The effects of facial‐head cue combinations on interpersonal evaluations

Two experiments were conducted to examine the role of visual cues in interpersonal attraction and credibility. In the first study, 128 subjects viewed eight randomly ordered videotape segments of trained actors presenting a short speech accompanied by head nods, eyebrow raises, smiles, combinations of those cues, or no such cues. Ratings of the speakers on task and social attraction revealed that, as expected, the presence of any face or head cues produced more attraction than none; however, instead of the three combined cues producing the most attraction, the smiles‐head nod condition produced the greatest social attraction and the head nod only condition produced greatest task attraction; expected sex differences were largely supported. In the second study, face and head cues were performed by confederates during a live interview situation while subjects observed the interaction from behind a two‐way mirror. Results showed that smiles produced higher attraction and credibility ratings than did no smiles and nods, thus further substantiating the reward power of facial and head cues in social interaction.     

TELEVISION IN A LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITY

Many local education authorities neglect the development of closed‐circuit television facilities because they fear they may become trapped in a complex studio‐based system. The author discusses the provision of flexible and relatively inexpensive television resources for the local education authority, drawing on his experience in Surrey for three examples.     

The televised mediated trial: Formal and substantive characteristics

Mediated trials are distinct from trials observed in person. The author argues that trials observed face‐to‐face are distinct from televised mediated trials. Because television “reformats”; the events it covers, the medium affects what viewers ultimately understand the legal process to be. The authors posit that televised trials should be approached as a media event that represents a discrete genre of television programming, the televised mediated trial. Generic features of face‐to‐face trials and televised mediated trials affect what is communicated to an audience. Implications for public knowledge of the legal system are then discussed.     

Children's Television Experience in Two Cultures

Research concerning children and television has concentrated more on their behaviour following viewing than on their personal experiences of this medium and the subjects are commonly American children from a distinctive television milieu. This study investigated first‐person reports of children from two rather different television cultures—US and West German (FRG). It was hypothesised that Americans would be more pro‐television, and thereby more dependent on television, more accepting of programmed violence and more fantasy‐involved in programme content; while experiencing less parental control/influence than West Germans. A sample of 93 FRG and 87 US children aged 10‐12 responded to a television‐viewing questionnaire of 34 items. The American children were significantly more pro‐television than the West Germans, and this was reflected in higher dependency and lower parental control scores. Responses to television fantasy and violence proved ambiguous, and no significant programme character preference differences were found. A principal components analysis of the American scores supported the intuitive item groupings.     

MICRO‐TEACHING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT

One of the ways in which closed‐circuit television can contribute to staff development in higher education is through the various techniques associated with and developed from micro‐teaching. In this paper we shall suggest and illustrate ways in which some of the features of micro‐teaching can answer some of the problems of staff development.     

DOES NEUROSCIENCE MATTER FOR EDUCATION?

In this review essay, Francis Schrag focuses on two recent anthologies dealing completely or in part with the role of neuroscience in learning and education: The Jossey‐Bass Reader on the Brain and Learning, edited by Jossey‐Bass Publishers, and New Philosophies of Learning, edited by Ruth Cigman and Andrew Davis. Schrag argues that philosophers of education do have a distinctive role in the conversation about neuroscience. He contends that the impact of neuroscience is likely to be substantial, though not in the way its advocates imagine. It has the potential to enhance education by way of interventions that successfully alter the fundamental neural mechanisms of learning, but neuroscience is unlikely to affect classroom teaching substantially.     

TELEVISION IN THE DEMONSTRATION OF DENTAL TECHNOLOGY

A comparison between conventional and live television methods of demonstrating an exercise in dental technology indicated that they were equally effective as judged by grading of students' work. Students' comments suggested that the unedited television method was recieved less favourably. Their comments form a basis for discussion regarding the development of edited self‐access cassettes or cartridges in preference to unedited television demonstrations in real time.     

Developmental Differences in Infant Attention to the Spectral Properties of Infant-directed Speech

Across several independent studies, infants from a few days to 9 months of age have shown preferences for infant-directed (ID) over adult-directed (AD) speech. Moreover, 4-month-olds have been shown to prefer sine-wave analogs of the fundamental frequency of ID speech, suggesting that exaggerated pitch contours are prepotent stimuli for infants. The possibility of similar preferences by 1-month-olds was examined in a series of experiments, using a fixation-based preference procedure. Results from the first 2 experiments showed that 1-month-olds did not prefer the lower-frequency pitch characteristics of ID speech, even though 1-month-olds were able to discriminate low-pass filtered ID and AD speech. Since low-pass filtering may have distorted the fundamental frequency characteristics of ID speech, 1-month-olds were also tested with sine-wave analogs of the fundamental frequencies of the ID utterances. Infants in this third experiment also showed no preference for ID pitch contours. In the fourth experiment, 1-month-olds preferred a natural recording of ID speech over a version which preserved only its lower frequency prosodic features. From these results, it is argued that, although young infants are similar to older infants in their attraction to ID speech, their preferences depend on a wider range of acoustic features (e.g., spectral structure). It is suggested that exaggerated pitch contours which characterize ID speech may become salient communicative signals for infants through language-rich, interactive experiences with caretakers and increased perceptual acuity over the first months after birth.     

