Assessing the cognitive abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students: Predictive validity of verbal,quantitative, and nonverbal tests

Verbal and quantitative reasoning tests provide valuable information about cognitive abilities that are important to academic success. Information about these abilities may be particularly valuable to teachers of students who are English‐language learners (ELL), because leveraging reasoning skills to support comprehension is a critical aptitude for their academic success. However, due to concerns about cultural bias, many researchers advise exclusive use of nonverbal tests with ELL students despite a lack of evidence that nonverbal tests provide greater validity for these students. In this study, a test measuring verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning was administered to a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of students. The two‐year predictive relationship between ability and achievement scores revealed that nonverbal scores had weaker correlations with future achievement than did quantitative and verbal reasoning ability scores for ELL and non‐ELL students. Results do not indicate differential prediction and do not support the exclusive use of nonverbal tests for ELL students. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Nonverbal ability and hearing impaired

Research concerning the relationship of nonverbal ability measures recommended for hearing impaired (HI) students and learning potential is reviewed. Earlier studies indicate that nonverbal measures can be used to predict academic achievement, while the more recent studies urge caution or suggest questionable predictability when interpreting the data. Recommendations for interpreting and communicating the nonverbal ability results are included.     

Revisiting the theory of image restoration strategies

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of student verbal and nonverbal responsiveness on teachers' liking of students and willingness to comply with student requests. Rather than students' verbal and nonverbal responsiveness interacting, only students' nonverbal responsiveness significantly affected teachers' liking of students and willingness to comply with student requests. Students' nonverbal responsiveness accounted for 66% of the variance in teachers' liking of students and 31% of the variance in teachers' willingness to comply with student requests. It was also hypothesized that teachers' liking of students would moderate the effect of student responsiveness on teacher compliance. This hypothesis was not supported.     

大学英语教学中的非语言交际

人类交际体系是由语言交际和非语言交际构成的,非语言交际是整个交际过程中不可缺少的组成部分。非语言交际的系统知识是大学英语教学中的一个重要内容。分析非语言交际的功能,阐明非语言行为在英语教学中对学生的语言学习产生的重要影响,教师把非语言交际手段应用到英语教学中,都有助于提高教学效果。     

Reading assessments for students with ASD: a survey of summative reading assessments used in special educational schools in the UK

Schools have an obligation to assess the literacy skills of their students, and the provision of reading instruction to students includes the ability to measure progress in this area. However, the design of reading tests includes the ability not only to read words, but also the ability to verbalise them. This presents a particular challenge for practitioners working with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who can be nonverbal in many cases. How this issue is generally overcome is currently unknown. A survey was developed, in the form of an online multiple‐choice questionnaire, in order to determine which tests are currently being used in the UK to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students, and to examine the opinions of the education practitioners who use them, in relation to their suitability. Using the schools web directory, e‐mail invitations were sent to 1,050 special educational needs schools across the UK, and 70 schools responded to the invitation. Respondents suggested that the majority of practitioners hold little faith in the ability of current reading assessments to provide an accurate picture of reading ability for students with ASD, and this holds particularly true for nonverbal pupils with ASD. One purpose of education assessment is to establish a baseline of students’ ability in order to plan for lifelong learning and achievement. If there is an inability on the part of schools accurately to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students with ASD, then it would be fair to assume that this could have a negative impact on the provision of learning opportunities for this population.     

The Effects of Student Responsiveness on Teachers Granting Power to Students and Essay Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of student responsiveness on teachers granting relational power to students, and to determine if this power influenced how teachers evaluated student essays. Rather than student verbal and nonverbal responsiveness interacting, student nonverbal responsiveness significantly impacted the coercive, reward, and referent power that teachers granted students. Student verbal and nonverbal responsiveness affected the expert power that teachers granted students. Nine to 18% of the variance in relational power was attributed to student responsiveness. Additionally, student referent power significantly predicted teachers’ evaluation of student essays accounting for 11% of the variance.     

