A comparison of the vocal patterns of deaf and hearing mother-infant dyads during face-to-face interactions

This study was part of a longitudinal investigation of the impact of deafness on the cognitive, social, and communicative development of infants. The current study reports analyses of the vocalizations of deaf and hearing infants and their Deaf or hearing mothers during normal face-to-face interactions when the infants were 9 months old. Results indicate essentially no differences in the amount of positive or negative vocalizations emitted by infants in any of the four groups observed. However, there is a heightened use of vocal games by hearing mothers interacting with deaf infants, indicating that these mothers are incorporating several additional sensory modalities into their vocal expressions. This is interpreted as one way in which parents make their vocal communication more salient and accessible to an infant with a hearing loss. Deaf mothers are also highly active and engaged with their infants, but have been found to rely more extensively on vigorous tactile contact rather than auditory input during these same interactions.     

The mother-infant relationship and infant attachment in a South African peri-urban settlement

A sample of 147 mother-infant dyads was recruited from a peri-urban settlement outside Cape Town and seen at 2- and 18-months postpartum. At 18 months, 61.9% of the infants were rated as securely attached (B); 4.1% as avoidant (A); 8.2% as resistant (C); and 25.8% disorganized (D). Postpartum depression at 2 months, and indices of poor parenting at both 2 and 18 months, were associated with insecure infant attachment. The critical 2-month predictor variables for insecure infant attachment were maternal intrusiveness and maternal remoteness, and early maternal depression. When concurrent maternal sensitivity was considered, the quality of the early mother-infant relationship remained important, but maternal depression was no longer predictive. Cross-cultural differences and consistencies in the development of attachment are discussed.     

Culture and early social interactions. The example of mother-infant object play in African and native French Families

Data from cross-cultural studies on parental behaviour during early social interaction suggest that structural and universal features should be differentiated from culturally specific ones. No direct relations can be assumed to exist between specific forms of child rearing and development of skills in the child. However child rearing practices can have long term effects and affect social behaviours. As an illustration, we compare interactive styles of 40 French and African mothers living in Paris in an object play situation, with their 10 and 15 month-olds. French mothers’ interactions with their children are illustrative of tight connections between verbal and non-verbal behaviour. Action is the basis or anchor point for verbal exchange; and this repetition or verbal redundnacy yields discourse-on-actions which to a certain extent distances the action and allows for a generalization process to take place. In contrast, African mothers’ interactions with their infants present less verbal scaffolding of non-verbal behaviour. This type of interaction allows for a greater «disjunction» or separation of non-verbal and verbal communication. African cultures do not assign the spoken word with the educational function of structuring and planning activities. However, the models generated by the school system correspond to other types of obligations which are strongly affected by temporal perspectives.     

Learning to play: A review and theoretical investigation of the developmental mechanisms and functions of cetacean play

Play is a behavioral phenomenon most commonly observed in the young of both solitary and social species. Documentation of play in cetaceans varies across species and settings. Cetacean play behavioral repertoires include a broad range of actions, such as the manipulation of diverse objects, blowing bubbles, chasing conspecifics, and swimming in spirals through the water. As is common in research on animal play, cetacean play has been grouped into categories by its form, including locomotor play, object play, and different variations of social play, such as affiliative games, play fighting, and socio-sexual play. Research has primarily focused on recording the topography of cetacean play and the demographics of the individuals engaging in play. However, these classifications are insufficient to address the possible developmental and societal functions of cetacean play behaviors, or the mechanisms with which play behaviors are spread between conspecifics and acquired by young members of cetacean populations. This article applies several developmental and social learning theories in order to organize current knowledge and guide future research.     

Perceptions and functions of play and real fighting in early adolescence

The hypothesis is tested that adolescent boys' (mean age of 12.8 years) intrasexual rough-and-tumble play (R&T) is used for dominance and intersexual R&T is used to establish heterosexual relationships. In Study 1, boys' observed R&T was related to both dominance and aggression. In the first half of the school year, R&T occurred primarily between males, possibly to establish dominance. In the second half of the year, both boys and girls engaged in R&T, possibly to establish heterosexual relationships. Counter to the hypothesis, observed aggression increased across the year. In Study 2, youngsters viewed taped R&T bouts in which they were participants or nonparticipants. Participant, more than nonparticipant, males saw R&T as related to dominance whereas participant, more than nonparticipant, females saw it as playful.     

