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The Simple View of Reading (SVR), which posits that reading comprehension is the product of decoding and linguistic comprehension, has been studied extensively with school-age readers. However, little is known about the intricacies of the SVR for adults who struggle with reading. This study addresses notable gaps in this literature, including the dimensionality of linguistic comprehension, the interaction between the two SVR components, and the relative contributions of components across different reading proficiency levels. With a sample of 392 struggling adult readers, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the linguistic comprehension component encompasses the highly related yet separable constructs of oral vocabulary and listening comprehension. Structural equation modeling showed significant main effects of decoding and listening comprehension, but not oral vocabulary, on reading comprehension. In addition, the interaction among the SVR components did not uniquely contribute to variance in reading comprehension. Quantile regression models demonstrated that the unique effects of the SVR components were relatively stable in magnitude across different levels of reading comprehension performance. Implications for instruction and future research are discussed. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED608657.]

In the wake of all that educators are navigating these days, they've proven to be not only resilient, but also innovative. They continue intentionally finding new and exciting ways to create powerful learning opportunities for all students. Reinvent the Classroom, an initiative by Digital Promise, HP, Microsoft, and Intel, supports, celebrates, and amplifies educators and schools demonstrating such powerful teaching and learning by leveraging technology. Digital Promise's Reinvent the Classroom team is excited to magnify the voices of eight HP Teaching Fellows who are consistently striving to provide all learners with learning experiences that are personal and accessible, authenticating and challenging, connected and collaborative, and inquisitive and reflective. We invite you to learn more about our powerful learning principles and leading-edge methods through the vantage points of these HP Teaching Fellows.

Previous research on bilingual mathematics education has proposed that as children "language mathematics" they use multiple sources of meaning. In this paper, we focus on lexical inventions--bilingual children's made up words that are not formally defined or used but follow the phonology and morphology of a language--as a source of meaning. Consistent with tenets from translanguaging, we recognize lexical inventions as a creative language practice defying idealized language norms. A raciolinguistic theoretical perspective informs our interpretation of children, teachers, and researchers as listening subjects. The purpose of this paper is to explore how mathematical lexical inventions can prompt a translanguaging space where children, teachers, and researchers resist listening subject positions that predispose them to listen for predetermined language practices. Drawing on two lesson transcripts, one from a fourth-grade English-immersion classroom in Colombia and one from a third-grade Spanish-immersion classroom in the United States, we used moment analysis in translanguaging spaces to identify spontaneous and critical moments where lexical inventions prompted mathematical explorations. We argue for adopting listening subject positions as learners of transgressive language practices that are part of interactions between children and mathematics.

Purpose: We sought to examine second grade teachers' word use throughout the school day to identify the amount and type of teacher vocabulary use across content areas as well as to examine relationships between this teacher talk and student language and literacy achievement. Method: Second grade teachers (n = 64) and a random sample of half of their students (n = 619) participated. Teachers recorded instruction during the school day throughout the year, and students were assessed on vocabulary, grammar, and reading measures in the fall and spring. Results: Findings reveal second grade students hear thousands of words spoken by the teacher each hour of the school day, including more than a thousand different words per hour on average. The large majority of words were the most common words in the English language. On average, there were few academic or curriculum vocabulary words used, but this varied widely between teachers. The proportion of academic words used by teachers during the school day significantly predicted students' end-of-year vocabulary. Teachers who used more academic words had students with higher vocabulary achievement at the end of the school year. There were no other significant relationships between teachers' language and student achievement. Conclusions: This correlational evidence adds to the existing knowledge of the importance of academic language to student school outcomes and provides implications for further research in the area of academic language at the early elementary level.

Purpose: Oral narrative, or storytelling, skills may constitute a linguistic strength for African American children, with implications for academic and social well-being. Despite this possibility, few studies have examined individual differences in oral narrative skill among African American children. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined how children's linguistic and cognitive skills predicted their competence in structuring oral stories, both on average and for children with different levels of narrative skill. Method: Fictional oral narratives were elicited from a sample of 144 typically developing African American children, aged 4-8 years, using a wordless picture book as the stimulus. The effects of children's vocabulary, complex syntax, and nonverbal cognitive skills on macrostructural performance were assessed using linear regression to test average effects and simultaneous quantile regression to test effects across different levels of narrative skill. Results: Children's competence in using complex syntax and nonverbal cognition, but not vocabulary, was predictive of narrative production, on average and as a function of narrative skill. Syntactic complexity appeared increasingly more relevant as children's narrative skill increased, whereas nonverbal cognition emerged as the most important for children at the lower to moderate ends of the narrative skill distribution. Conclusions: Both linguistic and cognitive skills help explain individual differences in African American children's macrostructural competence. Promoting children's development of complex syntax and nonverbal reasoning may provide potential mechanisms for supporting oral narrative skill development.

