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Engagement with socioscientific issues (SSI) is seen as an important citizenship goal of SSI-based science education. In this experimental study, Dutch students (age 8 to 13) participated in lesson series in which they learned about and discussed SSI, such as issues related to the textile industry and wastewater. Attitudes toward SSI indicating engagement were measured among relatively large experimental (n = 236) and control (n = 192) groups prior to and after the intervention. Multilevel analyses showed a positive effect of SSI-based teaching on collective efficacy and no effects on the other seven attitude components. Furthermore, we investigated whether the effects depended on students' SSI-related resources. Students' profiles for use of sources of knowledge (USK) moderated the effect of condition on self-efficacy and—depending on analysis type—on personal relevance, positive feelings, and collective efficacy. The positive impact occurred mainly for students with low USK. We discuss implications thereof for SSI education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an ongoing debate in higher education about the value of broad programmes versus specialised programmes. Educational professionals argue that students use the space provided by broad programmes to develop interests in diverse domains, while the scope of specialised programmes allows students to converge in interests. The present study investigates whether students enrolled in broad and specialised programmes indeed differ in how their interests develop. To do so, we traced the interest development of 124 Dutch students from their final year in secondary education until the end of their first year in higher education. We used an experience sampling method to measure students' momentary interests over a week and repeated this every three months. For each data collection week, we coded in how many different domains students were interested, and subsequently ran a multigroup, sequential, latent growth curve model. We found that students in broad programmes develop more divergent interests, while students in specialised programmes develop more convergent interests. This shows how students use the space provided by programmes to shape their interests. Our results can help higher education institutes in discussing whether a more diverse or focused curriculum is desirable from a societal and student perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiation and achievement grouping are frequently implemented practices to adapt education to students' varying educational needs based on achievement level. Potential didactical and socioemotional advantages and disadvantages of these practices have been discussed in the literature. However, little is known about the perspective of students themselves. This study examined how Dutch students (N = 428) perceived differentiation and within-class homogeneous achievement grouping in primary mathematics education, with attention for potential differences between students of diverse achievement levels. Students of Grades 1, 3 and 5 completed a questionnaire about various differentiated mathematics activities and (if applicable) within-class achievement grouping. In line with the didactical perspective on differentiation, extended instruction and less difficult tasks were appreciated most by low-achieving students whereas more difficult tasks were appreciated most by high-achieving students. Students of all achievement groups had largely positive attitudes about achievement grouping and about their own achievement group. However, some differences between achievement groups were found, with less favourable results for students placed in low achievement groups. Students' responses to open-ended questions provided additional insights into the reasons behind students' evaluations of differentiation and achievement grouping. Differences between grade levels were also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of being in the high track for secondary school students on cognitive and non-cognitive skill outcomes. Dutch students are assigned to tracks at the end of elementary school based on a test score. We use this test score in a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to exploit the discontinuity in the probability to be assigned to the high track. Our results show that track placement influences cognitive outcomes positively, but leaves students with worse non-cognitive skills. Marginal students therefore face a tradeoff if they could choose the high track over the lower track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic language proficiency, particularly academic writing, appears to be significantly related to academic achievement. The aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between written language proficiency and academic achievement, and to investigate the effects of a remedial academic writing programme. Academic writing was assessed by means of a Diagnostic Writing Test (DWT), administered to 5810 first year undergraduates in a Dutch university. Academic achievement was operationalised in terms of grade point average (GPA) and study credits obtained. One out of five students failed the DWT, even those who had obtained a (largely) sufficient exam mark for Dutch at high school. An additional analysis was conducted among over 300 students, in order to investigate the role of the DWT, as well as of other possible variables which may influence academic achievement (e.g. former training and time investment). Both the DWT and former training appeared to be related to GPA, but not the number of credits. Time-investment was associated with the number of credits obtained and GPA. Remediation appeared to be successful: about 75% of the participants who followed the course were able to convert a 'fail' on the DWT into a 'pass'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined reciprocal influences between student–teacher relationship quality and students' externalizing and internalizing behaviors in secondary education. Our sample included 1,219 secondary