Summary of Recent Research Projects

2011

 A Guide to IPA Implementation in the Classroom (pdf) 

Investigators: Kristen Davin, Francis J. Troyan, Richard  Donato, and Ashley Hellmann.  This study serves as a guide to help teachers implement the IPA in their own elementary foreign language programs. The Language Educator, August 2011, Volume 6, Issue 4. 

The Role of Feedback in the IPA
This study is a continuation of the Integrated Performance Assessment research conducted by Kristin Davin, Francis Troyan, and Richard Donato in 2010. Research on the Integrated Performance Assessment suggests that the interpretive mode performance needs more attention (Authors, in review; Glisan, Uribe, Adair-Hauck, 2007). In response, this study examines the role of feedback and how it impacts students’ performance on interpretive mode tasks in three combined 4th-5th grade Spanish classrooms.

The Response of Listener-Viewers in Digital Storytelling
Principal Investigator: Rebecca Morris.  Implemented by Barbara Bianco and 4th/5th grade teachers.

The purpose of this research is to study how students respond as listener-viewers to a classroom activity known as “digital storytelling.”  Storytelling in its traditional form is a valuable model for contemporary classroom experiences, with active participation by both teller and listeners.  Digital storytelling is a short, student-made multimedia story with photos or illustrations, music, and/or narration.  Digital storytelling is used in K-12 education to help students develop technology and information literacy skills and content area knowledge. Because much of the literature and practice of digital storytelling emphasizes the creator, or teller, this research examines the response of the “listener-viewers” to explore and support in a digital setting the participation and involvement afforded to audiences of traditional, live storytelling.

Drawing from ethnographic research methods in the K-12 setting, the research design is a participant-observer study of digital storytelling in the technology class setting.  In this study, the students will develop digital storytelling projects in a classroom/library activity that is part of the regular curriculum. This research will help teachers and school librarians develop best practices for teaching and using digital storytelling in the curriculum to support student learning. Rebecca J. Morris, MLIS, rmorris1855@gmail.com

2010

Effects of Word Familiarity on Children's Word Learning from Context

Investigators: Suzanne Adlof, Gwen Frishkoff, & Charles Perfetti.  Children frequently encounter words in text that they have seen or heard before, but whose meanings they do not know. We wanted to know whether children find it easier to learn the meanings of such familiar words compared to completely novel words. To address this question, we began with very rare words that we were fairly certain children had never seen or heard before. Some words were "pre-familiarized" and others were not. Then, children were given opportunities to learn words from context. Results showed that there was a small benefit for words that had been pre-familiarized in four sentences prior to the learning opportunities and that children with higher levels of reading comprehension skill tended to learn more new words, overall. Portions of this work were recently presented at the annual meetings of the Institute for Education Sciences in Washington, D.C. and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in Philadelphia, PA. Follow-up studies are planned that will examine ways to boost children's learning.

Comparison of the Cardio Respiratory Training Responses and Affect between Structured Gym Games and Traditional Aerobic Exercise in Children

Investigators: David White, Laura Hunt.  The purpose of the study is to validate structured physical education games as appropriate exercise for increasing cardio respiratory fitness in children.  A secondary purpose is to determine which exercise elicits a greater (more positive/less negative) mood response.

Group Dynamic Assessment of L2 FLES Students: Tracking Movement through the Zone of Proximal Development

Investigator: Kristin Davin.  This mixed methods study explores the implementation of dynamic assessment in a fourth and fifth grade Spanish classroom. Development of students’ syntactical and functional use of Spanish interrogatives is tracked as students move from mediated to independent performance.  A pre-test is followed by a twelve day dynamic assessment program in which the Spanish teacher offers students mediation in the form of guiding questions and prompts to promote development of interrogative use and formation.  Nine focal students will be chosen based on participation and proficiency levels and all mediation provided by the teacher to these students, directly or indirectly, will be recorded using an observation protocol.  Interaction in three focal groups composed of these nine students will be video-recorded to capture peer mediation.  This twelve-day program is followed by a post-test, near transfer test and far transfer test. Scores on each of these tests will be compared and capture development of interrogative use and formation.  The quantity and quality of mediation provided to each focal student throughout the dynamic assessment program will be compared to test scores as well.

