Michelle Heather Hood

Preschool Home Literacy Practices and Children's Literacy Development: A Longitudinal Analysis.

In this 3-year longitudinal study, the authors tested and extended M. Senechal and J. Le Fevres (2002) model of the relationships between preschool home literacy practices and childrens literacy and language development. Parent-child reading (Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire plus a childrens Title Recognition Test) and parental teaching of letters, words, and name writing were assessed 6 months prior to childrens school entry. The 143 children (55% male participants; mean age = 5.36 years, SD = 0.29) attended Gold Coast, Australia government preschools. Parent-child reading and literacy teaching were only weakly correlated (r = .18) and were related to different outcomes consistent with the original model. Age, gender, memory, and nonverbal ability were controlled. Parental teaching was independently related to R. W. Woodcocks (1997) preschool Letter-Word Identification scores (R²change = 4.58%, p = .008). This relationship then mediated the relationships between parental teaching and Grades 1 and 2 letter-word identification, single-word reading and spelling rates, and phonological awareness (rhyme detection and phonological deletion). Parent-child reading was independently related to Grade 1 vocabulary (R²change = 5.6%, p = .005). Thus, both home practices are relevant but to different aspects of literacy and language development.

Goal Orientation, Self-Regulation Strategies, and Job-Seeking Intensity in Unemployed Adults

At Time 1 (T1), the authors surveyed 277 unemployed adults using measures of human capital, goal orientation, self-regulation (emotion control, motivation control, work commitment), and job-seeking intensity. At Time 2 (T2), 4 months later, 155 participants indicated their reemployment outcomes in number of job interviews and number of job offers. Using T1 data, the authors tested the predictors of job-seeking intensity and whether self-regulation mediated between goal orientation and job-seeking intensity. Using T1 and T2 data, they tested for predictors of reemployment outcomes and whether job-seeking intensity mediated the relationship between T1 antecedent variables and the reemployment outcomes. Learning goal orientation and self-regulation predicted job-seeking intensity, and self-regulation mediated between learning goal orientation and job-seeking intensity. Job-seeking intensity did not mediate the relationship among human capital, goal orientation, and self-regulation variables and reemployment outcomes.

The role of environmental print in emergent literacy

Young children are surrounded by environmental print on a daily basis. Through their visual exploration of environmental print, coupled with sociocultural experiences, children gain valuable semantic and symbolic knowledge as they make sense of their world. The aim of this review is to examine the question of whether environmental print has value as a literacy learning resource, and if so, the mechanisms by which it promotes literacy development. It is shown that interactions with environmental print in the childs sociocultural context can develop their logographic reading skills. These skills, in turn, promote the development of emergent literacy skills that are the precursors to conventional reading skills. Environmental print may also be used more directly when parents and childhood educators use it to scaffold the learning of emergent literacy skills. It is recommended that parents and early childhood educators capitalize on childrens natural attraction to environmental print by using it to promote their literacy development.

Statistics? You Must Be Joking: The Application and Evaluation of Humor when Teaching Statistics.

Humor has been promoted as a teaching tool that enhances student engagement and learning. The present report traces the pathway from research to practice by reflecting upon various ways to incorporate humor into the face-to-face teaching of statistics. The use of humor in an introductory university statistics course was evaluated via interviews conducted with a random sample of 38 students. Responses indicated that humor aided teaching by providing amusement, breaking up content, bringing back attention, lightening the mood, increasing motivation, reducing monotony, and providing a mental break. Students that were already motivated and interested in statistics derived less benefit from humor, finding it at times irrelevant and distracting. The selective use of humor is recommended in teaching statistics, particularly for students that hold negative attitudes towards the subject.

The development and evaluation of a survey that makes use of student data to teach statistics

The use of a real data set has the potential to increase engagement and learning in students who enrol in a statistics course at university. The present report describes the development of an approach that uses a real data set, but one that is collected from the students. The questions are designed so that the data set can be used throughout the course to illustrate relevant concepts and methods in the application of introductory statistics. An evaluation was conducted via individual interviews with a random sample of 38 students. Quantitative and qualitative responses indicated that the survey led to in-class participation, was perceived to be a different approach, and contributed to an interest in, understanding of, and appreciation of the relevance of statistics. The creative use of student data is recommended to facilitate the learning of statistics.

