Search

From the 1990s until 2017 the High Ability and Inquiry Research Group (HAIR) at McGill University in Montreal, received C$1.3M in research funds from Canadian, Quebec, and US agencies to support its research and graduate training in education and educational psychology. Their research encompassed two principal areas, Inquiry in Education and Gifted Education, from preschool to higher education. This report summarizes the goals of the funded research on Inquiry in Education, presents an overview of what was achieved relative to each of the goals 1. The Psychology of Learners' and Teachers' Understanding of and Engagement in Inquiry 2. Building and Sustaining Inquiry: Facilitating Inquiry in the Classroom 3. Creating a Toolbox for Research and Evaluation of Inquiry Learning and Instruction and lists the 229 published books, chapters, conference proceedings, journal articles, dissertations, and theses, as of December 31, 2017, each with an annotation or abstract. Over 40 publications in preparation are also listed. This report is intended as an archival record of the work of the research group.

The concentration of power and the potential for abuse inherent in modern technology mandates the development of a personal and socially responsible ethic. The development and examination of this ethic should be reflected and integrated throughout social studies instruction. Historical examples of traditional virtues (sobriety, thrift, industry) used to facilitate or accomplish negative ends (i.e. the destruction of World War I) are offered. The development of a personal ethic that values love, kindness, and human dignity over all other values would guard against this kind of abuse. This ethic is based on concepts of caring and responsibility articulated by Milton Mayerhoff (1971), Carol Gilligan (1982), and William Leiss (1990). The essence of these views is that human beings come first and not the process, technique, or application of science and technology. In the social studies classroom this approach would not only inform the issues and content of the curriculum but also be reflected in the dignity and respect afforded the students. An elementary curriculum that would integrate this ethical instruction throughout the grades would include topics (1) Me and My Family; (2) My school and Neighborhood; 3) My Community; (4) My Province or State; (5) The Nation; and (6) Other Lands. Upper levels grades would concentrate on increasingly complex questions involving technology, history, society, and ethics. Contains 30 references. (MJP)

Studies have indicated that agrammatical aphasics tend to better realize morphemes with a high level of semantic value. A study sought to examine the effect of the variation of the information content of the article on its comprehension by the aphasic. The appropriate and the significant nature of the function words "the" and "a" were varied with relation to the extralinguistic context to see whether these distinctions would be noted by the aphasic. Eighteen aphasics were studied: 4 Broca, 5 Wernicke, 5 mixed anterior, and 5 anomic. Three members of the laboratory staff served as a control. Drawings containing 3 figures, 2 sharing a color and 2 sharing a shape, were shown. A tape gave instructions, with 8 possibilities, to: "Press the/a/white/black/round/square one." The following conditions resulted: (1) inappropriate article plus definite adjective, (2) appropriate article plus non-definite adjective, (3) inappropriate article plus definite adjective, and (4) inappropriate article plus non-definite adjective. It is concluded that articles are not normally informative in English, and therefore do not lend themselves to this type of analysis. Because English does not provide the means to vary systematically the informative content of the article, it was not possible to elicit correlated variation in responses. (AM)

Intended for educators, researchers, and students, the document provides a survey of current reading on the education of emotionally disturbed (ED) children. The etiology of emotional disturbance is discussed, and an historical review of the role of education in the treatment of ED children is presented. Present psychoanalytic, learning, and behavioral theories are described. Covered are current approaches to the education and management of ED children, such as the psycho-educational approach, the use of crisis teachers, resource programming reality therapy, and behavior modification. Sections cover the arguments for special education of this population and for their integration into the regular classroom. Teacher attitudes and the need for inservice training of regular classroom teachers are discussed in a final section. It is noted that difficulties complicating research on ED children include lack of information about specific causes of emotional disturbance, lack of uniformity of the terminology, and varying personality theories and philosophies which influence treatment methods. (IM)

Various facts and activities of the Centre for Learning and Development (CLD) at McGill University in Quebec are described in this annual report, 1973-74. The main goals of CLD are to offer services and support to faculty in matters of course design, development, and evaluation; to seek out and introduce new developments in educational theory and method to the campus; and to conduct research relevant to learning and development. The activities of CLD are divided into those that serve the campus, both continuing activities and special projects, those pertaining to research, those part of the professional activities, and those academic. The staff of the Centre for Learning and Development are also introduced. (WH)

