Typical Instruction Research Articles

The Effects of a Science Vocabulary Intervention on Children’s Oral Language Development

This study investigated the effects of a shared reading and guided play vocabulary intervention on the science vocabulary acquisition of children who were at risk for oral language difficulties. Fifty-five children from five preschool programs participated in a 15-day science vocabulary intervention. Children randomly assigned to the treatment group (n = 29) received explicit science vocabulary instruction through shared readings of informational science books and follow-up scientific investigations. Children in the business-as-usual group (n = 26) received typical instruction from their classroom teacher. Vocabulary knowledge was measured at pre- and posttest using two standardized vocabulary assessments and one researcher-developed science vocabulary test. Results of the researcher-developed test showed that the treatment group significantly outperformed the BAU group on explicitly taught science vocabulary words (p < 0.001). No significant differences were found between the two groups on measures of general vocabulary knowledge. Limitations and practical implications of this study are discussed.

Measuring Preschool Teachers' Language Use During Shared Book Reading With Children With Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Study

Purpose: Opportunities to actively engage in literacy instruction should be accessible to all students in the classroom. Shared book reading provides a literacy-based context in which teachers may adapt their communication to allow students with a range of abilities to participate. The current study examines teacher communication during shared book-reading activities to understand what specific strategies teachers are using when children with developmental disabilities are included. Method: A shared reading activity was video-recorded in one classroom with and one classroom without students with developmental disabilities. Quantity of teacher communication was measured using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) tool, while communication functions were measured by adapting the Systematic Assessment of Book Reading. Survey methods reported teachers' typical classroom literacy instruction. Results: While both teachers used similar amounts of language, the teacher with students with developmental disabilities in her classroom used more literacy-related functions (e.g., referencing letters, phonics, decoding) to discuss print concepts and slightly greater communication to support comprehension of the story. Both teachers reported rarely—if not at all—using technology as an instructional strategy. Conclusions: SALT, an adapted assessment, and survey methods may capture differences in teacher communication during shared reading within heterogeneous classrooms. Understanding more about teacher communication yields important implications for intercollaborative practice to allow support for students with a range of abilities within inclusive literacy-based instruction.

The times of COVID-19 and beyond: how laboratory teaching evolved through the Pandemic

Abstract Pre–during–post lockdown waves, or how COVID-19 catalysed a change in practical chemistry instruction. This time-lined slogan reflects the University of Southampton’s response to recent imperatives in chemistry education. During the pandemic students had limited access to laboratory training. However, laboratory time has always been precious, and educators constantly have to rethink their approach to lab classes; how to best assess practical learning goals and focus students’ attention on the practical aspects during timetabled – and therefore time-limited – lab classes. The pre–during–post pandemic phases also govern the teaching split of our typical laboratory instruction, and the development during the three phases will be discussed. This article describes the evolution of the University of Southampton’s laboratory training, how resources changed, how in-laboratory student participation improved, how the pandemic influenced the scheduling of teaching activities and informed a development of our assessment strategy. It considers where the rethinking process has led to so far while acknowledging that the current laboratory course is not the end of the process but an interim position, subject to future improvements.

Exploring Small-Group Reading Instruction for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties in Kindergarten Classrooms

The purpose of this systematic observation study was to improve our understanding of small-group reading instruction for kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties (RDs). We aimed to observe and document activity types addressed as well as instructional practices and materials employed during small-group instruction, with a particular interest in text reading instruction. We conducted 31 observations of 11 kindergarten teachers’ typical small-group reading instruction for students at risk for RDs. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of the teachers to learn more about their instructional practices. Results revealed that teachers’ small-group reading instruction often reflected research-based recommendations regarding instruction for students at risk for RDs, but also included practices associated with less evidence of effectiveness for such students. Findings suggest there is a need to provide teachers with professional learning opportunities that build knowledge of evidence-based practices for providing reading instruction to students at risk for RDs.

Impact of a video-based nutrition education program on the nutrition knowledge of students and parents: evidence from the North Region of Cameroon.