Research on the Integrated Performance Assessment in an Early Foreign Language Learning Program

Investigators: Kristin Davin, Francis Troyan, Richard Donato and Ashley Hellmann.  This study examines the implementation of the Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) in an Early Foreign Language Learning (EFLL) program. The goal of this research was to examine the performance of grade 4 and 5 students of Spanish on the IPA.  Performance across the three communicative tasks is described and modifications to IPA procedures based on the needs of the young learner are presented.  Comparisons of the performance of monolingual and multilingual students and information collected through a student post-IPA survey are also reported.  The researchers argue that in addition to benefits of the IPA to describe student communicative performance, integrate teaching and assessment, and promote standards-based teaching practices, the IPA also has the potential to identify strengths and weaknesses of elementary school foreign language programs.

Down Syndrome Reading Project

Principal Investigator: Dr. Christopher J. Lemons.  Implemented by Deborah Carleton and Brent Lopick.  This study focused on evaluating the effectiveness for children with Down Syndrome of three different programs that have been shown to be effective for children without DS who struggle with reading. The study contributed to a line of research aimed at improving reading intervention for children between the ages of 5 and 17 with DS.  The purpose was to determine the effectiveness of these reading interventions.  Each targeted a different set of skills. 

This study, conducted by Deborah Moncrieff and students from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Communication Science and Disorders, measured dichotic listening skills in elementary school-age children.  The purpose of this study was to obtain normative information from a large cohort of children between the ages of 5 and 18 years on measures that are useful in diagnosing an auditory processing disorder.  Results from the children at the Falk School were included in an invited manuscript submitted as part of a special edition of Brain and Cognition celebrating the 50^th anniversary of dichotic listening tasks.  They will also be part of the full normative database on dichotic listening in children once it is completed.  

2008

Promotion of Physical Activity Using a computer Software Program on BMI and Fitness in Children

Investigators: A.D. Otto, J.M. Jakicic, FACSM, K. Davis, J.L. Unick, C.A. Dutton.  It is important to develop interventions to combat the prevalence of childhood obesity.  Interventions to promote physical activity in children may be an effective approach and warrants further investigation.  The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of school-based intervention that included a computer software program to promote physical activity self-monitoring, goal-setting, and feedback on body mass index(BMI) and cardio respiratory fitness in 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade children compared to a no-treatment control group of children. Abstract published in Obesity Research, 16(1): Supplement

2007-2008

Development and Initial Validity of the Furtado-Gallagher Computerized Observational Movement Pattern Assessment System - FG-COMPASS

Investigators: Ovande Furtado, Jr., Ph.D. and Jere Gallagher, Ph.D.  The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new observational assessment tools to test the qualitative aspects of fundamental movement skill tasks (e.g., skipping, kicking, throwing, etc.) in children 5- to 10-years of age.

2007

Dynamic Assessment in the Classroom: Vygotskian Praxis for L2 Development

Investigators: James Lantolf and Matthew Poehner.  This study, conducted by James Lantolf and Matthew Poehner from The Pennsylvania State University, examined the implementation of group dynamic assessment in a fourth/fifth grade classroom by a Spanish teacher.  This was the first study of its kind to examine group dynamic assessment and dynamic assessment with young language learners.  Publications based on the results of this study have appeared in TESOL Quarterly andLanguage Teaching Research.

What can you remember? Recall of Japanese after a one-year hiatus

Investigators:  Mitsui, A., R. Donato, & G. R. Tucker.  Learning Languages, 12(2), pp. 8 – 12.

2005

Intelligent Errors:Kanji Wriing as Meaning Making for Japanese FLES Learners

Investigators: Mitsui, A., Y. Morimoto, G.R. Tucker, & R. Donato.  Learning Languages 11, 1, 5-12.