Student performance–university preference model: a framework for helping students choose the right A‐level subjects

Every year, many students in the UK fail to achieve a place at their preferred university because they take the wrong A‐level subjects. This study aims to suggest a framework for helping students choose the right subjects. Data on student achievement in A‐level examinations were obtained from a UK sixth form college over a four‐year period. Statistical techniques were employed to support our hypothesis that a student’s choice of A‐level subjects should be based on both the student’s ability and a university’s preference for particular subjects and grades. Despite the limitation of small sample size, a model has been created that will maximise a student’s chance of achieving a place at his/her university of choice. The model presented could easily be extended in future to incorporate more levels in each of the attributes considered, and in this way it could provide the optimal choice of subjects for each individual student given his/her particular aspirations.     

Distraction Effects of Background Soap Operas on Homework Performance: An experimental study enriched with observational data

An experiment was conducted to examine the impact of background soap operas on homework performance and time. Students in grade eight (aged 14) ( n =192) did paper-and-pencil and memorisation assignments with two types of soap opera episodes in the background, or the soundtrack of soap operas, or no medium. In each condition, half of the students were observed. Results indicated that students in the television conditions performed worse and used more time than students in the control condition. No significant differences were found between the audio-only and control conditions. Observational data showed that the extension of time in the television conditions was completely due to the fact that students used time to look at the screen. Although the television did not reduce time spent looking at the task, performance did decrease, probably because the alternation of resources between homework and television led to less thorough processing of the assignments.     

Teachers' Views of Moral Education Topics – Taiwan and the USA

In a questionnaire survey, 94 teachers in Taiwan and 140 in the United States judged which topics among 20 moral issues would be appropriate subjects of study in grade six of the primary school and in the first year of the university. The issues related to religion, ethnicity, gender, health care, crime, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, guns, government corruption, birth control, caring for the elderly, and television programming. The results revealed great diversity of opinion within each group of respondents. No single topic was approved by all teachers in either group, nor was any topic rejected by all. Among the 234 teachers, no two offered precisely the same configuration of answers over the 20 topics. Nevertheless, some group trends could be identified for individual topics. For example, in both countries the great majority of respondents would teach about industrial pollution, whereas very few would approve of trying to identify the best religion. In the rationales teachers offered in support of their choices, the four reasons that figured most prominently in both countries were that a topic would contribute to the nation's welfare, would help students to make wise decisions, would be interesting for students, and would represent a peaceful way to face social problems.     

Analysis of the Phonological Skills of Children with Down Syndrome from Single Word and Connected Speech Samples

Phonological analysis of the speech of five children with Down syndrome was compared across single word samples elicited from tests and connected speech samples elicited during play. Analyses indicated that connected speech samples provided fewer total words and word tokens and, in some cases, failed to target certain later developing phonemes. CVCs were similarly represented across single word and connected speech samples, but differences across the sampling conditions included an over‐representation of clusters and an under‐representation of VC and CV forms in single word samples. Overall accuracy for vowels was greater than for consonant production, but no difference in phoneme accuracy was found across the conditions. Differences in phonetic inventories for some subjects indicated the possibility that children may, in their connected speech, avoid phonemes which they have yet to master. Phonological process analysis indicated that differences across the two conditions were restricted to their relative impact on each subject's overall intelligibility. Both similarities and differences with previous studies comparing sampling conditions with other populations are discussed, as are clinical implications.     

Interaction Patterns in Teaching and Learning with Live Interactive Television

Live Interactive Television is a popular medium for delivering educational programs to students in remote areas in Australia. The medium uses television to deliver a live one‐way video signal and standard telephony to provide two‐way audio communication between the instructor and students. Much of the potential of this medium is derived from the interactivity that it supports and the ensuing educational advantages to be derived. Because all interactions are ultimately student‐initiated, the medium has a number of unique and characteristic features. This paper describes a study that investigated the form and nature of the interactions evident in LIT programs. The purpose of this investigation was to establish the impact of the interactivity on the form and scope of the instructional sequences used. The study sought to identify different kinds of interactivity employed by instructors and students and to investigate the impact and role of these interactions on the ensuing instructional activities.     