Schools are an attractive platform for improving the dietary knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of children and their families, yet limited nutrition knowledge amongst educators can impede nutrition education efforts. Information and communication technology (ICT) can potentially overcome this barrier, yet there is limited evidence for its effectiveness in school settings in low- and middle-income countries. We implemented a randomized field experiment in 50 schools in the North Region of Cameroon to assess the effectiveness of a school-based nutrition education program at improving the nutrition knowledge of fifth and sixth grade students and their parents. We evaluate the relative effectiveness of video-based versus typical classroom instruction. Nutrition knowledge is assessed using a pre-post questionnaire and analyzed using analysis of covariance. We find that students exposed to the video treatment improved their nutrition knowledge scores by 0.45 standard deviation more (equivalent to an additional 1.3 out of 14 correct answers) than students that received traditional classroom instruction. There is no differential impact of video on the nutrition knowledge scores of parents. Videos can improve knowledge gains compared with typical classroom instruction, but questions remain as to the conditions under which videos and other ICT are most effective as instructional tools.

We Ask Students What they Understand, Not How they Understand: Making Reasoning Comprehension Processes Visible and Explicit

AbstractThis paper pushes beyond current debates over what is being called the science of reading to articulate a multidimensional complex conception of what is entailed in reading comprehension. Reading comprehension entails not only cognitive processes, but equally important is how issues of identity along multiple dimensions, perceptions of tasks and settings, social and emotional relationships intersect to shape effort and motivation to comprehend. The paper argues that a central problem in the typical teaching of reading comprehension in the K–12 sector is insufficient attention to processes or meaning making. Typical instruction focuses on the outcomes of comprehension, but not on how readers can/should go about trying to make sense of texts. Such instruction can be created by communities of teachers who examine the sources of text difficulty in texts they are teaching. The paper offers explicit criteria for evaluating sources of text complexity in informational and literary texts, and in so doing push beyond the boundaries of traditional Lexile scores.

Supporting Inferential Comprehension in the Preschool Classroom: The Roles of Theory of Mind and Executive Skills

AbstractAlthough much is known about supporting preschoolers' alphabet knowledge, less is known about instructional moves that support preschoolers' narrative comprehension or how preschoolers' developing cognitive skills may support their narrative comprehension development. This school‐university partnership project examined relations of preschoolers' Theory of Mind (i.e., social understanding) and executive function skills to narrative comprehension development in three instructional contexts: inferential, interactive vocabulary‐focused, and typical instruction in preschool classrooms. Structured, inferential comprehension instruction emerged as a promising practice that may support preschoolers' narrative comprehension development. We observed that children who received structured inferential comprehension instruction showed greater responsiveness to the instruction if they were high on cognitive flexibility or Theory of Mind, suggesting that these preschool cognitive skills may be important for developing comprehension. The structured, inferential comprehension intervention is described, as are applications to classroom practice.

The deficient cue monitoring and the facilitating effect of prosocial intention on prospective memory in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

The study aimed to investigate the cognitive processing of prospective memory (PM) in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) by using an eye-tracking paradigm. In addition, the facilitating effects of prosocial intention (the desire to help others) on PM in SSDs were also examined. In phase 1, 26 patients (group1) and 25 healthy controls (HCs) were compared in an eye-tracking PM paradigm in terms of the PM accuracy and eye-tracking indices. In phase 2, 21 more patients (group2) were recruited, and a prosocial intention was introduced in the eye-tracking PM paradigm. Their PM accuracy and eye-tracking indices were compared with those in group1. The PM cue monitoring was indicated by the total fixation counts and fixation time on distractor words. In phase 1, group1 showed lower PM accuracy, fewer fixation counts and less fixation time on distractor words than HCs. In phase 2, group2 (with prosocial intention) performed significantly better than group1 (with typical instruction) on both PM accuracy and fixation time on distractor words. In both groups of SSDs, the PM accuracy was significantly correlated with both the fixation counts and the fixation time of distractor words. After controlling for the cue monitoring indices, the difference in PM accuracy remained significant between group1 and HCs but disappeared between group1 and group2. The cue monitoring deficit contributes to the PM impairment in SSDs. The facilitating effect of prosocial intention disappears after the control of cue monitoring, also indicating its critical role in PM.