Physical environmental regulation of verbal vehavior during play

This report describes three experiments designed to measure the changes in children's social speech produced by features in the physical environment that are designed to alter verbal communication contingencies between players. All experiments utilized A-B-A-B withdrawal designs. Both conditions consisted of free play at an ordinary open table, but, in the experimental condition, partitions between players allowed only partial visual contact. In the first experiment, the partitions produced sharp drops in the amount of speech referenced to playthings but no changes in the level of specificity. In the second experiment, no changes in verbal referents were produced, but significant increases in specificity of speech occurred when the partitions were in place. Similar results were obtained in Experiment 3. The results are considered as confirmation of the importance of physical environmental factors in the regulation of children's play, with differential results attributed primarily to differential reinforcement of specific and nonspecific speech when the partitions were in place.     

But I want to fly too!: Girls and superhero play in the infant classroom

This article describes a study which was conducted in an inner-city school in the north of England, in a base which contained 57 children aged 6 and 7 years old. The purpose of the study was to explore the potential role of popular culture in the literacy curriculum. During the project, a socio-dramatic role-play area which was related to a popular superhero icon was set up in the classroom. Children's play in the area was recorded using a variety of methods, including field notes, video recording and photographs. Some of the previous research on superhero play has focused on the attraction the discourse has for boys or suggested that girls take on a non-female persona in such a play. The findings from this study suggest that superhero play is strongly attractive to girls, who explore agency and autonomy through such play and actively position themselves as females within a heroic discourse.     

Effects of familiar and unfamiliar objects on mother-infant interaction

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the dynamics and structure of mother-child interactions around toys vary with the familiarity of toys. Twelve mother-child dyads with a 5- or 9-month-old infant were filmed two consecutive 5-minute sessions in the presence of familiar or novel objects. By relating the mother’s behaviour to her infant’s, we were able to define episodes consisting of phases of joint engagement of the two partners on the same topic or reference object. In a context involving familiar objects, mothers more often took the initiative to introduce a topic, and they kept the child’s attention focused on the object for longer periods, by means of various manipulations. In contrast, the attractiveness of the novelty gave the infants more initiative, and the mothers followed the child by providing mostly verbal support.     

Learning of argumentation skills in networked and face-to-face environments

In a teaching experiment 16 face-to-face and 11 e-mailFinnish university students studied academic debatingin an argumentation course. The 19 students of thecontrol group did not engage in the course. The courseinvolved two lectures, exercises with argumentativetexts, and face-to-face or e-mail seminar discussionsbased on these texts. Free debate, role play,problem-solving and panel discussion were the devicesused in organizing the course. The level of thestudents' argumentation skills were measured in apretest before the course and in a post-test after it.The results were compared between and within thegroups. The results indicated that during the e-mailstudies the students learned to identify and chooserelevant grounds, while the face-to-face studentsimproved in putting forward counterargumentation. Thecontrol group did not improve in these skills. Thestudy suggests that argumentation skills can bepromoted by short-term e-mail and face-to-faceteaching, and that practising argumentation indifferent learning environments develops differentkinds of argumentation skills.     

The use and effectiveness of maternal scaffolding in mother-infant games

Maternal behaviors within mother-infant games were examined to determine the amount, type, and functional value of maternal helping behaviors. 17 mother-infant pairs were videotaped on monthly visits from 8 to 16 months as they played 5 separate games. 2 of these games, roll the ball and peekaboo, were analyzed in terms of "rounds" of each game. Results show that dyads play more rounds of both games in the first months that infants perform game-relevant behaviors (e.g., returning a ball, performing uncovering or covering-uncovering). Maternal attention-getting and physical "stage-setting" behaviors occur in the early rounds of both games. In roll the ball, maternal hands-out and reinforcement behaviors increase in the months after the child begins to return the ball, while the percentage of rounds in which dyads play nonreturn variants decreases. Infants are more likely to return a ball when mother holds out her hands than when she does not. Infants are also able to perform returning or uncovering in game contexts before they perform similar behaviors in cognitive tests. The general similarity of findings in the peekaboo and roll-the-ball games, in spite of differences in the amounts of scaffolding, attention-getting, stage-setting, and reinforcement behaviors between the 2 games, indicates that the types and functions of maternal helping behaviors may be generalizable to other contexts of mother-infant interactions.     

Computer-mediated instruction: a comparison of online and face-to-face collaboration

This study investigated the effects of collaboration mode and group composition during a computer-mediated collaborative (CMC) program. Six intact sections of a computer literacy course were assigned to either a face-to-face or a virtual, online collaboration treatment condition. Groups consisted of homogeneous lower-ability, homogeneous higher-ability, or heterogeneous-ability pairs. The study examined the effects of collaboration mode and group composition on individual posttest performance, group project performance, collaborative interaction behavior, and attitudes towards the instruction. Results indicated that virtual dyads exhibited significantly more questioning behaviors and significantly better project performance than those who collaborated face-to-face. By comparison, students in the face-to-face condition performed significantly better on the individual posttest than those in the virtual online condition. Findings suggest that both virtual and face-to-face collaboration can be effective in achieving learning goals. However, consideration should be given to the collaborative structure of the lesson and the type of task in the design of CMC environments.

