Showing papers in "Educational Psychology in 2004"
TL;DR: The area of learning style has been active for around four decades as mentioned in this paper, with recent years seeing a particularly marked upturn in the number of researchers working in the area and a variety of disciplines from which the research is emerging.
Abstract: Although its origins have been traced back much further, research in the area of learning style has been active for—at a conservative estimate—around four decades. During that period the intensity of activity has varied, with recent years seeing a particularly marked upturn in the number of researchers working in the area. Also of note is the variety of disciplines from which the research is emerging. Increasingly, research in the area of learning style is being conducted in domains outside psychology—the discipline from which many of the central concepts and theories originate. These domains include medical and health care training, management, industry, vocational training and a vast range of settings and levels in the field of education. It is of little wonder that applications of these concepts are so wide ranging given the centrality of learning—and how best to do it—to almost every aspect of life. As a consequence of the quantity of research, the diversity of the disciplines and domains in which the...
960 citations
TL;DR: The authors applied expectancy theory to integrate the numerous and disparate explanations that researchers and educators have proposed to account for teacher resistance to implementing cooperative learning as an educational innovation, and found that increased emphasis on professional development should be used to enhance teachers' beliefs that they can succeed in implementing an innovation in their own context.
Abstract: This study applied expectancy theory to integrate the numerous and disparate explanations that researchers and educators have proposed to account for teacher resistance to implementing cooperative learning as an educational innovation. The cooperative learning implementation questionnaire (CLIQ) contained 48 items grouped under three broad motivational categories: perceived value of the innovation, expectancy of success, and perceived cost. These items accounted for 42.3% of the total variance in self-reported use of cooperative learning among 933 teachers. Expectancy of success issues were most important in differentiating users and non-users, suggesting that increased emphasis on professional development should be used to enhance teachers' beliefs that they can succeed in implementing an innovation in their own context. This may require both follow-up support and adaptation of the innovation.
223 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the working memory skills of children with four categories of special educational needs (SEN) were investigated: general learning difficulties, language problems, literacy problems, and attentional and behavioural problems.
Abstract: The working memory skills of children with four categories of special educational needs (SEN) were investigated: general learning difficulties, language problems, literacy problems, and attentional and behavioural problems. Children with general learning difficulties performed poorly on measures of all three components of the working memory model: the phonological loop, central executive, and the visuo‐spatial sketchpad. Children with problems specific to language had impairments of the phonological loop and the central executive only. The working memory abilities of the groups with literacy and behavioural problems fell within the normal range. These findings are explained in terms of specific roles played by components of working memory in supporting learning activities.
172 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the translation ability of university students as far as the concept of function is concerned and examine the relationship between student performance and the nature of the representation included in the translation task.
Abstract: Representations are used extensively in mathematics and translation ability is highly correlated with success in mathematics education. The authors investigate the translation ability of university students as far as the concept of function is concerned. The research focuses on the relationship between success in, solving direct translation tasks and success in solving problems by articulating different representations of the concept of function. Furthermore, it examines the relationship between student performance and the nature of the representation included in the translation task. The ability to pass from one representation to another was associated with success in problem solving. These results indicate that translation ability should be considered as an important factor in problem solving. Percentages are lower when an iconic representation is included in the translation task. This could be partly attributed to the holistic nature of iconic representations and to the way the concept of function is t...
170 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the relationship between foreign language (FL) anxiety and achievement in that language and found that anxiety was negatively and significantly correlated to FL achievement on all FL tests, including Hebrew reading comprehension, English reading comprehension and creative writing tasks.
Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between foreign language (FL) anxiety and achievement in that language. The role of the FL teacher as perceived by the learners was also tested. Participants were 67 seventh‐grade students. They were administered an anxiety questionnaire, a Hebrew reading comprehension test, an English reading comprehension test, an English creative writing task, and an English spelling test. The results indicated that anxiety was negatively and significantly correlated to FL achievement on all FL tests. Gender and teachers' attitudes were the only significant predictors of FL anxiety among these seventh‐grade students. The results are discussed in light of findings in the literature. Some recommendations are suggested to ease anxiety in FL students.
157 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the value of three learning style tests when used to examine the design of educational materials for teaching computer science at a distance, and find that learning style analysis is useful in discriminating performance on imagery-rich materials in simulated learning context.
