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This work covers the critical problem of high school dropouts and failure in the Ghanaian educational setting. In the first instance, a large proportion of studies have tended to concentrate on the higher classes and end-of –cycle testing. They can be seen as post-mortem analyses, which only indicate the irrevocable catastrophe but do not lead to prevention. Therefore this dissertation sought to identify the variance among the learning pre-requisites that Ghanaian class one children enter the school with against the background of an inflexible syllabus coupled with a predominant use of undifferentiated teaching methodology. From literature review, personal intensive observations and experience the following conclusions were drawn: ·School failure in Ghana is as a result of a complex inter-play of factors such as years of certain uninformed policies of successive governments, the situation of the teacher, curriculum and textbook usage, instructional language policy, length of school year use of instructional time and political instability among others. ·Classroom methodologies are predominantly teacher-dominated, undifferentiated and do not support adequately the learning of weaker pupils. ·Traditional practices and philosophies about the child have an influence on the teaching-learning encounter. ·There are identifiable weaknesses in the competence of delivery and mastery of both subject matter and other pedagogical skills. With a large class size, without the support of diagnostic tools to identify the abilities of children in order to tailor the teaching to cater for individual differences, teaching is unattractive, tedious and an unwieldy task. Learning in such an environment will be demotivational and attainment of institutional goals will be greatly undermined. As a first step in modifying the existing situation a pre-diagnostic instrument put together by the researcher was used to assess 120 and 158 class one pupils in a pilot and main study respectively to show how varied the abilities of the children are and which factors have influence on the variance. In this regard a broad variety of skill areas were assessed with a focus on functional items, drawing, English and number work in a very practical way. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were adopted in the selection of the sample from rural, urban, private and public schools. The results showed the following: ·A wide variance among the pre-requisite skills that the children enter school with. ·Ghanaian children who possess higher English language ability, having pre-school experience, attending an urban school and being in a private school have a higher chance of school success. ·Sex is not strong determinants of performance among the sample. Based on these assessment results intervention with teachers were carried out in three class one classrooms, but one was reported in detail. The feedback from the interventions was very positive and encouraging and showed among others that: ·Teachers are capable of initiating changes in their teaching methodologies. ·Head teachers can supervise school-based in-service education and training. The dissertation concludes with some suggestions for policy, teacher professionalism, educational planners and for future research in order to achieve target objectives.
Abstract: Immediate effect study Purpose: The immediate effects of altered auditory feedback (AAF) and a placebo condition on clinical attributes of stuttering during scripted as well as spontaneous speech are investigated herein. The primary purpose is the extension of the evidence-base of the impact of AAF on the clinical characteristics of stuttering. Method: Two commercially available AAF devices were used to create the delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and frequency altered feedback (FAF) effects. The participants consisted of thirty German-speaking people who stutter (PWS), aged 18 to 68 (M = 36.5; SD = 15.2). Each subject produced four sets of oral readings, three sets of monologs and three sets of dialogs. The participants were exposed to different experimental conditions (No device, Placebo, active AAF using Device A, and active AAF using Device B) while producing the speech samples. The recordings were then electronically analyzed to detect changes in select features of stuttering; frequency, duration, speech rate, articulation rate and core behaviors. The occurrence of these variables was examined across all speech samples collected within the four experimental conditions. Results: A statistically significant difference in the frequency of stuttered syllables (%SS) was found while using both devices (p = .000). Although individual reactions varied widely, the most notable reductions in %SS occurred within the reading (M = 2.33, SD = 3.75) and monolog (M = 2.26, SD = 3.32) samples. Thus, active AAF settings had the least impact on speech fluency during conversational speech (M = 1.49, SD = 2.71). During the placebo condition (no active AAF parameters), the subject group also experienced a statistically significant decline in %SS (p = .028). Conclusion: This result indicates that the effects of AAF alone may not be the sole reason for fluency enhancements experienced when using a portable speech aid. Abstract: longitudinal trail Purpose: The effects of a portable altered auditory feedback (AAF) device on the severity of stuttering over a three-month period were investigated. The main goal was to examine the usage behavior and fluency-enhancements displayed during extended device utilization. Method: Qualitative data on implementation environments, utilization patterns and user satisfaction were collected weekly from a group of seven adults (M = 45.3; SD = 11.4) who stutter. For the analysis of quantitative changes in stuttering severity, speech samples were collected in person at the beginning and end of the trial period. Two phone conversations throughout the study provided additional conversational samples. Results: Individual responses were quite diverse within both quantitative and qualitative measures. Group analysis revealed that conversational speech was overall significantly more fluent when a device was used. The percentage of stuttered syllables was significantly lower z = -2.201, p = .028, r = -0.18 upon first using AAF (with device: Mdn = 1.53; without device: Mdn = 3.53) and during the personal conversation at the end of three months (with device: Mdn = 1.89; without device: Mdn = 3.97). However, during the two mid-trial phone conversations during which a device was used (T2 & T3), stuttering frequency remained largely unaltered T2: z = -.943, p = .345 (Mdn = 3.87); T3: z = -1.57, p = .116 (Mdn = 3.00). The analysis of weekly questionnaires and user diaries revealed that the device was most commonly used in familiar environments (63% at home). On average, the speech aid was utilized four to five times a week, with an overall satisfaction rate of 42%. Conclusion: Some meaningful conclusions for clinical work with clients wishing to use AAF can be drawn from these results. While AAF has its limits in reducing stuttering, ability to use a device may be optimized if usage is acquired in a guided clinical process.