What is it about afterschool that gives it so much potential to powerfully influence educational best practices around the world? This paper will explore what truly defines "afterschool" beyond the time- and location-based pedagogy of the term and will make the case for the use of "expanded learning" or "expanded opportunities" as the terms that most clearly describe this critical time of youth learning and development. This paper will explore the cultural and bureaucratic differences countries have that influence how young people spend their time and what those differences say about a country's views on child development and its aspirations for its youth. Beyond an exploration of cultural differences, this paper will also discuss the trends that are influencing our international efforts to shift the view of expanded learning programs beyond a safe place to keep children occupied while their parents work, toward a fundamental space for child development and educational innovation.

Extended education flourishes all over the world. Within different cultures and sociopolitical backgrounds, it takes different terms, forms, and developments across nations. Without identifying the common concepts of extended education, we may not expect further developments in extended education research. This study examined the terms that are used to describe extended education in each country. Research focus was given to the kind of connotations the terms contain -- in what ways the terms are perceived. Given that extended education in each nation has its own heritage and historicity, the study also suggested four extended education development models. The four models mainly concern the origin of extended education -- for what reasons a certain type of extended education was introduced and developed as a legitimate educational arrangement. Finally, this current study attempted to explore the common features and concepts of extended education as an area of education research and academic discipline.

Predictors of expressive grammar were compared in formal and naturalistic assessment tasks for children with typically developing (TD) language and with Developmental Langauge Disorder (DLD). Standardized expressive language assessments were administered to 110 preschoolers. The parents of these children reported whether or not they were concerned about their child's speech and language development. Stepwise regression analyses revealed receptive language as the only significant predictor of expressive grammar across assessment tasks. For TD preschoolers, receptive vocabulary and grammar accounted for expressive grammar performance in the formal task; however, only receptive grammar accounted for performance in the naturalistic task. For DLD preschoolers, only receptive vocabulary accounted for expressive grammar performance across both tasks. Nonverbal IQ and parent concern did not predict expressive grammar performance in either task. Implications for treatment of preschool DLD using relative strengths in vocabulary are discussed.

Background: Although gender plays an important role in health, most healthcare providers lack knowledge in providing gender-sensitive care. Offering gender-sensitivity training for healthcare providers can help to address gender-based health inequalities. Method: A mixed-methods systematic review of gender-sensitivity training programmes or interventions for healthcare providers was undertaken to assess their outcomes and to document areas for future research. Comprehensive searches of seven international databases were conducted for peer-reviewed literature published between 1998 and 2018. Eligible studies included at least one outcome related to gender-sensitivity training for healthcare providers. Results: Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Fourteen studies focused on gender-sensitivity in reducing gender bias towards men and women, and 15 studies focused on addressing the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients. Thirty-seven percent of studies showed a significant improvement in gender-related knowledge, attitudes or practice after the training. Multiple training methods were used to teach gender-sensitive care. Common content of the training included learning sex/gender terminology, understanding gender issues and inequalities in health, stigma and discrimination and communication skills. The duration and frequency of interventions ranged considerably. Sex differences in training outcomes also occurred among the learners. Conclusion: Review findings highlight that although gender-sensitivity training for healthcare providers is increasing, there is insufficient evidence to determine its effectiveness. Additional, more rigorously designed studies are needed to assess the long-term implications on learner behaviours and practices, especially across a wide variety of healthcare providers.

A thematic content analysis of the seven issues (35 papers and two editorials) of the "International Research in Early Childhood Education" ("IRECE") journal published by Monash University in Melbourne, Victoria was conducted to explore the themes over its five years of publication. Publications were grouped into defined data chunks by year and Leximancer was used to discover concepts and themes. Five dominant themes emerged: children/s; childhood; learning; parent/s and teacher/s. Pathway analyses were then conducted to more fully understand and describe each theme. Data were used to visually represent the most frequently appearing terms to form a tag cloud, which in turn contributes to the development of a "folksonomy" for the journal. Finally, mentions of geographic regions were also explored which positively reflected on international focus of the journal.