Abstract: This paper assesses the value of three learning style tests when used to examine the design of educational materials for teaching computer science at a distance. The paper presents three studies where three different learning styles were used to discriminate preference and performance in different contexts. The studies indicate that the Learning Style Questionnaire and the Group Embedded Figures Test are of little value. However the Cognitive Style Analysis proved useful in discriminating performance on imagery-rich materials in a simulated learning context. The paper argues that it may be necessary to match the theoretical basis of learning style with the context in which it is used in order to gain useful information. On the whole the studies showed that the value of learning style tests may be limited.
149 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationships between learning styles and learning preferences with the aim of tailoring teaching methods to the ways that students prefer to learn and found that only three significant relationships were found.
Abstract: Much has been written about the relationships between learning styles and learning preferences with the aim of tailoring teaching methods to the ways that students prefer to learn. This study used a sample of 201 management undergraduates to examine the relationships between Kolb's four learning styles and four learning types, and 12 different learning preferences. Only three significant relationships were found. It is suggested that large individual differences in learning preferences within each style and type, and small differences in learning preference mean scores show that, overall, there are weak linkages between learning styles and learning preferences. It is recommended that researchers control for Type I error rates and present effect sizes when statistically significant relationships are found to prevent chance and trivial findings from influencing educators. It is recommended that educators use a variety of learning methods and encourage students to be receptive to different learning methods r...
141 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the findings of epistemological beliefs studies in North America, Hong Kong and Taiwan were compared and interpreted in terms of the different cultural contexts and methodologies used in the research studies.
Abstract: The findings of epistemological beliefs studies in North America, Hong Kong and Taiwan were compared and interpreted in terms of the different cultural contexts and methodologies used in the research studies. Based on cross culture analysis a hypothesis for the structure of epistemological beliefs was proposed. Implications were also drawn for future research in this field, in light of the limitations and potential of existing measuring instruments.
125 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored links between cognition (both social and academic) and children's behaviour in a bullying situation (participant roles) and found that there are differential associations between cognitions and the roles that children take in bullying situations, according to gender.
Abstract: This research explored links between cognition (both social and academic) and children's behaviour in a bullying situation (participant roles). Participants were 186 fourth to sixth grade boys and girls from four primary schools in central Greece. Six categories of social cognition (self-efficacy for assertion, self-efficacy for aggression, expectations that aggression will lead to rewards, expectations that aggression will lead to victim suffering, the value placed on rewards and the value placed on suffering in the victim) and two categories of academic cognition (self-efficacy for learning and performance and the self-regulatory strategies used while solving problems) were investigated in connection to six participant roles (bully, victim, assistant, reinforcer, defender and outsider). Results suggest that there are differential associations between cognitions and the roles that children take in bullying situations, according to gender. Academic self-efficacy combined with certain social cognitions pre...
122 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, citation analysis is presented as a technique to develop an alternative organisation of the learning style and cognitive style literature, which is helpful to identify the relative impact of different orientations, and helps to illuminate their interrelationships.
Abstract: Educationists and researchers who consider the use of the learning style concept to address individual differences in learning are often daunted by the multitude of definitions, models, and instruments. It is difficult to make an informed choice. The confusion with cognitive style, a term often used as a synonym, makes it even more complicated. Reviews of the literature give some direction, but there are a number of arguments why the available reviews raise new problems. In this paper, citation analysis is presented as a technique to develop an alternative organisation of the learning style and cognitive style literature. Application of this technique results in a review that clarifies dominant theoretical orientations in the literature, is helpful to identify the relative impact of different orientations, and helps to illuminate their interrelationships. As such, this alternative review of the literature can serve as a roadmap for novices to the styles field.
108 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared Australian and Chinese teachers' causal attributions for student behavior and found that both groups of teachers attributed misbehaviors most to student effort and least to teacher factors, with effort attribution being equally and strongly emphasized across cultural contexts and behavior types.