This paper addresses itself to the question of why the English language should have levelled almost all of its inflections, and what the relationship is between the breakdown of the case system and the rise of fixed word-order, prepositional phrases, and verb periphrases. The explanation proposed for the phenomenon of syntactic drift is considered superior to the traditional explanation of the erosive effect of phonological change, and to the postulation of a metacondition responsible for the proliferation of free-standing segments rather than bound morphemes. First of all it is shown that Old English and Modern English are structurally more similar than has traditionally been assumed, that changes evident in Modern English can be traced from the earliest documentations of Old English. It is further shown that the answer cannot be found within the history of English, but rather, that the independent but parallel developments which take place in related languages are due to the structural features of the protolanguage, in this case, the Indo-European protolanguage. Finally it is shown that, while word-order change is not the sole cause of syntactic changes, it can be called upon to relate many diachronic developments which have until now defied explanation. (Author/AM)

This paper attempts to show that the theory of phonological rule reordering is not plausible, and that any argument which attempts to use reordering to refute the theory of intrinsic ordering is inadmissible. King's (1973) arguments against intrinsic ordering are based on the theory that two reordering rules operate in phonological processes. Through a systematic examination of characteristic examples of King's theory, it is demonstrated that: (1) King's theory is self-contradicting; (2) the theory confuses phonological change with phonological rule; and (3) what has been called reordering of two rules often is simply a restructuring brought about by phonological change. Andersen's (1973) theory of "adaptive rules" is considered the most convincing explanation of phonological change. In conclusion it is reiterated that rule reordering does not exist as a diachronic phonological process, and that, therefore, any argument which uses rule reordering to refute a theory of intrinsic order has no validity. (AM)

This paper presents a diachronic phonological analysis of French in order to show that Kiparsky's (1972) argument against formal (or language-specific) notation is based on a small sample of phenomena and is therefore not valid. Examples of vocalic tension in French are given, and the process from tension to relaxation is described. This tension is also shown to have an influence on the development of the lexicon as well as grammar rules in French. Formal analysis of tension thus shows it to bear a close relation to grammatical rules. A functional (or universal) analysis, on the other hand, would have to be more complicated in order to account for exceptions. (AM)

This paper attempts to show that traditional generative phonology as formulated by Chomsky and Halle (1968) fails to account for the optional dropping of the schwa in French, and attempts to formulate a theory which can account for this phenomenon. The crucial factor governing the schwa-dropping process is the number of consonants preceding the schwa. Another constraint is the fact that the schwa cannot be dropped in two contiguous syllables. It is concluded that a global derivational constraint is required to explain the phenomenon within the theoretical framework proposed by Chomsky and Halle, which postulates a principle of simultaneous application of rules. The preferred solution postulates that the process of optional dropping of the schwa in French is applied in iterative sequence from left to right. (Author/AM)

Smith (1973), Stampe (1972), and Braine (1973) believe that by the time the child speaks his perception is well-developed, and that any discrepancy between child forms and adult forms are due to organizational and production difficulties. Other linguists believe immature perception determines the form of child speech. This paper suggests that children with articulation and/or reading and spelling dfficulties have failed to learn the phonological system of English and that in many cases the deviant phonological system reflects delayed or disordered perceptual abilities. Two kinds of tests, the oral verbal intelligence tests and the "phonic" spelling tests, are suggested as ways of gaining insight into the nature of possible misperceptions. It is further suggested that a child's success in verbal development depends on his ability to perceive the discrepancy between his forms and adult forms, and that the role of perceptual constraints should be considered in the investigation of deviant phonological systems. Studies of children with delayed language skills enable linguists to study phenomena that pass by too rapidly to be studied in most children. (Author/AM)

Analyzing the components of "successful" migration, this paper presents arguments based upon data derived from personal interviews and observations of French-Canadian and Cree Indian migrants living in a northern Quebec mining town. A comparison is made in terms of distance of place of origin and length of time in town for two French-Canadian migrants' folk taxonomies (taxonomies were derived from a respondent elicited domain of terms). Analyzing the changes necessary for commitment to a permanent townsman identity, this comparison elucidates the problems inherent in a French-Canadian's inability to distinguish place of origin from the mining town and to relinquish old ties over a relatively short period of time. Citing the literature of acculturation, migration, and evolving social structure (Canada's industrial north), this paper suggests that the American Indian's lack of commitment to a townsman identity is grounded in his relationship with the land (a respect for the land that is not region specific nor significantly different in town) and a racism which implies that townsman identity is white identity. It is concluded that a particular acculturative experience wherein a migrant embraces a new identity based on identification with the town exclusive of prior identification is essential for developing the kind of commitment necessary for successful migration. (JC)