school students (49.1% boys; Mage = 13.53, SD = 1.77) from seventh, eighth, tenth, and eleventh grade. Students reported about their externalizing and internalizing behaviors and the quality of the relationships (closeness, conflict) with their Dutch and math teachers at three occasions within one school year. Cross‐lagged path models showed positive reciprocal associations between conflict with the math teacher and externalizing behavior over time. For the Dutch teacher, externalizing behavior positively predicted conflict over time, but not the other way around. Externalizing behavior also negatively predicted closeness with both teachers over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research on the role of race in education focuses on young people with a migrant background. The racial experiences of 'white' children are under-researched, especially in the Netherlands. This article examines whether 'white' Dutch working-class students experience white privilege and if so, how they make use of it as a 'resource' in their school settings. Most studies on 'white' working-class students do not take white privilege into account, and most work on white privilege has inadequately disentangled the impacts of race and social class. The ethnographic findings from a Dutch senior vocational school where the vast majority of students are of colour suggest that the whiteness of working-class 'white' Dutch students may or may not act as a form of white privilege, depending on their interaction with their middle-class teachers. Due to its intersection with social class, white privilege in this setting appeared to be conditional upon meeting teachers' expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dutch are often thought of as direct, verbally aggressive, and argumentative. Yet, evidence for this stereotype is lacking. This study explores argumentative predispositions in the Netherlands. In a survey, Dutch students' (N = 133) argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, argument frames, and conflict personalization were measured. The effects of gender and education were assessed. To explore the role of Dutch culture on argumentativeness, comparisons to U.S. students (benchmark) were made. Overall, Dutch students showed orientations, expectations, and understandings of argumentation as being useful and enjoyable, and seemed to experience argumentation predominantly positive. Males were more aggressive than females, and students in higher professional and university (preparatory) education were more constructive than students in vocational education. In contrast to expectations, Dutch students did not appear more predisposed to argue than U.S. students. Dutch students prioritized prosocial behaviors and professional reflection, thereby tempering aggression in arguing. Thus, argumentativeness is certainly not merely (stereo)typically Dutch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies investigated the effects of errors in German business letters written by Dutch students. Gaining insight into these effects is important since Germany and the Netherlands are one of the largest economically interdependent partnerships. One hundred and fifty-six German professionals rated letters with errors and letters without errors on comprehensibility, attitude toward text, writer organization, and behavioral intention. Errors negatively affected attitude toward text, writer, and organization. The second study investigated whether pragmatic, syntactical, lexical, and morphological errors elicited different effects on the same variables. Pragmatic and syntactical errors aroused negative effects and, therefore, deserve extra attention in class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares three types of dialogues as reflective tools in placement learning: supervisory dialogues (mentor to student-teacher), peer dialogues (student teacher to student teacher) and self-dialogues (student teachers to themselves). Forty-four Dutch student teachers utilised the procedure of guided reflection to talk about their teaching experience. Stimulated recall data were analysed through qualitative and quantitative methods. Most poignant result was that supervisory and peer dialogues seemed to have similar reflective power considering student teacher's practical knowledge and richness of argumentation for appraisals. We suggest more frequent use of peer dialogues. Only when expert advice is needed, should one employ supervisory dialogues. As self-dialogues engendered most rules and resolves, they could arguably be employed for student teachers to consolidate their own knowledge and manage their learning behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in non-native English (NNE) instructors involved in English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education has led to growing concerns about the evaluation of lecturers' NNE accents. Potentially important considerations that have largely been unexplored thus far are the impact of lecturers' accent strength and of shared L1 background between lecturers and students. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how Dutch and German students evaluate Dutch and German lecturers with moderate and slight non-native English accents in terms of speaker competence and likeability, teaching quality and intelligibility. In an experiment, 293 Dutch students and 274 German students evaluated fragments recorded by moderately accented, slightly accented Dutch and German speakers and native English speakers. Findings showed that, generally, lecturers with moderate non-native English accents were evaluated less positively whereas lecturers with slight non native English accents were evaluated similarly to lecturers with native English accents. The Dutch moderately accented speakers were evaluated more positively than the German moderately accented speakers. The findings indicate that it is advisable for NNE lecturers involved in EMI to engage in pronunciation training to minimize features of a moderate non-native accent and that it is important to challenge nonnative students' ideas about pronunciation standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article "The Role of Education in Native Dutch Adolescents Muslim Population Size Perceptions" which appeared in the January 4, 2023 issue.

the Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam recently received a collection of lecture notes from an early 20th century chemistry student by the name of Sybren Postma (1885-1963). Maybe even more interesting are the additional documents that came with these notes. the collection contains newspaper clippings, photos, official documents relating to the Higher Burger School in Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam, and some other publications. these papers tell a story of social mobility and can be read as an example of the alleged role of the Dutch Higher Burger Schools in the schooling of a generation of academics. Postma, from humble descent, was the only child of four to attend the Higher Burger School. After his graduation he matriculated the University of Amsterdam. He managed to get a Ph.D. in Chemistry, but didn't pursue an academic career. Instead, he returned to the hbs as a chemistry teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a longitudinal design, we measured 50 low-achieving adolescents’ reading comprehension development from Grades 7 to 9. There were 24 native Dutch and 26 language minority students. In addition, we assessed the roles of (a) linguistic knowledge, (b) metacognitive knowledge, and (c) reading fluency in predicting both the level and growth of reading comprehension. Students improved in reading comprehension, the language minority students more so than the native Dutch students. We can explain the level of reading comprehension by linguistic and metacognitive knowledge, whereas most fluency-related predictors appeared to be of minor importance. We can hardly explain the growth in reading comprehension by the predictors. Nevertheless, we found a significant interaction indicating that growth in vocabulary explained growth in reading comprehension for the language minority students. This finding seems to suggest that language minority students profit from gains in vocabulary, more so than native students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Ecocentric and Anthropocentric Attitudes toward the Sustainable Development (EAATSD) scale measures environmental concern in relation to sustainable development. This article will discuss how this scale was tested with three groups of Dutch higher education students. Findings demonstrate that anthropocentric and ecocentric values are independent of the students' chosen course of study, suggesting that students attracted by the 'sustainable development' course title do not necessarily associate 'sustainability' with ecocentric aims. This article discusses why ecocentric values are beneficial to the objective of a sustainable society and proposes ways forward in which these values can be enhanced in learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate the relation between high-stakes achievement test scores and students’ patience. I use an experimentally validated measure of time preferences to assess patience in a large sample of Dutch students in secondary school. A one SD increase in the achievement test at the age of 12 predicts 26% of an SD greater level of patience at the age of 15. The results hint at the fact that education can shape preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Little is known about individual differences in adolescents' motivation to achieve and maintain popularity. This study examined the moderating effects of prioritizing popularity on the associations between popularity and adjustment outcomes in late adolescence. Participants were 314 Dutch eleventh-grade students ( M = 16.83 years; 52 % male) who completed measures of popularity, prioritizing popularity, and prosocial, antisocial, and risk behaviors. It was hypothesized that associations between popularity and adjustment outcomes are stronger for adolescents who prioritize popularity. The results indicate that the combination of being popular and valuing popularity was strongly related to antisocial and risk behaviors, but not to prosocial behaviors. Adolescents' social status motivations thus play an important role in the association of popularity with antisocial and risk behaviors in late adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the relationship between ethnic diversity in school and educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences for bi-ethnic students. The focus of this study is bi-ethnic children with 1 non-migrant parent (with 2 non-migrant grandparents) and 1 migrant parent (with 2 foreign grandparents). It was found that the educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences of bi-ethnic students were not related to ethnic diversity. We also focused on the relationship between ethnic diversity in school and educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences for mono-ethnic students to determine whether this relationship is different for bi-ethnic and mono-ethnic students. Whereas the relationship was not significant for mono-ethnic minority students, mono-ethnic majority students’ educational outcomes, social-emotional functioning, and citizenship competences were related to a school’s ethnic diversity. This study indicates that the outcomes and social functioning of bi-ethnic students are not related to attending an ethnically diverse school. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the importance that is attached to flood-risk awareness and preparedness in the Netherlands, Dutch students show low flood-risk perceptions and preparedness intentions. This study focused on evaluating the effectiveness of a flood-risk education program that aimed for the enhancement of 15-year-old students’ flood risk perception as well as their preparedness intentions. The experiment consisted of a pretest/posttest-design with an intervention group and a control group in a particular area in a flood-prone area in the Netherlands. 