Abstract: The present study compared Australian and Chinese teachers' causal attributions for student behavior. A total of 204 Australian teachers and 269 Chinese teachers rated the importance of four causes (ability, effort, family, teacher) of six student problem behaviors. Results showed that both groups of teachers attributed misbehaviors most to student effort and least to teacher factors. Chinese teachers emphasized family factors more while Australian teachers placed greater importance on ability. There was significant variation in attribution patterns for different types of problems, with effort attribution being equally and strongly emphasized across cultural contexts and behavior types. The results are interpreted in the light of how individualistic and collectivistic values influence teacher thinking, and implications for school-based interventions for behavior problems are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of resource interdependence on student-student interactions and the impact of these interactions on performance were analyzed during university workshops, and the results showed that working on complementary information produced more positive interactions; however this was not sufficient to prevent students who had no direct access to the information from being disadvantaged, because of informational dependence.
Abstract: Two studies were carried out during university workshops, and analyzed the effects of resource interdependence on student‐student interactions, and the impact of these interactions on performance. Students worked cooperatively, either on complementary information (positive resource interdependence) or on identical information (resource independence). In Study 1, analysis of videotaped interactions revealed that working on complementary information produced more positive interactions; however this was not sufficient to prevent students who had no direct access to the information from being disadvantaged, because of informational dependence. In Study 2, with simpler texts allowing better information transmission, performance was favored when students worked on complementary information. Moreover, working on identical information not only enhanced confrontations of point of views, it also elicited competence threat. Further analysis revealed that competence threat mediated resource interdependence effect on ...
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of teaching experience and pupil and teacher gender on student teachers' perceptions of the seriousness of various forms of undesirable behaviours in the classroom, and found that both teaching experiences and pupil gender were important moderators of their perceptions.
Abstract: The effective management of pupils' undesirable behaviours in the classroom represents a major challenge for teachers. In order to better comprehend the difficulties facing them it is important to examine how they perceive pupil behaviours at different stages of their professional development. The present study examined the effects of teaching experience and pupil and teacher gender on student teachers' perceptions of the seriousness of various forms of undesirable behaviours. A structured questionnaire was completed by 243 student teachers, regarding the perceived seriousness of 25 behaviours in boys and girls. Results indicated that both teaching experience and pupil gender were important moderators of their perceptions. For instance, novice student teachers rated overtly antisocial behaviours as serious, whereas their experienced counterparts gave higher ratings of seriousness to internalising forms of behaviour. A degree of gender stereotyping was also apparent in the perceptions of mainly novice teac...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated cognitive and affective gains from cross-age peer tutoring for both tutees and tutors in science, using the "paired science" programme.
Abstract: The development of deeper understanding and transferable skills in science requires continuous interactive discussion and feedback and extended practice in various contexts for generalisation. In primary schools, these desiderata are difficult to supply through direct teacher instruction, but might be feasible through interactive peer tutoring. This study aimed to evaluate cognitive and affective gains from cross-age peer tutoring for both tutees and tutors in science, using the “paired science” programme. For the first time this programme was used to focus on peer rather than parent tutoring and on junior school rather than early years pupils, and for the first time an objective measure of cognitive gain in science was used. Experimental peer tutees were a whole class (n=32) of seven- to eight-year-olds; tutors a whole class (n=33) of eight- to nine-year-olds in the same school. A parallel composite class of seven- to nine-year-olds (n=24) served as controls for tutees and tutors. A peer tutoring paired ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the changes in experienced stress level and in somatic and psychological symptoms during the transition from elementary to secondary schools (from grade 4 to grade 5) to the changes of two control groups (experiencing changes from grades 3 to 4 and from grades 5 to 6, but without school transition).
Abstract: School transition is a critical life event for many children. However, the effects of school transition on children's stress experiences reported in the literature have been inconsistent. The present study with 564 third- to sixth-graders compared the changes in experienced stress level and in somatic and psychological symptoms during the transition from elementary to secondary schools (from grade 4 to grade 5) to the changes of two control groups (experiencing changes from grades 3 to 4 and from grades 5 to 6, but without school transition). The results show decreases in experienced stress levels and somatic and psychological symptoms after school transition. However, these decreases reflect mainly recovery effects after the school summer break, as comparisons with the control groups indicate.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe and evaluate a method for peer tutoring in thinking skills, which scaffolds interactive discourse based on a differentiated real book the tutorial pair has chosen to read together.