2003-2004

Predicted and Actual Exercise Discomfort in Middle School Children

Investigators: Irene Kane, Robert J. Robertson, Carl I. Fertman, Wendell R. McConnaha, Elizabeth F. Nagle, Bruce S. Rabin, and Elaine N. RubinsteinThe purpose of this study was to use a match–mismatch paradigm to examine children’s exercise discomfort during an aerobic shuttle run. Publication of this study is found inMedicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

2003

Looking AcrossTime:  Documenting middle school Japanese FLES students’ attitudes, literacy and oral proficiency

Investigators: Kinen, K, Donato, R., Tucker G.R., and Igarahsi, K.   Learning Languages, vol 8, no. 2, pp. 4-10.

2002

Process Evaluation of a Self-Regulatory Physical Activity Unit in PE

Investigators: Melissa Grim, Brian Hortz and Laura Hunt.  The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and practicality of the unit, as well as to see if the unit changed students' levels of self-regulation.  Manuscript to be submitted to Health Promotion Practice in 2010.

Self-Assessment and the Early Language Learner

Investigators: Wudthayagor, J., Donato, R. Tucker, G.R., & Igarashi, K.  The Journal of Research Methodology, 15 (3): 387-409.

What does a novice look like: Describing the grammar and discourse of young learners of Japanese.

Investigators: Igarashi, K., J. Wudthayagorn, R. Donato, and G. R. Tucker, The Canadian Modern Language Review, vol. 58, no. 4 pp. 526-554.

Effects of Context on Children’s Word Reading Skills
Investigators: Nicole Landi, Charles Perfetti, DJ Bolger, Susan Dunlap, & Barbara Foorman.  This study sought to examine how children learn to read unfamiliar words. Researchers wanted to know if children would learn better when they experienced the words in isolation or when they learned them in context. At the beginning of the study, students read a set of unfamiliar words either in isolation or at the end of a two-sentence context. Two weeks later, students read all words in isolation. Performance at the beginning of the study was better for words read in context. However, at the end of the study, students remembered how to pronounce words they had learned in isolation better than words they had read in context. The effect of improved retention after reading in isolation was larger among readers with lower levels of reading skills. This study was published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology in 2006 (volume 94, p. 114-133).

2000

Differential Linguistic Development in Elementary School Japanese Language LearnersI

Investigators: Antonek, J. L., Donato, R., & Tucker G. R. , Canadian Modern Language Review, vol. 57, no. 2. Pp 325-51.

Attitudes, Achievements, and Instruction in the Later Years of FLES

Investigators: Donato, R., Tucker, G. R., Wudthayagorn, J., & Igarashi, K. Foreign Language Annals. Vol 33, no. 4, pp. 377-93.

1998-2002

Group A Streptococci Among School-Aged Children: Clinical Characteristics and the Carrier State

Investigators: Judith MM. Martin, MD, Micahel Green, MD,MPH, Karen A Barbadora, MT(ASCP), Ellen R. Wald, MD.. A l4-year longitudinal study of school-aged children was conducted to describe the clinical characteristics and epidemiologic features of infections with group A stepococci(GAS).  Publication of this study is found inPediatrics Vol. 114 No. 5 November 2004, pp. 1212-1219.

1996

Documenting a Japanese FLES program: Ambiance and achievement

Investigators: Donato, R., Antonek, J. L.& G. R. Tucker Language Learning, 46(3), 497-528. Recipient of the MLJ/ACTFL Pimsleur award for research in foreign language education, November, 1997

Documenting growth in a Japanese FLES program.

Investigators: Tucker, G. R., Donato, R., & Antonek, J. L. Foreign Language Annals, 29(4), 539-550.

Additional Resources for Researchers and Educators

• http://www.falkschool.pitt.edu/themes/garland/images/menu-leaf.gif); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: 1px 0.35em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Learning Research and Development Center
• http://www.falkschool.pitt.edu/themes/garland/images/menu-leaf.gif); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-position: 1px 0.35em; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">National Association of Laboratory Schools