Editorial

If the founders and editors of the International Journal ofPublic Opinion Research described the ideal spectrum of thejournal’s content, we would all very likely enumeratethe following five dimensions, usually in a comparative and/orinternational context: theories about the dynamics of publicopinion, methodological problems and developments, the roleof the news media in public communication, public opinion researchas a social and political problem, and public opinion data on     

Long‐Term Effects of Gestures on Memory for Foreign Language Words Trained in the Classroom

Language and gesture are viewed as highly interdependent systems. Besides supporting communication, gestures also have an impact on memory for verbal information compared to pure verbal encoding in native but also in foreign language learning. This article presents a within‐subject longitudinal study lasting 14 months that tested the use of gestures in the classroom, with the experimenter presenting the items to be acquired. Participants learned 36 words distributed across two training conditions: In the audio‐visual condition subjects read, heard, and spoke the words; in the gestural condition subjects additionally accompanied the words with symbolic gestures. Memory performance was assessed through cued native‐to‐foreign translation tests at five time points. The results show that gestures significantly enhance vocabulary learning in quantity and over time. The findings are discussed in terms of Klimesch's connectivity model (CM) of information processing. Thereafter, a code, a word, is better integrated into long‐term memory if it is deep, that is, if it is comprised of many interconnected components.     

Weltoffenes Pädagogisches Denken

Ohne ZusammenfassungZum 80. Geburtstag Friedrich Schneiders     

An exploration of the relationship between symbolic representation in dramatic play and art and the cognitive and reading readiness levels of kindergarten children

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between symbolic representation in dramatic play and art and the cognitive and reading readiness levels of kindergarten children. Specifically, the study attempted to determine if there is a significant difference in the performance of kindergarten children on the conservation of number tasks (reflective of the level of operational thought and cognitive development), the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test, and their involvement and/or level of symbolic re resentation in dramatic play and/or art. Results indicated that children at diffrent cognitive levels (a) performed significantly differently on the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test, (b) spent significantly different amounts of time involved in dramatic play, and (c) expressed significantly different levels of symbolic representations in dramatic play. No differences were found to exist, however, in their symbolic representation in art.     

The Multicultural Babe y -Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca

Both the ethnic history of Transylvania and the history of higher education in the region are traced, particularly the history of Babe y -Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, which dates back to 1541. Today, this institution is a trilingual university offering lines of studies in Romanian, Hungarian, and German, as enshrined in the university charter of 8 July 2000. The trilingual instructional system, which is described in some detail, works well even if Romanians constitute the dominant ethno-linguistic group in Transylvania. The author proposes the model of Babe y Bolyai University as a very suitable way to accommodate ethno-linguistic diversity in a united Europe.