Abstract: Outcomes for methods to accelerate thinking skills involving some peer interaction have been more consistently positive than those for purely teacher‐directed or materials‐led methods. However, methods involving mainly or only peer interaction are rare. This paper describes and evaluates such a method for peer tutoring in thinking skills, which scaffolds interactive discourse based on a differentiated real book the tutorial pair has chosen to read together. This pilot study aimed to partial the impact on quality of thinking of a peer‐tutored thinking intervention from that of a peer‐tutored reading intervention, controlling for time on task and amount of peer interactivity. Experimental peer tutees were a whole class (n=28) of seven‐year‐olds; experimental tutors a whole class (n=31) of 11‐year‐olds. Comparison tutees were a whole class (n=27) of seven‐year‐olds; comparison tutors a whole class (n=30) of 11‐year‐olds. Classes/teachers within the same school were randomly assigned to conditions. In Phase 1...
TL;DR: This paper used an opportunist sample of 84 trainee teachers studying for one year full time for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, in a range of subject specialist areas, based at a single English university.
Abstract: To a great extent the nature of the relationship between the cognitive style of a student teacher and their predominant teaching style in the classroom has been ignored by educational research. This study used an opportunist sample of 84 trainee teachers studying for one year full time for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, in a range of subject specialist areas, based at a single English university. Students' cognitive styles were assessed, and those with more extreme cognitive style scores were selected to participate in semi‐structured interviews. A subject specialist mentor had been assigned to each student; 77% (n=59) completed a questionnaire on their perceptions of the teaching style of their PGCE student. Statistically significant differences in approaches to learning and teaching were identified between the four cognitive styles. Gender differences were also noted with analytic‐verbaliser females adopting the most analytical style in the classroom and wholist‐imager males the most wholist ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the learning of different types of graphic information by subjects with different levels of education and knowledge of the content represented and found that graph and map learning performance improves with the subjects' educational level.
Abstract: This article examines the learning of different types of graphic information by subjects with different levels of education and knowledge of the content represented. Three levels of graphic information learning were distinguished (explicit, implicit, and conceptual information processing) and two experiments were conducted, looking at graph and geographical map learning. The graph study (Experiment 1) examined the influence of the variables' numerical relationship structure on adolescent students with different levels of education and knowledge of social sciences and also assessed their proportional reasoning skills. The map study (Experiment 2) looked at the learning of a geographical map studied spontaneously by secondary school and university students with different geographical knowledge (experts and novices) and also assessed their spatial skills. The results of both studies show that graph and map learning performance improves with the subjects' educational level. The groups' differential performanc...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the way part-time students cope with fitting in study on top of other demands on their time and developed a measure for the sense of belonging to college.
Abstract: This study examined the way part‐time students cope with fitting in study on top of other demands on their time. To measure the deployment of coping mechanisms, an instrument was developed based on previous qualitative work. The earlier work had identified three coping mechanisms—sacrifice, support, and negotiation of arrangements—operating in four domains of the self—work, family, and social lives. A measure for the sense of belonging to college was also developed. The combined measures were completed by a sample of 208 adult students enrolled in part‐time courses in an open university. Analysis by structural equation modelling showed that there were significant relationships between the employment of coping mechanisms and the development of a sense of belonging to the college. Students were more likely to exhibit a strong sense of belonging if: they had negotiated with their family a time to study: they had established regular study routines; they reported high levels of social support; and they declare...
TL;DR: This paper examined the interaction between speech perception and sentential context among 13 poor readers and 49 good readers in grades one to three and found that good readers showed clearly defined categorical perception in the phoneme identification task for both sentence frames biased to the identification of the /b/ or /p/ phoneme.
Abstract: This study examined the interaction between speech perception and sentential context among 13 poor readers and 49 good readers in grades one to three. Children's performance was examined on tasks assessing expressive and receptive vocabulary, reading skill, phonological awareness, pseudoword repetition, and phoneme identification. Good readers showed clearly defined categorical perception in the phoneme identification task for both sentence frames biased to the identification of the /b/ or /p/ phoneme. The /b/–/p/ category boundary for the BATH frame was at longer voice onset times (VOTs) than the boundary for PATH frame. Poor readers showed less sharply defined categorical perception with both sentence frames. Although poor readers did not show a shift in the /b/–/p/ category boundary, sentential context did affect the overall rate with which phonemes were identified as /b/ or /p/ at each VOT. These findings suggest that semantic information may operate as a compensatory mechanism for resolving ambiguiti...
