Loquacity and quantity of constructs as predictors of social perspective‐taking

Over the past decade, considerable attention has been devoted to cognitive complexity in the human communication literature. However, the extent to which loquacity, or simple amount of verbal response to stimuli, rather than cognitive processes, has been measured by indices supposed to measure complexity is questionable. One issue that emerges from this controversy concerns whether partialing out the variance in variables, such as social perspective‐taking, due to loquacity would lead to a low amount of shared variance between complexity and such variables. In the present study, cognitive complexity scores based on the Role Category Questionnaire correlated significantly with social perspective‐taking scores. However, the results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that cognitive complexity scores did not contribute significantly to the prediction when loquacity was entered as the first variable in the equation.     

Fictitious social position of competence, and performance in a foreign-language interaction situation: An experimental approach

A substantial body of research has shown that in experiments where subjects are required to accomplish an intellectual task, their cognitive performance is influenced by the social aspects of the situation. The goal of this study was to determine how a fictitious social position of inferiority or superiority affects cognitive activity. Two studies in which subjects interacted with a partner are reported. In the first, the subject’s position in comparison to his/her partner stemmed from a fictitious level of competence assigned on a single comparative dimension (foreign-language proficiency). In the second, another comparative dimension whose social status was either high (geometry) or low (art) was added. The results showed that in a communicative interaction, what subjects are told about themselves and about their partner along one or two comparative dimensions is a determinant of the quantity and quality of what they produce. Theoretical explanations are proposed. One of them is based on classical studies on the working self-concept. A general point that emerges from these studies is that cognitive performance should be investigated not only in a cognitive and didactic perspective, but also from a sociocognitive standpoint.     

Relational maintenance behaviors in the sibling relationship

Beatty, McCroskey, and Heisel (1998) argue that a limitation of current intervention research on communication apprehension is that the experimental designs employed in this research have failed to take into account the effects of testing on participants, among other things. To address this issue, this study employed a Solomon Four‐Group Design, which controls for testing effects, to examine whether systematic desensitization, a widely used procedure for reducing communication apprehension, would reduce communication apprehension beyond the level attributable to repeated testing. These data indicate that systematic desensitization produced a significant reduction in communication apprehension that cannot be explained by “testing effects.” The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings.     

Communication apprehension in a first language and self‐perceived competence as predictors of communication apprehension in a second language: A study of speakers of English as a second language

This study addresses the communication apprehension of the non‐native English speaker in the U.S. Previous studies which have examined the implications of communication apprehension (CA) for bilingual, non‐native communicators have generated results which indicate that trait‐like CA is consistent across first and second language‐speaking situations. However, none of these studies have probed the cause of the cross‐linguistic consistency of CA. This research is designed to provide a scientific explanation for the etiology of CA by applying the communibiological paradigm to CA theory and research. By selecting the situational constraints of international students, this study tests a theory based on proposition 4 of the communibiological paradigm (Beatty & McCroskey w/Valencic, 2001, p. 128): “Environment or ‘situation’ has only a negligible effect on interpersonal behavior.” The results of this study replicate the strong relationship previously observed between CA in a first language and CA in a second language. It also found that the genetic markers employed (Eysenck's Big 3 temperament variables) predicted first and second language CA approximately equally. The results indicate that, although both first and second languages are learned, the CA associated with them most likely is not.     

Effects of Training in the Use of Social and Cognitive Strategies: An Intervention Study in Secondary Mathematics in Co‐Operative Groups

