Helena Rasku-Puttonen

Predicting reading performance during the first and the second year of primary school

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the developmental antecedents of reading performance and its subcomponents from the beginning of the first year to the end of the second year of primary school. One-hundred-and-fourteen seven-year-old Finnish-speaking children were tested on reading-related skills during their first week of school using a test battery designed for school entrants. Following this they were examined six times on word reading and reading comprehension skills. The results showed that the reading-related variables predicting reading performance varied according to the phase of reading development. Moreover, partially different antecedents predicted word reading and reading comprehension. Word reading was associated with letter knowledge and listening comprehension, whereas initial word reading skill and listening comprehension were highly associated with the development of reading comprehension. The results support the development of reading instructional methods that take into account these differences in the components of reading performance and their development.

Collaborative processes during report writing of a science learning project: The nature of discourse as a function of task requirements

The aim of this article is to specify how different aspects of task assignments are related to different types of student discourse during the report writing phase of a science learning project. A group of four ninth-grade students of the Finnish comprehensive school (about 15-year-olds) participated in a project work involving laboratory experiments, reading literature, and analysing and reporting research findings. The empirical data were collected through videotaping and interviews in authentic classroom settings. The results indicated that construction of shared, high-level understanding was quite rare in this case of small group interaction. As one of the main reasons for this, we suggest that the learning tasks were defined in a way that did not encourage shared reflection and high-level discourse. The students’ task was mostly to answer fact-seeking questions made by their teacher to guide the report writing, which promoted recollection rather than reasoning. In order to facilitate high-level discourse and learning, more attention should be paid to the kind of processes that task assignment triggers. The findings are discussed in the framework of how teachers could formulate their task assignments to promote high-level discourse.

Social Processes and Knowledge Building During Small Group Interaction in a School Science Project

The aim of this study was to investigate the meaning of symmetry of knowledge-based roles for knowledge construction and sharing in social interaction during the report writing phase of an experimental science learning project. A group of four 9th grade students in a Finnish comprehensive school (15-16-year-olds) participated in a project involving laboratory experiments, reading literature and analysing and reporting research findings. The empirical data were collected through videotaping and interviews in authentic classroom settings. In the data four patterns of interaction were identified, which differed in terms of their symmetry of knowledge-based roles and nature of the talk. The context of high level collaboration was realized in the framework of joint critical knowledge building, where students had equal knowledge-based roles and close relationships. The discussion was, however, mostly uncritical in its nature, partly due to the evident social inconvenience between some group members.

The professional agency of teacher educators amid academic discourses

Agency has been seen as fundamental in the renegotiation of professional identities. However, it is unclear how teacher educators exercise their professional agency in their work, and how multiple discourses frame and restrict the practice of their professional agency. This study examines how teacher educators practise agency in negotiating their professional identities amid the multiple discourses emerging from the academic context of their work. The aim was to investigate educators’ locally expressed professional agency in the context of the more global discourses that may construct teacher educator identities. The analysis made use of applied thematic discursive analysis to address patterns of talk relating to teacher educators’ manifestations of agency within their work as teachers and researchers. Professional agency was found to be strong in the construction of their teacher identity. By contrast, the construction of their researcher identity was subjugated, complex and characterised by a lack of resources. Furthermore, teaching and researching were mainly described as two separate functions. In discussion these findings are analysed to show what they imply for the renegotiation of teacher educators’ professional identities and for the development of teacher education in an academic institution.

The Developmental Dynamics of Literacy Skills During the First Grade.

The aim of the study was to investigate prospective relationships between reading and writing performance during the first grade of primary school. The data was collected from 83 Finnish‐speaking children who were examined four times on reading, spelling, and productive writing skills during the first grade. At the beginning of the school year, they were also tested on initial reading skill. The results showed that reading and spelling manifested a reciprocal relationship during the first semester: reading performance increased subsequent spelling proficiency, and spelling skills enhanced subsequent reading. Later on, however, reading predicted spelling in a less reciprocal association. In turn, productivity of writing predicted subsequent reading performance during the first grade although the reverse was not true. The results suggest that it may be important to emphasize the support which compositional writing may offer to the development of reading.