TL;DR: This paper examined whether perceived self-efficacy moderated the relationship between performance goals and self-regulatory strategy use in two different samples of 178 and 108 Norwegian post-secondary students.
Abstract: We examined whether perceived self-efficacy moderated the relationship between performance goals and self-regulatory strategy use in two different samples of 178 and 108 Norwegian post-secondary students. Using multiple regression with interaction terms, we found that perceived self-efficacy moderated the relation between performance-avoidance goals and reported use of self-regulatory strategies for students in a competitive, performance-oriented context. Specifically, in that context, there seemed to be a negative effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with high self-efficacy and a positive effect of increased performance-avoidance goal orientation for students with low self-efficacy. While the nature of this moderator effect is not consistent with what has previously been suggested by researchers using a goal orientation framework, our findings point to the importance of examining self-efficacy moderator effects in different study contexts.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated prospective relationships between reading and writing performance during the first grade of primary school and found that reading performance increased subsequent spelling proficiency, and spelling skills enhanced subsequent reading.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate prospective relationships between reading and writing performance during the first grade of primary school. The data was collected from 83 Finnish‐speaking children who were examined four times on reading, spelling, and productive writing skills during the first grade. At the beginning of the school year, they were also tested on initial reading skill. The results showed that reading and spelling manifested a reciprocal relationship during the first semester: reading performance increased subsequent spelling proficiency, and spelling skills enhanced subsequent reading. Later on, however, reading predicted spelling in a less reciprocal association. In turn, productivity of writing predicted subsequent reading performance during the first grade although the reverse was not true. The results suggest that it may be important to emphasize the support which compositional writing may offer to the development of reading.
TL;DR: The authors developed and validated a Chinese reading motivation questionnaire (CRMQ) which was designed to assess Chinese students' reading motivation in Hong Kong and found that reading motivation was positively related to their strategy use, reading comprehension, and academic achievement.
Abstract: This paper describes the development and initial validation of a Chinese reading motivation questionnaire (CRMQ) which was designed to assess Chinese students' reading motivation in Hong Kong. The development of the CRMQ consisted of two steps. In the first study, groups of items were constructed based on achievement motivation theories and existing instruments. The initial version of the CRMQ was administered to a small group of Grade 7 students in Hong Kong and exploratory factor analysis, item‐total correlation, and reliability analyses were carried out to assess its psychometric quality. The CRMQ was then revised and administered to a larger sample of Grade 7 students in the second study. Findings of confirmatory factor analysis provided further validation for the proposed factor structure of the revised questionnaire. In addition, findings indicated that students' reading motivation was positively related to their strategy use, reading comprehension, and academic achievement. The findings of this stu...
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between schooling, literacy development, and socioeconomic context, as reflected by a composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES), and found that the attenuation of the association between SES and literacy-related skills, and the progressive reduction of the risk for reading failure, were positive outcomes associated with the literacy school program, especially in the early grades.
Abstract: This longitudinal study examined the relationship between schooling, literacy development, and socioeconomic context, as reflected by a composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES). Reading, spelling, and phonological abilities were assessed from kindergarten to grade three in Canadian children in a school district with intensive literacy activities. In kindergarten, there were significant associations between SES and all the abilities assessed but these associations declined systematically to non‐significant levels by grade three. Risk and prevalence of reading failure also decreased with more schooling. The results suggest that the attenuation of the association between SES and literacy‐related skills, and the progressive reduction of the risk for reading failure, were positive outcomes associated with the literacy school program, especially in the early grades.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the findings of a new research project on teacher candidates' learning style preferences and the implications thereof for their teaching styles, using two different learning style assessment instruments based on Dunn and Dunn's learning style model.
Abstract: The goal of this paper is to present the findings of a new research project on teacher candidates' learning style preferences and the implications thereof for their teaching styles. The researchers utilized two different learning‐style assessment instruments based on Dunn and Dunn's learning style model—one paper and pencil and one online learning style assessment instrument to identify course participants' learning styles. Within the same institution of higher education, the learning style concept was introduced and operationalized in two different ways. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, teacher candidates' individual and group learning style profiles and their reflections on their own learning and teaching styles are discussed.
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that children increase the size of drawings of topics about which they feel positively and use their most preferred colours for colouring in these drawings, and decrease the sizes of topics that they feel negatively.
