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The Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F): Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses at item level

The underlying structure of the Revised Two factor version of the Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F), a 20-item instrument for the evaluation of students’ approaches to learning (SAL), was examined at item level using two independent groups of undergraduate students enrolled in the first (n=314) and last (n=522) years of their studies. The methods used were (a) Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) assisted by rigorous procedures such as Velicer’s MAP test, parallel analysis and the Schmid Leiman solution with the first sample; and (b) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the second sample. The results of EFA indicated that the latent structure of the R-SPQ-2F is best described by two factors and the results of CFA suggested that out of four a priori structural models, the best fit was achieved by a simple first-order two-factor model. Taken together, these results seemed to converge, suggesting (a) that SAL might be defined as a co-variation between a motive and its intended strategy, these not necessarily being divided into separate first-order factors (subscales), and (b) that the underlying structure of the R-SPQ-2F is apparently non-hierarchical, being best described by a parsimonious first-order two-factor model in which Deep and Surface learning approaches are each measured by their ten corresponding items.RésuméLa structure sous-jacente de la versión révisée de deux facteurs du Questionnaire de Processus de l’Étude (R-SPQ-2F), un instrument comprenant 20 items pour l’évaluation des approches d’apprentissage des étudiants (SAL), a été examinée en se basant sur les ítems et en utilisant deux échantillons indépendants d’étudiants qui faisaient leur première (n=314) et leur dernière (n=522) année d’études. Les méthodes utilisées ont été (a) l’analyse factorielle exploratoire (AFE) à l’aide de procedés rigoureux tels que le test MAP de Velicer, l’analyse parallèle et la solution de Schmid-Leiman avec le premier échantillonnage; et (b) l’analyse factorielle confirmative (AFC) avec le deuxième échantillonnage. Les résultats de l’AFE ont montré que la meilleure structure latente du R-SPQ-2F fut celle décrite par deux facteurs, et les résultats de l’AFC ont suggéré que des quatre modèles structuraux proposés, le meilleur ajustage a été réussi à partir d’un simple modèle de deux facteurs de premier ordre. Pris dans l’ensemble, ces résultats semblaient converger en suggérant (a) que les SAL peuvent être définis comme une covariation entre un motif et sa stratégie correspondante, pas nécessairement divisés en facteurs de premier ordre (sous-échelles) indépendants, et (b) que la structure sous-jacente de l’R-SPQ-2F n’est apparement pas hiérarchique, sa meilleur description étant un modèle de deux facteurs de premier ordre où les approches Profonde et Superficielle sont mésurées à partir des 10 items correspondants.

The influence of lexical and sublexical variables in normal and poor Spanish readers

The main aim of our study was to find out the effect of several lexical and sublexical variables (lexical category, lexical frequency, syllabic structure, and word length) in the acquisition of reading in a transparent language such as Spanish. The second goal of our study was the comparison of the effect of these variables in normal and poor Spanish readers. One hundred and forty children (aged between 6 and 12), twenty of whom were poor readers, were tested using a reading test of 306 items in which we balanced all the variables. The dependent variable was the percentage of correct responses in a decontextualized word reading test. Our results showed that all the above mentioned variables produced a significant effect on the number of errors made by the children. This pattern of results suggests no difference between the processes involved in the reading acquisition of Spanish and those implicated in deep orthographies such as English. Our results also showed no qualitative differences between normal and poor readers. The four variables studied showed the same behaviour in their effect on reading performance for both normal and poor readers, indicating that poor readers also use both the lexical and the phonological route. Our data suggest the universality of the dual route model, independent of the transparency or opaqueness of the different alphabetical languages.

