Kevin Wheldall
Biographic Data
| ID | 2746262 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kevin Wheldall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kevin |
| FAMILY NAME | Wheldall |
| SIGNATURE | WHELDALL K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Birmingham |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9449-4579 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A validation study of the Martin and Pratt nonword reading test
The Martin and Pratt Nonword Reading Test (‘Martin & Pratt’) is an Australian-normed assessment of nonword reading accuracy. The current study was conducted to examine whether this test still validly and accurately estimates the decoding skills of primary school-aged children, despite its norms having been collected in 1996. To address these questions, reading assessment data were collected from 176 Australian students (3 independent schools) fro…
Factors contributing to reading comprehension in children with varying degrees of word-level proficiency
The present study was conducted to explore how the relationships between reading comprehension constructs change according to word reading accuracy, as measured in a large convenience sample ( n = 857) of school-aged students (Years 3–6) with reading difficulties. Multiple regression analyses containing interaction variables were conducted, to determine whether word reading accuracy moderated the relationships between the dependent variable (i.e.…
Use of early word-reading fluency measures to predict outcomes on the Phonics Screening Check
Teachers in England and South Australia annually administer the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) to Year 1 students, with the purpose of identifying struggling readers. Students who do not meet the score threshold have not met the expected standard of word-decoding ability, meaning further support may be warranted. We sought to quantify the extent to which other early reading measures, such as the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Nonwords (WARN) and W…
A Conceptual Framework for Remedial Reading Instruction for Low-Progress Early Readers in Malaysian
This paper describes a conceptual framework for developing reading instruction in the Malay language for low-progress early readers in Year One who have not responded adequately to the traditional method of reading instruction in schools. Scientific knowledge on reading and reading disabilities is reviewed and forms the basis for informing this conceptual framework. This framework is aligned to the structure of the Malay language and is also base…
Differential teacher attention to boys and girls in the classroom
For over 30 years, there has been a continuing concern with differential teacher attention to boys and girls in the classroom. In this article, we review themes and issues in gender and classroom interaction. The evolving theoretical perspectives on gender inequality are discussed and the pertinent empirical evidence is reviewed. The influence of feminism on the way classroom interactions between teachers and their students have been interpreted …
Does the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (Iceq) Measure Classroom Climate
Data from 1,467 high school students in New South Wales schools on the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ) were analyzed using multilevel variance components models to derive intraclass correlations to determine the degree to which ICEQ scores may validly be said to measure aspects of classroom climate as against individual student attitude. The results showed that the class variable accounted for large and noteworthy propor…
An Evaluation of Reading Recovery
Les AA. ont evalue l'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture dans dix ecoles primaires de la Nouvelle Galles de Sud. Repartis en deux groupes (reeducation en lecture et situation controle), les eleves en difficulte de lecture ont effectue des tests de competences a plusieurs reprises. L'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture n'est alors plus aussi pertinente
Discipline in School: Psychological Perspective on the Elton Report
The Effects of Pupil Self‐recording of On‐task Behaviour on Primary School Children
Two studies are reported on the effects of pupil self‐recording of on‐task behaviour in primary school classes. In the first (pilot) study an ABA design was employed with a third year junior class in self‐recording their on‐task behaviour. In the second study, a multiple baseline design was employed with second, third and fourth year junior classes. In both studies there was clear evidence for the effectiveness of self‐recording in improving on‐t…
The Effects of Limited Private Reprimands and Increased Private Praise on Classroom Behaviour in Four British Secondary School Classes
Four secondary school teachers were systematically observed teaching four different classes. Measures of class on-task behaviour and teacher use of praise and reprimand were made during each observation session. Following baseline observations, two teachers were asked first to decrease their use of reprimands and to make them more private and then to increase their use of private praise. The other two teachers were asked first to increase their u…
Pitch alterations in British motherese: Some preliminary acoustic data
Speech samples from eight British female adults addressing young children and another adult were analysed in terms of vocal pitch. Increases in vocal pitch when addressing young children were observed but were smaller than the increases noted by North American researchers, and variability across speakers was marked. Some adults only slightly raised their vocal pitch to young children. Pitch increases were generally more marked for mean as against…
Waiting for Teacher: The frequency and duration of times children spend waiting for teacher attention in infant school classrooms
Following preliminary pilot studies, an observational study was carried out on the amount of time infant school children spend waiting for teacher attention during seatwork. This involved teachers and children in 20 infant classes. Each class was observed on four occasions and the number of children signalling and waiting for help was noted at the end of each successive minute. In addition, the length of time individual children spent waiting was…