The study examines writing challenges Emirati and Saudi students face at U.S. universities. Based on a sample of 219, a mixed methods approach was used to analyze responses from the participants. The results of the questionnaire reveal that Less than 31% Emirati and Saudi students feel "comfortable" in completing written assignments. The interviews results indicate that Emirati and Saudi students have different opinions regarding writing difficulties. An Emirati student, stated: "I am worried a lot because writing is not easy. Writing is very difficult for us." However, a Saudi student expressed the easiness of her writing assignments. Emirati students stated that grammar, word choice and sentence construction are "somewhat easy"; however, Saudi students indicated that grammar, word choice and sentence construction are "Somewhat difficult." An Emirati student, stated: "Most Arabs students are told that we do not have vocabulary or grammar. For me, grammar is okay but my difficulty is how to choose the appropriate word for a sentence. A female Emirati student expressed her worry for grammatical mistakes, which she tries to correct: "When I write my reports, I have to reread my report again because I am sure I will have some grammatical mistakes because English is not my first language. The study implies that the students need more coursework in academic writing to prepare them for their academic writing in their disciplines. U.S. universities need to increase the visiting hours of writing centers and design more workshops that teach the students about writing in various genres.

This study examined the relations between receptive language development and other developmental domains of preschoolers from low-income families, through an inter-cultural perspective involving the United States and Turkey. A total of 471 children and their caregivers participated in Turkey, while 287 participated in the United States. Children's development was assessed using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire for both samples. Different versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were used for Turkish and US samples, to measure receptive language development. Results revealed similar patterns, with some differences, between the two countries. Receptive language predicted only communication and personal-social scales in the Turkish sample, while the US children's receptive language skills were associated with communication, problem solving, personal-social, and fine and gross motor development scales. These results were discussed in the context of each country, and the comparative conclusions contribute to the extant literature by illustrating the importance of language for three domains.

The present research extends recent work on the prediction of preschool language skills by exploring prediction from decontextualized vocabulary comprehension. Vocabulary comprehension was a stronger predictor than parent-reported production, yielding a quadrupling of variance accounted for relative to prior studies. Parallel studies (Studies 1 and 2) are reported for two linguistically and geographically distinct samples. In both samples, decontextualized vocabulary comprehension late in the second year provided the best balance between model fit and parsimony in predicting language skills at age three. In Study 3, vocabulary comprehension prospectively identified children with low language status 2 years earlier than other prospective studies but with similar sensitivity and specificity. The present paper provides evidence on three questions of practical and theoretical significance: the relation between decontextualized vocabulary prior to 30 months of age and language outcomes, how prediction from decontextualized vocabulary compares with parent-reported vocabulary, and finally how early stable predictions to language outcomes can be made.

The causes that individuals attribute to reading outcomes shape future behaviors, including engagement or persistence with learning tasks. Although previous reading motivation research has examined differences between typical and struggling readers, there may be unique dynamics related to varying levels of reading and attention skills. Using latent profile analysis, we found 4 groups informed by internal attributions to ability and effort. Reading skills, inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity were investigated as functional correlates of attribution profiles. Participants were 1,312 youth (8-15 years of age) of predominantly African American and Hispanic racial/ethnic heritage. More adaptive attribution profiles had greater reading performance and lower inattention. The reverse was found for the least adaptive profile with associations to greater reading and attention difficulties. Distinct attribution profiles also existed across similar-achieving groups. Understanding reading-related attributions may inform instructional efforts in reading. Promoting adaptive attributions may foster engagement with texts despite learning difficulties and, in turn, support reading achievement.

The purpose of this study was to examine Hispanic families' perspectives on using a prepared kit to enhance their preschoolers' vocabulary development at home. Families enrolled in a public prekindergarten program were provided with a bilingual (English/Spanish) home literacy kit that included ways in which to engage their children in activities related to environmental print and conversations. Three Hispanic families participated in two interviews about home literacy activities--one before they received the home literacy kit and the other 2 weeks after the families received the kit. Results from the interviews indicated that (1) parents felt that their use of the activities in the kit promoted their young children's vocabulary development and (2) providing bilingual literacy kits positively affected families' home literacy experiences. These findings may inform future research on early home literacy practices, primarily those focused on vocabulary development, for Hispanic families.

