On the relationship between phonological awareness,morphological awareness and Chinese literacy skills: evidence from an 8‐year longitudinal study

The present study reported data on phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and Chinese literacy skills of 294 children from an 8‐year longitudinal study. Results showed that mainland Chinese children's preliterate syllable awareness at ages 4 to 6 years uniquely predicted post‐literate morphological awareness at ages 7 to 10 years. Preliterate syllable awareness directly contributed to character reading and writing at age 11 years, while post‐literate phonemic awareness predicted only character reading at age 11 years. In addition, preliterate syllable and morphological awareness at ages 4 to 6 years had indirect effects on character reading and writing, reading fluency, and reading comprehension at age 11 years, through post‐literate morphological awareness at ages 7 to 10 years. Findings underscore the significant role of syllable awareness in Chinese character reading and writing, and the importance of morphological awareness in character‐level processing and high‐level literacy skills. More importantly, our results suggest the unique relation of syllable awareness and morphological awareness in Chinese as they focus on the same unit, which is also likely to map directly onto a character, the basic unit for high‐level Chinese reading skills.     

‘Something That Unites Us All’: Understandings of St. Patrick's Day Parades as Representing the Irish National Group

The present study investigates how attendees at national celebratory crowd events—specifically St. Patrick's Day parades—understand the role of such events in representing and uniting the national community. We conducted semi‐structured interviews with people who attended St. Patrick's Day parades in either Dublin or Belfast. In year 1, full‐length interviews were conducted before and after the events (N = 17), and in years 1 and 2, shorter interviews were conducted during the events (year 1 N = 170; year 2 N = 142). Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis, allowing the identification of three broad themes. Participants reported that (i) the events extend the boundary of the national group, using participation to define who counts as Irish; (ii) the events strategically represent the nature of the national group, maximising positive images and managing stereotypical representations; and (iii) symbolism serves to unify the group but can also disrupt already fragile unity and so must be managed. Overall, this points to a strategic identity dimension to these crowd events. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research in terms of the role of large‐scale celebratory events in the strategic representation of everyday social identities. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Influence of dialect use on early reading and spelling acquisition in German-speaking children in Grade 1

During literacy acquisition, children learn to match written and spoken language. Little is known about how this is achieved by children who grow up speaking a dialect. The present study examined literacy-related skills before school in 71 children (mean_age: 7.61y) with a differing degree of exposure to Swiss-German (SwissG) dialect and tested their reading and spelling skills at the end of Grade 1. No differences in Grade 1 reading and spelling were found between groups of children with different SwissG exposure. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) revealed that SwissG exposure was negatively associated with Grade 1 spelling and reading, when statistically controlling for early literacy-related-skills. At the same time, SwissG exposure was positively associated with early literacy-related skills that drive reading and spelling development. Thus, literacy acquisition in children speaking a dialect is characterised by disadvantages due to a linguistic mismatch, but also by compensatory advantages of higher metalinguistic skills.     

Introduction: Egoism,Altruism and Impartiality

The distinction between egoistic and altruistic motivation is firmly embedded in contemporary moral discourse, but harks back too to early modern attempts to found morality on an egoistic basis. Rejecting that latter premise means accepting that others’ interests have intrinsic value, but it remains far from clear what altruism demands of us and what its relationship is with the rest of morality. While informing our duties, altruism seems also to urge us to transcend them and embrace the other-regarding values and virtues constitutive of a good life. This rather wide conception of morality may strike us today as too demanding. At the same time, however, currently popular impartialist accounts of morality can disrupt much everyday altruism in their insistence that each person’s interests are weighed precisely equally. Having sketched this problematic of altruism, the second half of this Introduction outlines the arguments of the four papers and review essay in this collection, each of which, in a different way, negotiates the difficult relationships between egoism, altruism, morality and impartiality. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Effects of Locus of Control on Coalition Formation Among College Females

Past research in coalition formation reveals differing strategies between sexes, and that females tend to follow the Anti-Competitive Theory. The present study tries to show that a theory of coalition formation based solely on sex is inadequate and suggests that personality variables be included in explaining this phenomenon. The personality variable chosen for this study was the locus of control.
Based on their scores on the locus of control scale, 45 college coeds were placed into three categories of triads: externals, mixed and internals. Each subject was in turn assigned weights of 4, 3, and 2 in playing a dice game where they could form alliances or play individually. Results indicated that both the frequency and the pattern of coalitions formed were significantly influenced by locus of control, thus the findings lend support to the basic reasoning of the researchers.