271 students participated in this study. As expected, the results showed that the intervention caused increases in risk perception while perceptions of fear and trust remained the same. However, preparedness intentions did not change. Strategies to improve flood-risk education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the extent to which collective action frames with certain qualities resonate with protesters. It goes beyond previous research on frame resonance by directly examining the frames that demonstrators use to motivate their participation and by comparing them with the frames of social movement organizations. The data consist of protest surveys from more than 5,000 participants in twenty-nine street demonstrations on various issues in three countries--Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Results show that frames that appeal to people's everyday experiences resonate more than abstract or technical frames do. Also, resonance is higher when blame for the issue is put on a specific person or organization than when intangible forces or causes are held responsible. A comparison of two Dutch student demonstrations illustrates the results. These events were similar in most aspects but differed in framing and the extent to which protesters aligned with the organizers' frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study was to examine the knowledge of caffeine content of a variety of caffeinated beverages among Dutch university students. A pencil-and-paper survey was conducted among N = 800 Dutch students. Most participants (87.8%) reported consuming caffeinated beverages during the past 24 h. Their mean ± SD past 24-h caffeine intake from beverages was 144.2 ± 169.5 mg (2.2 ± 3.0 mg/kg bw). Most prevalent sources of caffeine were coffee beverages (50.8%) and tea (34.8%), followed by energy drink (9.2%), cola (4.7%), and chocolate milk (0.5%). Participants had poor knowledge on the relative caffeine content of caffeinated beverages. That is, they overestimated the caffeine content of energy drinks and cola, and underestimated the caffeine content of coffee beverages. If caffeine consumption is a concern, it is important to inform consumers about the caffeine content of all caffeine containing beverages, including coffee and tea. The current findings support previous research that the most effective way to reduce caffeine intake is to limit the consumption of coffee beverages and tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms have been associated with the decision to become self-employed. Although these symptoms are generally regarded as disadvantageous, there may also be a bright side. To our knowledge, however, there has been no systematic, epidemiological evidence to support this claim. This paper examines the association between ADHD symptoms and self-employment in a population-based sample from the STAGE cohort of the Swedish Twin Registry (N = 7208). For replication, we used a sample of Dutch students who participated in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (N = 13,112). In the Swedish sample, we found a positive association with self-employment for both general ADHD symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.13; 95 % confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-1.23] and hyperactivity symptoms [OR 1.19; 95 % CI 1.08-1.32], whereas no association was found for attention-deficit symptoms [OR 0.99; 95 % CI 0.89-1.10]. The positive association between hyperactivity and self-employment was replicated in the Dutch student sample [OR 1.09; 95 % CI 1.03-1.15]. Our results show that certain aspects of ADHD, in particular hyperactivity, can have a bright side, as they are positively associated with self-employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Grondelaers and Van Hout's statement that "the highest nonvirtual stratum of Belgian Dutch is documented by the speech of Belgian teachers" (2011, p. 219) is put to the test. Using production data from two corpora of contemporary spoken Dutch, mixed models binary logistic regression was carried out, focussing on 11 phonological and morpho-syntactic variables. The results show that teachers indeed use significantly less non-standard variants than other highly educated professionals. Moreover, there is also a difference between teachers of Dutch and teachers of other school subjects. By means of an exploratory content analysis of the sociolinguistic interviews, a few possible explanatory factors are discussed: teacher training, hypocorrection, and a difference in linguistic expectations. Especially the latter factor seems to be in play: teachers feel more pressured to adhere to the standard norm than the informants from the 'laymen' corpus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies on evaluations of non-native English (NNE) accents by non-native listeners have taken into account degrees of accentedness. This study investigated the perception of moderately and slightly accented English by NNE in an educational context. Eight male speakers recorded two fragments of a lecture in English or Dutch. Experts determined the degree of accentedness of the speakers (moderate, slight, native). In an online questionnaire, 163 Dutch students evaluated the fragments. The moderately accented instructors were evaluated as less comprehensible than slightly accented and native instructors. The Dutch and English fragments were considered equally comprehensible. The moderately accented instructors were regarded less positively than the slightly accented and native English instructors. Slightly accented instructors were evaluated as more likeable than the native English instructors and the instructors in the native Dutch fragments. In conclusion, degrees of accentedness in English influence NNE listeners' attitudinal evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In voxel-based morphometry studies of dyslexia, the relation between causal theories of dyslexia and gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume alterations is still under debate. Some alterations are consistently reported, but others failed to reach significance. We investigated GM alterations in a large sample of