastern Ontario.
Abstract: This article provides an outline of an instructional design strategy for improving problemsolving performance in a variety of domains. The strategy emerges from a series of instructional improvement projects undertaken collaboratively by a small team of academics and groups of practicing teachers in eastern Ontario. These projects were stimulated by recent developments in cognitive psychology. The strategy entails the selection of an appropriate domain of problem-solving tasks, the construction of learning hierarchies, the design of teaching methods, the assembly of learning materials, the design of teacher training and the evaluation of instructional interventions. Obstacles to be overcome and directions for future research are identified.





Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors take exception to L. Kohlberg's claim that the aim of moral education is the development of reason, not character, and argue that reason cannot move an agent to act unless conjoined with certain desires.
Abstract: This article takes exception to L. Kohlberg's claim that the aim of moral education is the development of reason, not character. Although the development of reason is important, if we assume that any morally educated person is able to act in morally appropriate ways in varying circumstances, it becomes central to inquire into the conditions under which reason can move an agent to act. This article claims that reason cannot move an agent to act unless conjoined with certain desires. Furthermore, this conjunction is not an unhappy marriage of two independent forces (i.e., reason and desire) which continually threaten to do battle with one another, but rather is something we can call moral character. To describe a person's moral character in terms of certain traits is to indicate the kind of reasons he or she usually has for acting. Moral education in being concerned with the development of reason is likewise concerned with the development of certain kinds of character traits known as the virtues. Character education is necessarily a part of moral education.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated family life education in secondary schools in British Columbia and found that approximately half of the secondary schools offered some family-life education, primarily in Home Economics and Guidance departments.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate family life education in secondary schools in British Columbia. It was estimated that approximately half of the secondary schools offered some family life education, primarily in Home Economics and Guidance departments. Most programs were relatively new, were widely scattered throughout the province, and were more likely to be offered as parts of other courses rather than as separate. Wide variation was found in content and organization, both within departments and among departments. Speakers and films were reported to be the most used resources, while class discussions were the most successful teaching technique. Little evaluation of programs was reported. Most teachers had had some training in family life education content areas, but little training in family life education philosophy and methodology. Few generalizations can be made concerning family life education in B.C. secondary schools, suggesting the difficulty of making global statements of support or condemnaation for such programs. Suggestions for additional studies are made.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Using nationally representative data from the 1978 Canadian Readership Survey, the authors of as mentioned in this paper used log-linear and logit-techniques to identify and describe the truly functionally illiterate (i.e., those who report that they cannot read).
Abstract: Using nationally representative data from the 1978 Canadian Readership Survey, the authors model a range of reading activity. They demonstrate empirical problems in associating illliteracy with education at less than a Grade 9 level. The survey data indicate that a majority of Canadians identified as illiterate in this manner do in fact read. The paper identifies and describes the truly functionally illiterate, (i.e., those who report that they cannot read). This discussion turns to the problem of explaining the far more numerous elective illiterates (i.e., those who can read but do not). Using explanatory statistical models based on log-linear and logit-techniques, the article attempts to explain (in a statistical sense) elective illiteracy in Canada. In addition to confirming the expected bivariate associations between reading activity and age, occupation, education, language, and settlement type, this research uncovers three statistically and substantively significant higher order specification effects involving ( i) reading, education and language, (2) reading, age and settlement type, and (3) reading, settlement type, and language.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article argued that the Rasch model is inappropriate for such a purpose, and presented the model in a far more favourable light than it deserves, and continued application of the model encourages less desirable educational practice and misdirects scarce resources.
Abstract: Robitaille and O'Shea (1983) used the Rasch model in developing a set of 40-item mathematics achievement tests using multi-choice items for the British Columbia item bank. The present paper argues that (a) the Rasch model is inappropriate for such a purpose, (b) their article presents the model in a far more favourable light than it deserves, and (c) continued application of the model encourages less desirable educational practice and misdirects scarce resources. A fundamentally different approach is suggested and illustrated by work on the Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool (OAIP).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the item banks for use in the development of tests keyed to the provincial mathematics curriculum were developed at the Grade 3/4, 7/8, o/1 1 levels.
