Journal of Educational Practice and Research

Young Children’s Understanding and Response to Picture Book Peritext During Adult-Child Shared Reading

Wan-Hsiang Chou

This study explores young Taiwanese children’s understanding and interpretation of the peritext in picture books, which are the pages often overlooked by adults when reading aloud to children. Research has revealed that peritext, such as the cover, endpapers, title page, or copyright page, is often a rich resource for literary and aesthetic interpretation. Ten 5- to 6-year-old children participated in our study and read four Taiwanese picture books with the guidance of a qualified kindergarten teacher. The books were chosen from 195 Taiwanese picture books according to their diverse peritextual designs. Each book was read twice: the first time was one-on-one reading; the second time a group discussion was held with all ten children. The children were asked to predict the story when reading the front matter, and after finishing the book, they were again asked to interpret the meaning of the front and back matter. The children were also asked to create their own front and back covers or endpapers after each reading. The results showed that the children might extend, add, or revise their predictions as they found more and more clues on the front matter. After finishing the story, the children often found connections between the images in the peritext and text, and some created new episodes of the story based on the images on the peritext. The children’s designs also showed their understanding of the meaning and function of the peritext. Finally, pedagogical and research suggestions were made.

The Longitudinal Analysis of Elementary School Pupils’ Science Competition Experience, Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity Growth

Chia-Chun Hsiao

Comparing students who have participated in Taiwan International Science Fair and those who have not, this study aims to understand the creativity development between the ones with creativity trainings for participating in the Fair and the ones who did not participate in science fair and did not receive any related trainings. Furthermore, this study intends to investigate the effects of intrinsic motivation on the development of creativity between the two groups. From National Taiwan Science Education Center, 208 student participants of the 41st-50th Fair and 871 non-participants were sampled through their teachers who voluntarily participated in this study. With growth model analysis in Hierarchical Linear Modeling, individual differences in scientific creativity between science fair participants and non-participants were found and its growth was developed distinctively. Students who participated in Taiwan International Science Fair presented downward development in scientific creativity and then upward, while the non-participants revealed upward then downward development. In regard to intrinsic motivation, science fair participants showed positive effects of Self-efficacy and Internal value on creativity, while their intrinsic motivation presents moderating effects on the rapid growth of creativity. Contrarily, intrinsic motivation did not appear to have any effects on non-participants. Based on the research outcomes, relevant suggestions are further proposed.

Correlation Among Students’ Family Background, Academic Performance in Junior High School, and Senior High School Tracking in Taiwan

Ming-Fu Huang & Yih-Jyh Hwang

There were numerous previous studies on educational tracking. However, most of the data adopted in these studies were collected a decade ago, involving sample population 20-64 years of age. Among them, many elderly samples had undergone senior high school tracking in the early years. The present study used the data of students and parents from the 3rd wave (2005) of the Taiwan Education Panel Survey (TEPS). A path analysis was conducted to investigate the inequality of opportunities involved in the influence of student family background on educational tracking at the senior high school stage. The results show: although the overall percentage of junior high school graduates entering advanced levels was approximately 100% and almost all students of different family backgrounds entered advanced levels, the most crucial factor among those affecting educational tracking of senior high school stage was students’ academic performance during junior high school. Students with higher family socioeconomic status and fewer siblings showed better academic performance in junior high schools, and consequently had higher possibilities of entering public senior high schools leading to a more promising future. This indicates that though the inequality in the quantity of opportunities approached 0, the inequality in the quality of opportunities still remained, which fails to support the hypothesis of the maximally maintained inequality of educational opportunity (MMI); however, the result supports the hypothesis of the effectively maintained inequality of educational opportunity (EMI).。