Emotional Contagion in the Classroom: The Impact of Teacher Satisfaction and Confirmation on Perceptions of Student Nonverbal Classroom Behavior

Teachers appreciate nonverbally responsive students, but what is missing is an understanding of the direct influence of teachers' self-perceptions on their perceptions of how engaged their students are in class. Using the emotional contagion theory as a lens, this study examines the premise that satisfied instructors expect students to mirror their own behaviors in the classroom through being nonverbally responsive. Results of the regression model confirm that teachers' perceptions of their own confirmation behaviors most strongly predict their perceptions of how nonverbally responsive students are in class. Thus, instructors who are more expressive will likely induce students to be more expressive, leading them to determine their students are being more nonverbally responsive. Further, expressive instructors will be more attuned to student interaction because they may subconsciously expect students to mirror their actions through nonverbal behaviors—they will look for it. Additionally, satisfied instructors view their students as satisfied and look for these feelings to be exposed via nonverbal response behaviors. Implications for teacher training and mentoring programs are discussed.     

非语言交际在高中英语课堂教学中的应用

非语言交际在人类交际活动中起着不可忽视的作用,英语课堂教学的成败与非语言交际运用的关系密切.在高中英语课堂教学中,非语言交际手段的恰当运用传递了丰富的信息,促进了英语良好的交流与沟通.     

The bibles of the research scientist

Considerable attention has been focused on the relationship between nonverbal communication behavior and student perceptions of the teacher. One important observation is that teachers frequently emit nonverbal messages that contradict their verbal ones, but the effects of this modal discrepancy are not well understood. In the present study, vocal cues are isolated as the nonverbal behavior for study. The interaction of vocal cues and verbal messages is examined with respect to its impact on teacher credibility. The results indicate that the students’ perceptions of sociability are influenced by perceived discrepancy between words and attitudes. Perception of competence, on the other hand, appears to be dependent on positive vocal cues.     

非言语交际在外语教学中的应用

作为言语交际的重要补充形式，非言语交际能传递言语交际难以表达的事物、意念和情感。外语教学的最终目的是培养语言的交际能力，这就需要教师和学生调动语言知识和非语言知识去参与理解并作出语言的和非语言的反馈。在教学中，教师恰当运用体态语、手势语、副语言和空间语非语言交际，对提高外语教学的效果具有十分重要的作用。     

The Quality and Impact of Relationships between Elementary School Students and Teachers

The purpose of the present study was to begin to examine, from the expectancy-value framework, several cognitive and motivational variables believed to affect the development of the student/teacher relationship and, in turn, classroom success. Guided by the expectancy-value framework, three student variables are viewed as essential in guiding the success of the student/teacher relationship: (1) their social self-concept beliefs, (2) the value they place on developing a positive relationship with their primary teacher, and (3) their nonverbal communication skills. Eighty-two fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in the study. Variation in the students' perceptions of the quality of their relationship with their primary teacher and their classroom achievement were examined. In general, results suggest students develop schemas, their social self-concept beliefs, about their relationships with teachers that are consistent with their nonverbal communication skills. Furthermore, results suggest that for both positive perceptions of the relationship and academic achievement, valuing the relationship with the primary teacher may compensate for nonverbal difficulties.     

Race and performance of student as determinants of teacher nonverbal behavior

This study tested the hypotheses that the nonverbal behavior of teachers is affected by the race and performance of their students. Fifty-six white college-age subjects, acting as teachers, were led to praise successful or unsuccessful students. The students were either white or black. Stimulus teachers' nonverbal behavior was recorded, and silent samples of their behavior were shown to naive judges who rated how pleased they appeared to be with their student. Results showed that stimulus teachers were more pleased with successful than unsuccessful students, and more pleased with white than black students.     