Recent studies demonstrate that emerging literacy depends on earlier language achievement. Importantly, most extant work focuses on "parent-reported production" prior to 30 months of age. Of interest is whether and how "directly assessed vocabulary comprehension" in the 2nd year of life supports vocabulary and kindergarten readiness in the 4th year. We first contrasted orthogonal indices of parent-reported production and directly assessed vocabulary comprehension and found that comprehension was a stronger predictor of child outcomes. We then assessed prediction from vocabulary comprehension controlling for maternal education, preschool attendance, and child sex. In 3 studies early, decontextualized vocabulary comprehension emerged as a significant predictor of 4th year language and kindergarten readiness accounting for unique variance above demographic control variables. Further we found that the effect of early vocabulary on 4th year kindergarten readiness was not mediated by 4th year vocabulary. This pattern of results emerged in English monolingual children (N = 48) and replicated in French monolingual (N = 58) and French-English bilingual children (N = 34). Our findings suggest that early, decontextualized vocabulary may provide a platform for the establishment of a conceptual system that supports both later vocabulary and kindergarten readiness, including the acquisition of a wide range of concepts including print and number. Differences between parent-reported and directly assessed vocabulary and the mechanisms by which decontextualized vocabulary may contribute to conceptual development are discussed.

Development of reading skills has been shown to be tightly linked to phonological processing skills and to some extent to speech perception abilities. Although speech perception is also known to play a role in reading development, it is not clear which processes underlie this connection. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) we investigated the speech processing mechanisms for common and uncommon sound contrasts (/ba/-/da/-/ga/ and /ata/-/at: a/) with respect to the native language of school-age children in Finland and the US. In addition, a comprehensive behavioral test battery of reading and phonological processing was administered. ERPs revealed that the children could discriminate between the speech sound contrasts (place of articulation and phoneme length) regardless of their native language. No differences emerged between the Finnish and US children in their change detection responses. The brain responses to the phoneme length contrast, however, correlated robustly with reading scores in the US children, with larger responses being linked to poorer reading skills. Finnish children also showed correlations between the reading and phonological measures and ERP responses, but the pattern of results was not as clear as for the US children. The results indicate that speech perception is linked to reading skills and this link is more robust for uncommon speech sound contrasts.

Teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) involves an awareness of instructional approaches, methods, and knowledge of building on technology to enhance students' learning. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the TPACK of teachers in Saudi Arabia and USA, and then describe the factors affecting teachers' TPACK through an analysis of covariance that incorporates age, teaching experience, and education level as covariates, and the seven levels of TPACK as dependent variables. Differences found between teachers in the US and Saudi Arabia in terms of TPK, and TPCK. The analysis of variance indicated that teachers' from the US and Saudi Arabia differ in their perceived TPACK when controlled by years of teaching experience, and educational levels. Teachers in both the US and Saudi Arabia had higher rating of their knowledge in content and pedagogy than technology knowledge. Teachers in Saudi Arabia, however, had higher TK, TCK, TPK and TPCK than teachers in the US.

This study provides an updated analysis of state guidelines with respect to terminology and definitions in the field of intellectual disability (ID). The study serves as a methodological replication of prior work that has been reported in the literature in earlier decades. The data were acquired by reviewing web-based state guidelines for ID terminology and definition. These data are reported for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Practices regarding terminology and definition were determined and the findings are highlighted in this study and compared to prior findings. Most significant was the confirmation of the change from the term mental retardation to intellectual disability while modifications in definitions and therefore diagnostic practices are addressed. Implications are noted with special attention to trends among the states and to considerations with regard to practices within the field.