ABSTRACT

This article reports on an intervention study into the effects of a training in the use of social and cognitive strategies on the learning outcomes of students in secondary mathematics education. Special attention is given to differential effects for high‐ and low‐achieving students. The focus on differential effects is derived from studies into learning in small co‐operative groups, and from the results of meta‐analyses into the effects of training in learning strategies. From these studies it can be concluded that in general such programs contribute to learning. However, it seems that low‐achieving students are unable to benefit from interventions of the kind investigated (i.e., co‐operative learning and training in learning strategies). The main question is whether it is possible to design an instructional program from which all students benefit, and from which the low‐achieving students profit more than their counterparts in the control‐program. In the present study three instructional programs for co‐operative learning were compared: (i) an experimental program with special instruction in the use of social strategies; (ii) an experimental program with special instruction in the use of cognitive strategies; and (iii) a control program without training in either cognitive or social strategies. The programs were identical with respect to mathematical content and general instructional settings (a combination of whole‐class instruction, working in co‐operative groups and individual work). The experiment addressed the following research question: what are the general and differential effects of a training in the use of social and cognitive strategies on the results of learning in secondary mathematics? The research was conducted in two schools for secondary education in a total of 21 classes, involving a total of 511 students. The design was a pretest‐posttest control group design, using two experimental groups and one control group. The data were analysed from a multi‐level perspective. The outcomes of the investigation clearly show the effects of the intervention. Teaching cognitive and social strategies has the expected, positive effects. In addition to this main effect, a compensatory effect for the low‐achieving students was found. The low‐achieving students in the experimental conditions outperformed their counterparts in the control group.

     

The social position and development of pupils with SEN in mainstream Dutch primary schools

Since August 2003, pupils with auditory, communicative, motor, mental or multiple disabilities, as well as severe behavioural/emotional problems, in The Netherlands have been entitled to receive a pupil‐bound budget when attending a mainstream school. The first experiences with this budget in regular Dutch primary schools are described in this paper. The focus is on the social position and development of 20 special educational needs (SEN) pupils who were placed in mainstream primary schools. The class teacher, parent(s) and peripatetic teacher of each of the pupils were interviewed; interviews focused on the cognitive, social and social‐emotional development of the SEN pupils. In addition, the class teacher, parent(s), peripatetic teacher and classmates assessed the social position of the SEN pupil via interviews and a sociometric questionnaire. The results showed that teachers and parents and, to a lesser extent, peripatetic teachers, had a more positive view of the social position of the SEN pupils than did classmates. The results of the sociometric questionnaire indicated that the social position of the SEN pupils and that of their non‐SEN classmates did not differ significantly, however. In addition, a panel of five independent assessors assessed the cognitive, social and social‐emotional development of the 20 SEN pupils by examining anonymous pupil dossiers, which comprised information derived from interviews with class teachers, parents and peripatetic teachers, together with results of the sociometric questionnaire and a copy of the individual education programme (IEP) of the SEN pupils. The assessments showed that the panel had concerns about the development of 35% of these pupils; it was (very) positive about a further 35% of the SEN pupils. An expected relation between the social position of the SEN pupils and satisfaction of the panel concerning the development of the SEN pupils, however, was not found.     

Examining the characteristics of student postings that are liked and linked in a CSCL environment

This case study is the first iteration of a large‐scale design‐based research project to improve Pepper, an interactive discussion‐based learning environment. In this phase, we designed and implemented two social features to scaffold positive learner interactivity behaviors: a “Like” button and linking tool. A mixed‐methods approach was used to examine communicative and cognitive characteristics of notes. Additionally, we develop and apply a new metric for cognitive complexity that acknowledges a range of cognitive behavior valuable to a learning community. The findings suggest that the Like and linking functions positively cultivated and sustained interactive behaviors among students, which also led to an increase in the cognitive complexity of student contributions to the online discussion. Suggestions for future iterations of this project are offered.     

The role of outcome expectations in the experience of a state of communication apprehension

Following the trend toward cognitive explanations of social phenomena, an expectation‐based model of the processes leading to a state of communication apprehension is advanced. Further, an initial test of the model is reported. The results of this study indicated that expectations are a significant predictor of communication apprehension as measured by self‐report. In addition, importance of communicative goals and the interaction of expected outcome and goal importance were also significant predictor variables. These relationships were not observed when heart‐rate was used as a measure of anxiety.     

