Relations among home literacy environment,child characteristics and print knowledge for preschool children with language impairment

To contribute to the modest body of work examining the home literacy environment (HLE) and emergent literacy outcomes for children with disabilities, this study addressed two aims: (a) to determine the unique contributions of the HLE on print knowledge of preschool children with language impairment and (b) to identify whether specific child characteristics (oral language ability, print interest) moderated these relations. The sample consisted of 119 preschool children with language impairment. HLE was conceptualised as frequency of storybook reading and literacy teaching during book reading. Frequency of storybook reading was a unique predictor of print knowledge, which is consistent with research on children with typical language. Literacy teaching did not predict print knowledge, which diverges from research on children with typical language. No interactions between the HLE and child characteristics were significant, but language ability and print interest play a role in understanding individual differences in literacy development.     

Intentional self‐embarrassment

This research explored how and why people intentionally embarrass themselves and how observers react to these embarrassments. Self‐reports prom 566 students at the University of Hawai'i and non‐students indicated that, first, they do intentionally and strategically employ behaviors that cause themselves embarrassment to achieve a variety of goals. Second, self‐embarrassors’ goals affected their tactic choices. Third, embarrassors’ goals were associated with their successful achievement of these goals. Last, the tactics embarrassors used and the goals they attempted affected observers’ responses. Suggestions for modifying existing typologies of embarrassment situations/tactics and goals, as well as limitations and directions for future research are presented.     

Turn‐taking resources employed by congenitally blind conversers

It has been suggested that blind persons lack appropriate communicative social skills. One aspect of social skills is the ability to regulate interaction smoothly. The study examined turn‐taking resources utilized by congenitally blind persons. Conversational Analysis was employed to discover the turn‐taking resources used by six congenitally blind individuals in three dyads (i.e., one male, one female and one mixed dyad). The results were compared with past research on turn‐taking resources utilized by sighted conversers. Overall, the participants utilized the majority of focal resources reported in research on sighted individuals. However, non‐vocal resources deviated from those found in previous research on sighted conversers. Specifically, tactile resources were not used; self‐adaptors, gestures and posture shifts were seldom used; mechanistic movements of the head and atypical use of facial orientation were discovered. Possible implications of these finding are discussed.     

The search for the complicit native: Epistemic violence,historical amnesia,and the anthropologist as ideologue of empire

This essay analyzes a number of issues surrounding the Menchu/Stoll dispute. In locating Stoll's criticism of Rigoberta within a larger referential arena that includes an attack on the North American academic left and an unbridled anti-Marxism, the authors attempt to reveal how Stoll's ideological agenda is functionally compatible with the larger political agenda of the New Right. The authors also attempt to reveal Stoll's distortions of Guatemalan guerrilla history as well as problems with his analysis and collection of the data.     

The power of student resistance in action research: teacher educators respond to classroom challenges

The purpose of this research was to study the design and implementation of a newly developed, two‐semester, action research course in a Master of Arts in Teaching program. Over a four‐year period, we (the instructors) used action research methodologies for analysis and evaluation of the course. Throughout this study, students expressed varying reactions to the process of action research, ranging from enthusiasm and acceptance to continual and persistent reluctance to accept the process as ‘real research’. This resistance is the focus of our study. Four years of reflection on our data points to the following reasons for student resistance: lack of understanding about what action research is and its purpose; a discomfort with the emphasis of process over product and the associated investment of time and ability to multi‐task; and willingness to embrace the transformational process of action research as part of learning to teach.     

A Twins study of communicative adaptability: Heritability of individual differences

Recently, a model of communication theory and research has appeared in the literature within which stable individual differences in communication behavior represent individual differences in activation thresholds of neurobiological systems. The neurobiological systems thought to underly communication traits and behavior are assumed to be primarily due to genetic inheritance. As such, the model assigns a limited role to adaptability in social situations, instead positing communication adaptability as an inherited trait. In the present study, heritability estimates for the dimensions of communicative adaptability were derived from correlations based on identical and fraternal twins’ responses to a multidimensional communicative adaptability measure. Results indicated that social composure was 88% heritable, wit was 90% heritable, social confirmation was 37% heritable, articulation ability, and appropriate disclosure were 0% heritable. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

A Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Relationship of Music Content with Sex,Race, Priming,and Attitudes

This meta-analysis (k = 35, N = 11,629) examines the effect that listening to music, particularly popular music, has on consumers. Results demonstrate that listening to music generates an effect on listeners consistent with the content of the music (average r = .210, k = 35, N = 11,629). This effect was similar when considering survey research (r = .227) or experimental research (r = .265). The tenets of excitation transfer theory received some support, particularly when considering the effects of music as a priming material (r = .399), demonstrating the impact of music as a means of establishing mood, and ultimately the subsequent reactions of individuals. One conclusion is that efforts toward media literacy or education may prove far more productive than media content restrictions when attempting to curb potential undesirable media effects. Additional implications for policy and theory are discussed.