How large is the course effect? A reply to Gillmore

Summary Gillmore's criticisms of Romney's (1976) study are themselves open to criticism and should not be permitted to detract from the conclusion that there is a significant, if small, course effect which should somehow be taken into account when interpreting students' ratings of teaching competence.     

The Subject of Post-structuralism: A reply to Alison Jones

ABSTRACT Alison Jones finds in the writing of her students who take up post-structuralism, a confused humanism, an illegitimate appearance of a prediscursive self. She attributes this to some aspects of my writing and to the students' failure to understand the structuralist base of post-structuralism. Jones argues that I and her students are guilty of humanism when we use active verbs such as 'positioning' or 'forced choice', or when we try to imagine what agency might be in a post-structuralist framework. In this reply I produce a detailed reading of Jones'. In doing so, I attempt to find how she produced her reading of my writing, and at the same time to extend my understanding of what the 'post-structuralist subject' might be. I attend to this in the dual sense of human beings as subjects, and the subject of post-structuralism as we teach it to our students.     

How large is the course effect? A note on Romney's course effect vs. teacher effect on students' ratings of teacher competence

Romney (1977) presented data from which he concluded that within student ratings of college instruction, the course that an instructor teaches is as important a determiner of resulting ratings as the instructor himself. Reanalysis of his data indicates that the course effect is actually quite small, a result that is consistent with earlier studies.     

The cognitive basis of early speech: A reply to McNeill

McNeill (1970) asserted recently that language was possible before the emergence of the symbolic function because such language is dependent upon the existence of strong linguistic universals. The syntactical category [N] is such a universal and does not depend upon cognitive or extra-linguistic causes. In the present paper three aspects of his argument are considered: (1) historical and grammatical evidence regarding the status of [N]; (2) empirical evidence that nouns are uniquely important in early child language and that they exhibit grammatical development during the holophrastic period; (3) the independence of cognition and language. Arguments in support of the interdependence and interaction of linguistic and cognitive factors during the acquisition period are presented.

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Résumé McNeill (1970) affirmait récemment que la langue pouvait précéder l'apparition de la fonction symbolique car elle dépend de l'existence d'universaux linquistiques puissants. La catégorie syntaxique [N] est un de ces concepts universels, et elle ne dépend pas des causes cognitives ou extra-linguistiques. Dans l'étude qui nous intéresse, on considère son raisonnement sous trois aspects: (1) la preuve historique et grammaticale relative à la situation de [N]; (2) la preuve empirique que les noms occupent une place unique dans le langage de l'enfant et qu'ils sont l'objet d'une évolution grammaticale au cours de la phase holophrastique; (3) l'indépendance de la connaissance et de la langue. On présente les arguments en faveur de l'interdépendance et de l'interaction des facteurs cognitifs et linguistiques au cours de la phase d'acquisition.

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Yale University     

谈高校体育教师如何应对我国体育课程的改革

教育部颁发的《全国普通高等学校体育课程教学指导纲要》,对高校体育教学提出了新的要求,它是对传统教学模式的一种变革。体育教师作为实施体育课程改革的主力军,体育课程改革能否顺利实施,关键在于体育教师能否适应要求。如何应对我国体育课程改革,是摆在高校体育教师面前的一个重要课题。     

More evidence that cognitive complexity is not loquacity: A reply to Beatty and Payne

Beatty and Payne (1984) recently presented data allegedly demonstrating that assessments of cognitive complexity based on Crockett's popular Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) are severly confounded by “loquacity,” the simple amount of verbal response to stimuli. The present paper responds critically to the claims of Beatty and Payne, arguing that these researchers employed a flawed measure of loquacity and inappropriate data analytic procedures. In order to better clarify the influence of loquacity on sophisticated social‐cognitive and communicative functioning, two empirical studies are reported in which alternative measures of loquacity were employed. In neither of these studies was loquacity found significantly associated with social‐cognitive or communicative abilities.     

The role of counselling in developing countries: A reply to Soliman

Counselling, and in particular school counselling, is evolving very slowly in developing countries because of failure to place it in the mainstream of the school curriculum. If counselling is to perform any role in the social and economic development of these nations it must be able to influence the goals and priorities of schooling as well as suggest new methods of teaching. In this way, counselling would lead to adoption of school curriculum promoting not only intellectual development but also personal and psychological development. By so doing all the perceived obstacles to counselling's growth would disappear.     

Interpreting the differences: A reply to Kaufman

Kaufman's critique of our article was based on a misunderstanding of our purpose and procedures. This reply clarifies those points and suggests further areas of concern regarding the McCarthy Screening Test.