Reasons for Student Engagement in Extra-Class Communication

This study extends instructional communication research on extra-class communication (ECC) by presenting an integrative analysis comparing the explanatory utility of student- and instructor-oriented reasons for student engagement in frequent ECC. Results from 495 college students suggested that student-oriented reasons, specifically the relational and functional student motives, were the only significant, positive predictors of students’ perceptions of frequent ECC engagement. Other student motives (excuse making, participation, sycophancy) and perceptions of instructor approachability did not significantly predict perceived frequency of ECC engagement.     

Student revision with peer and expert reviewing

In a previous study we found that students receiving feedback from multiple peers improve their writing quality more than students receiving feedback from a single expert. The present study attempted to explain that finding by analyzing the feedback types provided by experts and peers, how that feedback was related to revisions, and how revisions affected quality. Participants were 28 undergraduates who received feedback from a single expert (SE), a single peer (SP), or multiple peers (MP), thus forming three groups, respectively. The MP group received more feedback of all types. Non-directive feedback predicted complex repairs that the MP group made more than both other groups. Complex repairs were associated with improved quality.     

Effects of emotional exemplars in responsibility attribution-framed news reports on perception and evaluations of social issues

This study investigated the separate and combined effects of emotion-laded exemplars and responsibility frames on readers' perceptions and evaluations. Two hundred and sixty-nine students participated in an experiment involving a news story that dealt with the social issue of homelessness in South Korea. Six versions of a news story differed in emotion-laden exemplars with textual information (anger-evoking, sympathy-evoking) and responsibility news frames (attribution of responsibility to society, attribution of responsibility to individual, and no frame). This study found that, compared to the responsibility frames, emotion-laden exemplars significantly affected readers' moral evaluations toward the target individuals and their perceptions of the social issue's severity. The results also indicated that the anger-evoking exemplars influenced readers to attribute responsibility of a problem more to the target individuals than the societal system. In contrast, the sympathy-evoking exemplars prompted greater attribution to the societal system than the target individuals. The likelihood of a reader supporting related governmental aid policy was influenced by both emotional exemplars and responsibility news frames. Implications for further research are discussed.     

A childhood learning disability that predisposes those afflicted to adolescent and adult depression and suicide risk

A particular subtype of learning disability (nonverbal learning disability) is described. This subtype of individuals with learning disability is seen to be at particular risk for depression and suicide. The origins of the study of this subtype of learning disability, its incidence in various forms of neurological disease, disorder, and dysfunction, and its behavioral and socioemotional manifestations (including its association with significant internalized forms of psychopathology) are described. A case history of a young woman who manifests this disability and who has attempted suicide on three occasions is also presented.     

Reexamining Fear Appeal Models from Cognitive Appraisal Theory and Functional Emotion Theory Perspectives

Recognizing inconsistencies between the extant fear appeal theories and emotion literature, this research integrated cognitive appraisal theory and functional emotion theory into a fear appeal literature and proposed a model that describes a process through which both fear and anxiety can contribute to adaptive responses. Findings from an experiment (N = 927) supported the predictions. Fear and anxiety emerged as distinct constructs. Perceived susceptibility was a stronger predictor of anxiety than fear, while perceived severity was a stronger predictor of fear than anxiety. In addition, greater fear and anxiety led to greater response efficacy through increased motivation to obtain protection-related information and heightened attention to such information, thus mediating the threat and coping appraisal processes. The SEM model testing the predictions showed that perceived susceptibility had the strongest total effects on protection intention, followed by anxiety, perceived severity, and fear.     

The effect of self-regulated learning strategies on performance in learner controlled computer-based instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS) on performance in a learner-controlled and a program-controlled computer-based instruction (CBI). SRLS was measured using a self-regulated learning strategies questionnaire. Seventh-grade subjects were divided into high and low levels of SRLS and then randomly assigned to one of two versions of a CBI lesson: one allowing learner control over the sequence and content of the instruction and the other having the learners follow a linear instructional sequence. Results revealed that the performance differences between learners with high SRLS and those with low SRLS were greater under learner control than under program control (p<.05). Poor performance by subjects with low SRLS under learner control indicates a strong need for learners to possess self-regulatory learning strategies to achieve success under learner control. Program control, however, seems to minimize the performance differences between low and high levels of SRLS.