Investigación acción exploratoria: la enseñanza de vocabulario de inglés como lengua extranjera a estudiantes sordos mediante el uso de material visual

In Chile, the 2015 Decree 83 from the Ministry of Education demands curriculum adaptations to ensure that students with special learning needs fully develop their skills by being included into the mainstream classroom. However, little information can be found regarding deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) students in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Therefore, this qualitative Exploratory Action Research (EAR) aims to explore the contribution of using visual aids in the EFL classroom for teaching written vocabulary to five D/HH students from a public school in Chile. Two multitask tests were conducted before and after the intervention to assess the performance of the students on recalling vocabulary, and a semi structured interview was carried out to identify the students’ perspectives regarding visual aids and EFL learning. While the performance test showed inconclusive results, the students’ perspectives on the use of visual aids were positive. These findings are relevant to provide insights into the challenges these students face and the importance of Sign Language and visual aids to create an effective environment for inclusive teaching practices.En Chile, el Decreto 83 de 2015 del Ministerio de Educación exige adaptaciones curriculares para garantizar que los estudiantes con necesidades especiales de aprendizaje desarrollen completamente sus habilidades y sean incluidos dentro del aula general. Sin embargo, es poca la información que se puede encontrar respecto a estudiantes sordos y con dificultades auditivas (D/HH) en las aulas de inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL). Por lo tanto, esta Investigación Acción Exploratoria (EAR) cualitativa tiene como objetivo explorar la contribución del uso de apoyos visuales en el aula de EFL para la enseñanza de vocabulario escrito a cinco estudiantes D/HH de una escuela pública en Chile. Se realizaron dos pruebas multitarea antes y después de la intervención para evaluar el rendimiento de los estudiantes en el recuerdo de vocabulario. Además, se realizó una entrevista semiestructurada para identificar las perspectivas de los estudiantes en relación con las ayudas visuales y el aprendizaje de inglés. Mientras que la prueba de rendimiento mostró resultados no concluyentes, la perspectiva de los estudiantes respecto al uso de ayudas visuales fue positiva. Estos resultados son relevantes para proporcionar información sobre los retos a los que se enfrentan estos estudiantes y la importancia de la lengua de señas y las herramientas visuales para crear un entorno eficaz para las prácticas de enseñanza inclusiva

Effectiveness of a Positive Parental Practices Training Program for Chilean Preschoolers’ Families: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Evidence for the effectiveness of parental training as a strategy for promotion of positive parental practices and prevention of child behavior problems in low and middle income countries is not conclusive. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a universal positive parental training program designed for this context, “Día a Día” UdeC © (“Day by Day” University of Concepción), in Chilean preschoolers’ families (3–6 years old children).Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) was carried out in 19 preschool education centers. There were two treatment arms: 10 centers (including 178 families) were randomly assigned to the intervention group and nine centers (including 154 families) were assigned to the waiting list control condition. Intervention groups received Day by Day UdeC, a six group sessions program for parents, including two group sessions for preschool educators, focused in affective communication; daily and child-directed play; directed attention; routines and transitions; reinforcement and incentive programs; planned inattention-ignore and time out; and logical consequences. Parental practices, parental satisfaction, and presence of children behavioral problems were examined at two-time points: T1 (4 weeks before intervention) and T2 (5–6 weeks after intervention).Results: Intention-to-treat analysis shows a reduction in physical punishment and an increase in parental involvement, as well as a reduction in children behavioral problems. A per-protocol analysis revealed an additional effect: increase in observed parental practices.Conclusion: This cRCT provided evidence for the effectiveness of a parental training program for the promotion of positive parental practices in low and middle income countries. The observed effects of the program in decreasing physical punishment and children’s behavioral problems make it a promising strategy for prevention purposes.Trial Registration: This study was registered under ISRCTN.com (ISRCTN90762146; https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN90762146)

