Relational development and self‐image communication accuracy

This research explored the communication accuracy of individual self‐images in same‐sex relationships. Both male and female groups were examined across three relational levels: Strangers, Acquaintances, and Friends. Exploration of a significant interaction effect indicated that Female Acquaintances had significantly lower communication accuracy than did Male Acquaintances and significantly lower communication accuracy than either Female Strangers or Friends. There were no differences between male and female communication accuracy at either the stranger or friend levels. Further analysis of self‐image indicated all cells were comparable with the exception of Male Acquaintances who indicated significantly higher self‐images than Male Friends and Female Acquaintances. Analysis of the perceived image of partners indicated that all cells were comparable. Future research is encouraged to explore gender differences relative to unique elements of the acquaintance relationship that may impact upon communication accuracy of self‐image and the potential for relational development.     

Immortal Brands? A Temporal Critique of Promotional Culture

This article contributes to the theoretical analysis of branding and promotional culture by exploring how professional practice, legal systems, and applied academic research have championed a notion of the brand that is powerful, durable, and everlasting—in a word, “immortal.” We argue that this immortalized brand challenges emerging critical scholarship through its ignorance of the brand’s weaknesses and limitations, especially as they pertain to time and history. To counter that challenge, we argue for a heightened awareness of the brand’s temporality. In the service of this goal, this article explores several cases of aging brands, retro brands, and abandoned trademarks to showcase how consideration of brands in time reveals their contingent and historical nature.     

Building Buzz and Episodes with Bite-Sized Content: Portlandia's Formula for Turning a Video Project into a Television Series

Media consumers have grown accustomed to content that is broken down into digestible chunks. Portlandia, an Independent Film Channel (IFC) comedy series that affectionately satirizes Portland, Oregon's hipster culture, offers a model of how to attract online viewers and create television programming using short videos intended for a niche audience. IFC promotes these decoupled, song-length clips online and encourages sampling and sharing. Using interviews and an analysis of the program's structure and content, this case study explores how Portlandia takes advantage of the synergy between television and new media, and the way audiences consume video programming in the digital age.     

The influence of classroom aggression and classroom climate on aggressive-disruptive behavior

Research suggests that early classroom experiences influence the socialization of aggression. Tracking changes in the aggressive behavior of 4,179 children from kindergarten to second-grade (ages 5-8), this study examined the impact of 2 important features of the classroom context--aggregate peer aggression and climates characterized by supportive teacher-student interactions. The aggregate aggression scores of children assigned to first-grade classrooms predicted the level of classroom aggression (assessed by teacher ratings) and quality of classroom climate (assessed by observers) that emerged by the end of Grade 1. Hierarchical linear model analyses revealed that first-grade classroom aggression and quality of classroom climate made independent contributions to changes in student aggression, as students moved from kindergarten to second grade. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Influences of student and family factors on academic outcomes of mainstream secondary school deaf students

This article considers some of the student and family factors influencing the educational achievements of deaf children. It is based on a study of 16-year-old deaf students in mainstream schools in England. Findings indicate the complexity of interpreting statistical results, especially on the effect of degree of hearing loss. The discussion addresses the specific question of why this factor is often reported as not significant in academic achievement. It also considers the surprisingly low effect of family socioeconomic status, speculates on the size of the "school effect" in deaf education, and considers the coding of data.     

Answering the New SAT Reading Comprehension Questions Without the Passages

It has been reasonably well established that test takers can, to varying degrees, answer some reading comprehension questions without reading the passages on which the questions are based, even for carefully constructed measures like the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). The aim of this study was to determine what test-taking strategies examinees use, and which are related to test performance, when reading passages are not available. The research focused on reading comprehension questions similar to those that will be used in the revised SAT, to be introduced in 1994. The most often cited strategies involved choosing answers on the basis of consistency with other questions and reconstructing the main theme of a missing passage from all of the questions and answers in a set. These strategies were more likely to result in successful performance on individual test items than were any of many other possible (and less constructrelevant) strategies.     

Using Lesson Study in teacher professional development for domain-based moral education

This study examined the application of Lesson Study for professional development (PD) for a domain approach to moral education. A comparison was drawn between the effects of Lesson Study with 17 teachers and 144 students representing middle schools in the same district as a prior study employing intensive traditional PD. In Lesson Study, groups of same grade teachers construct lessons taught by one group member and observed by the others. Teachers meet following the lesson to critique and improve the lesson using criteria established by teachers and informed by outside ‘experts.’ Findings from analysis of teacher discourse over nine months and end of year surveys revealed improvements in teacher pedagogy, knowledge of moral development, greater sense of professionalism, and efficacy for engagement in moral education in comparison with controls. Fewer lessons were produced, resulting in fewer gains in student moral and conventional reasoning than observed with intensive individualized PD.     

Communication apprehension in the dating partner context

This research project focused upon an inconsistency in the structure of a context specific instrument measuring communication apprehension in dating relationships. A parsimonious, single‐factor, solution for Dating Partner Communication Apprehension (DPCA) emerged from the analysis. Principle component analysis produced a 13‐item solution that maintains high reliability and validity. As hypothesized, validity checks indicated that the DPCA unidimensional model was moderately and significantly correlated with dyadic communication apprehension, interpersonal solidarity, interpersonal communication satisfaction, and a series of relational perceptions in the dating context. A variety of potential applications and explorations of communication apprehension within dating relationships are discussed.