Learning a new language is a challenge facing most young immigrants and refugees arriving in a new resettlement country. Yet, learning the resettlement country language is critical for the young immigrants and refugees' life chances, in terms of future education, social integration, and participation in the labour market. While literature…

This dissertation asks what young children do with style at a time when their social and linguistic worlds begin to expand beyond the home, into the peer group. Grounded in a yearlong ethnography of a preschool classroom in the San Francisco Bay Area, I show how play moved gradually from indoors to outdoors as children got older. This shift…

Creative manipulations of language have long been recognized as important aspects of second language development. Research has largely examined playful language within adult foreign language classrooms; however, less attention has been given to the pragmatic use of humor among adolescent multilingual learners of English. Drawing on oral…

Students are accessing graduate study online in ever-increasing numbers with interactive experiences differing from those who traditionally enroll in corresponding face-to-face (F2F) classes. Soft skills such as collaboration/teamwork, communication and presentation are important to learning but difficult to practice outside the F2F environment.…

Humor is an important aspect of interpersonal interactions as it is linked to the development and maintenance of relationships (Merolla, 2006). The purpose of this dissertation was to test the effect of a humor communication skills training program on the ability to minimize anti-social humor (i.e., aggressive, self-defeating) and enhance…

This qualitative study aimed to explore how infants share and experience friendships and examine the role of infant caregivers in social and friendship experiences among infants. The data were collected through classroom observation over a semester. Findings yielded complex and rich social relationships that both infant friends and caregivers…

We examined uncomfortable moments that damaged rapport during group interactions between college students in training to become speech-language pathologists and adults with traumatic brain injury. The students worked as staff in a community-based program affiliated with a university training program that functioned as a recreational gathering…

This article considers previously ignored aspects of verbal communication, humor and laughter, as critical components of social interaction within group discussions. Drawing on data from focus groups, Robinson uses a feminist perspective to explore how mothers living in areas of poverty in Liverpool, UK, use humor and laughter to discuss their…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the experiences of older adults with dementia while they were in long-term care and while they were in a summer-camp setting. Participant observation and interviews took place in both settings to gain an understanding of the experiences of seven residents of the long-term care facility. In the…

The structure of the teaching profession leaves teachers professionally and personally isolated from other adults. This article will discuss the results of an ethnography focused on the rare informal social interaction that occurs among teachers in a United States' school, with a particular focus on the lunch hour. Specifically, this article…

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims…

This study investigates young children's humourous activity as a form of play and considers the implications on their cognitive development and learning. The study was conducted in an infant room of a university based group child care center and multiple qualitative data collection methods were used. The findings of this study suggest that during…

Five environmental characteristics resulting in communication barriers are suggested: make the space "small;" create a supportive climate; let receivers become senders; "get personal;" and get them involved. Communication solutions and a variety of faculty techniques enhance communication in large classes. (MLW)