Handwriting - a forgotten language skill?

Handwriting currently has a low status and profile in literacy education. This paper examines the situation of current handwriting pedagogy in England and considers why handwriting efficiency has been neglected. The paper goes on to identify a number of studies located in the domains of special needs and psychology which re-evaluate the role of handwriting efficiency. These studies suggest that handwriting is more than just motor skill and may make a very important contribution to children's composing of text. Existing research into the way handwriting efficiency affects composing suggests that further research, more appropriate assessment and focused intervention could all make a significant contribution to children's writing progress and might positively affect the progress of the many boys who struggle with writing throughout the primary school years

Pre-service teachers undertaking classroom research: developing reflection and enquiry skills

This paper reports on the development of reflectiveness and research skills in eight preservice teachers, through their participation in a funded research project to develop the handwriting of children with literacy problems. The project aimed to analyse the reflections of the trainee teachers participating in an authentic research study and to consider what this reflection on practice might offer to the education of teachers in the current UK training context. The context for the paper was a project which engaged pre-service trainee teachers in researching the proposition that automaticity in handwriting plays a role in facilitating composing processes and that the automaticity of early writers can be trained. Some outcomes of the project for pupils are reported. Of the 39 children targeted in the project, 32 made significant progress in their performance on the handwriting automaticity test. The focus in the present paper is, however, on the participating trainee teachers and the paper suggests that conducting research was a significant learning event for these pre-service teachers and that, through working together, they were able to analyse their development as researchers and their learning during the research process. At a time when the English government views teacher training as a method of school improvement and the effectiveness of training is measured through its immediate impact on pupil outcomes, this study offers an example of how shared research can offer positive learning outcomes for pupils, develop the reflective thinking of pre-service teachers through researching a real problem, and develop links across a range of school and university setting

Exploring a national book-gifting scheme: parents' and children's reactions

Several early learning programmes have targeted children’s reading, particularly their relationships with books. One, Bookstart, provided free books to babies attending their 8-month health check at local clinics. Study of this programme suggested that it led to an improvement in language performance upon school entry. Booktime continues from Bookstart and involves the donation of a book pack to 5-year-old children in their first school term. This paper reports an evaluation of the impact of Booktime on the views about, and enjoyment of, reading, of participating children and on the views of parents/carers about helping their children with reading

Analysis of foreign volunteers' involvement in English language classes at particular elementary school

S rostoucí mezinárodní spoluprací, multikulturní provázaností a obecně zlepšující se sociální situací v Evropě roste množství mezinárodních dobrovolnických činností. Mnoho už bylo napsáno o motivaci k takovým činnostem i všeobecnému vnímaní potřebnosti pomoci druhým jakožto prvku rozvinuté občanské společnosti, ale dosud nebylo důkladně popsáno, jak dlouhodobou mezinárodní dobrovolnickou zkušenost vnímají samotní dobrovolníci. Tato diplomová práce je kvalitativní případovou studií, analyzující prožívání dobrovolnictví šesti zahraničních dobrovolníků ze zemí Evropské unie i mimo Evropskou unii. Zkoumání jejich názorů a postojů ukazuje, jak v souvislosti s těmito názory hodnotí zisky a ztráty v rámci dobrovolnické zkušenosti. V triangulaci k pohledu dobrovolníků je analyzován i pohled všech zapojených žáků a pedagogů. Prožívání dobrovolníků je zkoumáno na podkladě polostrukturovaných rozhovorů, sémantického diferenciálu, časových os a jejich autorských produktů. Ke zjištění pohledu žáků posloužila dvě anonymní dotazníková šetření s žáky, kteří se s dobrovolníky pravidelně setkávali. Pohled zapojených pedagogů byl zkoumán rovněž formou dotazníkového šetření. Oba dotazníky byly sestaveny za použití Likertovy škály, do dotazníků pro pedagogy byly navíc zařazeny otevřené otázky. Provedeným výzkumem jsem...IN ENGLISH Along growing international cooperation, multicultural interconnectedness and generally improving social situation in Europe a number of international volunteering activities is growing. Much has already been written regarding motivation for such activities as well as about general perception od necessity to help others as a component of well developer civic society but until now there has not been described in detail how such long term international volunteering experience is perceived by volunteers themselves. This Diploma Thesis is a qualitative case study analysing experience of volunteering of six international volunteers from the European Union countries as well as from the countries out of the European Union. The research of their opinion and attitudes shows how they in relation with those opinion value benefits and losses in the Framework of their volunteering experience. In the triangualtion to the perspective of the volunteers, a perspective of all involved pupils and teachers is further analysed. Volunteers'experience is studied based on semi structured interviews, semantic diferential, time lines and their authorial products. To assess the perspective of pupils who reguraly met with the volunteers two anonymous questionnaires were issued. The perspective of involved teachers...Katedra pedagogikyPedagogická fakultaFaculty of Educatio

High-repetition-rate combustion thermometry with two-line atomic fluorescence excited by diode lasers

