Shared reading for valuing diversity and fostering language acquisition

Aslan, E. (Eds). (2020). Migration, Religion and Early Childhood Education (Wiener Beiträge zur Islamforschung). Wiesbaden: Springer VS, S. 3-22It is not unknown that children with a migration background often have fewer chances for a successful school career. Traditionally, a lack of skills in the common language is considered the cause of this inequality. Current discussions however offer multidimensional approaches and emphasise the fact that there are many more factors that account for this development. Nonetheless, good knowledge of the common language does support school success and thus remains an important factor. From an early childhood education perspective, the approach of incorporating language acquisition into it in everyday activities seems to be auspicious. Specific strategies to foster language skill acquisition in children that can be incorporated into everyday activities have been discerned. Among other methods, dialogic book reading is widely accepted as an evidence-based method to support children in enhancing their language skills. As important as the development of a conductive environment for the acquisition of language skills in institutions is the inclusion of the children’s parents into this discussion. One possibility is to encourage parents to invest in the children’s first language. (Verlag

Nazism, Religion, and Human Experimentation

Multiple factors have been identified as contributing to the willingness of physicians and scientists to participate in the development and conduct of experiments carried out on Nazi concentration camp prisoners, including the economic challenges then facing physicians, the potential for increased status and power in the Nazi government, and their own hostility toward Jews and others deemed “not worth living.” They conducted these experiments against a backdrop of their societies’ longstanding anti-Semitic sentiments, the promulgation of anti-Jewish rhetoric by Christian authorities, and the incorporation into law of increasingly severe and restrictive anti-Jewish measures and, ultimately, embraced efforts to eradicate all Jews and evidence of Jewishness. This chapter argues that religion was relevant not only to the question of who was targeted by Nazi medical policy—Jews, conceived of by the Nazis as a race rather than a religion—but also to the question of who was doing the targeting—physicians who appear to have identified religiously primarily as Christians and who interpreted Nazi dogma as congruent with their religious beliefs and teachings.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44150-0_

Development of a home literacy environment questionnaire for Tamil-speaking kindergarten children

Abstract Background The development of emergent literacy skills depends upon the literacy environments and experiences of children at home. Children’s home literacy environment is closely related to the development of various aspects of emergent literacy like letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Dimensions of home literacy environment, such as physical (literacy) environment, child’s own literacy habits, parental literacy habits, parent-child interaction for language and literacy activities, and parental beliefs about literacy, have been reported in literature. Methods The present study describes the construction of a home literacy environment questionnaire for Tamil-speaking kindergarten children in the Indian context. The various dimensions of home literacy environment were described, and items related to each dimension were listed. Seventeen judges rated each item on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (no fit) to 4 (excellent fit). Their comments/remarks/opinion, specific to an item or dimension, were also taken. The rating responses were analyzed for content validity and internal consistency. Results Content validity index was calculated at item level as well as scale level. The items in each subscale/dimension which had the item level content validity index scores higher than 0.78 were included in the final questionnaire and the other items were rejected. The scale level content validity index scores were higher than 0.90, indicating good content validity. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated as a measure of internal consistency. Cronbach’s alpha values were lower than 0.7 for three domains: physical environment, parent literacy habits, and parental beliefs. Conclusions The questionnaire developed promises to be a useful tool to evaluate the home literacy environment of Tamil children who undergo formal education in English medium schools like in India. The questionnaire developed and presented here can help in collecting reliable data to make informed decisions about children’s (whether typically developing or with developmental disabilities) home literacy environment