The role of friendships in shy students’ dialogue patterns during small group discussions

Students are often concerned about social relationships when negotiating ideas with peers. The issue may be especially salient for shy students, whose behavioral solitude is associated with their inner conflicts – longing for social connections but are overly anxious about peer evaluations. This study examined the associations between shyness and students’ dialogue patterns (interactive, constructive, active, passive) during small group discussions and the moderating role of friendships in shy students’ dialogue patterns. A total of 60 small group discussions (5949 speaking turns) generated by 120 fifth-graders (Range_age = 9–10) were examined for turn-by-turn dialogue patterns and their associations with speaker and addressee characteristics. Results of exponential random graph models showed that students with a greater degree of shyness were less likely to initiate interactive dialogues and less likely to receive any dialogues from others. However, friendships with group members were found to buffer against the negative effects of shyness on various forms of dialogue patterns between dyads.     

Acculturation and Communication Traits: A study of Cross-Cultural Adaptation among Chinese in America

This study investigated the relationships between acculturation and communication traits. One hundred and seventy-five Chinese across from the United States participated in this study. Participants received a battery of questionnaires in the mail, including the measures of communication apprehension, willingness to communicate, communication competence, argumentativeness, general disclosiveness and cultural identity. Results indicated that as proportion of life in America increased, Chinese identified more with American culture; in turn, they became less fearful, more willing and competent in communication. Their self-disclosure also became less frequent and intimate, but more positive, with longer time living in America. These findings suggest that culture shapes communication traits through exposure to and identification with the host culture to some extent.     

Children's shyness,popularity, school liking,cooperative participation,and internalizing problems in the early school years

Aims of the present study included understanding the manner in which shyness during the first year of formal schooling predicts early popularity in the peer group, as well as the manner in which children's shyness and popularity uniquely contribute to later school liking, cooperative participation, and internalizing problems. Structural equation modeling using parents’, teachers’, and children's reports suggested that children's (N = 291; 46% girls) kindergarten shyness predicted lower school liking and lower cooperative participation during second grade through its negative association with first grade popularity. Shyness during the first year of formal schooling may relate to difficulties in the classroom during later years due to problematic peer relations. The indirect relation of kindergarten shyness to second-grade internalizing problems through first-grade popularity was not statistically significant. Kindergarten shyness was also directly related to higher cooperative participation, which suggests that relations between early shyness and classroom engagement may be more complex than previously assumed.     

Updating Relationships Between Communication Traits and Communication Competence

This study examined the degree to which six self-perceived communication traits are related to self-perceived communication competence (SPCC), both individually and collectively. The results indicate communication apprehension and shyness were strongly and inversely related to SPCC, whereas willingness to communicate was strongly and positively associated with SPCC. When examined collectively, several communication traits were found to predict SPCC.