Seventeen new medical schools were founded in the US and Canada in the decade prior to 2014. These new medical schools continue the tradition of utilizing mission statements (MSs) to convey goals and ideals. The authors aimed to compare these 17 new medical schools' MSs with MSs of previously established medical schools in the US and Canada. The MSs of the 17 newest medical schools were processed and analyzed utilizing network text analysis software that assessed centrality of concepts within new medical schools' MSs. This semantic network data was then compared to existing similar analysis by Grbic et al. ("Acad Med" 88(6):852-860, 2013. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31828f603d). Four concepts were found to be more central in new medical schools' MSs as compared to established medical schools' MSs: "physicians," "improve," "diversity," and "innovation." Grbic et al. found four concepts to be central to all 132 medical schools "health" or "health_care," "research," "education," and "premier" which are shared top themes of the new medical schools' MSs. The author's analysis has demonstrated that new medical schools, as compared to previously established subsets of medical schools, developed both shared and unique language within their MSs. This unique vocabulary reflected a response to a dynamic healthcare environment during the decade of new medical school development. New medical schools may have responded to environmental challenges including a physician shortage while also recognizing the need for a diverse physician workforce prepared to apply innovative strategies to healthcare.

The title "physical education" (PE) is the traditional taxonomy used to represent the education discipline. Health and physical education (HPE) is regarded to be an all-encompassing health-dimensional title that has been recently embraced by various education systems around the world. Hence, it can be argued that PE and HPE are often used interchangeably by educationalists, portraying a similar meaning and understanding. This can be regarded as internationally confusing, as historically PE and HPE have represented different and at times paradoxical discourses and ideologies. Amongst the ambiguity of which title to use, PE or HPE, new terms of branding such as "physical literacy" and "health literacy" have re/emerged. The purpose of this interpretivist study is to identify if associated terms used for the original PE label are a help or hindrance to practitioners? Participants were asked an open-ended question relating to PE nomenclatures. The data gathered were analysed and findings confirmed that practitioner confusion does exist. It is suggested that children are first and foremost "physically educated"; therefore a strong, clear and comprehensive grounding in quality PE is essential for teachers and students.

This study examines best practices in teaching mathematics to minority students through two case studies conducted at high-minority junior high schools in the USA and Japan. Observations, interviews, and conversations with the teachers in both countries focused on the research question: how do teachers successfully teach mathematics to minority students? Moses' Five-step Approach was used as a framework for understanding mathematics teaching. Findings from these case studies reveal that despite many differences in their educational systems, distinct similarities existed between US and Japanese pedagogy when teaching minority populations including: (1) building upon students' prior experiences by using multisensory methods before teaching abstract concepts and rules; (2) using familiar, everyday words before introducing academic language; (3) integrating literacy throughout instruction; (4) guiding students to become critical thinkers through an inquiry process; and finally (5) developing trusting relationships with students and peers within a caring community.

Purpose: The Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989) was used to compare Italian and English lexical development. The authors addressed the issue of universal versus language-specific aspects of lexical development by testing language, age, and gender effects on vocabulary scores and by comparing vocabulary composition across languages. They addressed the issue of delay versus deviance by comparing vocabulary composition in late talkers and younger vocabulary-size-matched children. Method: Participants were 398 Italian and 206 U.S. children ages 18-35 months. Results: Vocabulary size did not differ significantly by language, and age and gender effects on vocabulary size were not moderated by language. The Italian-English Q correlation for percentage word use scores was 0.55, lower than the within-language concordance of 0.90 and above. Cross-linguistic concordance declined as age and vocabulary size increased. Many cross-linguistic word matches (63 words) were found among the top 100 words. Italian late talkers were similar to younger vocabulary-size-matched Italian children in vocabulary composition, consistent with findings for English, Greek, and Korean. Conclusions: In both languages, the early lexicons of late talkers and typical talkers contained many of the same words, indicating considerable universality in young children's lexical development. These common words are therefore good targets for clinical intervention.

Personal financial literacy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, especially for young people. In this article, the authors compare the financial literacy of high school students in Hamilton, New Zealand, with samples from Japan and the USA. The authors compare not only overall financial literacy, but also literacy across five dimensions (or "themes") of financial literacy and across three cognitive levels. They find that financial literacy is poor overall in all three countries, but is substantially worse in New Zealand and the USA than in Japan. The performance is similar across themes and cognitive levels for US and New Zealand students, but Japanese students perform better mostly in terms of their greater knowledge of terminology and definitions, rather than better comprehension and ability to apply their knowledge. This suggests that all three countries should work harder to develop the financial literacy of their high school students.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the etiologic basis for the association between deficits in phonological memory (PM) and vocabulary in school-age children. Method: Children with deficits in PM or vocabulary were identified within the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS; Samuelsson et al., 2005). The ILTS includes 1,045 twin pairs (between the ages of 5 and 8 years) from the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. The authors applied the DeFries-Fulker (DeFries & Fulker, 1985, 1988) regression method to determine whether problems in PM and vocabulary tend to co-occur because of overlapping genes, overlapping environmental risk factors, or both. Results: Among children with isolated PM deficits, the authors found significant bivariate heritability of PM and vocabulary weaknesses both within and across time. However, when probands were selected for a vocabulary deficit, there was no evidence for bivariate heritability. In this case, it appears that the PM--vocabulary relationship is caused by common shared environmental experiences. Conclusions: The findings are consistent with previous research on the heritability of specific language impairment and suggest that there are etiologic subgroups of children with low vocabulary for different reasons, 1 being more influenced by genes and another being more influenced by environment. (Contains 5 tables and 1 footnote.)

