Scopus Abstract Activity by Lorena Ibarra https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity Find an article on Scopus and post the abstract here. Please, omit the keywords section. en-us 2019-02-13 12:01:09 UTC 2019-02-13 17:23:18 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Manbag.png Equitable learning opportunities are critical to the goals of science education. However, major curriculum standards are vague on how to achieve equity goals, and educators must often develop their own resources and strategies to achieve equity goals. This study examines how educators used a comic book series designed to interest youth in virology as a way to make science more broadly appealing to their diverse students. We begin with the notion of Pedagogical Design Capacity, which describes a dynamic relationship between teachers and their tools and the ability for teachers to perceive and leverage affordances of artifacts as tools in their curriculum design. In a qualitative analysis of 18 interviews with educators, survey responses, instructional artifacts, and classroom observations, we describe the potential that educators saw in the comics and the strategies they used to take advantage of that potential to promote equitable science teaching. Notably, we observed how the comics enabled educators to incorporate multiple literacies and disciplinary lenses into their lessons, thereby expanding traditional views of science literacy. We documented the range of techniques by which they used comics and fictional narratives to support specific scientific practices, such as modeling. We also observed challenges that participants encountered in using comics, which included overcoming their own and their students’ attitudes and beliefs regarding the role of informal reading materials in science education. By investigating how resourceful science educators use comic books, this study informs both researchers and educators on how innovative curriculum materials can broaden and diversify participation in science. Findings have implications for the design of similar curriculum materials and instructional approaches, as well as professional development to support equitable science teaching. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V. malenabp5 https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330913671 2019-02-13 17:05:03 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330913671 Malena's abstract https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330914788 science education, equity, comic books, multiple literacies, classrooms, teachers, instructional stragegies]]> 2019-02-13 17:06:49 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330914788 Sara's abstract sariinessmt8 https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330915182 In traditional learning, students passively absorb the materials provided by their teachers or textbooks. Thus, their learning autonomy is insufficient, and this affects learning motivation. Students find it difficult to absorb the knowledge taught in a classroom and apply it to real life. We combined situated learning and learning through drama to help realize students’ autonomy and ownership. A situational learning system using a comic play was devised to help students learn through scriptwriting in groups. When learning through drama, the visual aids on stage can provide students with a sense of immersion, which strengthens their knowledge application. This method was applied during English-language courses of fifth-grade students at an elementary school in Taiwan. Students’ questionnaire responses demonstrated that using this system helped their autonomous learning. The students’ sense of identification with their own work and their learning impressions were substantially improved. Examination results of the students from the experimental group were significantly higher from those from a control group taught using traditional teaching methods. © 2018, Association for Educational Communications and Technology.]]> 2019-02-13 17:07:28 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330915182 Cris' abstract https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330916655  This qualitative case study explored the relationship between comprehension strategies and graphic novels in one Grade 4 classroom, utilising children as informants. The primary research questions related to children's applications of metacognitive reading comprehension strategies as well as the potential for graphic novels to support the students' development as readers. Findings demonstrated that the children were able to apply two types of strategies to their reading of graphic novels: 'keys' that supported form-specific comprehension strategies and 'master keys' that supported more general comprehension strategies that could be applied to other types of texts. Student preferences for graphic novels aligned with their preferences for reading narrative novels and non-fiction, and did not align with preferences regarding comics or cartoons. Student preferences for reading graphic novels increased throughout the study. Fluent student responses to graphic novels through process drama were identified. Implications of the study involve the employment of graphic novels to support metacognitive strategies for reading and writing as well as to facilitate process drama. 

