Convergence of deaf children's sociometric scores and teachers' behavioral ratings

Twenty-four deaf children judged each other, using a standard sociometric technique, and were rated by their teachers. The correlations between the two sources at four assessment periods replicated previous findings of substantial convergence of teachers' behavioral ratings and children's sociometric scores, thereby extending this relationship to the population of language-impaired deaf children in residential school settings.     

‘Defnyddiwch y Gymraeg’1: community sport as a vehicle for encouraging the use of the Welsh language

Abstract

Despite cultural and statutory changes, including significant investment in Welsh medium education, latest census data show a drop in the percentage of Welsh speakers. Moreover there is a concern that many of those who are able to speak Welsh are not using it – the language is not ‘alive’. The Welsh Language Commissioner has identified sport as a space where Welsh can be used, encouraged and promoted. The aim of this study was to investigate whether community sport clubs can provide a space to encourage the use of Welsh. Using qualitative methods we found that strategies to promote Welsh in sports clubs are potentially divisive. The dominant and ‘operational’ language of many community sport clubs is English. Increasing the use of Welsh in these clubs risks excluding non-Welsh speakers, but ignoring the language denies Welsh speakers the opportunity to participate in Welsh.     

Punished by Rewards? A Behavioral Perspective

The other articles in this special issue of PIQ deal directly with HPT and its practice. This set of articles does not. It does deal with the relationship between intrinsic motivation and external incentives–questions critical to the practice of HPT. The articles provide reaction to Alfie Kohn's latest book, Punished by Rewards, which ignited something of a firestorm. His article in the Harvard-Business Review, excerpted from the book (Kohn, 1993a) elicited printed responses ranging from reasoned rejoinders to accusations of preaching a brand of communism (Kohn. 1993b). Obviously, right or wrong, he has struck a forest of raw nerves. This set of articles attempts to use Kohn's work as a springboard for exploring the topic of rewards and punishments. It begins with a short review of the book; the review concentrates mostly on Kohn's arguments as they concern the workplace and ignores the large amount of the book devoted to child rearing and schools. The review is followed by two assessments of Kohn's work from the point of view of organizational behavior analysis. They are by Tom Mawhinney of the University of Detroit, Mercy, and Alyce Dickinson of Western Michigan University. Then Richard Pearlstein. the immediate past Vice-President for Research and Development of NSPI, concludes the series by relating the discussion specifically to the way managers actually manage. Our goal in this endeavor is to help lay bare some basic issues underlying human performance in the workplace. We hope you find it useful.