Fundamental Frequency and Temporal Modifications in the Speech of British Fathers to their Children

ABSTRACT A total of 16 British fathers were audiotaped reading aloud to and conversing with their children aged 1 to 3 years (A‐C speech or ‘fatherese'), and with an adult (A‐A speech). Data concerning vocal pitch (indicated by fundamental frequency Fo) and rate of speech were extracted from the audiotapes of the fathers’ speech. It was found that fathers’ A‐C speech relative to their A‐A speech was characterised by significantly higher Fo mode in both discourse forms, and also by significantly higher Fo mean in conversational speech (only). The variability of Fo was not altered in fatherese speech, but the time taken to read aloud a written extract was significantly greater. Wide individual variation was evident in the extent of both the Fo and temporal modifications of fatherese speech. British fatherese speech was found to be characterised by a different combination of prosodic modifications when compared with British motherese speech.     

The Charing Cross and Westminster Interactive Television Network

The introduction of a closed‐circuit interactive television system into a medical school teaching on several sites is described. Communication is by means of optical fibre and line‐of‐sight microwave. The system permits the use of a wide range of visual material in lectures delivered from any site to any combination of the others with interaction in sound and vision between the lecturer and his audiences. A detailed evaluation of the technical performance of the system and of its suitability for the teaching of clinical medicine was carried out. The conclusions of the evaluation were that it was technically satisfactory and that it was acceptable to a majority of the teachers and students     

HAS EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION ARRIVED?

After nearly 20 years of educational television, it can still be argued that ETV has not yet ‘arrived’ in the sense of being an accepted, taken‐for‐granted teaching tool. Although production standards are high, both technically and educationally, and although applications of television to learning are well established, television has certain limitations and deficiencies as a presentation medium. This paper discusses these shortcomings from the stand‐points of large‐group viewing, in lecture theatres and classrooms, and of individual study, and suggests that technical developments now in sight could overcome the limitations, to allow ETV to become the normal presentation medium in education and training     

TV,technology, and McCarthyism: crafting the democratic renaissance in an age of fear

One of the most watched political events in the United States at mid‐century, the Army‐McCarthy hearings coincided with the early period of the reception and evaluation of television as a force in society. Although optimistic rhetoric often attends the rise of new technologies, worries and fears about the power of television pervaded coverage of the hearings. The popular press expressed concern that Edward R. Murrow and Joseph McCarthy exercised unrivaled control over television viewers. Murrow and McCarthy became condensation symbols in a new struggle over control of the airwaves, and their highly publicized standoff established discursive rules for thinking about the power of audiences, journalists, and politicians.     

Making the written word “speak”: Reflections on the teaching of correspondence courses

Abstract

Learning outcomes for an interactive television‐based distance learning course in introductory high school Japanese were evaluated in three successive years by comparing student achievement in the distance learning course to that in traditional classes. Year‐end achievement tests of listening and written language competency were administered to students in both the distance and face‐to‐face courses. Results in the first two years showed that test scores of students in the distance learning course were higher than those of students in the face‐to‐face classes; however, possible group differences in motivation, general ability, and experience as language learners could not be ruled out as explanations for the difference. Therefore, achievement measures were supplemented in the third year with data on students’ perceived efficacy as Japanese language users, their grades, and their previous foreign language learning experience. The achievement data again showed differences favoring the distance learning group; trends were consistent for students with differing levels of school success and amount of prior language learning experience. Factors that could account for these results are hypothesized and suggestions for future research are proposed.     

Does Instructional TV Make the Grade?

Managers at Michigan State University's extensive ITV operation employ a wide range of evaluative procedures with special emphasis on term‐by‐term telephone interviews to assess student attitudes in television courses. The interview system is explained in some detail for readers interested in initiating relatively inexpensive research techniques. Recent data comparing students in television sections with students in face‐to‐face classroom sections show no significant differences in grades or attitudes toward mediated instruction. These data are applied in varied ways by producers, faculty and administrators to improve instructional television     

At Last the Avizandum Show

While television has portrayed the law and lawyers as an entertainment over the years, until recently the legal profession has had little to do with television. Lately, however, television has been used with considerable success and increasing frequency as an instructional medium in the continuing education of lawyers in Scotland. The author describes the background and early experiments in the use of television and demonstrates some of the ways in which television is now contributing to the training work of the Law Society of Scotland.