Toward a rhetorical theory of deixis

This article advances a rhetorical theory of deixis, a theoretical and methodological orientation that infuses the linguistic concept of deixis with rhetorical understandings of ethos, place, and time. Deixis reveals the rhetorical dynamics within the fabric of spoken discourse, dynamics that often refer to what is outside the text to make sense of what is within it. Ultimately, I argue that identifying the deictic indicators within a speech text enables the critic to pinpoint where, how, and why a speaker activates the physical elements of the speech situation as a material means of persuasion. After outlining the theoretical tenets of this approach, I analyze Harry S. Truman's Address to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on June 29, 1947, to show how a rhetorical theory of deixis orients the critic to the bodies, places, and temporalities implied in and displayed through speech.     

如何适应高中生活

即将升入高中的同学们一定对紧张而丰富多彩的高中生活充满着美好的憧憬,然而,当你跨入高中大门时,你将会遇到各种以前没碰到过的学习、生活中的问题和困惑。那么怎样才能适应高中生活呢?本文作者就以美国高中过来人的身份给即将进入高中的朋友们提供了10条建议,虽然国情不同,但相信你也一定会从中有所收获。     

Quality Management Procedures Influence the Food Safety Practices at Childcare Centers

Childcare in the United States (US) has become a necessary part of life for most working parents with the increased use of center-based childcare over the past three decades. Approximately 13 million preschoolers attend some form of childcare. Literature indicates the main predictors of quality childcare programs are adequate experience and specialized training of childcare staff. A growing concern among researchers, however, is the limited training among childcare professionals in the area of food safety. Children have minimal control of food safety risks because other people prepare their meals. A questionnaire was developed and mailed to childcare center directors in Texas and Iowa to identify the demographic, food safety and other practices that influence the training and decisions made by childcare center directors. Results indicate the need of continual management and food safety training for both directors and staff in order to provide a safe environment for young children.     

Mastery motivation and expressive language in young children with hearing loss

We studied the relation between mastery motivation and expressive language in 200 young children with hearing loss. Hearing mothers assessed their children's expressive language (Minnesota Child Development Inventory; Ireton & Thwing, 1974) and several aspects of mastery motivation including mastery pleasure and three components of mastery persistence (gross motor, object oriented, and social/symbolic) using the Dimensions of Mastery Motivation Questionnaire (Morgan et al., 1992). Simple correlations revealed significant relations between expressive language and all mastery motivation scales. When demographic and hearing loss variables were entered into a regression equation, only increased social/symbolic persistence was significantly related to, and increased object-oriented persistence was marginally related to, increases in expressive language quotients. Expressive language quotients also increased significantly as child age and degree of hearing loss decreased and as mothers' ratings of their child's general competence increased. In addition, decreases in the age at which the child was enrolled in intervention were marginally related to increases in expressive language quotients (f =.06).     

Tactile,maternal, and pharmacologic factors involved in the “transport response” in rat pups

A series of eight experiments was run to characterize the potentiation of the transport response reported with tactile stimulation. Experiments 1A–C were designed to investigate the types of tactile stimulation that could potentiate an initially weak transport response. Experiments 2A–C were designed to assess the effect of maternal/littermate deprivation on responsiveness to external stimuli in 9- and 16-day-old rat pups. Experiments 3A and 3B were designed to investigate, pharmacologically, underlying mechanisms for the transport response potentiation effect. It was found that if the initial stimulus in producing a strong transport response is inadequate, additional tactile stimulation can potentiate the response. The additional stimuli work best if they are diffuse, if discrete inputs can summate over areas, or if they encompass the snout area. It also was found that isolation could lead to increased responsiveness to stimuli normally eliciting or potentiating the response in 9- and 16-day-old rats. Finally, results indicate that both dopaminergic and beta-noradrenergic systems are important in the response potentiation seen with maternal/littermate deprivation.     

The amazingly patient tutor: students' interactions with an online carbohydrate chemistry course

Many multimedia chemistry courses fail to reach their full educational potential as they do not engage the learner in a meaningful task or give appropriate feedback. Though molecular modelling is a recognised technique widely used in chemistry to enable students to grasp difficult concepts, tutorials often do not afford students either the time or scope to learn by experimenting with molecular structures. In this paper we describe the educational development of a web based organic chemistry tutorial which aims to enable students to learn chemical concepts through the manipulation of structural formulae and the provision of appropriate feedback. An online chemical structure modelling tool was developed to enable molecules to be drawn online and to provide feedback. The aim of this study is to address key issues relevant to the development of educational resources of this nature. It will be of particular interest to teachers and lecturers working within Science and Engineering, audio–visual staff and educational developers.     

