The relations of parental warmth and positive expressiveness to children's empathy-related responding and social functioning: a longitudinal study

This study examined the concurrent and cross-time relations of parental observed warmth and positive expressivity to children's situational facial and self-reported empathic responding, social competence, and externalizing problems in a sample of 180 elementary school children. Data was collected when the children were in second to fifth grades (age: M = 112.8 months), and again 2 years later. Cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models supported the hypothesis that parents' (mostly mothers') positive expressivity mediated the relation between parental warmth and children's empathy, and children's empathy mediated the relation between parental positive expressivity and children's social functioning. These relations persisted after controlling for prior levels of parenting and child characteristics. Moreover, concurrent and cross-time consistencies were found on measures of parenting, children's situational empathic responding, and social functioning.     

An investigation of oral language and writing proficiency in third-grade students

Over the years, professionals have hypothesized that a positive relationship exists between children's oral language proficiency and their written language performance. This study examined the following two aspects of the relationship between oral and written language: (a) Are specific linguistic components of language more closely related than others? (b) Do groups rated high, medium, or low on written language measures differ significantly in oral language proficiency? Measures of oral and written language were administered to 77 third-grade students. Results indicated that moderate relationships existed between grammatical aspects of oral and written language. Oral language proficiency was significantly different for groups rated high, medium, and low on the basis of written language performance.     

论普通话水平测试评分中的非客观因素及解决对策

普通话水平测试是对应试人掌握和运用普通话所达到规范程度的检测。应试人在测试中被评定的普通话等级应该是客观、可靠的。但普通话水平测试是一种口语测试,主观性很强,不同与于笔试中的选择题和是非题,评分难以客观、准确,常常出现较大的误差,降低了测试的信度。在评分中影响客观化的因素我们称之为非客观因素。本文主要谈谈PSC评分中出现的非客观因素的干扰及尽量减少这些因素的有效措施。     

The role of oral language in ­underpinning the text generation ­difficulties in children with specific ­language impairment

Children with specific language impairments (SLI) have difficulties in producing written text. It was hypothesised that the constraints on writing in children with SLI were similar to typically developing younger children with the same level of vocabulary knowledge. Twenty‐three children with SLI (aged 10:5) were matched with 23 children for chronological age (CA) and 23 children for vocabulary levels (VC). Children with SLI performed significantly below their CA peers but not their VC peers on all aspects of writing including spelling. Regression analyses indicated that written text measures of spelling errors and oral language measures of vocabulary were significant predictors of writing products for both the children with SLI and their VC peers. This highlights the importance of oral and written language for the quality of children's written text and indicates that the writing of children with SLI was commensurate with their vocabulary and spelling levels. The results point to the role of both phonological and non‐phonological processes in written text production in struggling writers.     

The relationship among counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome in the early phase of counseling

The current study examined a mediating effect of empathic accuracy on the relationship between counselor experience level and counseling outcome. Data were collected from 48 counselor?Cclient dyads in real-life counseling settings. Empathic accuracy and counseling outcome were assessed by using client perceptions of the first three audiotaped counseling sessions. Ickes?? standard empathic accuracy assessment procedure was used with modifications to assess empathic accuracy. The procedure to assess empathic evaluation included three steps: (a) clients recognize and write down their thoughts and feelings while listening to the audiotapes, (b) counselors infer their client??s thoughts and feelings, (c) The third raters rate the statements of counselors?? empathic accuracy. Correlational analysis revealed that counselor experience level, empathic accuracy, and counseling outcome were positively related to one another. A path analysis was used to test the model that counselor experience level affects counseling outcome through the effect of empathic accuracy. Both paths from counselor experience level to empathic accuracy and from empathic accuracy to counseling outcome were significant, along with a significant mediating effect of empathic accuracy. These results show enhancing empathic accuracy is critical for counseling outcome. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Comparability of Written and Oral Measures in Evaluating Counselor Training

The comparability of written and oral measures in evaluating counselor effectiveness was examined for trained and untrained participants. The responses were rated on use of reflective skills, verbal following, and general quality. A multivariate analysis of variance indicated that written responses were significantly higher on verbal following and general quality. Correlations among the written and oral measures were high and positive, especially when corrected for attenuation as a result of the reliabilities of ratings. Correlations were higher for trained than untrained participants. In general, the results support the comparability of written and oral assessments of counselor effectiveness, especially for trained participants. Implications for the evaluation of training programs and areas for future research are discussed.     

How does dissociation between written and oral forms affect reading: evidence from auxiliary verbs in Arabic

In Arabic, auxiliary verbs are necessary in the written language, but absent from the oral language. This is contrary to languages such as English and French in which auxiliary verbs are mandatory in both written and oral languages. This fact was exploited to examine if dissociation between written and oral forms affects reading measures like letter detection task and therefore to validate the phenomenon of the missing‐letter effect (MLE) and to replicate previous studies. In addition, the study examined whether auxiliary verbs in Arabic are considered as functional elements that constitute part of the structural frame. Sixty native Arabic speakers read a passage while looking for a target letter that was embedded in a preposition, an auxiliary verb or a content word. Results showed the typical MLE with more omissions for the preposition than for the content words. However, the results with the auxiliary verb are less clear. The functional and the syntactic roles of auxiliary verbs in Arabic are discussed.     