Abstract: Previous studies have revealed that children increase the size of drawings of topics about which they feel positively and use their most preferred colours for colouring in these drawings, and decrease the size of topics about which they feel negatively and use their least preferred colours for colouring in these drawings. However, these previous findings have been obtained in studies employing drawing tasks where planning and production difficulties have been minimised by asking the children either to copy or to colour in an outline stimulus of a figure provided by the experimenter. The present experiment was designed to examine whether children also alter the use of size and colour in their drawings in response to emotional characterisations when they are not constrained by the presence of a model. Two hundred and fifty three children aged between 4 and 11 years were asked to produce drawings of a neutrally, a positively and a negatively characterised topic (either a man, a dog or a tree). It was found that the children consistently increased the size of the positively characterised figures, did not consistently decrease the size of the negatively characterised figures, used their most preferred colours for the positive figures, and used their least preferred colours for the negative figures. These findings are discussed in relation to the operation of an appetitive-defensive mechanism and pictorial conventions.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the reported effects of a year-long professional development course designed to sensitize 14 teachers to their own and their colleagues' learning differences, which explored their own ILDs in a mediated context with colleagues, utilizing a battery of learning styles inventories.
Abstract: Although it is widely agreed that teacher sensitivity to individual learning differences (ILDs) is an integral component of effective teaching, little research has focused on how to develop this sensitivity in teachers. This study describes the reported effects of a year‐long professional development course designed to sensitize 14 teachers to their own and their colleagues' learning differences. The teachers explored their own ILDs in a mediated context with colleagues, utilizing a battery of learning styles inventories. In order to document any teacher change as a result of the course, the researchers collected data from interviews, written critical incidents, questionnaire, and field notes. A taxonomy of teacher change in language, beliefs and practice was constructed from the data using qualitative research analysis. Teachers reported the following changes: gaining a fluency in the language of individual learning differences; gaining interventionist beliefs about students; increased legitimizing and a...
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the relationships between students' questioning and learning styles is conducted on data collected in two university semesters with a sample of 300 students, and the results of case studies looking in depth at four of the students.
Abstract: A study of the relationships between students' questioning and learning styles is being conducted on data collected in two university semesters with a sample of 300 students. This report discusses the results of case studies looking in depth at four of the students. These were involved in further data collection through written and oral questions, interviews and classroom observation experiments. The main aim is to unravel the interrogative bases of the students' learning by looking at the quality and quantity of questions they ask. This means that among other characteristics, the nature and the deliberative or spontaneous use of questions by the four students were investigated. It was possible to distinguish question-askers by tallying their questions. Their learning styles were characterised using Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory. The study also allowed for snapshots of how particular learners shape questions. Looking at the way in which these questioning styles fit with their orientations to learning, and how this drives learning, informs what teaching might best then ensue.
TL;DR: This article investigated the critical period hypothesis (CPH) for the acquisition of a second language sound system (phonology) in a naturalistic setting and found that successful late-starters with a native-like Hebrew pronunciation are presented in an effort to determine possible variables that may account for their exceptional accomplishment.
Abstract: This paper investigates the critical period hypothesis (CPH) for the acquisition of a second language sound system (phonology) in a naturalistic setting. Ten cases of successful late-starters with a native-like Hebrew pronunciation are presented in an effort to determine possible variables that may account for their exceptional accomplishment. The issue of CPH in relation to second language acquisition continues to be disputed among second language researchers.
TL;DR: In this paper, a year-long cultural intervention designed to increase self-esteem and locus of control in children aged seven to 10 from the indigenous Maori minority group in New Zealand was described.
Abstract: Children aged seven to 10 from the indigenous Maori minority group in New Zealand participated in a year-long cultural intervention designed to increase self-esteem and locus of control. The intervention incorporated good teaching practices linked to self-esteem and locus of control with principles of culturally relevant teaching. Compared to matched children who did not participate in the intervention, the focus children had significantly more positive self-esteem and locus of control after the intervention than before. Parallel changes were apparent in a measure of scholastic aptitude, but not on measures of reading, mathematics, and listening achievement. The results are discussed in terms of the importance and effectiveness of using theoretically informed teaching practices in a culturally relevant way in low income, mainstream school settings.