Journal reviewers acknowledged

Mediated Political Realities, Dan Nimmo and James E. Combs (New York: Longman, 1983), 240 pp., $10.95.

The Political Uses of Symbols, Charles D. Elder and Roger W. Cobb (New York: Longman, 1983), 173 pp., $22.50/$9.95.

Keeping a Finger on the Public Pulse: Private Polling in Presidential Elections, Bruce E. Altschuler (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), 197 pp., $25.00.

"For Immediate Release”;: Candidate Press Releases in American Political Campaigns, Jan Pons Vermeer (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), 189 pp., $27.50.

Introduction to Mass Communications, 7th ed., Warren K. Agee, Philip H. Ault and Edwin Emery (New York: Harper and Row, 1982), 498 pp., $16.50.

Discovering Mass Communication, Samuel L. Becker (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1983), 492 pp., $15.95.

Mass Communication an Introduction, 3d ed., John R. Bittner (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‐Hall, 1983), 508 pp., $17.95.

The Dynamics of Mass Communication, Joseph R. Dominick (Reading, MA: Addison‐Wesley, 1983), 552 pp., $16.95.

Broadcasting in the Arab World, Douglas A. Boyd (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1982), 306 pp., $29.50.

The Age of Television, Martin Esslin (San Francisco: Freeman, 1982), 138 pp., $7.95.

The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth, 2d ed., Robert M. Liebert, Joyce N. Sprafkin and Emily S. Davidson (New York: Pergamon, 1982), 255 pp., $25.00/$9.95.

The Interplay of Influence: Mass Media &; Their Publics in News, Advertising, Politics, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1983), 287 pp., $11.95.

Television and Radio Announcing, 4th ed., Stuart W. Hyde (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983), 522 pp., $22.50.

Humanistic Radio Production, Harold L. Drake (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1982), 116 pp., $19.50/$8.25.     

Competing Discourses and Meaning Making in Talk about Romantic Partners’ Cell-Phone Contact with Non-Present Others

Focus groups were conducted with 51 college students to examine how participants engaged in meaning making about the presence and use of cell phones with non-present others while in the context of dating and spending time with romantic partners. Grounded in relational dialectics theory, qualitative analysis revealed two sets of competing discourses at play in college students’ talk about cell phones: discourses of community and romance and discourses of control and freedom. The interplay of these competing discourses illuminated participants’ struggles with being available to others while trying to provide attention to their dating partners. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Fragments of your communication: Email,vmail, and fax

Abstract

How are new media, such as electronic mail, voice mail, and fax, used when people have access to several of them simultaneously? This paper reports findings from a field study of media use in four sizable subunits within two large organizations where most employees had access to email, vmail, and fax. Respondents tended to use multiple electronic media rather than relying on one. However, they also showed a tendency to prefer one medium for asynchronous communication and to use the others for occasional, specialized purposes. Further, there were considerable differences across subunits in typical media use patterns. Although respondents expressed strong desires for multimedia integration, this study suggests that technological integration may not necessarily result in seamless, collaborative work.     

Chaos,poverty, and parenting: Predictors of early language development

Studies have shown that distal family risk factors like poverty and maternal education are strongly related to children's early language development. Yet, few studies have examined these risk factors in combination with more proximal day-to-day experiences of children that might be critical to understanding variation in early language. Young children's exposure to a chronically chaotic household may be one critical experience that is related to poorer language, beyond the contribution of SES and other demographic variables. In addition, it is not clear whether parenting might mediate the relationship between chaos and language. The purpose of this study was to understand how multiple indicators of chaos over children's first three years of life, in a representative sample of children living in low wealth rural communities, were related to child expressive and receptive language at 36 months. Factor analysis of 10 chaos indicators over five time periods suggested two factors that were named household disorganization and instability. Results suggested that after accounting for thirteen covariates like maternal education and poverty, one of two chaos composites (household disorganization) accounted for significant variance in receptive and expressive language. Parenting partially mediated this relationship although household disorganization continued to account for unique variance in predicting early language.     

Relationship between second grade oral reading fluency and third grade reading

Oral reading fluency is a critical feature and outcome of early literacy instruction and it has amassed great attention as a powerful predictor of success at all levels of schooling. We examined relationships between second grade oral reading fluency scores and third grade end-of-grade reading achievement scores for students (N = 9562) in a large school district in the United States. Stakeholder interviews were also conducted. In our model, oral reading fluency and reading comprehension scores were moderately correlated; oral reading fluency was the strongest predictor of subsequent achievement, followed by ethnicity; growth on oral reading fluency was not strongly associated with end-of-grade performance; and greater than 90% of students classified as ‘at risk’ on benchmark assessments performed poorly on third grade assessments. Stakeholders believed that oral reading fluency testing was not necessary above selected levels of proficiency. We discuss implications of our findings for future research and practice.     

Whole school support for vulnerable children: the evaluation of a part‐time nurture group

The positive impact that nurture groups can offer is well documented. This study aims to describe the evaluation of a nurture group intervention across six schools. In contrast to previous research, children accessed the group for a maximum of four mornings per week. The findings show that this model did not comprise the gains reported in previous studies. The results show a significant positive effect on the children with reference to their behaviour both in school and at home. In addition, the intervention appears to have contributed further to the whole school system. Schools reported an improved ethos and an increased capacity to support children with social and emotional difficulties. This paper concludes by considering the new Scottish Curriculum guidelines A curriculum for excellence and whether the principles and theoretical underpinnings of nurture groups can be fully integrated into a mainstream environment.     

Sexuality in school: the limits of education

This paper reports on aspects of an Australian study into the factors and conditions that make it possible for secondary school health education teachers to include and affirm gender and sexual diversity in their teaching. The study examined the impact of a two-day intervention designed to prepare teachers to use a major new government-funded teaching and learning resource called Talking Sexual Health. The study found that whilst there was a range of personal and structural barriers inhibiting change, professional development and access to teaching and learning resources could indeed impact positively on teachers’ willingness and ability to include and affirm diverse sexualities in their health education programs.     

Mountains to Molehills: The Past,Present, and Future of Cataloging Backlogs

While backlogs have existed in libraries and the literature that describes them, the decline in the acquisition of physical collections relative to digital resources, as well as the availability of cataloging copy has called into question the continued viability and relevance of arrearages. Yet, at a time of economic restraint, a rethinking of library operations is timely, if not urgent. What does nearly sixty years of research tell us about materials that are removed from cataloging workflow pending availability of a bibliographic record? This article analyzes the characteristics of, and reasons for, arrearages, and assesses approaches to reducing or eliminating backlogs.     

Enigma Variations: Parsing the Riddle of Main Entry and the “Rule of Three” from AACR2 to RDA

ABSTRACT

In the ten years since the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR, long-standing debates have continued as to whether or not to have a “main entry,” and whether or not to exercise the rule of three to limit the number of headings or access points in certain cases. Recent proposals from the Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA have recommended a change in “main entry” terminology to “primary access point,” and the elimination of the rule of three. This article explores how and why these shifts have occurred.