The Highly Lawful Relationships Among Pseudoword Decoding,Word Identification,Spelling, Listening,and Reading

It has been theorized that there are highly lawful relationships among levels of pseudoword decoding, word identification, spelling, listening, and reading that can be represented by relatively simple mathematical formulas. This theory was tested by reanalyzing data collected from 55 parochial school students in Grades 3 to 6 (Study I) and 83 public school students in Grades 4 and 5 (Study II). These students were given a battery of reading-related tests that included measures relevant to the theory noted previously. The results from Study II replicated those from Study I, indicating that (a) level of word identification and level of spelling are equal, (b) level of pseudoword decoding (or word attack) and level of ability to pronounce unknown real words are equal, (c) level of word identification equals the average of the level of reading and the level of pseudoword decoding, and (d) level of reading equals the average of the level of listening and the level of word identification. These data, along with previously collected data, suggest that measures of the aforementioned reading-related variables are so closely connected that (a) highly reliable measures of spelling level and word attack level for a student could be used to estimate or predict that student's levels of reading, listening, and word identification, and (b) highly reliable measures of reading level and word identification level for a student could be used to estimate or predict that student's levels of listening, spelling, and word attack.     

Written expression—The last skill acquired

Conclusion These dyslexic youngsters were particularly weak in syntax. The level of productivity, the abstractness and originality of ideas were diverse. Results of Table 1 differed somewhat from Myklebust’s study and warrant further attention with larger groups of children. The subtle difficulties noted in spontaneous oral language should be explored further. Case 4 had the most difficulty with oral language. It is quite possible that written work is helping him monitor and clarify his oral language. With Case 3, the opposite seems true—oral language is perhaps aiding him in the sequencing of written language. In many respects, this paper has raised a myriad of questions and offered no answers. I believe, however, that it illustrates that written language is, indeed, the very last skill acquired by many youngsters.     

To tell a story,to write it: developmental patterns of narrative skills from preschool to first grade

In this 1-year longitudinal study, the authors explored the development of narrative skills between the oral and written form. The authors aimed to assess the predictive power of textual narrative competence on early narrative text writing skills taking into account the impact of spelling ability. Eighty children (M age?=?5.3 years, age range?=?4.9–5.7 years; SD?=?0.29) were followed longitudinally until entering the first grade of primary school. During kindergarten, they were tested with an oral story production task and in first grade with a written story production task. Narratives were evaluated in terms of structure, cohesion and consistency. In the first grade, children were also submitted to a dictation task to evaluate their spelling competence. Repeated measures ANOVAs were performed in order to examine narrative competence development, also considering gender differences, and regression analyses were implemented to evaluate the predictive capability of textual abilities expressed by oral narratives on textual abilities expressed by writing. The results showed some significant differences when scores in kindergarten were compared to scores in primary school. Moreover, the ability to tell well-structured, cohesive and consistent stories predicts the ability to write stories with the same qualities in the sample of participants without spelling difficulty. Instead, the predictive link is not apparent considering those children with difficulties in orthographic ability. This research allows us to reflect about how the medium of writing might interfere, on the basis of the level of mastery, with the opportunity to express narrative skills in the transition from the oral to written code. The central role of writing instrument functionality opens the way to practical implications.     

Native language predictors of foreign language proficiency and foreign language aptitude

Fifty-four students were tested at specific time intervals over 10 years to determine best native language (NL) predictors of oral and written foreign language (FL) proficiency and FL aptitude. All participants completed two years of Spanish, French, or German. Each was administered measures of NL literacy, oral language, and cognitive ability in elementary school. A measure of FL aptitude was administered at the beginning of ninth grade and FL proficiency was evaluated at the end of the 10th grade. Among the variables, NL literacy measures were the best predictors of FL proficiency, and NL achievement and general (verbal) intelligence were strong predictors of FL aptitude. Results suggest that indices of NL literacy as early as first grade are related to FL proficiency and FL aptitude nine and 10 years later. Findings provide strong support for connections between L1 and L2 skills, and for speculation that “lower level” skills in phonological processing are important for written language development and oral proficiency in a FL.     

Identifying native language difficulties among foreign language learners in college: a "foreign" language learning disability?

The present study compared successful and unsuccessful college foreign language learners on measures of intelligence, foreign language aptitude, native oral and written language, and math. Unsuccessful students had received petitions to waive the foreign language requirement. No significant differences between groups were found on intelligence and reading comprehension. Significant differences were found on the Modern Language Aptitude Test, on tests of written and oral language in the syntactic and phonological domains, and on math calculation. Authors suggest that students with foreign language learning difficulties may have underlying native language problems manifested especially in the areas of syntax and phonology. Suggestions for diagnosing a foreign language disability are made.     