多媒体辅助英语阅读教学的语言输入优势

培养学生交际能力是大学英语专业阅读教学的目标，为了实现此目标，学生需要大量语言和非语言材料的输入，而传统阅读教学中存在着语言、特别是非语言输入量不足的问题。结合多媒体辅助阅读教学的经验，分析了这种教学在语言输入方面优于传统教学的一些特点，从中得出结论：多媒体辅助阅读教学、能提高语言和非语言材料输入的质和量、更好地帮助学生英语交际能力的发展。     

跨文化非言语交际与外语教学

Nonverbal communication, which is often consciously or unconsciously neglected in foreign language teaching, is an inseparable part in human communication process. This paper will give a brief account of nonverbal communication and an analysis of the significance in improving the students' nonverbal communicative ability in FLT. It will also provide some workable suggestions to the students on enriching their cultural knowledge of nonverbal communication so as to improve their nonverbal communicative competence in ELT.     

论课堂教学中的教师非言语行为

教师非言语行为作为课堂教学行为的重要组成部分,在教学过程中发挥着不可忽视的作用。教师非言语行为在课堂上主要表现为手部非言语行为、脸部非言语行为、身体非言语行为、副语言行为、空间语言行为。教师的非言语行为在辅助课堂教学、激发学生的学习兴趣、调控教学进程和增进师生情感方面有显著作用。在课堂教学中,教师要有意识地规范自身的非言语行为,要加强实践练习,提高非言语表达技巧,同时要适量,掌握好"度"。     

The effect of poverty on the verbal scores of gifted students

A nonexperimental design was used to determine whether the verbal scores of low-income gifted fifth graders (n = 38) differed from those of their higher income peers (n = 83). The Otis–Lennon School Ability Test, Eighth Edition and the Stanford Achievement Test-Tenth Edition were used to collect student data. Results of a MANOVA showed a statistically significant difference between the verbal scores of the two groups, with low-income students scoring significantly lower. A large effect size for the multivariate main effect of income level on verbal intelligence and verbal achievement scores was found (η² = .19). The existence of verbal–nonverbal score discrepancy in low-income students questions the practice of using only nonverbal or nonverbal parts of an IQ test to identify and place students in gifted programmes. These results also underscore the need to nurture underdeveloped verbal abilities when they occur in low-income students.     

跨文化非语言交际对比的可行性及心理依据

非语言交际同语言交际一样是人类交际的两种渠道之一 ,但却没有受到象语言交际那样的重视。本文运用心理学中的迁移律以及对大二学生的问卷调查 ,探讨跨文化非语言交际中的对比的可行性及必要性 ,说明如何发挥正迁移、以尽可能少的负迁移进行跨文化交际。     

Students’ use of power in the classroom: An investigation of student power,teacher power,and teacher immediacy

The purposes of this study were to examine: (1) students’ use of power to gain compliance from instructors, (2) the association between students’ use of power and their instructors’ power, and (3) students’ use of power and the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The results revealed that even though students did not feel they had a great amount of influence with their instructors, they used a variety of behavior alteration techniques (BATs) to gain compliance from them. Specifically, students reported using prosocial strategies most frequently and antisocial techniques least frequently. The results also revealed a positive association between students’ overall sense of power and their perception of their teachers’ power. Instructors’ use of reward power was also related to students’ use of prosocial BATs. Conversely, instructors’ use of coercive power was associated with students’ antisocial BATs. Finally, students tended to use expert power more with nonverbally immediate teachers than nonimmediate teachers. Students’ use of BATs did not depend upon the nonverbal immediacy of the instructor. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.     

论汉维民族语言与非语言交际中的禁忌习俗——兼谈对少数民族汉语教学的禁忌文化教学

禁忌是人类普遍具有的一种化现象，也是跨化交际中最应慎重对待的。章探讨了维汉两个民族在语言禁忌和非语言禁忌方面的共性与差异，阐明在对少数民族汉语教学中有必要进行有关禁忌化的教学。