Desarrollo del reconocimiento de palabras en lectores normales y retrasados en función de diferentes variables lingüísticas

ResumenEl objetivo fundamental de este estudio era determinar la influencia de las variables longitud, frecuencia lexica, categoria lexica y categoria gramatical en la adquisicion de la lectura de palabras tanto en lectores normales como en lectores retrasados. Ciento cuarenta ninos de edades comprendidas entre 6 y 12 anos fueron evaluados mediante un test de lectura de palabras aisladas. Los resultados mostraron un alto nivel de semejanza entre el desarrollo de las habilidades de lectura en espanol y el de otras lenguas con una ortografia mas profunda tal como el ingles. En cuanto a las diferencias entre lectores normales y retrasados los resultados mostraban la inexistencia de diferencias cualitativas entre estos dos grupos respecto a las variables estudiadas. Sin embargo, cabe destacar una diferencia significativa en relacion con la pauta de desarrollo de la adquisicion de la lectura de palabras; mientras que los lectores normales mejoran su ejecucion hasta alcanzar una tasa del 90% de respuestas corre...

La frecuencia silábica del español escrito por niños: estudio estadístico

espanolPresentamos un diccionario de frecuencia silabica, que se compara con el de Alvarez, Carreiras y de Vega (1992a). A partir de una muestra de palabras obtenidas de redacciones escritas por ninos en edad escolar, se generaron dos recuentos de frecuencias, uno a nivel lexico (frecuencias de palabra) y otro a nivel silabico. Solo los resultados del segundo se presentan aqui. Por cada silaba se proporcionan dos tipos de indices: un indice de dispersion (numero de palabras en los que aparece cada silaba) y un indice de frecuencia (obtenido de sumar el indice de dispersion con la frecuencia de las palabras en las que la silaba aparece). Los dos tipos de indices se presentan tanto en terminos absolutos como relativos a la posicion de la silaba dentro de la palabra. La comparacion con el diccionario de Alvarez et al. (1992a), obtenido a partir de material escrito para adultos, sugiere que no hay cambios importantes en composicion y distribucion del silabario desde la edad escolar a la edad adulta. EnglishA syllable frequency dictionary is presented and compared to that of Alvarez, Carreiras & de Vega (1992a). A sample of Spanish words obtained from written compositions by school children was used to generate both a lexical frequency and a syllable frequency count, of which only the latter is reported here. For each syllable, two types of indexes are given: a dispersion index (number of word types in which each syllable is present), and a frequency index (obtained by adding the dispersion index to the frequency of the word types in which the syllable appears). Both types of indexes are given in absolute terms and also for each position in the word. Comparison with the syllable frequency count by Alvarez et al. (1992a), obtained from printed literature for adults, suggests that there are no major changes in syllabic composition and distribution from school age to adult age

Results of the Aprender a Convivir Program for development of social competence and prevention of antisocial behavior in four-year-old children

The present study is the result of implementing an antisocial behavior prevention program in preschool education. The intervention goal was to prevent the emergence of antisocial behaviors through developing social competence in the participants. The program, called Aprender a Convivir, is divided into four modules by topic: rules and rule-following, emotions and feelings, communication skills, and helping and cooperation skills. The intervention was carried out during the academic year 2007—2008. The sample was composed of four-year-old pupils (n = 147) divided between a control group (n = 69) and an experimental group (n = 78). Results were obtained by administering the Child Behavior Checklist—Teacher Report Form (CBCL-TRF) and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS) for teachers and parents. Results show a noteworthy reduction in antisocial behaviors and a substantial improvement in social competence among experimental group members.

Prácticas de crianza y competencia social en niños de 3 a 5 años

La competencia social es una de las habilidades basicas para el desarrollo de la persona en la sociedad. La familia es el primero y mas importante agente socializador en la primera infancia, pues durante ese periodo de tiempo los ninos aprenden las destrezas sociales, actitudes y habilidades necesarias para adaptarse al contexto social donde viven. Con el presente trabajo se pretende conocer la relacion entre las practicas de crianza que ejercen los padres y la competencia social que desarrollan los hijos. Participaron 206 alumnos de edades comprendidas entre 3 y 5 anos y los padres de las 206 familias correspondientes. Los resultados muestran que el control parental es una de las practicas de crianza con mas efectos positivos en la competencia social de los hijos. Por el contrario, otras practicas de crianza, como la utilizacion del castigo fisico o la expresion de afecto negativo, se relacionan con conductas socialmente inadaptadas.