Training Basic Visual Attention Leads to Changes in Responsiveness to Social‐Communicative Cues in 9‐Month‐Olds

This study investigated transfer effects of gaze‐interactive attention training to more complex social and cognitive skills in infancy. Seventy 9‐month‐olds were assigned to a training group (n = 35) or an active control group (n = 35). Before, after, and at 6‐week follow‐up both groups completed an assessment battery assessing transfer to nontrained aspects of attention control, including table top tasks assessing social attention in seminaturalistic contexts. Transfer effects were found on nontrained screen‐based tasks but importantly also on a structured observation task assessing the infants’ likelihood to respond to an adult's social‐communication cues. The results causally link basic attention skills and more complex social‐communicative skills and provide a principle for studying causal mechanisms of early development.     

Latino expectations of communicative competence: A focus group interview study

Drawing on Martin, Hammer, and Bradford's (1994) work on intercultural communicative competence, this investigation explored Latino expectations of communicative competence using focus group interviews. Like the Martin et al. (1994) study, communicative competence was examined in four contexts — intracultural‐social, intracultural‐task, intercultural‐social, and intercultural‐task. Results indicated overall support for seven of Martin et al.’s (1994) eight behavioral categories. Data from focus group interviews in this study suggested an additional competence category specific to task contexts as well as some emic behaviors not identified in the Martin et al. (1994) investigation.     

From Autonomy to Divinity: The Cultural Socialization of Moral Reasoning in an Evangelical Christian Community

This study examined moral reasoning in parent–child conversations within a U.S. evangelical Christian community. The goal was to identify social‐communicative processes that may promote the development of Divinity in children's moral reasoning. Sixteen parent–child dyads (6–9 years old) discussed hypothetical moral vignettes about failures to help peers in need. Analyses revealed that Divinity typically co‐occurred with Autonomy in these conversations and that such co‐occurrences typically happened through three distinct social‐communicative processes, labeled “align,” “scaffold,” and “counter.” Findings are used to explain the shifting priority of Autonomy and Divinity over the life course among members of evangelical Christian faiths that previous research has documented. More broadly, findings highlight socialization processes through which children can rationalize their developing moral outlooks in culturally distinct ways.     

Knowledge Construction and Collective Practice: At the Intersection of Learning,Talk, and Social Configurations in a Computer-Mediated Mathematics Classroom

In this study I investigated how students' mathematical activities, and thereby their mathematical understandings, change as a function of their participation in different social configurations. I examined how the interplay between 2 social configurations-local investigations at a computer simulation and whole-class discussions-contributes to how 7th-grade students learn probabilistic reasoning. I used 2 case studies to investigate (a) how different forms of participation are linked to different social configurations, and (b) how specific discourse practices and ways of reasoning propagate across the classroom and are adopted by individual students. The analyses suggest that classroom mathematical practices are developed, in part, for the social or communicative purpose of settling disputes and not purely for their rational or cognitive value to individuals. Results also provide insight into how to design and orchestrate classroom practice, particularly computer-mediated inquiry, to foster individual learning that is situated within a classroom community oriented toward the construction of a shared understanding of probability.     

Cultural capital: strengths,weaknesses and two advancements

In this paper I discuss two weaknesses in Bourdieu’s work on cultural capital, both of which are related to his integration of the multidimensional nature of social space in different domains of life: social mobility, lifestyle differentiation, and political orientation. First, there is an anomaly between the work on social mobility and on lifestyles. Multiple dimensions of social origin (cultural and economic capital) are related to uni‐dimensional outcomes (e.g. schooling levels), whereas it would be more appropriate to study multidimensional schooling outcomes too. Secondly, although Bourdieu sees a close resemblance in the type of resources affecting lifestyle preferences and political orientations, I argue that these outcomes are affected by two different types of resources: cultural and communicative resources. Proposals for progress, including a review of the empirical results supporting these, are given.     

Author Index to Volume 38

In this commentary, we utilize a social cognitive view of self-regulation to analyze the computer-based learning environments (CBLEs) that are described in the various articles in this volume. Although these CBLEs are creative ways of engaging students' metacognitive processes, their impact on students' motivational beliefs and self-reactions has been given relatively little attention to date. Self-regulation research on these sources of motivation in traditional learning environments has shown that they can play a vital role in explaining students' self-initiative and perseverance in the face of setbacks. When analyzing the forms of self-regulatory instruction that were employed, 2 of the CBLEs followed the first 2 sequential levels of a graduated "social-to-self" pattern advocated by social cognitive researchers. However, the other CBLEs often made nonsequential use of such social cognitive instructional processes as modeling, tutoring, providing feedback, and self-research.     

