Disagrees with an earlier article in this journal about the dispute among reading-instruction specialists as to how phonics is best taught. Argues for direct and systematic phonics instruction. Presents a response to Groff, agreeing that children need explicit phonics instruction but arguing that an instructional approach that acknowledges the…

Longitudinal study examined 6-year-olds' performance in tasks involving a protagonist with partial information about an object or a person. Found that children who demonstrated some understanding of the consequences of limited information access often made other errors. Despite intervening additions of contextual support and clarifications, the…

Draws on the authors' experience of developing and presenting an Open University Masters level course: Guidance and Counselling in Learning. Explores the diversity of contexts for guidance practices and the assumptions about the relationship between theory and practice that is embedded in various approaches to professional development. (Contains…

Although a Canadian training project was conducted by a union with a progressive philosophy, it construed unemployment as a personal rather than a public issue. Analysis using a social/cultural capital framework uncovered four areas of tension: organizational structure, educational content, diversity, and the "good employee." (Contains…

Reviews Jessor, Colby, and Shweder's "Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry." Maintains that the book invites reflection on the appropriate epistemology of contemporary social sciences, and significantly advances the integration of ethnography and developmental psychology research. Argues that concerns…

The relation between similarity and dissimilarity of context was analyzed for synonymous nouns. New semantic similarity and dissimilarity rating tests with an empirically determined series of linguistic anchors and conventional, arbitrarily anchored semantic similarity ratings were compared. Contextual similarity was elicited by a sorting test…

Examined the relations of teachers' and parents' reports of children's shyness at ages 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 years to dispositional regulation, emotionality, and coping. The overall pattern of findings was partially consistent with the conclusion that parent-rated shyness reflected primarily social wariness with unfamiliar people, whereas…

Finds adult readers' efforts at and enjoyment of reading tasks varied depending on the texts and purpose for reading. Notes most readers relied on activating prior knowledge, rereading of text, and note taking. Finds a significant three-way interaction between reading source, setting, and occupation only. Illustrates how specific social context…

Examined the experience and expression of anger in individuals who differ by age and employee/student status. Two female populations described their reactions to a hypothetical work/school-related situation. Results are interpreted from a gender schema perspective, taking the contextual influence of developmental period and employee/student role…

Psychosocial student development theory based on predominately white student populations may not be appropriate for Asian American students. The authors propose a new model of psychosocial development for Asian American students that takes racial identity and external influences into account. (Contains 49 references.) (Author)

How schools and districts approach professional development is driven by implicit and explicit personal beliefs or theories. This article describes four factors that determine the success or failure of staff development efforts for teachers: teacher motivation; teacher knowledge and how teachers can add to it; how the context of teacher work…

Suggests that counselors of all types need an understanding of and an ability to work with issues described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Explains that the traditional approach to the DSM-IV tends to locate the problem in the client, whereas the developmental approach focuses on the client in social and historical…

Describes the conceptual design, research framework, evaluation components, and analytic strategies that are guiding the evaluation of a demonstration-research effort, the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study (ASSIST). The ASSIST evaluation is a unique analysis of the relationships among social context, public-health activity, tobacco use, and…

Reviews research related to the second language acquisition social context, and the interface of social context and interlanguage grammar. (Author/VWL)

Two studies examined the relationship between maternal sensitivity and infant security of attachment in home and hospital contexts. Results are discussed in terms of links between methodology and effect sizes, the generality of links between maternal care and child security, need for research on caregiving in ordinary and emergency situations, and…