The Development of Social Competence Scale for Adolescent

Ming-Fu Tsai

The purposes of this study were 1) to develop a social behavior assessment system for adolescent - social competence scale; and 2) to evaluate the reliability and validity of this proposed scale. The social behavior assessment system for adolescent comprised three scales: the teacher rating scale (TRS), parent rating scale (PRS), and self-report scale (SRS). TRS, PRS, and SRS all included 110 items in two scales: social competence scale (SCS) and problem behavior scale (PBS). The social competence scale consisted of 48 items divided into seven subscales for measuring three theoretical dimensions: self-control, interpersonal interaction, and academic behavior. The development of social competence scale yielded the following results regarding validity: 1) evidence based on test content was established and supported by exploring literature and expert validity; 2) TRS-SCS, PRS-SCS, and SRS-SCS all have high internal consistency reliability and 4-week-interval re-test reliability. Besides, the inter-rater reliability between teachers, parents and students were lower to moderate; 3) the concurrent criterion related evidence of the TRS-SCS and PRS-SCS to the behavioral and emotional rating scale and the SRS-SCS to the Beck youth inventories were all significant; 4) the discriminant evidence of TRS-SCS was found to be considerably satisfactory in discriminating children with emotional and behavioral problems from those without; 5) evidence based on internal structure indicates that the results of confirmatory factory analysis were found considerably satisfactory in TRS-SCS, PRS-SCS, and SRS-SCS. In general, the reliability and validity of the study were satisfactory. Finally, the percentile rank and t-score norms were developed for 607 subjects in TRS-SCS, 1,168 subjects in PRS-SCS and 1,246 subjects in SRS-SCS.

Construct Interdisciplinary Curriculum by Career Interest Code Within Major for Multiple Career Paths

Su-Fei Huang

The purposes of this research were 1) to explore both teachers’ and students’ points of view of what courses students should take with regard to future occupation, 2) to investigate “Career Interest Code within Major”, and 3) to establish a more comprehensive curriculum path. For data collection, a curriculum- occupation questionnaire was designed and administered to 13 faculties, the career interest inventory was administered to 162 students, and two focus group interviews were held with 14 student participants. The results showed that 1) teachers emphasized the importance of basic professional, while students wished for a more diversified curriculum to enrich their career visions. 2) Gender difference was found in Holland Codes (RIASEC) by Career Interest Inventory (CII). Students scored highest in Investigative (I), second highest code in Artistic (A), and the third highest in Social (S). Male’s Holland code was significantly higher than female’s in Realistic (R) and Investigative (I) types, while the female’s Holland code was significantly higher than male’s in the Artist (A) type. There were also significant differences between grades by ANOVA in Investigative (I), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C) types. The results showed that the freshman’s Holland codes were most congruent with the department codes. The senior students showed the most career interest differentiation. And 3) all Holland codes among sampled subjects have scattered around Holland’s Hexagon Codes-RIASEC; therefore, the “Career Interest Code within Major” model is well supported. According to the findings above, a more comprehensive curriculum following four pathways is recommended: 1) theoretic bio-science career path, 2) applying bio-science career path, 3) interdisciplinary career path, and 4) transformation career path.

A Study on Integrated Use of Turbulence Theory and Multi-Frame Leadership in School Leadership and Change

Cheng-Hung Chen

This study aimed to engage in an empirical investigation on school leaders’ comprehensive perspectives of adopting both turbulence theory and multi-frame leadership model on change and leadership within school settings. Applying the qualitative case study approach, workshops and focus group interviews were held involving five directors and three principals from different elementary schools, who graduated from the master program in school administration where the researcher serves, to discuss and reflect upon the cross match of two theories as they may be applied to change and leadership. Accordingly, both theories’ practical application encompassed three advantages: “both theories interactively match with each other,” “both theories correspond to the authentic context of school leadership and change,” and “the matching matrix of both theories could serve as school leaders’ decision check list;” meanwhile, there were two issues that needed to be noticed and examined, including “the differentiation, definition and measurement of turbulence levels,” and “the subjective identification of turbulence levels.” This study concluded by proposing practical implications of applying theory into practice of school leadership and change.