Dutch students (37 dyslexics and 57 non-dyslexics) with two analyses: group differences in local GM and total GM and WM volume and correlations between GM and WM volumes and five behavioural measures. We found no significant group differences after corrections for multiple comparisons although total WM volume was lower in the group of dyslexics when age was partialled out. We presented an overview of uncorrected clusters of voxels ( p < 0.05, cluster size k > 200) with reduced or increased GM volume. We found four significant correlations between factors of dyslexia representing various behavioural measures and the clusters found in the first analysis. In the whole sample, a factor related to performances in spelling correlated negatively with GM volume in the left posterior cerebellum. Within the group of dyslexics, a factor related to performances in Dutch-English rhyme words correlated positively with GM volume in the left and right caudate nucleus and negatively with increased total WM volume. Most of our findings were in accordance with previous reports. A relatively new finding was the involvement of the caudate nucleus. We confirmed the multiple cognitive nature of dyslexia and suggested that experience greatly influences anatomical alterations depending on various subtypes of dyslexia, especially in a student sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study described the results of an investigation into the effect of an intensive 12-week pronunciation course in British English which 30 Dutch female 1st-year university students of English took. They read out the same text before and after the course. Each student's 'before' and 'after' tests were recorded. Before analysis of their results, students were split up into three groups on the basis of their general starting level: high, intermediate and low. The analysis involved a before- and after comparison of the pronunciation of eleven different phonemes: /æ, ɒ, ɔː, ʌ, ʊ, d, θ/, medial /t/, coda /r/, and syllable-final /d, v/. The analysis was done by means of both auditory and acoustic analysis. Four degrees of success (or lack thereof) were defined. The results show that the consonants required the least effort, as they were already relatively acceptable before the course started. This was true of students in general, regardless of initial starting level. The three levels of students are most distinguishable on the basis of the development of the consonants during the course. The weaker students' consonants in particular benefitted from the course. The research revealed that initial level can be used to predict the trajectory of improvement. A general conclusion is that teachers may recognise types of students before the course starts and subject them to different types of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Interpersonal communication about alcohol influences alcohol consumption, yet evidence is scarce about the content and valence of alcohol-related conversations and how these concepts predict alcohol consumption. Methods: By employing a correlational design among Dutch undergraduate students (N = 133), this study measured alcohol consumption predictors and conversational valence and occurrence regarding three topics (personal alcohol-related experiences; alcohol-related experiences of others; and alcohol-related media messages). Results: Results showed that people talk more often and more positively about (personal) alcohol-related experiences than about alcohol-related media messages. In contrast to media messages, whether and how positively people talk about alcohol-related experiences was related to several alcohol consumption determinants. Conclusions: Health promotion attempts should elicit negative conversations about alcohol-related experiences, thereby resulting in more healthy alcohol consumption predictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To assess the effectiveness of the Healthy School and Drugs (HSD) program for secondary schools on the development of substance use among Dutch early adolescents and to explore whether boys, adolescents of lower educational backgrounds, or adolescents high on personality risk traits, would benefit more from the HSD program than others. Design Randomized clustered trial with two intervention conditions (i.e., lessons and integral) among a general population of adolescents in the Netherlands. Participants A total of 3784 students of 23 Dutch secondary schools. Measurements Structured digital questionnaires were administered pre-intervention and at 8, 20, and 32 months follow-ups. The outcome measure was the rate of change in substance use across follow-ups. Differential effectiveness of the HSD program was examined for sex, educational level, and personality traits. Findings Our results show no HSD intervention effects on the development of substance use. Sex, education level, and personality characteristics of the participants did not moderate the intervention effects. Conclusion The absence of effects of the Healthy School and Drugs program on the development of substance use indicates that the program should be renewed and redeveloped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A factor analytic and a Rasch measurement approach were applied to evaluate the multidimensional nature of the school motivation construct among more than 7,000 Dutch secondary school students. The Inventory of School Motivation (Mclnemey and Ali, 2006) was used, which intends to measure four motivation dimensions (mastery, performance, social, and extrinsic motivation), each comprising of two first-order factors. One unidimensional model and three multidimensional models (4-factor, 8-factor, higher order) were fit to the data. Results of both approaches showed that the multidimensional models validly represented the school motivation among Dutch secondary school pupils, whereas model fit of the unidimensional model was poor. The differences in model fit between the three multidimensional models were small, although a different model was favoured by the two approaches. The need for improvement of some of the items and the need to