Self‐paced segmentation of written words on a touchscreen tablet promotes the oral production of nonverbal and minimally verbal children with autism

We investigated in a pilot study the effects of various types of visual mediation (photos, written words and self‐paced syllabic segmentation of written words displayed on a touchscreen tablet) that are thought to facilitate the oral production of nonverbal and minimally verbal children with autism, according to the participants’ level of oral language development and, more specifically, their ability to produce delayed echolalia. We also sought to identify the cognitive characteristics that need to be taken into account when seeking to develop the oral production of nonverbal children with autism. Results showed that the nonverbal and minimally verbal children with autism were able of using written words to produce them orally. Their performance was largely dependent on their level of language development. Tasks combining written and oral modalities prompted some of them to engage in oral production for the first time (isolated syllables for nonverbal children) and allowed others to produce non‐random strings of syllables (minimally verbal children).     

Sex and Conceptual Level Empathic Responses to Ambivalent Affect

Four variables (helper conceptual level, helper sex, client sex, and type of client affect), their interactions, and effects on empathic ability were examined. All undergraduate “helpers” had been trained in empathic response and were asked to respond empathically to videotaped role-playing “clients.” Client videotapes were equally divided among male and female clients, and among ambivalent and nonambivalent affect states. A significant interaction was found between helper conceptual level and type of client affect. Female helpers were found to be more empathic than male helpers, and responses to the nonambivalent affect statements were more empathic than responses to the more complex ambivalent affect statements.     

Spelling in Children With Dyslexia: Analyses From the Treiman-Bourassa Early Spelling Test

We examined the oral and written spelling performance on the Treiman-Bourassa Early Spelling Test (Treiman & Bourassa, 2000a) of 30 children with serious reading and spelling problems and 30 spelling-level-matched younger children who were progressing normally in learning to read and spell. The 2 groups' spellings were equivalent on a composite measure of phonological and orthographic sophistication, representation of the phonological skeleton of the items, and orthographic legality. The groups showed a similar advantage for words over nonwords on the phonological skeleton and orthographic legality measures. The children with dyslexia and the comparison children also showed an equivalent advantage for written over oral spelling on the composite and phonological skeleton measures. Further analyses revealed that children with dyslexia made many of the same linguistically based errors as typically developing children but also pointed to some subtle differences between the groups. Overall, the spelling performance of children with dyslexia appears to be quite similar to that of normally progressing younger children.     

Discourse measures for Basque summary grading

In the context of Learning Technologies, the need to be able to assess the learning and domain comprehension in open-ended learner responses has been present in artificial intelligence and education since its beginnings. The advantage of using summaries is that they allow teachers to diagnose comprehension and the amount of information remembered from text in the learning process. This study addresses the issue of automatically obtaining overall discourse scores from surface discourse measures for Basque language. Global measures have been studied for cohesion, adequacy and use of language. The approach taken was to estimate the presence of the automatically gathered surface discourse measures in expert grading decisions in cohesion, adequacy and use of language. As a consequence, three grading decision-making regression models were obtained to estimate overall grades from text written in Basque. Next, the obtained regression models were tested in corpus-containing summaries written by learners with different degrees of summarisation maturity. The results show that the obtained grading frameworks significantly reflect human decisions and are able to discriminate summarisation maturity differences.     

The Homogeneity and Heterogeneity of Moral Functioning in Preschool

The current study examined relations between distinct aspects of moral functioning, and their cognitive and emotional correlates, in preschool age children. Participants were 171 typically developing 3- to 6-year-olds. Each child completed several tasks, including (a) moral tasks assessing both performance of various moral actions and evaluations of moral scenarios presented both verbally and nonverbally; and (b) non-moral tasks assessing general cognitive skill, executive functioning, theory-of-mind, and emotion recognition. Shyness and empathic concern were assessed from video acquired during participation. Results demonstrated positive associations among distinct moral actions, as well as among distinct moral evaluation tasks, but few associations between tasks assessing moral actions and moral evaluation. Empathic concern and inhibitory control each emerged as important predictors of preschoolers’ moral functioning.     

Empathy among students in engineering programmes

Engineers face challenges when they are to manage project groups and be leaders for organisations because such positions demand skills in social competence and empathy. Previous studies have shown that engineers have low degrees of social competence skills. In this study, the level of empathy as measured by the four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, perspective taking, fantasy, empathic distress and empathic concern, among engineering students was compared to students in health care profession programmes. Participants were undergraduate students at Linköping University, 365 students from four different health care profession programmes and 115 students from two different engineering programmes. When the empathy measures were corrected for effects of sex, engineering students from one of the programmes had lower empathy than psychology and social worker students on the fantasy and perspective-taking subscales. These results raise questions regarding opportunities for engineering students to develop their empathic abilities. It is important that engineering students acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills regarding empathy.