Are literacy competences and success rates lower in multicultural classrooms?

Multicultural classes are a logical consequence of the dynamic unification of Europe and EC treaties relating to the free movement of persons and goods (European Parliament 2001). As a result differences in language background of students are quite prominent in a day-to-day teaching practice (McPake, 2007). Not only do pupils differ in their linguistic knowledge, there are also marked differences in (Dutch) language competences and skills. A sufficient level of these language competences and skills are a necessary condition to be able to function successfulty in a classroom and be successful in an educational system. It is often stated that a multicultural composition of a classroom enlargers the mismatch between the expected and average level of the language competences of pupils as well as the diversity in language competences. However, is this really the case and how can this be explained? This contribution focuses on consequences of the mismatch between, on the one hand, the school language register and the competences of pupils (referred to as literacy competences) and on the other hand, the instruction Language and the suppsed pupil's literacy competences by the teacher. More specifically, we seek to demonstrate that variations in literacy competences complicate the learning process for all pupils in a multicultural classroom and thus limit their chances of acquiring the desired level of proficiency In our argumentation, we embrace a social constructivistic (language) approach of education and (language) leaming (Gibbons. 2002; Cobb, 2006), where the class s seen as a social system in which the urning process proceeds through communication. In this learn'ng process, pupils acquire literacy competences through linguistic interactions that are a prerequisite for a successful completion of the subject course, and thus for school success (cf. Freeman & Freeman, 2007)

Why do migrant children in the Netherlands read more than Dutch children?

Why do migrant children in the Netherlandsread more than Dutch children

Towards the tipping point of FAIR implementation

This article explores the global implementation of the FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific management and data stewardship, which provide that data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. The implementation of these principles is designed to lead to the stewardship of data as FAIR digital objects and the establishment of the Internet of FAIR Data and Services (IFDS). If implementation reaches a tipping point, IFDS has the potential to revolutionize how data is managed by making machine and human readable data discoverable for reuse. Accordingly, this article examines the expansion of the implementation of FAIR Guiding Principles, especially how and in which geographies (locations) and areas (topic domains) implementation is taking place. A literature review of academic articles published between 2016 and 2019 on the use of FAIR Guiding Principles is presented. The investigation also includes an analysis of the domains in the IFDS Implementation Networks (INs). Its uptake has been mainly in the Western hemisphere. The investigation found that implementation of FAIR Guiding Principles has taken firm hold in the domain of bio and natural sciences. To achieve a tipping point for FAIR implementation, is now time to ensure the inclusion of non-European ascendants and of other scientific domains. Apart from equal opportunity and genuine global partnership issues, a permanent European bias poses challenges with regard to the representativeness and validity of data and could limit the potential of IFDS to reach across continental boundaries. The article concludes that, despite efforts to be inclusive, acceptance of the FAIR Guiding Principles and IFDS in different scientific communities is limited and there is a need to act now to prevent dampening of the momentum in the development and implementation of the IFDS. It is further concluded that policy entrepreneurs and the GO FAIR INs may contribute to making the FAIR Guiding Principles more flexible in including different research epistemologies, especially through its GO CHANGE pillar. LIACS-Managemen

Meeleesclub voor laaggeletterde volwassenen: een toepassing van het leeshongermodel

International research indicates that the number of adults with very low literacy levels is rising in the Netherlands. Illiterate adults may feel the instrumental need to develop their reading proficiency. However, for them reading is associated with negative feelings such as shame and frustration. Additionally, they do not have the motivation, knowledge or skills to find an interesting book or paper and, furthermore, they often lack social support to start reading and to persist in a reading habit. This suggests that reading interventions should be designed along the lines of social processes of reading; to support people in finding interesting books, reading and talking about them. This paper illustrates, by means of the ‘read-along club for adults’, what such an intervention could look like. The paper elaborates on four topics. Firstly, how read-along clubs for adults can reduce reluctance in reading. Secondly, how reading-along clubs for adults could mediate all social processes, such as seeking information, deciding on a book, reading and discussing the book, so illiterate adults know what to do when they want to read. Thirdly, how reading-along clubs can support building a reading habit. And finally, it illustrates the importance of a social support network of all readers

Meeleesclub voor laaggeletterde volwassenen: een toepassing van het leeshongermodel

International research indicates that the number of adults with very low literacy levels is rising in the Netherlands. Illiterate adults may feel the instrumental need to develop their reading proficiency. However, for them reading is associated with negative feelings such as shame and frustration. Additionally, they do not have the motivation, knowledge or skills to find an interesting book or paper and, furthermore, they often lack social support to start reading and to persist in a reading habit. This suggests that reading interventions should be designed along the lines of social processes of reading; to support people in finding interesting books, reading and talking about them. This paper illustrates, by means of the ‘read-along club for adults’, what such an intervention could look like. The paper elaborates on four topics. Firstly, how read-along clubs for adults can reduce reluctance in reading. Secondly, how reading-along clubs for adults could mediate all social processes, such as seeking information, deciding on a book, reading and discussing the book, so illiterate adults know what to do when they want to read. Thirdly, how reading-along clubs can support building a reading habit. And finally, it illustrates the importance of a social support network of all readers

Culture online 网络文化:How to persuade customers? 如何说服消费者?

Effective marketing-communication is of the utmost importance for online webshops. It is through (successful) communication that consumers, all over the world, are persuaded to initiate the buying-process. However, consumers differ in their perception of and associations with both the design and the contents of the website. Dual-processing models, such as the ELM- and MAO-models, were used as a general framework to unravel the effect that specific features of webshops have on prospective customers. On the basis of this general framework, we expected both webshop variables and consumer variables to affect the buying intention of online consumers. With respect to the webshop, we made a distinction between source variables on the one hand (online store image, ‘safety’, convenience and (hedonic) pleasure), and message variables on the other (content of the communication, modality, recommendations). With regard to the consumers, a distinction was made between socio-demographic variables (cultural background, gender) and processing variables (motivation, ability and opportunity). In order to explore the effects of these variables in more depth, we conducted several cross-sectional studies in which culturally diverse groups of online consumers (Chinese, Dutch, Polish, Costa Rico, Moroccan) in different countries (China, Netherlands, Poland and Costa Rico) participated. (N total = more them 1000). They were invited to buy electronic equipment, fashion clothes, or books in simulated online web-shops. Analyses indicated differences in purchasing behaviour between the online-consumers that can only partly be traced back to cultural differences between their societies. Repeatedly, the assumed cultural effect on the perceived store image is overruled by source-related characteristics such as modality (images, texts) and detailedness of content. Moreover, it turned out that the fact whether the customer was a man or a woman played a more important role in the intention to purchase than the cultural background of the consumer. This cross-cultural comparisons of online consumer behaviour not only enables us to establish the diverse preferences as such, but also to explain the dynamic changes through the underlying causal factors. In the full paper, implications of these findings for designing webshops will be explored as well