Effectiveness of a positive parental practices training program for Chilean preschoolers' families: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Evidence for the effectiveness of parental training as a strategy for promotion of positive parental practices and prevention of child behavior problems in low and middle income countries is not conclusive. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a universal positive parental training program designed for this context, "Día a Día" UdeC © ("Day by Day" University of Concepción), in Chilean preschoolers' families (3-6 years old children). Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) was carried out in 19 preschool education centers. There were two treatment arms: 10 centers (including 178 families) were randomly assigned to the intervention group and nine centers (including 154 families) were assigned to the waiting list control condition. Intervention groups received Day by Day UdeC, a six group sessions program for parents, including two group sessions for preschool educators, focused in affective communication; daily and child-directed play; directed attention; routines and transitions; reinforcement and incentive programs; planned inattention-ignore and time out; and logical consequences. Parental practices, parental satisfaction, and presence of children behavioral problems were examined at two-time points: T1 (4 weeks before intervention) and T2 (5-6 weeks after intervention). Results: Intention-to-treat analysis shows a reduction in physical punishment and an increase in parental involvement, as well as a reduction in children behavioral problems. A per-protocol analysis revealed an additional effect: increase in observed parental practices. Conclusion: This cRCT provided evidence for the effectiveness of a parental training program for the promotion of positive parental practices in low and middle income countries. The observed effects of the program in decreasing physical punishment and children's behavioral problems make it a promising strategy for prevention purposes

Las violencias en el espacio escolar

Considerando la segregación escolar que caracteriza a América Latina y el Caribe junto con los altos niveles de violencia e inseguridad que los niños, niñas y jóvenes experimentan en su vida diaria, surge la pregunta acerca de cómo se distribuyen los contextos de violencia internos y externos al establecimiento educativo según los tipos de escuela y las características de los estudiantes. ¿Se enfrentan todas las escuelas y estudiantes, en los distintos países de la región, al mismo tipo y magnitud de violencia? Asumiendo que la resolución violenta de conflictos es un fenómeno latente en todos los espacios escolares y parte del proceso de desarrollo entre los estudiantes de primaria, el rol que asuma la escuela en los procesos de socialización es fundamental. Responder esta pregunta se vuelve necesario tanto para mejorar los contextos educacionales de niños, niñas y adolescentes como para avanzar hacia el diseño de políticas educativas específicas y atingentes a cada contexto. En la primera parte del documento se presenta el marco de referencia y los antecedentes desde los cuales se aborda la mirada sobre el tema de violencia en el contexto escolar. En el segundo capítulo se presenta una breve revisión acerca de las acciones que implementan los Estados latinoamericanos sobre el tema. En el tercero, se aborda el análisis de los diversos tipos de violencia percibidos por la comunidad educativa en la primaria a partir de la información estadística contenida en el Tercer Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (TERCE), realizado por la UNESCO en el año 2013. Finalmente, para cerrar el documento, se presentan algunas conclusiones y recomendaciones que surgen del análisis de la situación presentada en este estudio. La información estadística más detallada por país se incluye en un anexo

Las violencias en el espacio escolar

Considerando la segregación escolar que caracteriza a América Latina y el Caribe junto con los altos niveles de violencia e inseguridad que los niños, niñas y jóvenes experimentan en su vida diaria, surge la pregunta acerca de cómo se distribuyen los contextos de violencia internos y externos al establecimiento educativo según los tipos de escuela y las características de los estudiantes. ¿Se enfrentan todas las escuelas y estudiantes, en los distintos países de la región, al mismo tipo y magnitud de violencia? Asumiendo que la resolución violenta de conflictos es un fenómeno latente en todos los espacios escolares y parte del proceso de desarrollo entre los estudiantes de primaria, el rol que asuma la escuela en los procesos de socialización es fundamental. Responder esta pregunta se vuelve necesario tanto para mejorar los contextos educacionales de niños, niñas y adolescentes como para avanzar hacia el diseño de políticas educativas específicas y atingentes a cada contexto. En la primera parte del documento se presenta el marco de referencia y los antecedentes desde los cuales se aborda la mirada sobre el tema de violencia en el contexto escolar. En el segundo capítulo se presenta una breve revisión acerca de las acciones que implementan los Estados latinoamericanos sobre el tema. En el tercero, se aborda el análisis de los diversos tipos de violencia percibidos por la comunidad educativa en la primaria a partir de la información estadística contenida en el Tercer Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explicativo (TERCE), realizado por la UNESCO en el año 2013. Finalmente, para cerrar el documento, se presentan algunas conclusiones y recomendaciones que surgen del análisis de la situación presentada en este estudio. La información estadística más detallada por país se incluye en un anexo.Resumen .-- Introducción .-- I. Marco de Referencia. A. El acceso a la educación primaria es casi universal pero altamente segregado. B. Contextos de violencia y su relación con la educación .-- II. Estrategias y experiencias de políticas y programas .-- III. Las violencias en la escuela primaria .-- IV. Conclusiones y recomendaciones