Abstract: Item banks for use in the development of tests keyed to the provincial mathematics curriculum were developed at the Grade 3/4, 7/8, o/1 1 levels. The Rasch simple logistic model was used to calibrate all of the items within each of the three banks on a common scale of difficulty. A computerized data base was developed to store the items, to facilitate modification of the item'banks as required, and to produce camera-ready tests consisting of items meeting criteria determined by the user. To date the item banks have been used to produce eleven tests published by the Ministry of Education and as a source of items for the 1981 B.C. Mathematics Assessment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that an academic who writes badly does so for one or more of three reasons: he (or she) may be insufficiently sophisticated in the uses of the language; he probably shares the peculiar linguistic habits of an insular community of academics; and he may be under some distortive pressure from the habits of thought and language inculcated by his particular discipline.
Abstract: An academic who writes badly does so for one or more of three reasons: He (or she) may be insufficiently sophisticated in the uses of the language; he probably shares the peculiar linguistic habits of an insular community of academics; and he may be under some distortive pressure from the habits of thought and language inculcated by his particular discipline. Writers in the fields of human science, in particular, are led and even encouraged to deploy reifications copiously and incautiously, to neglect such rhetorical problems as the clarifying of contrast or comparison, and to fall into traps set by the seeming similarities of syntax or metaphor. In all this they are typically beguiled by the demands for quantification and generalization that dominate their disciplines, and by some rather simplistic assumptions about the nature of language.



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Teaching style preference was examined as a function of individual differences in physiological arousal and stimulation seeking in this paper, which indicated that teachers identified as low arousal tended to prefer a traditional style and those identified as high arousal tend to prefer an open style of teaching.
Abstract: Teaching-style preference was examined as a function of individual differences in physiological arousal and stimulation seeking. Twenty-nine school teachers were given the Sensation Seeking Scale, the Two-Flash Threshold (TFT) measure of trait arousal and a teacher questionnaire designed to measure teaching-style preference from a range of traditional (formal) to open (informal). A statistically significant correlation between the TFT and the teacher questionnaire indicated that teachers identified as low arousal tended to prefer a "traditional style" and those identified as high arousal tended to prefer an "open style" of teaching. Implications of the above findings are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effects of continuing school failure on self-esteem, success and failure attribution and the rationalization of these failures, and concluded that a lower self-concept was associated with an increase in irrational beliefs.
Abstract: This study examines the effects of continuing school failure on self-esteem, success and failure attribution and the rationalization of these failures. The subjects were a group of 35 Learning Disabled Adolescents (mean age 14) divided into two groups (LDA-1 and LDA-2) on the basis of severity, and a contrast group of 17 normally functioning boys (NONLDAs). Students were selected on the basis of teacher referral, the WISC-R, WRAT and a composition score. Following selection the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale, the Hopelessness Scale, the Irrational Beliefs Test, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, the Measure of Individual Differences in Achieving Tendency, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and an Anagram Frustration Task were administered. The self-esteem of the two LDA groups was not significantly below that of the NONLDAs, although results were in the anticipated direction with the LDA-2 group having the lowest self-esteem. Regarding hopelessness, LDAs were more pessimistic. An overall increase in negative feelings, particularly anxiety and hostility, was found to be associated with a lower self-concept particularly so in the LDA-2 group. Against expectations, the LDAs produced lower total irrational beliefs scores; for all groups a lower self-concept was associated with an increase in irrational beliefs. The LDAs did not react with greater frustration to the anagram task. The students, regardless of group, assumed equal responsibility for success and failure. It was concluded that the LDA can be regarded as a person with somewhat lower self-esteem who views the future with anxiety, hostility and pessimism, but who does not accept the rational implications of these feelings.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the extent and significance of judicial decisions as they relate to public school operations in British Columbia are evaluated and a number of issues concerning the current and future impact of judicial decision on school operations are brought into perspective.
Abstract: While the statute law governing B.C.'s public schools is familiar to a majority of its educators, there appears to be widespread uncertainty as to the content and relevance of judicial decisions, and also as to the ways in which the courts and various quasi-judicial bodies make the decisions. The major purpose of the research reported herein was to evaluate the extent and the significance of these decisions as they relate to public school operations in British Columbia. Scattered information concerning relevant decisions was gathered, organised and evaluated. In addition, a number of issues concerning the current and future impact of judicial decisions on school operations were brought into perspective. Major conclusions were: (1) judicial decisions do play a significant role in B.C. public school operations; (2) greater interest, knowledge and involvement on the part of educators is required.