Natural Rates of Teacher Approval and Disapproval in British Secondary School Classrooms
S ummary . A sample of 130 secondary school teachers was systematically observed teaching mixed classes varying in age from 11 to 16 years. The OPTIC schedule was employed to record teachers' rates of approving and disapproving responses and the amount of time pupils spent on‐task. Although rates of approval were generally higher than disapproval rates, most of the approval was directed at academic pupil behaviours whereas most of the disapproval…
Classroom Behaviour Problems which Secondary School Teachers say they find most Troublesome
A questionnaire survey of 251 British secondary school teachers was carried out based on a stratified random sample of secondary schools in a West Midlands education authority. The questionnaire aimed to determine the types and frequency of troublesome classroom behaviours. The results showed that 55% of teachers responding claimed that they spent too much time on problems of order and control. Two behaviours, ‘talking out of turn’ and ‘hindering…
Natural Rates of Teacher Approval and Disapproval in British Primary and Middle School Classrooms
S ummary . The classroom behaviour of 128 British primary and middle school teachers was observed using a schedule (OPTIC) designed to record the frequency of use of approving and disapproving responses. Whilst the teachers observed tended to use more approval than disapproval, a high proportion of this was in response to children's academic behaviour. In contrast, whilst children were rarely commended for appropriate conduct, they were frequentl…
Young black children's sentence comprehension skills: A comparison of performance in standard English and Jamaican Creole
A sample of 22 black children attending an inner city nursery school were assessed on a test of sentence comprehension in two forms: (a) Standard English and (b) Jamaican Creole. Order of presentation of test forms was balanced. The results showed that this sample of young black children performed significantly better on the Creole version than on the Standard English version. This was particularly pronounced for certain sentence structures
The Behavioural Approach to Teaching Package (Batpack): An Experimental Evaluation
S ummary . An experimental study is described which was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a new in‐service package for training teachers in the behavioural approach to teaching (BATPACK). Teachers from two primary schools were observed (each one on three separate occasions) both before and after one of the groups received BATPACK training. The teachers in the control group received two handouts and a seminar on the behavioural approach. I…
Pronunciation, intonation and sentence comprehension: A comparison of young children from Afro-Caribbean and indigenous culture backgrounds
The ‘Bottles Test’: A Quick, Convenient, Alternative Procedure for Assessing Conservation of Liquid Quantity
S ummary . A sample of 40 six‐ to seven‐year‐old children were tested for conservation of liquid quantity using traditional Piagetian procedures involving pouring to achieve the transformations. These results were then compared with those subsequently obtained using an alternative procedure in which sealed bottles were inverted to achieve similar transformations. Very high correlations between the results of the two procedures were obtained for b…
Conservation without conversation? An alternative, non‐verbal paradigm for assessing conservation of liquid quantity
A non‐verbal paradigm for assessing conservation based on an operant discrimination learning procedure is described. Children were trained to press a button when shown two jars containing equal amounts of water and to refrain from pressing when the amounts were unequal. In this way children were taught to respond to a non‐verbal request by wordlessly signalling their evaluation of the relationship between two quantities. When criterion was reache…
On Presenting Pictures and Sentences: The Effect of Presentation Order on Sentence Comprehension in Normal and Mentally Handicapped Children
Thirty‐nine normal pre‐school and 48 older ESN(S) children of similar vocabulary age were tested on a sentence comprehension test under three different presentation conditions. The test requires the child to demonstrate his comprehension of spoken sentences by pointing appropriately to one of three or four alternative visual referents. In the first condition the pictures were presented prior to the stimulus sentence, in the second the pictures an…
The Effect of Intonational Emphasis on Sentence Comprehension in Severely Subnormal and Normal Children
The effect of intonational emphasis on the sentence comprehension of severely subnormal and normal pre-school children was investigated by stressing the critical elements of sentences of varying syntactic structure. The results concurred with previous work insofar as intonational emphasis did not facilitate comprehension. There was, however, some evidence to show that intonational emphasis may have a detrimental effect on the subnormal child's co…
An Evaluation of Reading Recovery
Les AA. ont evalue l'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture dans dix ecoles primaires de la Nouvelle Galles de Sud. Repartis en deux groupes (reeducation en lecture et situation controle), les eleves en difficulte de lecture ont effectue des tests de competences a plusieurs reprises. L'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture n'est alors plus aussi pertinente
Classroom Behaviour Problems which Secondary School Teachers say they find most Troublesome
A questionnaire survey of 251 British secondary school teachers was carried out based on a stratified random sample of secondary schools in a West Midlands education authority. The questionnaire aimed to determine the types and frequency of troublesome classroom behaviours. The results showed that 55% of teachers responding claimed that they spent too much time on problems of order and control. Two behaviours, ‘talking out of turn’ and ‘hindering…
The Effects of Pupil Self‐recording of On‐task Behaviour on Primary School Children