increase measurement precision of several first-order factors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work was to analyze the knowledge in the field of trans fatty acids (TFAs) and nutritional recommendations related to fats among students at the University of Life Sciences in Warsaw (SGGW) and Wageningen (WUR). The research was done using a questionnaire composed of 16 questions among 194 students from SGGW and WUR in 2012. In Poland 96% and in Holland 89% of students had heard the name "trans fat". More than half of the questionnaire respondents knew industrial sources of TFAs. After comparing the results of the research, in which students succeeded, it was concluded that differences in the level of knowledge were statistically not significant (p<0.05). Eating habits for fatty pastry products representing a potential source of TFAs were similar. WUR students' purchase of pastry products was dependent on price, whereas that of Polish students depended on information and ingredients listed on the package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shape of a word pronunciation time distribution supplies information about the dynamic interactions that support reading performance. Speeded word-naming pronunciation and response time distributions were collected from 20 sixth grade Dutch students with dyslexia and 23 age-matched controls. The participants' pronunciation times were modeled and contrasted with a lognormal inverse power-law mixture distribution. Identical contrasts were also conducted on the same participants' response time distributions derived from flanker, color-naming, and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that children with dyslexia yield slower, broader, and more variable pronunciation time distributions than their age-matched counterparts. This difference approximated a self-similar rescaling between the two group's aggregate pronunciation time distributions. Moreover, children with dyslexia produced similar, but less prominent trends toward slower and more variable performance across the three non-reading tasks. The outcomes support a proportional continuum rather than a localized deficit account of dyslexia. The mixture distribution's success at describing the participants' pronunciation and response time distributions suggests that differences in proportional contingencies among low-level neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive processes likely play a prominent role in the etiology of dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data collection of a cohort study requires making many decisions. Each decision may introduce error in the statistical analyses conducted later on. In the present study, a procedure was developed for estimation of the error made due to the composition of the sample, the item selection procedure, and the test equating process. The math results for 15-year-olds in the Dutch cohort study COOL5–18were used to illustrate how to account for the different sources of error in a cross-cohort analysis. Results showed the error variances to be severely underestimated if they were calculated under the common assumption of a simple random sample. The impact of ignoring error variance clearly manifested when the students' mathematical achievements were examined. Whereas analyses under the assumption of a simple random sample resulted in a significant downward trend in achievement, alternative analyses showed this conclusion not to be solidly supported by the data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Serving the society, cultivating good comprehensive quality talents whom enterprises satisfy is the basic goal of application-oriented universities. Referring to the experience of course project in Dutch universities and based on investigating the demands of many domestic enterprises for talents, the course project's innovative teaching model of electrical and control majors was put forward to meet the enterprise demands. Based on the deep cooperation with enterprises, the idea of innovative teaching model was introduced. Also selecting topic, implementation, assessment method and security system of the course project were researched and carried out. Teaching practice indicated that the innovative teaching model of course project inspired the students ' enthusiasm and passion in study, and it helped to train marketable applied talents for enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance levels of fundamental (i.e., operational and formal) and advanced (i.e., information and strategic) Internet skills and their potential predictors were assessed among a sample of Dutch primary school children. The findings suggest that primary school children possess sufficient levels of fundamental but not advanced Internet skills and, hence, might not be able to make best use of important opportunities the Internet has to offer. Children employed very ineffective and inefficient search strategies and did not combine information to make beneficial decisions. Contrary to previous survey research findings, no performance differences among boys and girls were revealed when using actual performance tests. Training programs to support advanced Internet skills among primary school children should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of a new type of financial incentive in education targeted at regional authorities. Previous studies have focused on financial incentives for students, teachers or schools. We identify the effect by exploiting the gradual introduction of a new policy aimed at reducing school dropout in the Netherlands. The introduction of the policy in 14 out of 39 regions and the use of a specific selection rule for the participating regions allow us to estimate local difference-in-differences models. Using administrative data for all Dutch students in the year before and the year after the introduction of the new policy we find no effect of the financial incentive scheme on school dropout. In addition, we find suggestive evidence for manipulation of outcomes in response to the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether