This paper gives an account of themes that emerged from a preliminary analysis of a large corpus of electronic communications in an online, mediated course for intercultural learners. The goals were to test assumptions that electronic communication is internationally standardized, to identify any problematic aspects of such communications, and to construct a framework for the analysis of electronic communications using constructs from intercultural communications theory. We found that cyberspace itself has a culture(s), and is not culture-free. Cultural gaps can exist between individuals, as well as between individuals and the dominant cyberculture, increasing the chances of miscommunication. The lack of elements inherent in face-to-face communication further problematizes intercultural communications online by limiting opportunities to give and save face, and to intuit meaning from non-verbal cues. We conclude that electronic communication across cultures presents distinctive challenges, as well as opportunities to course planners.
As part of a standard evaluation of neuropsychological sequelae, the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) was administered to 107 patients with a history of traumatic brain injury. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the 12 subtests of the WMS-R to examine the fit of various hypothesized factor patterns, including patterns identified in previous exploratory factor analytic studies. Because part of the correlation between immediate and delayed recall trials of the same material is attributable to a common measurement procedure, this correlation due to measurement commonality was partialled out of the conceptual factor structure. The results suggested the presence of 3 distinct but highly correlated factors: attention/concentration, immediate memory, and delayed recall. Models that posited separate verbal and nonverbal memory processes failed to improve fit over more parsimonious models. Comparisons with previous factor analytic studies and implications for clinical assessment are discussed.
A psycholinguistic experiment elicits highly reliable judgements from young English-speaking children aged 2; 6–3; 0 about illocutionary force of utterances presented in controlled contexts. Puppet play simulated extralinguistic features judged capable of constituting felicity conditions upon the illocutionary acts Request and Offer. The experimental data bear upon two questions: (1) What set of features, linguistic and pragmatic, constitute cues for the discrimination of illocutionary force by young children? (2) What is the lower developmental bound of the emergence of discrimination of illocutionary force for Requests and Offers? While grasp of illocutionary force for Offers was well-established by 2; 6, discrimination skills for Requests probably continues to develop between 2; 6 and 3; 0. Relevant pragmatic features are explicated, and a model of the comprehension of illocutionary force proposed in the light of the results.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been associated with memory impairments, but the severity and qualitative aspects of such impairment do not appear homogeneous across patients. This study sought to replicate an earlier investigation that found distinct verbal learning subtypes in TBI using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). CVLT data from 88 acute rehabilitation inpatients with mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injuries were analyzed with multiple cluster analytic techniques. Cluster analyses yielded five learning subtypes, three of which appeared similar to the subtypes previously identified as Active, Disorganized, and Passive subtypes, and two that appeared similar to the Deficient subgroup. Traumatic brain injury appears to be characterized by heterogeneous, but fairly reliable, verbal learning subtypes that can be detected early postinjury.
This paper argues that the study of second language acquisition theory and pedagogy can be enhanced through the use of time-series research designs. As quasi-experiments, time-series designs have features that improve internal validity. In addition, because these designs only require a small number of subjects, they are very practical, encouraging a greater number of empirical investigations of the many claims within the field and permitting the use of authentic measures that have high construct validity. The longitudinal nature of the designs also enhances construct validity, potentially yielding new insights into the effects of instruction on SLA. The designs utilized in two time-series studies (Kennedy, E., 1988, The Oral Interaction of Native Speakers and Non-Native Speakers in a Multicultural Preschool: A Comparison between Freeplay and Contrived NS/NSS Dyads, unpublished master's thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Mellow, J. D., 1996, April, A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Instruction on the Development of Article Use by Adult Japanese ESL Learners, unpublished manuscript, University of British Columbia, Vancouver) are reviewed in order to illustrate the design features, the questions that may be investigated, and the issues that are raised in interpreting data.
Intermanual discrepancies in performance and alternate-form equivalence on the Trail Making Test were examined among 40 left- and 40 right-hand-preferred normal adults (N = 80). The findings indicate that administration of the Trail Making Tests to the nonpreferred hand does not result in a clinically meaningful difference in score. Neither hand preference nor task complexity (numeric or numeric/lexical) significantly affected the magnitude of the intermanual discrepancy. Mixed-model analyses of variance revealed an interaction (p < .001) indicating that the alternate form for the numeric/lexical Trial Making Test (Trail Making Test, Part D; TMT-D) is slightly more difficult than is the original form Trail Making Test, Part B (TMT-B). Therefore, individuals exposed first to TMT-D performed relatively better in the second trial, whereas individuals exposed first to TMT-B first produced equivalent scores when presented the more difficult form (TMT-D) on the second trial. Thus, although TMT-D is not an equivalent form to TMT-B, it may serve as an excellent alternate form at retest.
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