Purpose: In this article, the authors sought to determine whether the precise age of implantation (AOI) remains an important predictor of spoken language outcomes in later childhood for those who received a cochlear implant (CI) between 12 and 38 months of age. Relative advantages of receiving a bilateral CI after age 4.5 years, better pre-CI-aided hearing, and longer CI experience were also examined. Method: Sixty children participated in a prospective longitudinal study of outcomes at 4.5 and 10.5 years of age. Twenty-nine children received a sequential second CI. Test scores were compared with normative samples of hearing age mates, and predictors of outcomes were identified. Results: Standard scores on language tests at 10.5 years of age remained significantly correlated with age of first cochlear implantation. Scores were not associated with receipt of a second, sequentially acquired CI. Significantly higher scores were achieved for vocabulary as compared with overall language, a finding not evident when the children were tested at younger ages. Conclusion: Age-appropriate spoken language skills continued to be more likely with younger AOI, even after an average of 8.6 years of additional CI use. Receipt of a second implant between ages 4 and 10 years and longer duration of device use did not provide significant added benefit. (Contains 7 tables and 3 figures.)

The American edition of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" has significant changes from the original British version, and every word of a Harry Potter book in translation derives from a translator's decision-making process. Focusing students on British-to-American cultural translation problems in the Harry Potter series encourages students to understand connotation, denotation, and other important characteristics of English language. In this article, the author identifies specific changes made to certain passages from the British first edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (1997) and the American edition, which was released in the following year. The author then looks at non-English editions in which translation issues reveal the cultural and linguistic specificity of the original work. Finally, the author suggests several lesson plans that use imaginary translation scenarios to help students practice analyzing word choice and audience. The purpose of these activities is to help students gain greater mastery over audience and diction as well as to encourage students to become aware of how a book may be rooted in a particular culture.

For Chinese as a second language (L2 Chinese), there has been little research into "distinguishing features" (Fulcher, 1996; Iwashita et al., 2008) used in scoring L2 Chinese speaking performance. The study reported here investigates the relationship between the distinguishing features of L2 Chinese spoken performances and the scores awarded by raters to the performances using holistic scoring. Seven distinguishing features--representing four major categories of Pronunciation, Fluency, Vocabulary and Grammar in the L2 Chinese speaking construct--were employed. An L2 Chinese speaking test was developed to assess the overall communicative ability in L2 spoken Chinese within an academic context. Speech samples of 66 candidates on the speaking test (i.e. 9 minutes' speech length for each candidate) were analyzed in terms of the seven distinguishing features, with correlations and standard multiple regression being employed. Results showed that, first, each of the seven distinguishing features was significantly correlated to the scores, producing large or medium effect sizes; second, 79% and 77% of the variance in the scores could be explained by the distinguishing features (incorporating "word tokens" and "word types" respectively) in two regression analyses. The current study has established a link between distinguishing features and scores, contributing empirical evidence of candidate performance to the validation of assessing speaking proficiency in the L2 Chinese context. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure and 6 notes.)

This study investigated the influence of general vocabulary knowledge, science vocabulary knowledge, and text based questioning on the science reading comprehension of three types of students who varied in their English language proficiency. Specifically, grade 5 English-Only speakers, English Language Learners in the United States, and students learning English as a Foreign Language in a Spanish-speaking country were compared across the aforementioned variables to examine their relationship to reading comprehension. Findings indicated that general vocabulary, science vocabulary, and questioning contributed significant variance to the explanation of science reading comprehension. However, no particular variable was found to interact with language proficiency in their contribution to science reading comprehension. Findings are discussed in terms of the roles that each variable could play in content area comprehension. Implications for content-area literacy instruction of second-language students are considered.

