Abstracts - Earli

immature executive processing, at Nelson & Narens’ ‘meta’ level , including the monitoring andco-ordinating of the behavioural response. The potential for electophysiological studies to help usunderstand the emergence and significance of executive functioning in young children, and theirrelationship to the early development of metacognitive processes and abilities, would seem to besupported.Developmental dynamics of metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension skill in youngprimary school childrenTiina Annevirta, University of Turku, FinlandEero Laakkonen, University of Turku, FinlandRiitta Kinnunen, University of Turku, FinlandMarja Vauras, University of Turku, FinlandThe aim of this study was, firstly, to explore the development of primary school children’smetacognitive knowledge from preschool to the 2nd grade and the development of readingcomprehension skill from the 1st grade to the 3rd grade. Secondly, the developmental dynamicsbetween metacognitive knowledge (MCK) and reading comprehension (RC) skill across the firstthree school years were investigated. The longitudinal sample included 181 children who weretested three times from preschool spring to the spring term of the 3rd grade using an identical setof measurements: the Metacognitive Knowledge Test and Reading Comprehension Test. Instudying developmental change using Latent Growth Curve modelling (LGC), no uni-constructeffect for the development of MCK or for RC skill was found. However, a multi-constructcumulative cycle between the children’s MCK and RC skill was identified. Thus, it may beinterpreted that the more the children’s MCK developed from preschool to the end of the 2ndgrade, the better RC skill they showed during the first three school years.C 1529 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 4.95SymposiumRe-examining disciplinary specificity in university teaching andlearningChair: Paul Blackmore, University of Coventry, United KingdomOrganiser: Denis Berthiaume, University of Lausanne, SwitzerlandDiscussant: Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, University of Helsinki, FinlandIssues of disciplinary specificity in university teaching and learning have been researched for sometime now. Over the years, a significant body of research has focused on the specific characteristicsof university disciplines. This field of research has focused on disciplinary epistemologies and hasgenerated models for understanding teaching and learning from ‘within’ the disciplines It hasalso generated a more normative or prescriptive literature on how certain disciplines should betaught or learned at the university level. In more recent years, lines of research previouslyconsidered separately began influencing the thinking on disciplinary specificity. For instance,issues of personal epistemology in learning and teaching have been linked with issues ofdisciplinary specificity. Other studies have emphasised factors beyond the structuralist– 158 –