Verbal inactivity in tutorial groups,under conditions of varying preparation and leadership

The effects of variations in preparation and leadership on verbal inactivity in tutorial groups were investigated in a field-experimental setting. A factorial, randomized, longitudinal design was employed, with controls imposed over many of the identifiable extraneous effects. Four groups (n = 15) discussed problematic case study material under conditions of varying preparation (prepared vs. unprepared) and leadership (emergent vs. assigned leadership), for eight consecutive weekly sessions of one hour's duration. The principal hypotheses were tested by Chisquare analysis, and a cautious approach was adopted to the interpretation of statistically significant results, in that preparation or leadership effects were only taken as being of any theoretical or practical significance if they reached significance in at least three of the eight discussion sessions. Both preparation and leadership influenced verbal inactivity in groups. The obtained leadership effects were explained in terms of interaction-expectation theory, and behaviour modelling.     

“无领导小组讨论”在人才测评中的应用

什么是无领导小组讨论 无领导小组讨论(LeaderLess GroupDieussion),是指将一定数量的一组被评人(基本上是每组5~8人)集中起来,让他们就给定的问题进行一定时间长度的讨论,讨论中各个成员处于平等的地位,并不指定小组的领导者。评委根据被评人左右局势的能力和发言的内容,对被评人进行评价。总的来说,这是一种运用松散群体讨论的形式,快速诱发人们的特定行为,并通过对这些行为的定量分析与人际相互比较,来判断每个被评人能力水平和个性特征的人事评价方法。     

新课程下如何改变备课组活动

新课程改革正如火如荼地开展，但是受思维定势的影响，大部分教师用的是颓课程教材，教学时却采用以往的模式，其特征依然是“以师为本”，不是“以生为本”。如何从整体上改变这种情况，现从备课组的角度，淡淡自己的粗浅认识。     

University policies under varying market conditions: The training of electrical engineers

This paper analyzes the problem faced by a university in optimizing the quality and quantity of engineers in the face of fluctuating enrollment. This problem is embedded within an equilibrium model that considers the dynamic rational occupation choice of high school graduates and the effect of the students and the university decision on the current and future demand and supply of engineers. The explicit considerations lead to an estimable model that is capable of providing economic forecasts of the demand and supply of electrical engineers under various economic conditions. The model is estimated using aggregate data from Israel. The estimated parameters are consistent with the economic theory and fit the sample well. In particular, the model is capable of estimating the observed cyclical movements in the number of graduating electrical engineers in Israel. Finally, we provide several predictions on the equilibrium number of electrical engineers towards the end of the century.     

Student leadership in small group science inquiry

Background: Science educators have sought to structure collaborative inquiry learning through the assignment of static group roles. This structural approach to student grouping oversimplifies the complexities of peer collaboration and overlooks the highly dynamic nature of group activity.

Purpose: This study addresses this issue of oversimplification of group dynamics by examining the social leadership structures that emerge in small student groups during science inquiry.

Sample: Two small student groups investigating the burning of a candle under a jar participated in this study.

Design and method: We used a mixed-method research approach that combined computational discourse analysis (computational quantification of social aspects of small group discussions) with microethnography (qualitative, in-depth examination of group discussions).

Results: While in one group social leadership was decentralized (i.e., students shared control over topics and tasks), the second group was dominated by a male student (centralized social leadership). Further, decentralized social leadership was found to be paralleled by higher levels of student cognitive engagement.

Conclusions: It is argued that computational discourse analysis can provide science educators with a powerful means of developing pedagogical models of collaborative science learning that take into account the emergent nature of group structures and highly fluid nature of student collaboration.     

高级口语教材的话题、情景和话轮

高级口语教材多以编选的形式,围绕某一话题展开,主要问题为缺少口语交际特点、与学习者生活太远、难以培养得体性表达。在实际交际中,同一场景之下,话题常常会发生变化,而话轮也会发生多次转换,因此高级口语的训练重点应包括如何掌握谈话技巧,保持谈话得体性,在谈话中掌握一定的"说话权"。高级口语教材编写时要考虑说什么、对谁说、怎么说的问题,综合考虑话题、情景、话轮等因素,突出口语交际特点。     

The evolution of educational leadership preparation programmes

ABSTRACT

This article offers a review of extant literature specific to educational leadership preparation programmes. The author explains how leadership development and preparation programmes have evolved over time. Highlighted are: (1) historical contexts of educational leadership, (2) challenges faced when implementing quality graduate programmes in educational leadership, (3) a brief international perspective of educational leadership, and (4) reform efforts aimed at creating a new kind of graduate education in educational leadership. The authors conclude with final reflections.     

Taste-sickness associations in young rats over varying delays,stimulus, and test conditions

We showed, as had previous investigators, that young rats formed taste-sickness associations that were weaker than those of mature rats; associations were not formed over a delay greater than 45 min, and aversions did not survive a 60-min test session. The difficulty young rats had withholding consumption and their poor sensitivity to taste and sickness contributed to the weak aversions. Choice tests revealed aversions that had apparently extinguished during a no-choice test, and animals that were allowed to mature prior to the first test readily withheld consumption for 60 min. Furthermore, young rats formed an aversion over a delay of 2.5 h when the concentrations of saccharin and lithium chloride were increased. Aversions to the stronger saccharin did not extinguish over two one-bottle tests and were retained for 52 days.     