Fairness as seen by students - a differentiated look at perceived assessment fairness by 7th and 9th graders in Luxembourg

Assessment is probably the central factor in every educational biography: On the one hand, through direct consequences for school career decisions, on the other hand, through repercussions on each student’s self-concept in the respective subject, for one's own work behavior and the perception of institutional fairness in general. A crucial factor is the subjective, perceived fairness of assessment, which has been shown to influence students' satisfaction, motivation, and attitudes toward learning (Chory-Assad, 2002; Wendorf & Alexander, 2005). The current study examines how Luxembourgish students experience fairness of assessment on the basis of representative samples of the 7iéme (N > 700 students) and 9iéme/ 5iéme (N > 2200, 35% of the total cohort) and gives a first insight into the connection with school interest and self-concept. Special attention is given to the heterogeneity of the Luxembourgish student population: the extent to which language background, socioeconomic status, and gender are related to these perceptions of fairness will be analyzed. Data was collected as part of the nationwide Épreuves standardisées in fall 2021 using the Fairness Barometer (Sonnleitner & Kovacs, 2020) - a standardized instrument to measure informational and procedural fairness in student assessment. The analyses are theoretically based on Classroom Justice Theory and educational psychology (Chory-Assad and Paulsel, 2004; Chory, 2007; Duplaga & Astani, 2010) and utilize latent variable models (SEM) to study the complex interplay between perceived assessment practices and students’ school-related motivational factors. The insights offered by this study are internationally unique in their scope and provide a first glimpse on fairness perceptions of groups of Luxembourgish students in known disadvantaged situations. Results aim to sensitize especially active teachers and educators to the central importance of assessment in schools and offer some concrete advice how to improve it. References: Chory, R. M. (2007). Enhancing student perceptions of fairness: the relationship between instructor credibility and classroom justice. Commun. Educ. 56, 89–105. doi: 10.1080/03634520600994300 Chory-Assad, R. M., and Paulsel, M. L. (2004). Classroom justice: student aggression and resistance as reactions to perceived unfairness. Commun. Educ. 53, 253–273. doi: 10.1080/0363452042000265189 Chory-Assad, R. M. (2002). Classroom justice: perceptions of fairness as a predictor of student motivation, learning, and aggression. Commun. Q. 50, 58–77. doi: 10.1080/01463370209385646 Duplaga, E. A., and Astani, M. (2010). An exploratory study of student perceptions of which classroom policies are fairest. Decision Sci. J. Innov. Educ. 8, 9–33. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4609.2009.00241.x Sonnleitner, P., & Kovacs, C. (2020, February). Differences between students’ and teachers’ fairness perceptions: Exploring the potential of a self-administered questionnaire to improve teachers’ assessment practices. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 5, p. 17). Frontiers Media SA. Wendorf, C. A., and Alexander, S. (2005). The influence of individual- and class-level fairness-related perceptions on student satisfaction. Contemp. Educ. Psychol. 30, 190–206. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.07.00

Using Diagnostic Classification Models to map first graders’ cognitive development pathways in the Luxembourgish school monitoring program: a pilot study in the domain of numbers & operations