Objective: Issues regarding the readability of self-report assessment instruments, methods for establishing the reading ability level of respondents, and guidelines for development of scales designed for marginal readers have been inconsistently addressed in the literature. A recent study by McHugh and Behar (2009) provided new findings relevant to these issues. McHugh and Behar calculated indices of readability separately for the instructions and the item sets of 105 self-report measures of anxiety and depression. Results revealed substantial variability in readability among the measures, with most measures being written at or above the mean reading grade level in the United States. These results were consistent with those reported previously by Schinka and Borum (1993, 1994) in analyses of the readability of commonly used self-report psychopathology and personality inventories. In their discussion, McHugh and Behar addressed implications of their findings for clinical assessment and for scale development. Method: I expand on their comments by addressing the failure to consider vocabulary difficulty, a major shortcoming of readability indices that examine only text complexity. I demonstrate how vocabulary difficulty influences readability and discuss additional considerations and possible solutions for addressing the gap between scale readability and the reading skill level of the self-report respondent. Results and Conclusion: The work of McHugh and Behar clearly demonstrates that the issues of reading ability that arise in collecting self-report data are neither simple nor straightforward. Comments are offered to focus attention on the problems identified by their work. These problems will require additional effort on the part of researchers and clinicians in order to obtain reliable, valid estimates of clinical status. (Contains 1 footnote.)

What constitutes a successful lesson? A considerable body of literature examines instructional talk; however, little attention has been directed to situations in which teacher intentions (as captured by lesson plan) are stymied by unanticipated student response and the teacher must instantaneously reevaluate and revise an intended lesson. This article scrutinizes specific teacher discourse practices in one English language learner (ELL) classroom when students struggle with a text. Close discourse analysis reveals that this teacher's consistent guided practice of anchoring her questions in student contributions to support students' existing purposes and understandings is not compromised even when this results in extended vocabulary-centered student searches for meaning and a lesson very different from what she intended. The dialogic nature of this lesson talk challenges simplified dichotomies of closed and open questions, as well as established notions of efficient and effective instructional practice. This illustrative case of dialogic teaching explicates the role of contingency in interactive discussion.

This article discusses the use of a reading curriculum designed to incorporate all of the proven practice components of reading as suggested in the United States National Reading Panel report (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). These practices are phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The supplemental reading curriculum is a developmental collection of short stories written for the purpose of giving students the opportunity to practice and improve reading fluency, which is defined as the combination of reading rate, accuracy, and prosody. The purpose of the study described here was to analyze the effect of the supplemental reading curriculum in order to determine its effectiveness as a component of the complete reading program. The analysis focused on reading rate and accuracy, components of fluency that correlate with improvement in reading comprehension, and the ultimate objective of reading.

The term "numeracy" seems to be commonly used in discussions about school mathematics education these days. It is not altogether clear what various school systems intend "numeracy" to mean and whether or not it is meant to replace the term "mathematics", whether it is just one part of mathematics or whether it is meant to signify something else in addition to school mathematics. In the author's work around the country on various projects concerned with numeracy across the curriculum, groups of primary and secondary teachers frequently want to ask the question posed in the title. The ensuing conversations are further complicated by the fact that there have been, and still are, many differences in the way people perceive and define numeracy and varying degrees of understanding about mathematics itself. Nor is there agreement on this question outside Australia. For example, while the term "numeracy" is often used in Australia, the same term is often used in the UK and many US educators use the term "quantitative literacy", it is not clear that any of these have the same meaning, or even consistent meanings. This article offers two tasks for the reader. The first task provides some relevant quotations for the reader to read and think about, while the second asks the reader to classify various activities. (Contains 1 footnote.)

In spite of important differences in some of the resources immigrant parents have to invest in their children, and in immigrant selection rules and settlement policies, there are significant similarities in the relative positions of 4- and 5-year-old children of immigrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Children of immigrants underperform their counterparts with native-born parents in vocabulary tests, particularly if a language other than the official language is spoken at home, but are not generally disadvantaged in nonverbal cognitive domains, nor are there notable behavioral differences. These findings suggest that the cross-country differences in cognitive outcomes during the teen years documented in the existing literature are much less evident during the early years. (Contains 6 tables.)