Canada provides a unique example of the way in which practical communication problems have produced an awareness of communication theory, policy, and practice. This book brings together a collection of essays which aim to philosophically, analytically, and historically explore the lessons to be gained from Canadian communications activity and highlight the many contributions that Canada has made to North American communications. The book contains such essays as "Communication Theory and the Marginal Culture: The Socio-aesthetic Dimensions of Communication Study" by Donald Theall; "Canadian Media Regulation" by Frank Peers; "Issues in Canadian Cultural Policy" by Hugo McPherson; "Communication: The State of the Canadian News Media" by Dick MacDonald; "The Politics of Information and Culture During Canada's October Crises" by Gertrude Robinson; "Candadian Communication Theory: Extensions and Interpretations of Harold Innis" by James Carey; and "Moloch or Aquarius: Strategies for Evaluating Future Communications Needs" by Gordon Thompson. (TS)

The Center for Learning and Development (CLD) at McGill University offers services and support to faculty in matters of course design, development, and evaluation. It serves as a resource center providing literature, consultations, and workshops on new developments in educational theory. CLD members research contemporary issues in education, and they serve as liaison agents to universities doing similar research. This annual report summarizes the research, publications, course designs, workshops, and special projects that were undertaken by the CLD during the 1974-75 school year. (EMH)

In early transformational generative grammar, it was assumed that all semantic interpretation would be done off deep structure, but with the proposals for the extended standard theory (EST) of Chomsky (1968, 1972) came the realization that certain aspects of semantic interpretation, such as focus and presuppostion and scope of quantifiers, must be done off surface structure. More recent developments suggest that EST did not go far enough. Given trace theory and certain other assumptions, it appears that all semantic interpretation can be done off surface structure, including case relations, for which deep structure is usually considered necessary. This article looks at semantic interpretation as it is considered in Jackendoff's "Semantic Interpretation in Generative Grammar" (1972) and shows how certain problems and inconsistencies of interpretation that arise in the case of adverbs, co-reference, scope of modal operators and thematic relations can be resolved if all interpretation is done off surface structure. The article also discusses how this might be achieved. (Author/CLK)

A study investigated the thinking processes of 14 Anglophone students of French performing challenging reading and summarizing tasks in their first and second languages. Individuals proved to use equivalent higher-order problem-solving strategies while writing and reading in both languages. Strategies varied with the individuals' levels of literate expertise in their native language, correlating with the qualities of written summaries they produced in both languages. Uses of these problem-solving strategies appeared unrelated to levels of second language proficiency (beginning and intermediate). Analyses of the verbal reports reveal thinking processes which are common to reading and summary-writing in first and second languages but which appear to vary with literate expertise and relevant knowledge. Findings are interpreted in relation to theories of the cross-linguistic interdependence of cognitive-academic skills and to a model of discourse comprehension. Implications are drawn for bilingual cognition, further research, and introduction of second language reading and writing. (Author/MSE)

Research findings indicate that major breakthroughs in education will have to occur through direct cortical intervention, using either chemical or electronic means. It will eventually be possible to build sophisticated intelligence amplifiers that will be internal extensions of our brains, significantly more powerful than present day computers, which may even be directly wired to the brain for both input and output. Development of such symbionic (symbiotic + bionic) devices can be projected based on emerging research in five areas: (1) "emgors" (electromyogram sensors) for controlling artificial limbs; (2) brain pacemakers and electrical brain stimulation; (3) biocybernetic communication and neurometrics, including the link between brain wave patterns and specific thoughts; (4) artificial intelligence; and (5) biocybernetics, including the use of genetic engineering principles to construct tiny biological microprocessors or "biochips." A merger of these steadily-converging areas could allow creation of the symbionic mind, defined as any apparatus consisting of some useful device interfaced with the human brain, which is capable of intelligent action. The current growth of microcomputers foreshadows a trend towards a change in the way learning occurs which symbionic technology will extend, changing the role of the student, teacher, school, and individual in society. This report lists 75 references. (LMM)