Browsing by Author "Cozens, Merle E."
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Item Fostering the Self-Esteem of Children with Reading Difficulties: A Christian Approach(1999-01-01) Cozens, Merle E.This paper seeks to promote a Christian approach to nurturing the self-esteem and improving the academic performance of children with reading difficulties. First, research findings concerning some of the causes and consequences of reading failure will be discussed in more detail. The next section of the paper will briefly discuss some of the implications of the secular humanist approach to improving student performance through the enhancement of self-esteem, before outlining principles for nurturing self-esteem and improving academic performance, which are consistent with a Christian worldview. This will be followed by a brief description of a research project, based on Christian principles, which was designed to improve the reading performance of poor readers at upper primary level.
Item God's Word, Students, and Christian Classrooms: The Why and How(2022-12-29) Cozens, Merle E.; Fisher, Barbara J.With ready access to God’s Word, it is challenging and disturbing to read research declaring “that only two in ten Aussie Christians read their Bible daily” (Hughes and Pickering, 2010, para. 1) and see census data showing that Christianity is declining in the community, especially among 18-25-year-olds (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022). Blair (2016) contends that our culture has become biblically illiterate, lacking basic biblical knowledge. Because Christian education is predicated on God’s Word, Christian schools are in a unique position to contribute to efforts to reverse the current trend of biblical illiteracy. In this chapter, we define biblical literacy and discuss why it is important in contemporary Australian society. We then outline why biblical literacy is such an important aspect of a student’s education in a Christian classroom and consider how Christian teachers can be positively engaged in this journey and quest with their students. Finally, we describe practical ideas, scenarios, and examples of biblical literacy programs currently available in Australia and the South Pacific region.
Item Look-Say-Cover-Write-Say-Check and Old Way/New Way - Mediational Learning: A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Tutoring Programs for Children with Persistent Spelling Difficulties(2007-01-01) Greive, Cedric; Cozens, Merle E.; Fisher, BarbaraThe goal of this research was to compare the effectiveness of the Look-Say-Cover-Write-Say-Check and Old Way/New Way Mediational Learning approaches to spelling remediation. Prior to commencing the research program, selected third and fourth year Bachelor of Education (Primary) pre-service teachers were trained by the first author in tutoring methods in both spelling remediation approaches. Participants consisted of 25 students, ages 7-12, from local community schools, who were randomly allocated to one of the two treatment conditions. The program involved one-on-one tutoring by the trained pre-service teachers, under the mentorship of the first author. Statistical analysis of the pre- and post-test results indicated significant improvement for both groups, but one method did not emerge as superior to the other.
Item The Effectiveness of a Metacognitive Approach to Teaching Word Identification Skills to Upper Primary Poor Readers(2002-01-01) Robinson, Gregory L.; Cozens, Merle E.This study assessed the effectiveness of a metacognitive approach to developing word identification skills in upper primary poor readers. Subjects in one group were given instruction in metacognitive word identification strategies, within a reciprocal teaching format. Subjects in the other group used traditional methods of word identification within a reciprocal teaching format. There were four instructional groups involved (two for subjects in study group one and two for subjects in study group two), with seven to nine students in each group. The subjects were 32 poor readers in Years 5 and 6 who had discrepancies of /8 months or more between their chronological ages and their reading ages. Results indicated that a combination of metacognitive word identification strategies and a reciprocal teaching format was clearly more effective than traditional methods ofword identification within a reciprocal teaching format.[from article]