]]> 2019-02-13 17:10:00 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330916655 Jordi's abstract maesejordi https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330916688  Background: Learning to read is very challenging for Hong Kong children who learn English as a second language (ESL), as they must acquire two very different writing systems, beginning at the age of three. Few studies have examined the role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels, oral language proficiency, and L1 tone awareness in L2 English reading among Hong Kong ESL kindergarteners. Aims: This study aims to investigate L1 and L2 phonological awareness and oral language proficiency as predictors of English reading among children with Chinese as L1. Sample: One hundred and sixty-one typically developing children with a mean age of 5.16 (SD=35) selected from seven preschools in Hong Kong. Method: Participants were assessed for English reading, English and Chinese phonological awareness at different levels, English oral language skills, and letter naming ability. Results: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both oral language proficiency and phonological awareness measures significantly predicted L2 word reading, when statistically controlled for age and general intelligence. Among various phonological awareness units, L2 phonemic awareness was the best predictor of L2 word reading. Cross-language transfer was shown with L1 phonological awareness at the tone level, uniquely predicting L2 word reading. Conclusions: The present findings show the important role of phonological awareness at the subsyllabic levels (rime and phoneme) and oral language proficiency in the course of L2 reading development in Chinese ESL learners. The significant contribution of L1 tone awareness to L2 reading suggests that phonological sensitivity is a general competence that ESL children need to acquire in early years. The findings have significant implications for understanding L2 reading development and curriculum development. © 2012 The British Psychological Society. 

]]> 2019-02-13 17:10:04 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330916688 Mari Carmen's abstract rebeccabt95 https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330919848 The existence of a link between reading and listening skills and music has been described in numerous studies. To read a text means to provide a sound system for a written message as without sounds, in silent reading it is the reader's inner voice, no access from written symbols to lexical items can occur, what would hinder comprehension. Both in reading aloud and silent reading, the graphemes which the eye deciphers are supported by the sound elements: phonemes or sounds, accent, rhythm, and intonation. Acoustic elements such as intensity, duration, tone and pitch contribute to the expression of emotions, as well. They are all acoustic parameters that are also present in melodies. With the aim of showing that working with these musical elements in foreign language teaching constitutes a first step of great relevance in order to develop reading comprehension, we analyze the interrelationship between language and music, identify the five components of the reading skill and explain how melodies can optimize the development of learners' reading ability.]]> 2019-02-13 17:15:06 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330919848 Rebeca's abstract rebeccabt95 https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330921105 Wikis are widely considered to be student-centred platforms which promote collaborative learning. Previous research has, however, demonstrated that without teacher intervention some students fail to engage with one another collaboratively in these environments. This study contributes to the emerging literature on the role of teachers in supporting collaborative learning during wiki activities by examining teacher and student online interaction during wiki-mediated collaborative writing activities in three Kuwaiti high school English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes. Teacher and student discussion posts and text edits during the eight-week projects were analysed using a discourse analysis framework and triangulated with data from semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the approaches adopted by the teachers in this study ranged from directive to dialogic. Where the teachers took a more directive approach, students tended to interact with the teacher rather than with the peers and wrote by themselves individually. Where the teachers adopted a more dialogic approach, however, there was greater student-to-student interaction and collaboration leading to jointly constructed texts. Such findings point to the benefits of adopting a dialogic approach to teaching during wiki-mediated collaborative writing activities.]]> 2019-02-13 17:17:01 UTC https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330921105 Laura Melero's abstract melerocarnerolaura https://padlet.com/altabix/scopusactivity/wish/330921343  From a critical feminist perspective, women are not fairly represented in English as a foreign language (EFL) textbooks. The unequal representation of women in EFL textbooks potentially affects students’ negative perceptions and misconceptions about gender identity (re)construction. The findings of previous studies on gender issues in language textbooks mostly indicate that they depict gender biases and stereotypes, but some studies reported positive images of women. To continue a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of EFL textbooks from a feminist perspective, the present study looks at visual and textual discourses representing images of women in EFL textbooks in the Indonesian secondary school context. The findings reveal that some gendered discourses expressed by female characters and social actors in the analyzed textbooks support the continuation of gender biases and stereotypes, but some emerging discourses represent constructive images of women. This textual study suggests that as English plays an increasingly important role in a transcultural and post-feminist world, authors of English textbooks must pay attention to the issue of gender in language education. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. 

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