We report on kilohertz-repetition-rate flame temperature measurements performed using blue diode lasers. Two-line atomic fluorescence was performed by using diode lasers emitting at around 410 and 451 nm to probe seeded atomic indium. At a repetition rate of 3.5 kHz our technique offers a precision of 1.5% at 2000 K in laminar methane/air flames. The spatial resolution is better than 150 mu m, while the setup is compact and easy to operate, at much lower cost than alternative techniques. By modeling the spectral overlap between the locked laser and the probed indium lines we avoid the need for any calibration of the measurements. We demonstrate the capability of the technique for time-resolved measurements in an acoustically perturbed flame. The technique is applicable in flames with a wide range of compositions including sooting flames

Understanding and interpreting laser diagnostics in flames: a review of experimental measurement techniques

Published: 29 November 2019There is a wealth of existing experimental data of flames collected using laser diagnostics. The primary objective of this review is to provide context and guidance in interpreting these laser diagnostic data. This educational piece is intended to benefit those new to laser diagnostics or with specialization in other facets of combustion science, such as computational modeling. This review focuses on laser-diagnostics in the context of the commonly used canonical jet-in-hot-coflow (JHC) burner, although the content is applicable to a wide variety of configurations including, but not restricted to, simple jet, bluff body, swirling and stratified flames. The JHC burner configuration has been used for fundamental studies of moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) combustion, autoignition and flame stabilization in hot environments. These environments emulate sequential combustion or exhaust gas recirculation. The JHC configuration has been applied in several burners for parametric studies of MILD combustion, flame reaction zone structure, behavior of fuels covering a significant range of chemical complexity, and the collection of data for numerical model validation. Studies of unconfined JHC burners using gaseous fuels have employed point-based Rayleigh-Raman or two-dimensional Rayleigh scattering measurements for the temperature field. While the former also provides simultaneous measurements of major species concentrations, the latter has often been used in conjunction with planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) to simultaneously provide quantitative or qualitative measurements of radical and intermediary species. These established scattering-based thermography techniques are not, however, effective in droplet or particle laden flows, or in confined burners with significant background scattering. Techniques including coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and non-linear excitation regime two-line atomic fluorescence (NTLAF) have, however, been successfully demonstrated in both sooting and spray flames. This review gives an overview of diagnostics techniques undertaken in canonical burners, with the intention of providing an introduction to laser-based measurements in combustion. The efficacy, applicability and accuracy of the experimental techniques are also discussed, with examples from studies of flames in JHC burners. Finally, current and future directions for studies of flames using the JHC configuration including spray flames and studies and elevated pressures are summarized.Michael J. Evans and Paul R. Medwel

The Changing Role of Chinese English-as-Foreign-Language Teachers in the Context of Curriculum Reform: Teachers’ Understanding of Their New Role

The New Curriculum Standards for teaching English introduced major changes in the culture of teaching and learning English in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). Changes have been linked to changing goals for English instruction and a revision of Confucian values in schooling. In this article, we argue that this English curriculum proposes a new role, with new demands, for English-as-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in the PRC. In order to implement the curriculum reform successfully, teachers involved in the reform are required to have a shared understanding of its nature, purposes and scope. However, little is known about to what extent EFL teachers understand and engage with their new roles. This study examines teachers’ understandings of the new curriculum and of the new, demanding role of teachers implied by the curriculum. This is a mixed methods study involving an analysis of the curriculum document, a survey (n = 227) of EFL teachers and semi-structured interviews with a sample of teachers in the cohort (n = 18). The findings suggest that many teachers know the content of the curriculum document, but expressed uncertainty about the implications of changes, uncertainty about what a shift to student-centered teaching and learning means and confusion about new professional development demands. The findings of this study have wider implications for EFL teachers, teacher educators, researchers and policy makers in the PRC and similar national contexts. This article highlights that, from an international perspective, introducing new ideas and practices should consider teachers’ existing understanding and experiences of the curriculum as well as the way in which they understand the purposes of the changes, and should promote a shared understanding of policy intentions

Learners' and teachers' beliefs about learning tones and Pinyin

This paper reports a study of the perceptions of English-speaking learners and teachers about the challenges and difficulties of Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) learning in England. The study involved a Likert-scale questionnaire and follow-up interviews with 37 university student learners, 443 school students and the 42 teachers of both groups. The questionnaires and interviews explored beliefs about language learning, about Chinese language learning and about language learning strategies. This paper focuses on the findings concerning the perceived challenges of speaking Chinese and of tones in learning Chinese. The findings of this study present a picture of teachers who are keen for their students to learn to speak and communicate in Chinese, and of students who are keen to take risks in speaking. However, in contrast to earlier findings about learners’ views about learning Chinese, the learners in this study claimed to be very tone aware and reported that they found listening and understanding Chinese more difficult than production. This is explored in relation to the pupils’ views about learning tones and pinyin and raises questions about the ways they address tones and pinyin learning in the context of their expressed aim of communicating and taking risks in speaking. The discussion raises issues about the possible effects of communicative teaching of languages in English schools. We ask whether an emphasis on communicative approaches may affect how learners address difficulties of the Chinese pronunciation system and the use of pinyin