Tzu Jung Lin

Peer Effects in Early Childhood Education Testing the Assumptions of Special-Education Inclusion

There has been a push in recent years for students with disabilities to be educated alongside their typically developing peers, a practice called inclusion. In this study, we sought to determine whether peer effects operate within early-childhood special-education (ECSE) classrooms in which preschoolers with disabilities are educated alongside typical peers. Peer effects specific to language growth were assessed for 670 preschoolers (mean age = 52 months) in 83 ECSE classrooms; 55% of the children had disabilities. We found that the average language skills of classmates, as assessed in the fall of the year, significantly predicted children’s language skills in the spring (after controlling for their relative skill level in the fall); in addition, there was a significant interactive effect of disability status (i.e., the presence or absence of a disability) and peers’ language skills. Peer effects were the least consequential for children without disabilities whose classmates had relatively strong language skills, and the most consequential for children with disabilities whose classmates had relatively poor language skills.

Children’s Use of Analogy During Collaborative Reasoning

This microgenetic study examined social influences on childrens development of analogical reasoning during peer-led small-group discussions of stories about controversial issues. A total of 277 analogies were identified among 7,215 child turns for speaking during 54 discussions from 18 discussion groups in 6 fourth-grade classrooms (N = 120; age M=10.0, SD=0.6). Use of analogy was found to spread among the children in discussion groups and occur at an accelerating rate, primarily because of the increasing use of novel analogies. Relational analogies with shared surface features triggered purely relational analogies during the next 2 speaking turns, showing a trend of relational shift. These results provide distinctive new evidence for the importance of social interaction in an aspect of cognitive development.

Morphological Awareness and Learning to Read Chinese and English

This paper presents a model of the process by which morphological awareness facilitates reading development, and evaluates the role of morphological awareness in learning to read Chinese and English. The central idea is that morphological awareness enhances reading development by increasing the efficiency of the working memory, which in turn facilitates vocabulary learning and reading comprehension. Theoretical and empirical supports for the relationships between morphological awareness, working memory, vocabulary and reading growth are reviewed. Whether morphological awareness is more important for learning to read Chinese than learning to read English and to what extent morphological information may be more important for Chinese children’s working memory capacity are discussed. The paper is the first to link morphological awareness to verbal working memory, which opens new areas for future research endeavors that have the potential of enriching understanding of morphological awareness in learning to read.

Chinese children's concept of word

In written Chinese, words are not separated by spaces, which may make parsing text into words difficult. The concept of word, a metalinguistic term meaning awareness that words have lexicalized meanings and certain structural properties, may be important in learning to read Chinese, helping readers distinguish the words in texts. Second-graders, fifth-graders, and college students in Taiwan completed a word parsing task in which they circled the words in strings of characters. Results showed improvement with age in the ability to distinguish two features of words, meaningful versus nonsense and lexicalized versus nonlexicalized. Performance on the word parsing task was correlated with reading comprehension and was predicted by constraints on the position characters occupy within words, character co-occurrence frequency, and especially whether a character combination has a lexicalized meaning. The study suggests that even second graders are aware of core properties of words, although the concept of word continues to develop as children acquire literacy experience.

Effects of Argument Scaffolding and Source Credibility on Science Text Comprehension

This study investigated the effects of argument scaffolding and source credibility on science text comprehension. Eighty-seven college students were randomly assigned to an argument scaffolding activity, or no scaffolding, and read 2 science texts, attributed to a high- or a low-credibility source. The argument-scaffolding group recalled less text-based information but generated more knowledge-based inferences than did the no-scaffolding group. High source credibility enhanced readers’ text-based recall but had little effect on knowledge-based inferences or situation models. Overall, results suggest that argumentation facilitates deeper text comprehension and better argument understanding, while at the same time reducing the effect of source credibility on text processing.

Improving Children’s Competence as Decision Makers Contrasting Effects of Collaborative Interaction and Direct Instruction

This research examined the influence of contrasting instructional approaches on children’s decision-making competence. A total of 764 fifth graders, mostly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving children from low-income families completed a six-week unit on wolf management, using either direct instruction or collaborative groups, or were waited-listed controls. Analysis of children’s essays on a topic unrelated to wolves revealed that students who participated in collaborative groups but not students who received direct instruction acquired decision-making strategies and transferred them to the novel task. Students in collaborative group work classrooms wrote essays that were significantly better than essays of students from direct instruction classrooms in each of the three aspects of decision making that were evaluated—considering more than one side of a dilemma, comprehensiveness of reasons, and weighing the importance of reasons. In contrast, direct instruction students performed no better than uninstructed control students.

Impacts of Teacher–Child Managed Whole-Group Language and Literacy Instruction on the Depth of Preschoolers’ Social Interaction

Abstract Research Findings: This study examined the potential impacts of ongoing participation (twice weekly for 30 weeks) in teacher–child managed whole-group language and literacy instruction on prekindergarten children’s social interaction with classmates. Teacher–child managed whole-group instruction that provides children with opportunities to engage with all of their classmates regularly may potentially deepen the social depth within a classroom (i.e., the frequency with which children regularly interact with each other). Provision of this type of instruction occurred via teachers’ implementation of a whole-class literacy curriculum twice weekly. Participants were 119 preschoolers who received an experimental literacy curriculum in 26 classrooms and 76 children in 17 business-as-usual control classrooms. Condition predicted the strength of children’s social interaction, suggesting that children in experimental classrooms had relatively stronger social ties with peers than children in control classrooms. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that participation in ongoing teacher–child managed whole-group instruction could facilitate stronger social connections among preschool children.

Emergent Leadership in Children's Cooperative Problem Solving Groups.

ABSTRACT Social skills involved in leadership were examined in a problem-solving activity in which 252 Chinese 5th-graders worked in small groups on a spatial-reasoning puzzle. Results showed that students who engaged in peer-managed small-group discussions of stories prior to problem solving produced significantly better solutions and initiated significantly more effective leadership than control students. A mediation analysis suggested that it was because of effective leadership that groups who had experienced discussions achieved better problem solutions.

Children’s Moral Reasoning: Influence of Culture and Collaborative Discussion

Abstract This study investigated the effects of culture and collaborative discussion on Chinese and American children’s moral reasoning in reflective essays that they composed about a moral and practical dilemma. In contrast to American children who frequently expressed egocentric concerns, Chinese children exhibited altruistic tendencies and expressed more concern for maintaining in-group harmony, which are the core values advocated in collectivist culture. Collaborative discussion promoted children’s moral reasoning in both cultures, leading to significantly more consideration of the principles of being honest, having empathy for others, keeping promises, honoring friendship, being trustworthy, and not betraying others by tattling.

The Social Networks of Children With and Without Disabilities in Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms

Interaction with peers is an important contributor to young children’s social and cognitive development. Yet, little is known about the nature of social networks within preschool inclusive classrooms. The current study applied a social network analysis to characterize children’s peer interactions in inclusive classrooms and their relations with children’s disability status. The participants were 485 preschoolers from 64 early childhood special education (ECSE) inclusive classrooms. Results from teachers’ report of children’s social networks showed that children with disabilities formed smaller play networks compared to their typically developing peers in the classroom, but no evidence indicated that children with disabilities engaged in more conflict networks than their counterparts. Children’s play and conflict networks were segregated by children’s disability status.