Taking a different path: A mother's reflections on homeschooling

Research conducted on academically gifted children's problem‐solving abilities suggests that heightened cognitive flexibility is an important component of academic intelligence. For example, academically gifted children are better able to adapt prior knowledge to formulate solutions to novel problems than other people. To date, little research has focused on applying these findings to the social domain. We propose that social‐cognitive flexibility (i.e., the ability to adapt prior social knowledge to formulate solutions to new interpersonal situations) is an important component of social intelligence. This article draws a comparison between the structure of academic and social intelligence, and speculates an important relationship exists between flexible social problem‐solving and social gift‐edness.     

试论哈贝马斯的商谈伦理思想

哈贝马斯在交往行动理论的基础上提出了商谈伦理学,指出交往行动实质上是主体之间以语言为媒介的商谈（对话）关系。商谈是其核心概念,普遍化原则和话语原则是其两大原则,认知主义和程序主义是其基本特征。通过商谈伦理学的建构,完成了他的交往理论的论证过程,把理论层面的交往理性扩展到实践层面的交往理性,并将商谈伦理学作为交往行为理论的有机组成部分,共同构成批判的社会理论的规范基础。     

专门用途英语学习者的学习策略调查研究——以旅游专业英语为例

随着专门用途英语教学的广泛开展,专门用途英语学习策略应成为学习策略研究的重点。专门用途学习策略主要分为认知策略、元认知策略、情感策略和社交策略。专门用途英语学习策略使用情况的研究是采用问卷形式以旅游专业英语为例进行调查,调查结果得出：旅游专业英语学习策略总体使用情况一般,其中,旅游专业学生使用情感策略频率较高,其次是认知策略和社交策略,元认知策略使用频率较低。因此,旅游专业英语教师需要有针对性地对学生进行学习策略培训,在旅游专业英语学习上尤其是加强学生的情感、提高学生自我监控能力和增强交际能力。     

Subject Characteristics and the Communicative Environment of Profoundly Retarded Adults [1]

A set of questionnaires concerning subject characteristics, ability to express communicative functions and communicative environment was administered to carers of 70 profoundly retarded subjects in day‐activity centres. The purpose was to investigate the interrelationships among subject characteristics such as cognitive ability and motor ability, ability to express communicative functions, and the communicative environment. A multiple regression analysis in which the level of cognitive impairment and motor ability was adjusted for revealed significant correlations between the subjects’ ability to express communicative functions and communicative enbironment variables as perceived by staff.

     

Classroom interaction studies as a source for teacher competencies: the use of case studies with multiple instruments for studying teacher competencies in multicultural classes

Dealing with ethnic and linguistic diversity is one of the major challenges in today’s education. Therefore, the formulation of competencies for teachers and teacher training should take into account the specific requirements of teaching in multicultural schools. In 2002, a series of small‐scale studies were conducted to identify and formulate teachers’ communicative competencies in multicultural classes through a mixture of instruments and data sources. The studies aimed at providing recommendations for improving these competencies through teacher education and professional development. This study reports on the multiple instruments used to study the practical knowledge and behaviour of experienced teachers in multicultural schools by discussing research evidence from a series of case studies from primary and secondary education. These case studies explored teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and behaviours in creating healthy teacher–student relationships as well as making lesson content accessible for all students, including students with limited language skills. The findings show how small‐scale studies with multiple data collection techniques can help in providing an empirical foundation for the formulation and specification of teacher competencies in multicultural settings. Based on our findings, we argue that by conducting multiple investigations in different settings, using a variety of instruments and by interpreting this data from different communicative domains, a valid, reliable and complete picture of teachers’ scientific competencies can be obtained.