A longitudinal study of maternal involvement and symbolic play during the toddler period

Social contexts may provide important clues to our understanding of early symbolic play development. In the present study, the effects of maternal involvement on symbolic play development during the toddler period were investigated. 16 mother-child dyads were observed at bimonthly intervals in a free-play setting during the period from 20 to 28 months of age. Mothers' availability as a play partner varied during the course of the half-hour play sessions, depending on the presence or absence of the experimenter. When differences in level and duration of symbolic play were examined in light of maternal availability, both the level of play and length of play episodes increased when the mother was available to play with the child. 3 maternal involvement conditions were then compared: mother actively interacting and suggesting during play, mother participating via verbal commentary, and child playing alone. Results indicate that both maternal involvement conditions raise the level and length of play episodes.     

A phenomenological study of teamwork in online and face-to-face student teams

Team-based projects are widely used in both traditional face-to-face and online programs in higher education. To date, the teamwork experiences of students in each modality have been documented primarily through evaluative research conducted over short spans of time and limited by a priori frameworks. The literature also reflects a lack of agreement about what constitutes the phenomenon of teamwork in each modality. In order to address these limitations, we conducted a phenomenological study examining the lived experiences of teamwork among students in both face-to-face and online MBA programs in Iran. Our analysis revealed striking commonalities in the experiences of both groups, including a shared desire for effective leadership to alleviate the problem of free riders, as well as substantial time and effort invested in retaining reliable teammates from one team project to another. In other respects, face-to-face and online students’ experience differed strongly. For example, while face-to-face participants pursued teammates with similar beliefs about how teamwork should be accomplished, online participants found themselves pre-occupied with staying connected with their teammates and struggled to establish common communication channels with each and every team member. Overall, our findings suggest that while training and support for student teamwork can partly build on the shared needs among students in both modalities, the nature of the experience in each modality may be so different in vital respects that engaging in one mode of teamwork does not necessarily prepare students to participate well in the other mode. Other implications and limitations of the research are discussed.     

Birth order and sex of sibling as determinants of mother-infant interaction.

Mother-infant interaction was assessed on 32 first- and second-born siblings when each was 3 months old. Data were colleted during 2 6-hour naturalistic home observations using a modified time-sampling technique. The sample consisted of 4 equal-size subgroups of same and opposite sex sibling pairs. Results suggested that interaction between a mother and her infant varied depending on the birth order and gender of the infant. Mothers spent significantly less time in social, affectionate, and caretaking interaction (except for feeding activities) with their second borns than they had with their firstborns; this difference was greater if the second born was female. Certain patterns of maternal behaviors appeared to be stable from one sibling to the other. Different types of interaction between the mothers and their younger infants were related to attention-seeking behavior in the firstborn male and female siblings.     

发挥财政职能作用大力推进职业教育改革和发展

这次全国职业教育工作会议开得非常必要、非常及时,对进一步改革和完善教育体制,提高我国人口和劳动力素质,增强我国加入WTO后的国际竞争力,促进经济和社会发展具有重大的意义.     

A comparative analysis of e-mail and face-to-face communication in an educational environment

Electronic mail (e-mail) is an extremely important medium for Internet-based education. Due to its unique characteristics, there is reason to be concerned that students do not put appropriate care into writing messages that are sent via e-mail. This has significant implications for the effectiveness of online learning environments. This paper describes an empirical research project to investigate the amount of thought students put into e-mail communication versus traditional face-to-face communication. A survey was administered to 596 undergraduates. The results of this survey indicate that students put significantly more thought into e-mail communication with the instructor and groups of peers than they do for equivalent face-to-face communication. At the same time, students tend to put about the same amount of thought into e-mail compared to verbal communication with individual peers. Finally, the research uncovered some interesting patterns concerning student gender and technology comfort as predictors of thought put into e-mail communication.     

大学生情绪向性、表达性与特质孤独的关系研究

目的:探讨情绪向性、表达性与特质孤独的关系.方法:采用量表法对福州某大学240名大学生进行调查.结果:女生在情绪表达性上显著高于男生,理工类的负性情感显著高于文史类和艺术类,在情感平衡上显著低于文史类和艺术类,文史类的孤独程度上显著高于理工类和艺术类;正性情感与情感孤独呈显著的负相关,负性情感与特质孤独各因子上的得分间均呈不同程度的负相关,情感平衡与孤独总分、社交孤独、孤独程度的正相关达显著水平;负性情感对特质孤独各因子构成显著回归效应,正性情感对情感孤独有一定影响.