EDITORIAL COMMENT: GUEST COMMENTARY

A pervasive problem faced by children in both classroom and clinic is the lack of transfer from the apparent learning of “skills” to improved overall reading performance. For varied reasons, “skills” learned by children fail to become integrated to enhance reading fluency. A related problem derives from the lack of automaticity that many children fail to achieve either in specific facilitating “skills” or in the reading task generally.     

EDITORIAL COMMENT: GUEST COMMENTARY TEACHERS'THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS AND THE REAL CLASSROOM

A four year‐study of teacher beliefs and conceptions about reading is reported. Teacher beliefs were determined outside the classroom context and while conducting instruction. It was determined that classroom teachers can articulate theories of reading outside the classroom but that their actual instructional practice is governed by a complex set of contextual factors. It is concluded that reading educators must not only teach reading theory but must also help teachers apply theory to the complex instructional context of classrooms.     

EDITORIAL COMMENT: GUEST COMMENTARY READING RESEARCH THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: A MODEL FOR PRACTICING EDUCATORS

In this rather unorthodox commentary Dr. Gunderson takes a “tongue‐in‐cheek” look at the methods used to place students in reading groups. His “study” is meant to provide us with a humorous look at some of our approaches to research in reading. Normally, this kind of a disclaimer is not necessary but in the past we have published other laughable items (See, “A Physiognolinguistic Approach to Reading Assessment: An Alternate Form of Miscue Analysis,” by Dallas Cheek, READING PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1983, Pgs. 365‐368, and “Interaction Process Analysis of Sustained Silent Reading,” by John Mateja.RP Vol. 1, No. 2, 1980, Pgs. 121‐126.) and I have received several letters from our readers, not to mention the uncomplimentary “critical” reviews from our editorial advisors, making it quite clear that they have either missed the point or find nothing funny in these articles. Hope you can enjoy them as I and some of our staff have     

GUEST EDITORIAL MBR: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

It was hypothesized that paired-comparison judgments of multiple-cue profiles would be a joint function of instruction set,- cue-inconsistency, and individual differences. Thirty-one subjects judged all possible pairs of 22 profiles containing eight cues in an own-control, counterbalanced design. A comparison of instructions providing no attribute for judging similarity with those which did provide an attribute revealed systematic differences with respect to both the number and kind of perceived profile dimensions. However, within each instruction set individual differences emerged with respect to the perceived profile dimensionality which would have been obscured with a group-averaging multidimensional scaling procedure. Further, more individual difference variability was present in the instructional set providing no attribute for judgment. Finally, many subgroups of response-homogeneous judges were found to base their judgments of profile similarity on discrepant cues whereas others did not. The possibility was raised that resolution of inconsistent cues may involve either weighting of one or the other of the cues or utilizing an entirely new cue for judgment.     

GUEST EDITORIAL: Exploring Sport Psychology in the Discipline of Sports Coaching

Welcome to this special issue of Journal of Applied Sport Psychology dedicated to the psychology of sports coaching. In this editorial, it is our intention to provide some insight into the nature of sports coaching and the complexity inherent within the coaching process. Further, we offer some consideration of the importance of exploring sport psychology in the discipline of sports coaching before outlining the contributions contained within this issue. Finally, this special issue concludes with an editorial epilogue in which we offer some reflections and commentary on the psychology of sports coaching.     

THE STUDY AND TREATMENT OF MOTHERS AND INFANTS,THEN AND NOW: MELANIE KLEIN'S “NOTES ON BABY” IN A CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOANALYTIC CONTEXT

This paper draws on Melanie Klein's (unpublished) observational notes of her infant grandson, written primarily in 1938 and 1939. Apart from moving glimpses into a young family's life, the notes contain astute observations of an infant's behavior and emotions. Compared with Klein's published writings, the style is less theoretical and polemical. Later, in his latency years, Klein's grandson was in analysis with Marion Milner, who in 1952 published a paper drawing on the treatment. The present paper focuses on (1) how observations and treatment of the same child and his family by clinicians in close relationships with each other (Klein, Milner, and Winnicott) fertilized reciprocal influence but also brought into question the validity of Klein's observations, and (2) the relative merits and contributions of various modalities in understanding the infant's psyche, including experimental research, direct observation, parent–infant psychotherapy, and reconstructions from older patients—as occurs, for example, in psychoanalysis.     

ELEMENTARY TEACHERS' BELIEFS ABOUT READING AND KNOWLEDGE OF READING CONTENT: RELATIONSHIPS TO DECISION ABOUT READING OUTCOMES

Relationships between elementary teachers' beliefs about reading, knowledge of basic reading content, and decisions about the importance of students' reading behavior in relation to grade level were examined. Significant correlation coefficients were found for (1) knowledge of reading and reading behavior outcomes focusing on discrimination of sounds represented by consonants and consonant clusters and (2) student‐centered reading beliefs and reading behavior outcomes associated with making conclusions and drawing inferences about stories read. Significant negative correlations were noted for (1) knowledge of reading and outcomes dealing with comprehension of explicitly stated meaning and details in reading passages and (2) student‐centered reading beliefs and all reading outcomes focusing on basic decoding skills and literal comprehension of story information. The best predictor of teachers' identification of important reading behavior outcomes was knowledge of reading content. Reading behavior outcomes differed significantly between primary and intermediate level teachers for recognition of sounds represented by vowels; intermediate teachers gave these higher rankings than did primary teachers. The results indicate that beliefs about reading influence elementary teachers' decisions about the importance of reading outcomes typically taught in the elementary grades. Teachers who hold student‐centered reading beliefs are not likely to value instruction that focuses on decoding.