resolving ambiguous pronouns in a second language is guided by the L1 preferences of the learners. Given the fact that the typologically closely related languages, German and Dutch, have both been found to use personal pronouns (German er, Dutch hij; 'he') to refer to topical antecedents, and d-pronouns (German der, Dutch die; 'he')for non-topical co-reference (Ellert 2010; Kaiser 2011; Kaiser and Trueswell 2004), it was asked whether Dutch L2 learners of German would exhibit similar preferences when resolving the two pronominal forms in their L2. This was examined with the visual-world eye-tracking paradigm and an off-line referent assignment task. The results showed differences in resolution patterns: the Dutch learners of German showed an overall topic preference across pronouns which became more target-like at higher proficiency levels. This suggests that L2 information organization cannot be merely explained by L1 influences, but needs to take more general L2 learner effects into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article presents a study of the relationship between narcissism, overt and covert, and seven aspects of boredom, defined as listlessness, drawn out experience of time, depletion, lack of concentration, restlessness, experience seeking, and lack of interest. The survey was conducted using questionnaires administered to 32 men and 177 women. The mean age of male respondents was 30.9 yr. (SD = 11.9), that of female respondents 30.2 yr. (SD = 12.2). In general terms, covert narcissism was found to be positively, and overt narcissism negatively, associated with boredom. The results showed a more complex pattern than was found in previous research into the relationship between narcissism and boredom and suggest that overt and covert narcissism are at opposite ends of the adjustment continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine students' educational attitudes upon the transition to Dutch senior vocational education (SVE), a transition associated with high dropout rates in the first year. Prior studies have identified differences in educational attitudes between sociodemographic groups. However, the mechanisms underlying those differences remain topic of debate: some studies point at differences in the school orientation and support in students' social communities outside school, others focus on differences in educational experiences between sociodemographic groups. Multilevel sequential regression analyses on a diverse sample of 1438 students in urban SVE schools reveal that students have very positive educational attitudes upon their transition to SVE. Ethnic minority students express particularly positive attitudes. School-related encouragement and support at home plays an important role in students' attitudes, but the attitudes of students from lower educated or ethnic minority communities are less related to this support. Prior school experiences play an essential, but occasionally counterproductive, role in students' attitudes upon transition, depicting the transition as a fresh new start for some, and an unwelcome threshold for others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study on the role of L1 transfer of language-specific features of information structure in very advanced L2 learners. Cross-linguistic differences in the information status of clause-initial position in a V2 language like Dutch compared to an SVO language like English are hypothesized to result in overuse of clause-initial adverbials in the writing of advanced Dutch learners of English. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating advanced Dutch EFL learners' use of clause-initial adverbials in a syntactically annotated longitudinal corpus of student writing, compared to a native reference corpus. Results indicate that Dutch EFL learners overuse clause-initial adverbials of place as well as addition adverbials that refer back to an antecedent in the directly preceding discourse. Although there is a clear development in the direction of native writing, transfer of information structural features of Dutch can still be observed even after three years of extended academic exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even very advanced EFL writing tends to be less sophisticated than native writing. One of the problems seems to be finding the right collocations and the correct register. The aim of this article is to pinpoint what characterizes the development in very advanced Dutch EFL students' written language production. We discuss the development of students' ability to use appropriate intensifiers. Compared to their native English speaking contemporaries, the Dutch students initially tend to use intensifiers that are found typically in spoken English, such as really and a bit, but they gradually replace them by modifiers more suitable to academic writing. It is argued that the use of appropriate intensifiers can be seen to be a measure of advancedness and hence be used as a criterion in the assessment of advanced EFL writing quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Among 36 ethnic-Dutch school teachers in the Netherlands, the present study examined the role of ethnic incongruence in perceived student–teacher relationship quality. Teachers rated their relationships with 59 Turkish-Dutch, 62 Moroccan-Dutch, and 109 ethnic-Dutch students attending grades 4 through 6 (M age =10.81years, SD =1.05). On average, relationships were less favorable for the Moroccan-Dutch students only. However, the effects of ethnic incongruence were most pronounced among students with strong perceived inattention/hyperactivity and among teachers endorsing lower levels of multiculturalism (the view that different cultures deserve equal treatment). Results support the notion that ethnically incongruent relationships may be perceived as less favorable than ethnically congruent ones due to cultural misunderstandings and intergroup bias. Practical implications are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article investigates the transfer of verb-second syntax (V2) from L1 German and Dutch into L2 English. A comparative