The Development and Initial Validation of a Career Calling Scale for Emerging Adults

Career calling, a salient career goal that is personally meaningful and oriented toward helping others, is a developmental construct that is especially important for emerging adults when making career decisions and setting career goals. As no existing measure reflects the developmental aspect of career calling, we devised an age-appropriate measure suitable for use with this population. We reviewed the extant literature, conducted focus groups, and used expert reviews to generate 34 initial items. Item and exploratory factor analyses were employed to reduce these items to 15, representing three reliable subscales (Study 1; N = 345 emerging adults). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the initial factor structure (Study 2; N = 527). Expected correlations with adult measures of career calling (search and presence), general career indecision, and life satisfaction supported construct validity (Study 2; N = 435). The implications for research and practice are discussed.

Predictors of “New Economy” Career Orientation in an Australian Sample of Late Adolescents

The authors surveyed 207 late adolescents on measures of new economy career orientation (protean and boundaryless career orientation), career adaptability (planning, self-exploration, environmental exploration, decision making, and self-regulation), disposition (proactive disposition), and environmental support (social support) and hypothesized (a) that new economy career orientation would be associated with career adaptability, disposition, and environmental support and (b) that career adaptability would mediate the relationship between disposition and career orientation and between environmental support and career orientation. The main predictor of new economy career orientation was self-regulation, which also mediated between proactive disposition and career orientation. Planning predicted one aspect of boundaryless career (mobility preference), while social support predicted a second (boundaryless mind-set). Overall, the results suggest that adolescents with higher self-regulatory skills, social support, a tendency to not overplan, and a disposition to be proactive, will be more positive toward changing work environments.

Self-Regulatory Processes Mediating between Career Calling and Perceived Employability and Life Satisfaction in Emerging Adults.

We tested a cross-sectional, mediation model of career calling, in which career calling was associated positively with life satisfaction and perceptions of future employability, and these relationships were explained by the self-regulatory mechanisms of work effort, career strategies, and emotional regulation. Using a sample of 664 emerging adults (74.8% female, mean age = 20.2 years) and structural equation modeling, we found that higher career calling was associated with higher life satisfaction and perceived employability. In addition, higher calling was associated with more work effort, greater use of career strategies, and higher emotional regulation. Work effort and emotional regulation mediated the relationship between career calling and life satisfaction. Additionally, work effort, emotional regulation, and career strategies mediated between career calling and perceived employability. We interpreted the results from a developmental and goal-setting perspective and made recommendations for practice.

Letter and numeral identification: their relationship with early literacy and numeracy skills

ABSTRACT The relationship between letter and numeral identification is reviewed to determine whether early identification of these symbols impact upon both literacy and numeracy development. Numerals and letters share similar perceptual properties such as geometric features and arbitrary labels. Through early socio-cultural experiences with surrounding print, children learn to differentiate between these symbols and name them. This knowledge prepares them for the acquisition of conventional literacy and numeracy skills. Studies show that numeral and letter identification are correlated at an early age. Moreover, numeral identification predicts early literacy skills such as word reading. Also, some evidence shows a relationship between letter identification and numeracy skills. The implications of the relationships between letter and numeral identification and subsequent literacy and numeracy skills for research and education are discussed, although further research is warranted. Practical strategies for fostering both numeral and letter identification in young children are suggested.

Disengaging From Unattainable Career Goals and Reengaging in More Achievable Ones

Participants were 181 university students who completed measures of career development (self-efficacy, perceived barriers, distress, planning, and exploration) and goal adjustment capacity (disengagement and reengagement). We expected (a) that when contemplating unachievable goals, those with a higher capacity to adjust their goals (i.e., to disengage and reengage) would report less distress, more career planning, and more exploration; and expected (b) that the relationships between goal adjustment and the outcome variables (distress, planning, and exploration) would be moderated by self-efficacy and perceptions of barriers. We found that those with a higher capacity to adjust their goals by disengaging and reengaging reported more exploration. Less distress was associated with disengagement, but not reengagement, whereas more planning was associated with reengagement, but not disengagement. Additionally, we found moderating effects for self-efficacy and perceptions of barriers; that is, having higher levels of efficacy and perceiving fewer barriers protected when goal adjustment capacity was lower.