No abstract

Recently, the use of timeout rooms has been questioned by various agencies, and some have adopted policies that prohibit or greatly restrict exclusionary timeout. The present study developed a timeout procedure that did not require removal of the misbehaver from the learning environment. The procedure was applied to the disruptive behaviors of five severely retarded children in an institutional special-education classroom. An observer prompted all teacher behaviors related to the procedures to assure their precise implementation. After baseline, a reinforcement-only condition was implemented. Each child was given a different colored ribbon to wear as a tie and received edibles and praise every few minutes for good behavior and for wearing the ribbon. When timeout was added, a child's ribbon was removed for any instance of misbehavior and teacher attention and participation in activities ceased for three minutes or until the misbehavior stopped. Reinforcement continued at other times for appropriate behavior. An ABCBC reversal design was used to demonstrate control of the behavior by the conditions applied. On average, the children misbehaved 42% and 32% of the time during the baseline and reinforcement conditions respectively but only 6% of the time during the timeout conditions. A followup probe during the new school year revealed that the teacher was able to conduct the procedure independently and that the children's disruptive behaviors were maintained at low levels. The practicality and acceptability of the procedure were supported further by the successful implementation of the procedure by a teacher in another state and by responses to a questionnaire given to 40 mental health professionals. The ribbon procedure appears to be a viable form of timeout, provided that disruptive behaviors during timeout can be tolerated within the setting, or a backup procedure such as exclusionary timeout is available when needed.

This article examines how a refugee-background student of Somali Bantu heritage employs linguistic resources to make sense of his experience with forced migration, resettlement, and formal education. Much of the educational research on refugee-background students (and other groups of English learners) propagates a deficit orientation in which educational gaps and challenges, rather than educational resources and potential, are the central focus. In contrast, this student's written and oral narratives construct a different identity, reframing his experience in terms of asset rather than deficit. Our discussion of asset discourse focuses on three central themes: agency, critical awareness, and contribution. This analysis suggests broader implications for research in educational linguistics and related fields.

This article draws from practitioners’ experience and from scholarship in a variety of disciplines to construct a rationale for incorporating what we call “critical roleplay” in the English-for-academic-purposes (EAP) classroom. We discuss the historical significance of role-play in TESOL and explore why this type of pedagogy has become less prominent in scholarship from recent decades. We argue for a new direction in role-play pedagogy that foregrounds critical thinking as essential to academic literacy. We describe several role-play activities that were successfully implemented in college-level EAP classes to demonstrate that academic role-play can be both cognitively challenging and linguistically relevant.

This study examines the role of family in the college transition process for students with refugee backgrounds in New England (United States). Extant research finds that the investments immigrant and refugee families make in their children's education are often overlooked, and that the family is sometimes seen an educational obstacle, rather than an asset. Using the framework of familial capital, with a focus on narratives of agency, this study offers a counter-story to such discourse, highlighting numerous ways that families have contributed to their children's educational goals, decisions, and achievements. Analysis of student interviews reveals how families cultivate aspiration and resilience, remove barriers to educational success, and empower their children to serve as agents of change. These strategies and decisions represent a sustained commitment to educational access and achievement-one which must be acknowledged as part of a culturally relevant curriculum. Findings from this study have relevance for practitioners in both secondary and postsecondary settings and suggest possibilities for future research into the role of family and community in students' educational decision-making processes.Educational research has long established that familial expectations and behaviors play an important role in students' transitions to postsecondary education (e.g., Hossler, Schmit & Vesper, 1999;McCarron & Inkelas, 2006). Parents and other family members not only assist with logistics such as applications and campus visits, they also help to instill and reinforce educational attitudes, values, and behaviors (McCarron & Inkelas, 2006;Perna & Titus, 2005). Of course, the nature of these familial investments varies according to family background. Research has found that for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, familial involvement is often indirect and takes place largely in the home and co-ethnic community, rather than at school (e.g., Farah, 2015;Vald es, 1996;Wilkinson, Santoro, & Major, 2017). These forms of familial involvement often remain invisible to school staff, who may assume that those students' families are not interested or invested in their children's education (Auerbach, 2006;Roy & Roxas, 2011). A number of scholars have highlighted the need, therefore, for a broader and more culturally relevant conception of the family's contributions to educational success (e.g., Davis-Kean, 2005; Yosso, 2005). Attention to these forms of contribution-what many scholars call "familial capital"-deepens our understanding of educational processes and outcomes, and also offers a counter-story to discourses that construct certain families as an obstacle, rather than an asset, in the educational process, including the transition to higher education (Gofen, 2009; Yosso, 2005).