Two studies are reported on the effects of pupil self‐recording of on‐task behaviour in primary school classes. In the first (pilot) study an ABA design was employed with a third year junior class in self‐recording their on‐task behaviour. In the second study, a multiple baseline design was employed with second, third and fourth year junior classes. In both studies there was clear evidence for the effectiveness of self‐recording in improving on‐t…
The Effects of Limited Private Reprimands and Increased Private Praise on Classroom Behaviour in Four British Secondary School Classes
Four secondary school teachers were systematically observed teaching four different classes. Measures of class on-task behaviour and teacher use of praise and reprimand were made during each observation session. Following baseline observations, two teachers were asked first to decrease their use of reprimands and to make them more private and then to increase their use of private praise. The other two teachers were asked first to increase their u…
Natural Rates of Teacher Approval and Disapproval in British Primary and Middle School Classrooms
S ummary . The classroom behaviour of 128 British primary and middle school teachers was observed using a schedule (OPTIC) designed to record the frequency of use of approving and disapproving responses. Whilst the teachers observed tended to use more approval than disapproval, a high proportion of this was in response to children's academic behaviour. In contrast, whilst children were rarely commended for appropriate conduct, they were frequentl…
The Effect of Intonational Emphasis on Sentence Comprehension in Severely Subnormal and Normal Children
The effect of intonational emphasis on the sentence comprehension of severely subnormal and normal pre-school children was investigated by stressing the critical elements of sentences of varying syntactic structure. The results concurred with previous work insofar as intonational emphasis did not facilitate comprehension. There was, however, some evidence to show that intonational emphasis may have a detrimental effect on the subnormal child's co…
On Presenting Pictures and Sentences: The Effect of Presentation Order on Sentence Comprehension in Normal and Mentally Handicapped Children
Thirty‐nine normal pre‐school and 48 older ESN(S) children of similar vocabulary age were tested on a sentence comprehension test under three different presentation conditions. The test requires the child to demonstrate his comprehension of spoken sentences by pointing appropriately to one of three or four alternative visual referents. In the first condition the pictures were presented prior to the stimulus sentence, in the second the pictures an…
Conservation without conversation? An alternative, non‐verbal paradigm for assessing conservation of liquid quantity
A non‐verbal paradigm for assessing conservation based on an operant discrimination learning procedure is described. Children were trained to press a button when shown two jars containing equal amounts of water and to refrain from pressing when the amounts were unequal. In this way children were taught to respond to a non‐verbal request by wordlessly signalling their evaluation of the relationship between two quantities. When criterion was reache…
Pronunciation, intonation and sentence comprehension: A comparison of young children from Afro-Caribbean and indigenous culture backgrounds
The ‘Bottles Test’: A Quick, Convenient, Alternative Procedure for Assessing Conservation of Liquid Quantity
S ummary . A sample of 40 six‐ to seven‐year‐old children were tested for conservation of liquid quantity using traditional Piagetian procedures involving pouring to achieve the transformations. These results were then compared with those subsequently obtained using an alternative procedure in which sealed bottles were inverted to achieve similar transformations. Very high correlations between the results of the two procedures were obtained for b…
The Behavioural Approach to Teaching Package (Batpack): An Experimental Evaluation
S ummary . An experimental study is described which was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a new in‐service package for training teachers in the behavioural approach to teaching (BATPACK). Teachers from two primary schools were observed (each one on three separate occasions) both before and after one of the groups received BATPACK training. The teachers in the control group received two handouts and a seminar on the behavioural approach. I…
Young black children's sentence comprehension skills: A comparison of performance in standard English and Jamaican Creole
A sample of 22 black children attending an inner city nursery school were assessed on a test of sentence comprehension in two forms: (a) Standard English and (b) Jamaican Creole. Order of presentation of test forms was balanced. The results showed that this sample of young black children performed significantly better on the Creole version than on the Standard English version. This was particularly pronounced for certain sentence structures
Natural Rates of Teacher Approval and Disapproval in British Primary and Middle School Classrooms
S ummary . The classroom behaviour of 128 British primary and middle school teachers was observed using a schedule (OPTIC) designed to record the frequency of use of approving and disapproving responses. Whilst the teachers observed tended to use more approval than disapproval, a high proportion of this was in response to children's academic behaviour. In contrast, whilst children were rarely commended for appropriate conduct, they were frequentl…
Classroom Behaviour Problems which Secondary School Teachers say they find most Troublesome
A questionnaire survey of 251 British secondary school teachers was carried out based on a stratified random sample of secondary schools in a West Midlands education authority. The questionnaire aimed to determine the types and frequency of troublesome classroom behaviours. The results showed that 55% of teachers responding claimed that they spent too much time on problems of order and control. Two behaviours, ‘talking out of turn’ and ‘hindering…
Pitch alterations in British motherese: Some preliminary acoustic data
Speech samples from eight British female adults addressing young children and another adult were analysed in terms of vocal pitch. Increases in vocal pitch when addressing young children were observed but were smaller than the increases noted by North American researchers, and variability across speakers was marked. Some adults only slightly raised their vocal pitch to young children. Pitch increases were generally more marked for mean as against…