Effects of a Virtually Delivered Reading and Embedded Mindset Intervention on Reading Performance for Fourth-Grader Struggling Readers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a virtual intensive reading intervention embedded with mindset training compared to typical reading instruction in a business-as-usual (BAU) condition delivered to fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities. After screening, the 59 participants were stratified and assigned randomly to condition. Highly trained interventionists delivered the intervention one-to-one with high fidelity and student engagement during the intensive intervention. Classroom teachers delivered the BAU. We examined the effects of the intervention on a variety of standardized timed and untimed measures of word reading and decoding, reading fluency, comprehension, and mindset. We addressed two research questions: What are the effects of intensive virtual reading intervention embedded with mindset training relative to a business-as-usual comparison (BAU) on the reading outcomes of fourth grade students with or at-risk for reading disabilities? Was initial mindset related to student response to intervention? Data analyses examined the main effect and moderation using linear mixed effects models. Significant differences in reading favored the virtual treatment condition for letter and word identification (g = 0.38). No other significant effects were observed. We note limitations in our study and offer directions for future research, including the need to explore additional moderators.

The Efficacy of Two Models of Professional Development Mediated by Fidelity on Fourth Grade Student Reading Outcomes†

This study addressed the effects of Strategies for Teaching Reading, Information, and Vocabulary Effectively (STRIVE), a distributed professional development (PD) model designed to help teachers implement reading comprehension and vocabulary practices in fourth grade social studies classes. Schools (n = 81 schools, n = 235 teachers, n = 4,757 students) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: researcher-supported PD, school-supported PD, or business as usual (typical instruction). Findings revealed significant effects for both treatment conditions when compared to the business-as-usual condition for content knowledge (g = 0.51–0.55), vocabulary learning (g = 0.49) and reading comprehension in content (g = 0.16–0.26). Statistically significant effects were not observed for the Gates MacGinitie Reading Comprehension (g = 0.04–0.06), however, the effect size for the Gates MacGinitie Vocabulary test was statistically significant for the school-supported PD group (g = 0.03–0.07). Findings establish the efficacy of the STRIVE PD model on student reading outcomes and supports the efficacy of using more sustainable methods of PD that feature school supported follow up PD. Fidelity did not mediate any outcomes.

The Impact of Blended Learning and Direct Video Feedback on Primary School Students’ Three-Step Ball Throwing Technique

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate three distinct methods of teaching the three-step ball throw simulating the javelin throw technique to primary school students. The sample consisted of 131 primary school students of 5th and 6th grade (Mage = 11.4, SD = 0.47 years) randomly divided into three groups. The control group (CON) received typical instruction, the first experimental group (EXP) followed a blended learning intervention which included an interactive learning activity software and the second experimental group (EXPVF) followed the same blended learning method with an additional direct video feedback system. A pre/post-test design was implemented to evaluate students’ technique, using as criteria five selected technique elements of the three-step ball throw. Wilcoxon signed-rank test analysis showed that all three groups performed significantly better after the intervention in all five criteria. However, Kruskal-Wallis H test analysis with post-hoc test revealed that the results for EXPVF group were significantly better than the other two groups in all elements, while the EXP group showed significantly better results in three of the five elements compared with the CON group. In conclusion, students appeared to benefit more in their three-step ball throw technique through blended learning and direct video feedback.

Prospective memory performance and its improvement in individuals with high schizotypal traits: Evidence from eye-tracking studies

ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine prospective memory (PM) performance and the potential effect of implementation intention on PM performance and the underlying mechanisms in individuals with high schizotypyal traits (HSTs) using eye-tracking paradigms. MethodsIn Experiment 1, 30 individuals with HSTs and 30 individuals with low schizotypal traits (LSTs) underwent a visual search task that involved PM cues, and participants’ eye movements were recorded. In Experiment 2, 50 individuals with HSTs were randomly assigned to the implementation intention group and typical instruction group. ResultsIn Experiment 1, individuals with HSTs had a lower PM accuracy and performed less PM cue monitoring (indicated by fewer total fixation counts on distractor words) than individuals with LSTs. In Experiment 2, implementation intention significantly improved PM accuracy and increased total fixation counts on distractor words in individuals with HSTs compared to the HST group with typical instruction. ConclusionsIndividuals with HSTs were impaired in PM and showed reduced cue monitoring compared to individuals with LSTs. Implementation intention improved PM performance and facilitated cue monitoring in individuals with HSTs. SignificanceOur findings indicate that cue monitoring may be an important process of intervention target for PM for individuals in the schizophrenia spectrum.