learner corpus analysis between L1 German, Dutch and French, and native English writing reveals that the German and Dutch speakers produce distinct patterns of inversion in declarative clauses, indicating the transfer of V2. They produce non-target subject–auxiliary inversion and copula inversion. However, other reflexes of V2 in interrogatives or with sentential negation are not produced. This is analysed as evidence that the German and Dutch learners have mastered the syntax of English but transfer continues to occur at the level of discourse-pragmatics, where L1 preferences for topicalization structures continue to transfer. This is in line with predictions of the Interface Hypothesis in second language acquisition, which assumes that the interfaces of syntax with other modules of the grammar are more difficult to acquire and may continue to show L1 effects even after the narrow syntax has been mastered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that adolescent readers differ in their ‘online’ processing of literary texts. Differences were found in the extent to which these readers performed certain (meta)cognitive and affective activities while reading literary texts. However, readers might also differ in flexibility; that is, in the extent to which they vary their activities during reading. In this study we examined whether good and poor adolescent readers differ in flexibility. Nineteen Dutch students (ten known as good, nine known as poor literature readers) each read five stories while thinking aloud. Think aloud transcripts were analysed for the reading activities students performed. We used a multilevel model to estimate the mean changes in occurrence of activities during reading, as well as the variances between readers and stories. Results indicated that good readers were more flexible: they tended to change their reading activities both within and between stories, whereas poor readers showed more static patterns of response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the extent to which productive use of formulaic sequences by intermediate students of two typologically different languages, i.e., English and Spanish, is associated with their oral proficiency in these languages. Previous research (e.g., Boers et al., Language Teaching Research 10: 245-261, 2006) has shown that appropriate use of formulaic sequences helps learners of English come across as fluent and idiomatic speakers. The evidence from the present study, which was conducted with the participation of Dutch-speaking students of English and Spanish, confirms that finding, as oral proficiency assessments based on re-tell tasks correlated positively with the number of formulaic sequences the students used in these tasks. The correlations were strongest in the English language samples, however. It seems that the greater incidence of morphological-inflectional errors in our participants' spoken Spanish dampens the contribution that using formulaic sequences tends to make to their oral proficiency (as perceived by our assessors). The findings are discussed with reference to typological differences between L1 and L2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distinction between quantitative and qualitative differences in mastery is essential when monitoring student progress and is crucial for instructional interventions to deal with learning difficulties. Mixture item response theory (IRT) models can provide a convenient way to make the distinction between quantitative and qualitative differences in mastery. The use of latent groups, rather than focusing on manifest groupings like gender or grade, in these models is very informative to give a substantive interpretation to the qualitative differences. In the current study, mixture IRT modeling is applied to the mastery of two crucial rules in vowel duration spelling in Dutch by pupils in the four final grades of primary school. Results indicate that differences in mastery of the spelling rules are not strictly quantitative. Three latent groups of pupils can be distinguished that show qualitative differences in the mastery of one of the crucial spelling rules involved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Children from Asian countries score higher on early years’ arithmetic tests than children from Europe or the United States of America. An explanation for these differences may be the way numbers are named. A clear ten-structure like in the Korean language method leads to a better insight into numbers and arithmetic skills. This assumption forms the basis of the current study. Examined is whether an intervention with number naming in the Korean way influences number awareness of students with mild intellectual disabilities (N =70; mean age: 9.0 years). The results indicate a positive effect of this alternative method of number naming on the insight into numbers up to 20. However, the effect did not generalize to insight into numbers 21–100. The Korean method of number naming seems to be a promising way to teach students with mild intellectual disabilities insight into numbers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Grade two through six elementary school Dutch children were asked to perform a lexical decision task including 90 pseudowords constructed by changing one or two letters in a Dutch word. Subsequently, the children were asked about the meaning of pseudowords they had not crossed out and that they, apparently, had considered to be words. Multiple regression analyses on the lexical decision task showed that the older children were more hindered by the morphemic structure of a pseudoword than by its orthographic neighbors. The younger children, in contrast, were less hindered by the morphemic structure of a pseudoword and more hindered by its orthographic neighbors. Word length was a (small) predictor only for grade 6. Moreover, the answers of the children reflected that in their construction of meanings for the pseudowords they were hindered both by the morphemic structure and by the orthographic neighbors of the pseudowords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]