Educational large-scale assessments aim to evaluate school systems’ effectiveness by typically looking at aggregated levels of students’ performance. The developed assessment tools or tests are not intended or optimized to be used for diagnostic purposes on an individual level. In most cases, the underlying theoretical framework is based on national curricula and therefore too blurry for diagnostic test construction, and test length is too short to draw reliable inferences on individual level. This lack of individual information is often unsatisfying, especially for participating students and teachers who invest a considerable amount of time and effort, not to speak about the tremendous organizational work needed to realize such assessments. The question remains, if the evaluation could not be used in an optimized way to offer more differentiated information on students’ specific skills. The present study explores the potential of Diagnostic Classification Models (DCM) in this regard, since they offer crucial information for policy makers, educators, and students themselves. Instead of a ranking of, e.g., an overall mathematics ability, student mastery profiles of subskills are identified in DCM, providing a rich base for further targeted interventions and instruction (Rupp, Templin & Henson, 2010; von Davier, M., & Lee, Y. S., 2019). A prerequisite for applying such models is well-developed, and cognitively described items that map the assessed ability on a fine-grained level. In the present study, we drew on 104 items that were developed on base of detailed cognitive item models for basic Grade 1 competencies, such as counting, as well as decomposition and addition with low numbers and high numbers (Fuson, 1988, Fritz & Ricken, 2008, Krajewski & Schneider, 2009). Those items were spread over a main test plus 6 different test booklets and administered to a total of 5963 first graders within the Luxembourgish national school monitoring Épreuves standardisées. Results of this pilot study are highly promising, giving information about different student’s behaviors patterns: The final DCM was able to distinguish between different developmental stages in the domain of numbers & operations, on group, as well as on individual level. Whereas roughly 14% of students didn’t master any of the assessed competencies, 34% of students mastered all of them including addition with high numbers. The remaining 52% achieved different stages of competency development, 8% of students are classified only mastering counting, 15% of students also can master addition with low numbers, meanwhile 20% of students additionally can master decomposition, all these patterns reflect developmental models of children’s counting and concept of numbers (Fritz & Ricken, 2008; see also Braeuning et al, 2021). Information that could potentially be used to substantially enhance large-scale assessment feedback and to offer further guidance for teachers on what to focus when teaching. To conclude, the present results make a convincing case that using fine-grained cognitive models for item development and applying DCMs that are able to statistically capture these nuances in student response behavior might be worth the (substantially) increased effort. References: Braeuning, D. et al (2021)., Long-term relevance and interrelation of symbolic and non-symbolic abilities in mathematical-numerical development: Evidence from large-scale assessment data. Cognitive Development, 58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101008. Fritz, A., & Ricken, G. (2008). Rechenschwäche. utb GmbH. Fuson, K. C. (1988). Children's counting and concepts of number. Springer-Verlag Publishing. Rupp, A. A., Templin, J. L., & Henson, R. A. (2010). Diagnostic measurement: Theory, methods, and applications. New York, NY: Guildford Press. Von Davier, M., & Lee, Y. S. (2019). Handbook of diagnostic classification models. Cham: Springer International Publishing

Spotlight on ESG-VP students - a new approach to testing

peer reviewedSpotlight on ESG-VP students - a new approach to testing Test results of the national school monitoring programme Épreuves Standardisées (ÉpStan) reveal a low level of reading and math competency for the majority of 9th-graders attending the Enseignement Secondaire Générale – Voie de Préparation (ESG-VP) school track: In 2022, 3 out of 4 ESG-VP students could not master ÉpStan Niveau 1 in French and German reading comprehension (vs. 2 out of 3 in math; https://dashboard.epstan.lu), meaning that they struggle to read simple and short texts, and to solve basic mathematical problems (MENFP 2008; Sonnleitner et al. 2018). The aim of this pilot-study is to extend and adapt our test material to have a closer look at ESG-VP students’ reading and math performances by using additional testing items that allow for more nuanced statistical analyses. Our first results for German reading comprehension are promising; they will be presented and discussed.4. Quality educatio