Desarrollo de la competencia social y prevención del comportamiento antisocial en niños de 3 años

Resumen El presente trabajo describe los efectos de un programa de intervención en una muestra de alumnado de 3 años de edad. El objetivo del programa es desarrollar la competencia social de los niños para evitar futuras conductas antisociales y las consecuencias negativas que éstas conllevan. La investigación se enmarca dentro de un diseño cuasiexperimental pretest-postest de grupo único. Los sujetos del grupo experimental (N = 78) recibieron la formación del programa que está dividido en cuatro bloques temáticos (normas y su cumplimiento, sentimientos y emociones, habilidades de comunicación, y habilidades de ayuda). Los datos fueron recogidos mediante la Escala de Observación del Comportamiento Infantil en su versión para profesorado (CBCL-TRF) y la Escala de Observación en Educación Infantil—Revisada (EOEI). El análisis de datos, realizado mediante los paquetes estadísticos SPSS 15.0 y EQS 6.1, muestra avances significativos entre los beneficiarios del programa en las áreas de la competencia social y una disminución de las puntuaciones relativas al comportamiento antisocial.

The Sources of Error in Spanish Writing (Research Note)

The main aim of this study was to determine the pattern of errors in Spanish spelling. Specifically, we were interested in discovering if all Spanish words have similar levels of spelling difficulty or whether there are types of words that cause a high percentage of spelling errors. 972 children aged between 8 to 10 years were requested to write a short spontaneous story. Our objective was to analyse and to propose a classification system for the errors made by children in the initial stages of the acquisition of spelling skills. The results indicate (a) that the diverse forms of only 20 Spanish words produce 36 per cent of the spelling errors in Spanish, and (b) that substitution is the most frequent type of error (68 per cent of total errors), which occurs as a consequence of an inadequate knowledge of the rules of phoneme-grapheme correspondence. These findings have relevance for the teaching of writing in Spanish.

LEX I AND II : TWO DATABASES OF SURFACE WORD FORMS FOR PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH IN SPANISH

Two databases of Spanish surface word forms are presented. Surface word forms are words considered as orthographically or phonologically specified without reference to their meaning or syntactic category. The databases are based on the productive written vocabulary of children between the ages of 6 and 10 years. Statistical and structural information is presented concerning surface word-form frequency, consonant-vowel (CV) structure, number of syllables, syllables, syllable CV structure, and subsyllabic units. LEX I was intended to aid in the study of reading processes. Entries were orthographic surface word forms; words were divided in their components following orthographic criteria. LEX II was designed for spoken language research. Accordingly, words were transcribed phonologically and phonological criteria were applied in extracting the internal units. Information about stress location was also provided. Together, LEX I and LEX II represent a useful tool for psycholinguists interested in the study of people acquiring Spanish as a first or foreign language and of Spanish-speaking populations in general.

Allocation of time in self-paced memory tasks: the role of practice, instructions, and individual differences in optimizing performance

Abstract Nelson & Narens (1990) proposed that the allocation of study time in self-paced memory tasks depends on the comparison between the norm of study (established before studying) and the level of learning reached. We explored the role of practice, instructions, and individual differences in determining the norm of study and optimizing performance. In Study 1, participants carried out various study trials involving different (but similar) lists of words. In Study 2, participants were instructed to attain either maximum recall or maximum speed. In Study 3, the study time spontaneously used by each participant was estimated. The effect of increasing or decreasing this time was observed. Memory span and speed of lexical processing were also measured. Finally, Study 4 estimated participants were able to adapt performance to objective criteria (e.g., instructions). However, the time that they spontaneously use tends to be the most efficient. Variations in these times lead to losses in efficiency. Differences in processing capacity or motivation seem not to determine the differences in study time.