Waiting for Teacher: The frequency and duration of times children spend waiting for teacher attention in infant school classrooms
Following preliminary pilot studies, an observational study was carried out on the amount of time infant school children spend waiting for teacher attention during seatwork. This involved teachers and children in 20 infant classes. Each class was observed on four occasions and the number of children signalling and waiting for help was noted at the end of each successive minute. In addition, the length of time individual children spent waiting was…
Natural Rates of Teacher Approval and Disapproval in British Secondary School Classrooms
S ummary . A sample of 130 secondary school teachers was systematically observed teaching mixed classes varying in age from 11 to 16 years. The OPTIC schedule was employed to record teachers' rates of approving and disapproving responses and the amount of time pupils spent on‐task. Although rates of approval were generally higher than disapproval rates, most of the approval was directed at academic pupil behaviours whereas most of the disapproval…
The Effects of Limited Private Reprimands and Increased Private Praise on Classroom Behaviour in Four British Secondary School Classes
Four secondary school teachers were systematically observed teaching four different classes. Measures of class on-task behaviour and teacher use of praise and reprimand were made during each observation session. Following baseline observations, two teachers were asked first to decrease their use of reprimands and to make them more private and then to increase their use of private praise. The other two teachers were asked first to increase their u…
The Effects of Pupil Self‐recording of On‐task Behaviour on Primary School Children
Two studies are reported on the effects of pupil self‐recording of on‐task behaviour in primary school classes. In the first (pilot) study an ABA design was employed with a third year junior class in self‐recording their on‐task behaviour. In the second study, a multiple baseline design was employed with second, third and fourth year junior classes. In both studies there was clear evidence for the effectiveness of self‐recording in improving on‐t…
Discipline in School: Psychological Perspective on the Elton Report
An Evaluation of Reading Recovery
Les AA. ont evalue l'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture dans dix ecoles primaires de la Nouvelle Galles de Sud. Repartis en deux groupes (reeducation en lecture et situation controle), les eleves en difficulte de lecture ont effectue des tests de competences a plusieurs reprises. L'efficacite de la reeducation en lecture n'est alors plus aussi pertinente
Does the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (Iceq) Measure Classroom Climate
Data from 1,467 high school students in New South Wales schools on the Individualized Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ) were analyzed using multilevel variance components models to derive intraclass correlations to determine the degree to which ICEQ scores may validly be said to measure aspects of classroom climate as against individual student attitude. The results showed that the class variable accounted for large and noteworthy propor…
Differential teacher attention to boys and girls in the classroom
For over 30 years, there has been a continuing concern with differential teacher attention to boys and girls in the classroom. In this article, we review themes and issues in gender and classroom interaction. The evolving theoretical perspectives on gender inequality are discussed and the pertinent empirical evidence is reviewed. The influence of feminism on the way classroom interactions between teachers and their students have been interpreted …
A Conceptual Framework for Remedial Reading Instruction for Low-Progress Early Readers in Malaysian
This paper describes a conceptual framework for developing reading instruction in the Malay language for low-progress early readers in Year One who have not responded adequately to the traditional method of reading instruction in schools. Scientific knowledge on reading and reading disabilities is reviewed and forms the basis for informing this conceptual framework. This framework is aligned to the structure of the Malay language and is also base…
Use of early word-reading fluency measures to predict outcomes on the Phonics Screening Check
Teachers in England and South Australia annually administer the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) to Year 1 students, with the purpose of identifying struggling readers. Students who do not meet the score threshold have not met the expected standard of word-decoding ability, meaning further support may be warranted. We sought to quantify the extent to which other early reading measures, such as the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Nonwords (WARN) and W…
Factors contributing to reading comprehension in children with varying degrees of word-level proficiency
The present study was conducted to explore how the relationships between reading comprehension constructs change according to word reading accuracy, as measured in a large convenience sample ( n = 857) of school-aged students (Years 3–6) with reading difficulties. Multiple regression analyses containing interaction variables were conducted, to determine whether word reading accuracy moderated the relationships between the dependent variable (i.e.…
A validation study of the Martin and Pratt nonword reading test
The Martin and Pratt Nonword Reading Test (‘Martin & Pratt’) is an Australian-normed assessment of nonword reading accuracy. The current study was conducted to examine whether this test still validly and accurately estimates the decoding skills of primary school-aged children, despite its norms having been collected in 1996. To address these questions, reading assessment data were collected from 176 Australian students (3 independent schools) fro…
Psychology (22 works) · Developmental psychology (12 works) · Linguistics (10 works) · Mathematics education (10 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (7 works) · Comprehension (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (4 works)