Integrating PCR theory and bioinformatics into a research-oriented primer design exercise

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a conceptually difficult technique that embodies many fundamental biological processes. Traditionally, students have struggled to analyze PCR results due to an incomplete understanding of the biological concepts (theory) of DNA replication and strand complementarity. Here we describe the design of a novel research-oriented exercise that prepares students to design DNA primers for PCR. Our exercise design includes broad and specific learning goals and assessments of student performance and perceptions. We developed this interactive Primer Design Exercise using the principles of scientific teaching to enhance student understanding of the theory behind PCR and provide practice in designing PCR primers to amplify DNA. In the end, the students were more poised to troubleshoot problems that arose in real experiments using PCR. In addition, students had the opportunity to utilize several bioinformatics tools to gain an increased understanding of primer quality, directionality, and specificity. In the course of this study many misconceptions about DNA replication during PCR and the need for primer specificity were identified and addressed. Students were receptive to the new materials and the majority achieved the learning goals.     

The Behavioural Approach to Teaching Secondary Aged Children (BATSAC): two behavioural evaluations of a training package for secondary school teachers in classroom behaviour management

The Behavioural Approach to Teaching Package (BATPACK) for training primary teachers in the necessary skills of classroom behaviour management was adapted for use with teachers in secondary schools. Drawing on further research carried out in secondary schools, a prototype version of BATSAC (Behavioural Approach to Teaching Secondary Aged Children) was designed and developed and was subsequently piloted in two independent, one‐shot studies. In the first study, carried out with nine staff of a mathematics department, teachers and their classes were observed before and after experiencing the six‐session package. Teachers’ use of disapproval decreased significantly and pupil on‐task behaviour increased significantly but teacher approval was not appreciably different following the course. In the second study, a modified version of BATSAC was employed with a group of 14 teachers and their classes in another secondary school and again teachers were observed before and after the course. In this study teacher approval increased, the use of disapproval decreased and pupil on‐task behaviour increased, all significantly. It is argued that pupil on‐task behaviour changes largely as a result of improvements in the ratio between teachers’ use of approval and disapproval.     

Unpacking the Treatment Contrast in the Head Start Impact Study: To What Extent Does Assignment to Treatment Affect Quality of Care?

Attending high-quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) is associated with higher cognitive and social-emotional skills, especially for children growing up in poverty, but access to high-quality ECCE is limited. This study capitalizes on the random assignment design of the Head Start Impact Study to better understand whether the randomized offer to attend Head Start, a free comprehensive child development program for low-income and at-risk children, raises the quality of ECCE in which children enroll. Multinomial logistic regression was used to isolate the intent-to-treat impacts of random assignment to Head Start on ECCE quality from impacts on enrollment in formal ECCE. Results indicate that children randomly assigned to receive Head Start (treatment), compared to children in the control group, were more likely to enroll in high-quality and, to a lesser extent, low-quality ECCE. Treatment impacts were largest at the high end of the quality distribution, were driven by increased enrollment in Head Start, and differed for 3- and 4-year-olds. These results highlight the important role of Head Start in providing high-quality ECCE for low-income children.     

Conservation,matching, and the variable-interval schedule

The conservation model was generalized to the variable-interval schedule by incorporating the concept of unscheduled instrumental responses, those which occur in the time before the next setup is due. Thirsty rats responded in constant-duration sessions on two 7-sec schedules that required one leverpress for 25 and 50 licks at a water tube and on a 14-sec 25-lick schedule. In accordance with the model, total licks decreased linearly as total presses increased, and the schedules facilitated leverpressing and suppressed licking relative to paired baseline levels of responding. While the matching model also gave a satisfactory fit to instrumental responding under the schedules, its two constants, representing asymptotic rate of responding and extraneous reinforcement, had anomalous values which led the model to predict that response rate would decrease as the rate of reinforcement increased, directly opposing its prediction for the constant-consumption experiments of its previous tests.