Mathematical performance predicts progress in reading comprehension among 7-year olds

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate cross-lagged relationships between mathematical performance and reading comprehension during the first and second years of primary school. 114 Finnish-speaking children were examined six times on mathematics and reading comprehension during Years 1 and 2. At the beginning of Year 1, they were also tested on initial mathematics and reading skill, general concept ability and visual-motor skills. The results showed, firstly, that mathematics and reading comprehension were highly associated with each other across both years. Secondly, mathematical performance predicted subsequent reading comprehension during the first year rather than vice versa. The results suggest that it is important to pay more attention to the role of mathematical knowledge when children are entering to school.RésuméLe but de cette étude à long terme était de rechercher les relations entre la performance mathématique et la compréhension écrite pendant la première et la seconde année de l’école primaire. La performance mathématique et la compréhension écrite de 114 enfants parlant le finnois comme langue maternelle ont été étudiées six fois pendant les deux premières années à l’école. Les connaissances mathématiques itinéraires et la compétence écrite, l’habileté générale de conceptualisation et les compétences visuelles et motrices ont étés étudiés au début de la première année scolaire. Les résultats ont montré que premièrement les mathématiques et la compréhension écrite s’associaient pendant les deux premières années scolaires. Deuxièmement, la performance mathématique prédit la compréhension écrite ultérieure pendant la première année scolaire plutôt que vice versa. Les résultats suggèrent qu’il est important d’accorder de l’intérêt dans une plus grande mesure au rôle des cónnaissances mathématiques quand les enfants commencent l’école.

A Validation of the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure in Finnish and Estonian Kindergartens.

Research Findings: The aim of the study was to examine the applicability and psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (ECCOM; D. J. Stipek & P. Byler, 2005) outside the United States. The ECCOM was used to observe 83 kindergarten teachers (49 in Finland and 34 in Estonia) in classroom situations. Self-ratings were obtained of teachers’ teaching practices, curriculum goals, efficacy beliefs, instructional activities, work experience, and group size. The analyses indicated 1-factor solutions for each of the ECCOM dimensions (i.e., Child-Centered, Teacher-Directed, and Child-Dominated) and high reliabilities for all dimensions, subscales (i.e., Management, Climate, and Instruction), and scale items. Evidence was also found for criterion validity. Practice or Policy: The findings of the present study provided support for the ECCOM as a valid and reliable measure of quality of kindergarten classroom processes and practices in cultural and educational settings outside the United States. In addition to being a research tool the ECCOM has high applicability in teacher education and in-service teacher training in professional development programs and interventions aimed at enhancing specific components of teachers’ own practices.

Constructing Knowledge through a Role-Play in a Web-Based Learning Environment

This study aimed to find out how and on what level the students of two separate secondary schools shared and constructed knowledge on imperialism by interacting through historical role characters in a Web-based environment. Furthermore, the study aimed to find out how social and contextual features affected the nature of knowledge sharing and construction. The data about the history project were gathered by various means in order to validate the findings of the case study. The results demonstrated that the level of the Web-based messages remained quite low. Also the use of the Web-based environment in terms of shared knowledge construction was rather weak. In comparison, different instructional activities of the two teachers resulted in different learning activities in the two schools and, thus, different level of interaction in the Web-based environment. The findings of this research are discussed in terms of important factors influencing the knowledge sharing and constructing activities.

Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions

The aim of this study is to provide insights into the social construction of participation in joint activities in Finnish preschool and primary school classrooms. The article deals with two issues: How do teachers promote participation in a preschool classroom as compared with a primary school classroom? What similarities and differences are found? It also considers the question of how the similarities contribute to the continuity from preschool to primary school in terms of participation. Based on observation data insights are provided into the interactions between teachers and children by using extracts from teacher‐led learning sessions. The teachers used a diversity of strategies to promote participation in both contexts. In the preschool the focus was on participation and interaction as such, whereas in the primary school the emphasis was more clearly on academic learning. The findings suggest that teacher support of active participation and friendly relationships, together with creative and playful activities in the preschool, enrich children’s curiosity, and nourish children’s motivation for and interests in academic learning.

Finnish and UK English pre‐teen children's text message language and its relationship with their literacy skills

The aim of the study was to demonstrate the style of text language used by Finnish pre-teen texters (n = 65) and determine how their text language related to their traditional literacy skills, and compare descriptively these results with earlier results from work with young English texters. Three kinds of text messages (natural texts, elicited texts and elicited replies) were recorded after cognitive and literacy skills were assessed. Relationships between text language and standard literacy skills were shown to be different between the two languages, and we propose that those differences arise from both the structures of the languages themselves, and the communities of linguistic practice in the two countries. We compared, with a subsample (n = 16), natural, spontaneous text messages with those elicited in experimental conditions, demonstrating metalinguistic sensitivity in these young texters. The conclusion regarding the Finnish text register is that it very closely approximates spoken register Finnish, rather than more formal written Finnish.