Pragmatic Strategies of Turn-taking in Class

Conversation is one of the basic forms of daily communication,while the research of turn-taking is the central issue in conversation analysis.In class the pragmatic strategies in turn-taking between teachers and students are the important interaction abilities.The good use of turn-taking helps students express themselves effectively and enhances the interactive communications successfully.     

Socratic dialectic and modern group discussion

During the 1838–1846 debates, the free traders evolved a line of argument describing manufacturers and laborers as mutually interested in tariff repeal. By a series of inferences, which may be stated as a sorites, repeal speakers argued that abolition of tariffs would result not only in competitive advantage to British manufacturers but also in higher wages for workers. As the debate progressed, the arguments shifted from emphasis on disadvantage to manufacturers to more emphasis on injustice of higher food costs for laborers and for the country at large.     

Intellectual leadership and academic communities: Issues for discussion and research

This paper re‐examines intellectual leadership in Higher Education by asking the following questions: What is intellectual leadership? Does intellectual leadership imply a position of formal authority and power? What patterns can be observed in the career paths of intellectual leaders? Does cumulative advantage in science automatically pave the way for intellectual leadership? What hinders women and minority scholars from taking on intellectual leadership in their epistemic communities? Drawing on discussions in the literature of the previous decade, the inquiry aims to re‐energise dialogue that is essential for resistance to anti‐intellectualism and proletarianisation in academe.     

"小组讨论"在远程开放教育中的作用

小组讨论是目前被广泛使用的一种教学形式.在远程开放教育中,小组讨论的作用主要体现在五个方面能有效改变学生的学习态度,使学生在知识获取时实现从"间接环境"向"直接环境"的过渡,帮助学生解释不同媒介信息形态,产生有价值的"议程设置",体现合作学习理念.同时,小组讨论在具体操作中仍存在一些问题,如不能激发所有学生的积极性,教师的广泛引导和评价难以展开,在时间安排上有很大的随意性等.     

英语会话中话轮转换系统分析

话轮是人们日常会话的基本单位,话轮转换是会话分析的核心问题。文章分析探讨了英语会话中话轮转换的几个问题：话轮、反馈项目、话轮转换规则、话轮转换信号、保持话轮、放弃话轮以及索求话轮的表达方式。     

论大学英语课堂中的分组讨论

大学英语教育注重实际应变能力和现场表现能力的培养,现如今教学目的中强调的素质教育,也就是集教、学、用于一体的综合应用知识的能力。大学的分组讨论教学方式,是适合大学应用课堂教学,采取的是不同于中学时候的填鸭式教学方式,将创新的教学模式,轻松的教学氛围,真实的生活情境融入教学场景中。本文从大学英语分组讨论的优势出发,探讨和分析了分组讨论教学方法必须要注意的几点问题,并对大学英语教学方式做出了展望。     

Emergence and maintenance of leadership among gifted students in group problem solving

This paper reports results of a study of the emergence and maintenance of leadership in groups of gifed students engaged in unstructured, creative production. The study used Fiedler's dimensional analysis of task structures. Information is presented concerning the relationship between group perceptions of leadership effectiveness, group product creativity, and the style of leadership adopted. Instructional implications for teachers of the gifted are presented.     

Disabling conditions: Investigating instructional leadership teams in action

This study investigated why and how principals selected members for their instructional leadership team (ILT) and how this selection criteria and process may have impacted team members’ understandings of, and behaviors on, the team. Qualitative methods, specifically interviews and observations, were used to explore team members’ perceptions regarding the team’s purpose, function, and selection criteria as well as how these perceptions seemed to impact team members’ behaviors. Data were collected for a period of 8 months during the 2011–2012 school year from ILT in four, in-district charter schools. Results suggest that principals had difficulty articulating their teams’ purposes and functions, with the latter remaining primarily informational or consultative; members were not given decision-making authority. Additionally, when selecting team members, principals prioritized broad representation of teacher groups over other criteria. This focus on role representation above expertise, coupled with teachers’ tendencies to embrace traditional professional norms, limited ILT members’ abilities to effectively work together to lead instructional reform.     

Social conversation and effective discussion in online group learning

This paper studies the social talk of high school students in online discussion forums. On-task talk has generally been assessed as valuable discussion because it contributes directly to productive learning. Off-task conversation, on the other hand, is often regarded as useless and a waste of time. Should this social talk indeed be regarded as an off-task activity? Is social talk such as greeting, excusing, comforting and sharing personal feelings irrelevant to learning? This study analyzes threads and argues that social talk is interwoven with on-task talk. It is interesting to note that a substantial quantity of off-task messages served the latent function of guiding group discussion toward making progress in solving collaborative problems in a subtle and indirect manner. The power of “soft talk” embedded in off-task social conversation is explored and fully discussed.