The effects of gender‐role expectations upon perceptions of communicative competence

Several researchers have proposed that power, rather than gender, accounts for women using more powerless language than men. The present study examined the specific interaction context of bargaining and compared power with gender as potential predictors of the use of threats, one particular form of powerful language. Grounded in an interactional/social exchange view of power as dependence in social transactions, this study represented a marked departure from past studies of gender‐based language. The results largely supported power rather than gender as the best predictor of the use of powerful language in an interactional context involving bargaining.     

Conceptualising and measuring student engagement through the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE): a critique

Student engagement has rapidly developed a central place in the quality agenda of Australian universities since the introduction of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE). The AUSSE is based on one developed in the USA. The main arguments given for adopting this survey in Australia are that it provides a valid instrument for measuring engagement and that it enables international comparisons. However, the survey instrument and scales have been adopted with little scrutiny of these arguments. This paper examines these arguments by considering different perspectives of engagement, examining the importance of contextual differences and evaluating the AUSSE engagement scales in the light of both. The paper concludes that the AUSSE results should be used by universities and policy‐makers with caution.     

Predictability of observed mother-child interaction from preschool to middle childhood in a high-risk sample

This study examined predictability of observed parent-child interaction from preschool to middle childhood in 283 mother-child dyads. Participants were welfare recipients enrolled in the Observational Study of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program. Structured observational sessions were conducted both at preschool age and middle childhood, and were coded for maternal social behavior, child social behavior, and dyadic interaction. Analyses explored direct relations between the assessments; relations between the assessments with possible third-variable influences, such as maternal literacy, covaried out; and moderated relations. Results indicated that observed mother-child interaction in middle childhood could be significantly predicted from observed interaction 4 years earlier. Risk status moderated the relations such that those families with greater risk factors tended to show more stability, although this stability was, at times, through maintaining suboptimal functioning.