Have a CCOW: A CRAAP alternative for the internet age

The CRAAP Test is a popular tool for teaching students to evaluate information. Its simplicity and ease of understanding make it suitable for teaching in the limited time of a typical one-shot library instruction session. However, it has recently come under criticism for being unequal to the internet age. Critics hold that students treat the CRAAP criteria as a checklist, rarely leaving the source under evaluation to gather more information to aid their assessment, an activity crucial for internet factchecking. This paper details a new set of evaluation criteria that seeks to retain the convenient conceptual packaging of CRAAP while encouraging an investigative mindset. Students are asked to actively investigate the Credentials, Claims, and Objectives behind the information they are evaluating. A fourth criterion, Worldview, prompts metacognition and builds the self-awareness critical to making good judgements about information. This paper explores the CCOW criteria and details a flipped, online guide and exercise which has been successfully used to teach information literacy (IL) to college students in their first year of study using CCOW.

Quasi-instructions: Orienting to the projectable trajectories of imminent bodily movements with instruction-like utterances

Drawing on video recordings of people playing video games with their entire bodies, this study examines the interactional relationship between simultaneously occurring player movements and spectator utterances. More specifically, this paper investigates quasi-instructions by which I refer to spectator utterances designed with typical instruction formats and produced as players perform their game relevant movements with their bodies. The analysis demonstrates that quasi-instructions orient to the imminent player movements and their projectable trajectories within the interactional ecology, as well as exhibiting sensitivity to the game events. This paper argues that by producing quasi-instructions, spectators exhibit co-presence and togetherness with players in the video gaming activities, rendering them joint endeavors. Participants in the data speak Turkish.

Examining the Role of Domain‐General Skills in Mathematics Learning and Intervention Response in Kindergarten

AbstractEffective early mathematics instruction is critical to support long‐term mathematics achievement. Given that student response to typical instruction varies, a range of mathematics interventions have been developed to support foundational mathematics development. However, not all students respond to these interventions. To better understand factors associated with intervention response, the current study explored how domain general cognitive skills were associated with intervention response for 621 kindergarten students with or at risk for mathematics difficulties. Results indicated that although domain general skills were associated with mathematics achievement, there was no evidence of differential response to intervention based on cognitive skills. When examining differences while holding initial mathematics skill constant, there was a non‐significant, but potentially important pattern of students with higher domain general skills demonstrating greater mathematics gains as a result of intervention participation. Implications for mathematics intervention and curriculum development, including potentially impactful instructional approaches and cognitive scaffolds are discussed.

Fostering spiritual intelligence and a concomitant development of WTC in EFL learners

AbstractSpiritual intelligence involves a search to find and create meaning based on a deep understanding of existential tenets and the ability to reach higher meanings and values. Despite the growing interest among scholars to study the development of this construct and its impact on one's life, it has remained an under‐researched area of inquiry, particularly in the foreign language context. This study aimed to address this gap. The sample consisted of 47 students with the age range of 15–19 years old from a language institute, who were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent a spiritual intervention over eight weeks whereas the control group received the typical instruction of the institute. Both groups completed King's spiritual intelligence inventory and Peng and Woodrow's WTC scale. Findings point to the significant effect of the intervention on improving spiritual intelligence from pretest to posttest. Also, compared to the control group, the experimental group gained significantly higher grades in WTC on the posttest. It is suggested that spiritual intelligence be incorporated into pedagogical practices to enhance learners' willingness to communicate, thereby improving their oral performance.

Implementation of Mobile Learning in Mathematics Instruction for Elementary Second Graders

In this study, a mobile learning system (MLS) was developed and adopted to facilitate elementary second-grade students to learn mathematics. A quasi-experimental design was adopted. There were two learning models, including the typical instruction group (TI group) and MLS group. The learning content is the topic of multiplication. A total of 93 s-grade students from four classes in a public elementary school in Northern Taiwan participated in this research. Participants were randomly divided into the MLS group (47 participants: 22 boys and 25 girls) and the TI group (46 participants: 26 boys and 20 girls). Participants in the MLS group received mathematics instruction in the MLS, whereas those in the TI group received direct instruction in typical classrooms. All students took the pretest and posttest of mathematics learning achievement test and mathematics learning interest scale assess their improvement of learning achievement and learning interest after the learning activities. The findings revealed that students in the MLS group had significantly better improvement in their mathematics learning interest and mathematics learning achievement than those in the TI group. In addition, students in the MLS group had significantly better performance in answering items of comprehension and application levels in the mathematics learning achievement test.

Perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge of teachers serving as mental health lay counselors in a low and middle income country: a mixed methods pragmatic pilot study

BackgroundLow and middle-income countries (LMICs) lack trained child mental health professionals. While teachers’ child development experience potentially positions them to fill the gap as lay mental health counselors, they have rarely delivered indicated child mental health care in LMICs. As part of assessing the feasibility of teachers serving as lay counselors, we explored teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselors and their mental health attitudes and knowledge.MethodsIn 2018, with training and supervision, 19 primary school teachers from five rural, low cost private schools in Darjeeling, India, served as lay counselors in their classrooms. Using mixed methods, we examined teacher perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge through a survey (n = 15), a summative assessment (n = 14), and semi-structured interviews (n = 17). For the survey and summative assessment, pre-training, post-training, and post-intervention mean scores were compared using paired t tests. Post-intervention interviews were coded for teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge.ResultsQualitatively, teachers expressed being willing to serve as lay counselor, having more inclusive mental health attitudes, and retaining mental health knowledge as applicable to use during instructional time or incorporation into the knowledge transfer process, their primary duty. By contrast, quantitatively, teachers’ attitudes appeared to become more inclusive on the study-specific survey pre versus post-training, but reverted to pre-training levels post-intervention. Teachers’ mental health knowledge on the summative assessment did not change pre-training versus post-training versus post-intervention.ConclusionsTraining, supervision, and serving as lay counselors led to teachers’ willingness to serve as lay counselors. Teachers served as lay counselors by utilizing therapeutic techniques during class time and incorporating them into their typical instruction, not through delivering traditional office-like care. Teacher practices may be pointing to the potential emergence of an “education as mental health therapy” system of care. Their changes in attitudes and knowledge reflected their emerging practices. Quantitative measures of knowledge and attitude changes did not capture these nuanced changes.Trial Registration The parent feasibility trial was registered on January 01, 2018 with Clinical Trials Registry – India (CTRI), reg. no. CTRI/2018/01/011471, ref. no. REF/2017/11/015895. http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pdf_generate.php?trialid=21129&EncHid=&modid=&compid=%27,%2721129det%27..

Looking past limiting conditions: Prioritizing meaning in EAP

EAP courses by their very nature are designed to help students understand and engage with academic language. Yet what if EAP practices are too far removed from academic discourse that their relevance is compromised? For better or worse, EAP teachers in Content & Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) environments often draw on EAL grammar resources to supplement the development of their situated, content-reliant teaching resources (Harwood, 2005; Lorenzo, 2013). Unfortunately, typical form-focused grammar instruction that relies on idealized, formulaïc structures can result in EAP lessons glossing over crucial concepts in students’ authentic course readings. In this article, we recount our teaching context and the realization of the gap between traditional teaching and grammar reference texts, and the instantiations of various forms of conditional language in authentic academic texts across first year university Political Science, Psychology, Physics and Economics courses. We explore the importance of conditionals and how they are typically presented; the phenomena of grammatical and logical metaphor; and suggest pedagogical activities to facilitate students’ comprehension, application and manipulation of conditional logic in their academic work.

The Effectiveness of a Teacher-Delivered Mindfulness-Based Curriculum on Adolescent Social-Emotional and Executive Functioning

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a manualized mindfulness-based program for adolescents, Learning to Breathe (L2B), on indicators of adolescent social-emotional well-being, mental health, substance use, and executive function. Participants included 251 high school students attending an urban school district who were randomly assigned to required health education classes that offered L2B or the business-as-usual health curriculum. No direct effects on self-report measures were found. Students exposed to L2B demonstrated significant improvements on executive functioning measures related to susceptibility to cognitive interference and working memory. Subsequent tests of moderation revealed beneficial program effects within the treatment group were dependent on rates of practice, and those that used L2B strategies regularly showed small-to-moderate improvements on indices of emotional awareness, emotional clarity, impulse control, social connectedness, mind-wandering, substance use, perceived stress, and self-compassion relative to controls. This study provides mixed support regarding the potential effectiveness of a universal mindfulness program for high school students. The absence of direct effects on self-report measures implies that simply exposing adolescents to a mindfulness curriculum within the context of typical instruction, in the absence of supports for implementation, is unlikely to impact youth socio-emotional well-being or behavior. However, changes in EF favoring the intervention group suggest that possible benefits on tasks related to susceptibility, cognitive interference, and selective attention are possible. Tests of moderation revealed dosage effects, and students who adopt mindfulness practices can indeed benefit on multiple fronts.