This report examines the social indicators available for monitoring the situation of children and families in the United States. It assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the indicators for facilitating an informed public and private debate, and it recommends ways in which social indicators can be improved and supplemented to contribute more…

A careful study of second language varieties (SLVs) of English, which have not yet entered the mainstream of sociolinguistic research because of neglect and misunderstanding, shows that they are qualitatively different from the categories recognized in current sociolinguistic typology. SLVs provide some of the clearest evidence of sociocultural…

A taxonomy for literature reviews in education and psychology is presented. The increased use of the descriptor "literature review" in ERIC and Psychological Abstracts documents between 1969 and 1983 is cited as creating the need for categorization. The taxonomy categorizes reviews according to focus, goal, perspective, coverage,…

Substantial efforts have been made recently to compare the effectiveness of traditional course formats to alternative formats (most often, online delivery compared to traditional on-site delivery). This study examines, not the delivery format but rather the evaluation format. It compares traditional paper and pencil methods for course evaluation…

The implications of noncategorical approaches toward exceptional children are explored as they relate to learning disabled children. (BA)

Reported is an investigation of the development of children's thinking in relation to biological education, involving over 200 twelve-year-old students from five comprehensive British schools. While the students' ability to name animals was considered "good," they had trouble recognizing drawings of plants and their understanding of…

A typology is constructed which orders correctional organizations into 8 types along 3 dimensions: goal orientation, organizational scope, and decision making. (Author/KM)

A study was conducted to derive an Occupation Analysis Inventory (OAI) based hierarchical occupational cluster structure which could provide the framework and content for developing an information system applicable to occupational exploration and guidance. (The OAI is an instrument containing 622 work elements which are descriptions of work…

A study was conducted to develop a typological framework of college undergraduates based on students' educational orientations. The study focused on students' more specific views of the purpose of education, desired teaching-learning arrangement, and roles with faculty in academic decisionmaking. The Student Orientations Survey was administered to…

Ethnographic semantics is that discipline which seeks to understand human cognition through an analysis of the cognitive content of linguistic expressions: that is, the systematic study of the meanings of words and the role of these meanings in cognitive systems. There are many misconceptions about the nature of ethnosemantics, however, and by…

A general observation about the vocabularies of most languages is that they tend to increase in size over time. Little is known about the causal mechanisms involved in this lexical expansion, but most anthropologists and linguists are in agreement that it probably mirrors general cultural evolution. The study of lexical growth becomes important if…

A review of the literature related to methods for analyzing content or tasks prior to instructional development is presented. The review classifies methods according to a two-dimensional matrix. The first dimension differentiates phases of analysis, each dealing with content and tasks of a particular scope and each generating certain…

This study compared the vocabulary of the period from 1943 to 1945 to the vocabulary of 1975. In addition to a direct comparison of word use, an indirect comparison was made using Thorndike's word list in the "Teacher's Word Book" (1931). The 1975 vocabulary, based on frequency of word appearance, was derived from 93 speeches made by students in…

An analysis of occupational age structures for males has pragmatic implications for vocational advice and decisions (particularly for older workers), personnel and manpower planning, and experimental research. (A 5-page appendix lists occupational age ratios for 2( categories of occupations based on 1961 census data.) (Author/AG)