Kebutuhan Mahasiswa Asing KNB (Kemitraan Negara Berkembang) dalam Pembelajaran BIPA Di UPT Bahasa UNS Surakarta (The Needs of Foreign Students in BIPA Learning at UPT Bahasa UNS Surakarta)

This study aims to describe the needs of foreign students in BIPA learning at UPT Bahasa UNS Surakarta. The subjects of this study were foreign students of the KNB program (Developing Country Partnership). Data collection with questionnaires, interviews and documentation. The results of the study show that in general foreign students consider BIPA learning to be very helpful in academic fluency and communication. In addition, for foreign students BIPA learning also integrates Indonesian culture and language so that they consider the introduction of Indonesian culture to make it easier to learn Indonesian.

Some Challenges in Using Computer-Aided Translation Tools to Facilitate Second Language Fluency in Education

At every level of education, from early years to postgraduate, students can arrive in the UK (or US) classroom with little or no English language ability. It is impossible for teachers to have knowledge of every first language that students bring into the classroom and thus they may rely on a computer-aided translation tool so that their students can have access to the English needed in all subjects across the curriculum. At the same time, students need to move from basic English skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing towards the subtleties of academic English which they must achieve in order to reach the UK government’s required standards in English at every level of assessment. Using her extensive knowledge of the challenges that students learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) and their teachers face in the classroom situation and the English needed in assessments, the author examines possible benefits of computer-aided translation tools such as Google Translate and Talking Pen and outlines some of the problems and drawbacks with such tools that create barriers to acquiring full academic fluency, thus posing challenges to future translation tool developers.

Meta-Analysis and Quality of Self-Monitoring Behavior Interventions with Children and Adolescents

Self-monitoring is an intervention that has been used for decades to improve academic fluency in reading, mathematics, spelling, and promote strategies for solving problems, and increasing attention to task and decreases off-task related behaviors. There have been a few reviews of self-monitoring on the variables listed previously, but only one examined study quality and no meta-analysis of self-monitoring behavior (versus academic tasks) has been undertaken. The purpose of this review was to conduct a meta-analysis of the 20 studies that focused on self-monitoring behavior and apply the Council for Exceptional Children’s eight quality indicators. Results from standard mean difference, improvement rate difference, and Tau-U effect size calculations were all in the effective range. Implications for practice are presented.

Role of Neurocognitive Factors in Academic Fluency for Children and Adults With Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele

Objectives: Fluency is a major problem for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, including fluency deficits for academic skills. The aim of this study was to determine neurocognitive predictors of academic fluency within and across domains of reading, writing, and math, in children and adults, with and without spina bifida. In addition to group differences, we expected some neurocognitive predictors (reaction time, inattention) to have similar effects for each academic fluency outcome, and others (dexterity, vocabulary, nonverbal reasoning) to have differential effects across outcomes. Methods: Neurocognitive predictors were reaction time, inattention, dexterity, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning; other factors included group (individuals with spina bifida, n=180; and without, n=81), age, and demographic and untimed academic content skill covariates. Univariate and multivariate regressions evaluated hypotheses. Results: Univariate regressions were significant and robust (R2=.78, .70, .73, for reading, writing, and math fluency, respectively), with consistent effects of covariates, age, reaction time, and vocabulary; group and group moderation showed small effect sizes (<2%). Multivariate contrasts showed differential prediction across academic fluency outcomes for reaction time and vocabulary. Conclusions: The novelty of the present work is determining neurocognitive predictors for an important outcome (academic fluency), within and across fluency domains, across population (spina bifida versus typical), over a large developmental span, in the context of well-known covariates. Results offer insight into similarities and differences regarding prediction of different domains of academic fluency, with implications for addressing academic weakness in spina bifida, and for evaluating similar questions in other neurodevelopmental disorders. (JINS, 2019, 25, 249–265)

The Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement Provides Too Many Scores for Clinical Interpretation

The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement, Fourth Edition (WJ IV ACH) is purported to align with Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory and offers upward of 20 scores within its interpretive and scoring system. The Technical Manual does not furnish validity evidence for the scores reported by the scoring system, suggesting that evidentiary support may be incomplete. Exploratory bifactor analysis (EBFA; maximum likelihood extraction with a bigeomin [orthogonal] rotation) was applied to the two school-aged correlation matrices at ages 9 to 19. Results indicated nonalignment with CHC theory and do not support the interpretation of most of the scores suggested by the scoring system. Instead, the results of this study suggest that the loading patterns diverge significantly from the interpretive system produced by the WJ IV ACH. Only the academic fluency and academic knowledge clusters emerged following the use of EBFA. Implications for clinical interpretation of the WJ IV ACH are offered.

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Predicts Academic Fluency, Beyond Contributions of Core Academic Skills, Attention, and Motor Speed

Objective: Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) is a distinct behavioral phenotype characterized by such symptoms as being slow to complete tasks, appearing drowsy or sleepy, and lacking initiative. Subcomponents of SCT appear differentially associated with inattention symptoms and child outcomes. Much of the work in this area has examined associations between SCT symptoms and ratings of behavior; few studies have examined associations with child performance. Method: We examined associations between SCT and timed reading and math skills in 247 referred youth ( M age = 11.55, range = 6-20; 67.6% male), controlling for the untimed academic skills, inattention, and graphomotor speed. Results: SCT consistently predicted timed academic fluency, after controlling for other component skills, for both reading (SCT Δ R2 = .039, p = .001) and math (Δ R2 = .049, p = .001). Conclusion: Results provide initial evidence for the unique association of SCT with timed academic performance. Understanding associations of SCT with actual child performance may allow for greater specificity in targeting interventions to address speed of performance.