The authors utilized an experimental design across six sections of a managerial communications course (N = 173) to test the impact of instructor verbal aggressiveness and class attendance policies on student class attendance. The experimental group received a policy based on the principle of social proof (R. B. Cialdini, 2001), which indicated…

Four focus groups of undergraduate students (n = 32) were conducted to elicit perceptions regarding how text messaging affects personal health. Participant responses were coded and themed into five health dimensions: physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual. Results of focus groups showed several main themes linked each dimension of…

Longitudinal results for a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) assessing the impact of increasing preschoolers' attention to print during reading are reported. Four-year-old children (N = 550) in 85 classrooms experienced a 30-week shared reading program implemented by their teachers. Children in experimental classrooms experienced shared-book…

This paper investigates Spanish dyslexic spelling abilities: specifically, the influence of syllabic linguistic structure (simple vs consonant cluster) on children's spelling performance. Consonant clusters are phonologically complex structures, so it was anticipated that there would be lower spelling performance for these syllabic structures than…

Verbal perseveration is a frequently reported language characteristic of males with Fragile X syndrome and may be a defining feature or hallmark of the syndrome. We compared the verbal perseveration of boys with Fragile X syndrome with (n = 29) and without (n = 30) autism spectrum disorder, boys with Down syndrome (n = 27), and typically…

Correlational studies have revealed a positive relationship between parent verbal responsiveness and language outcomes in children with autism. We investigated whether parents of young children on the autism spectrum could learn and implement the specific categories of verbal responsiveness that have been suggested to facilitate language…

Preschool children and toddlers often display emotional and behavioral problems. Without early intervention, these difficulties can lead to serious problems in later years. This research from Belgium explores how Life Space Crisis Intervention and Developmental Therapy-Developmental Teaching can inform work with these young children. (Contains 2…

Thirty infants at 1;1 and their mothers were videotaped while playing for 18 minutes. Experimental stimuli were presented in three communicative intent contexts--proto-declarative, proto-imperative, and ambiguous--to elicit infant communicative bids that did and did not contain gestures. Mothers' responses were analyzed, and their verbal responses…

Our ability to learn about the reputations of others--that is, who is likely to cooperate versus cheat--contributes greatly to cooperativeness in society. There has been recent debate whether humans employ memory bias favoring cheaters (i.e., there is an evolved module for the detection of cheaters) or whether no such bias exists (i.e., reputation…

This study examined verbal and non-verbal teacher/student interpersonal interactions in higher education instrumental music lessons. Twenty-four lessons were videotaped and teacher/student behaviours were analysed using a researcher-designed instrument. The findings indicate predominance of student and teacher joke among the verbal behaviours with…

This study takes an experimental approach to "lingua receptiva" (LaRa), a communication mode in which interlocutors each use their own--different--native language. In contrast to previous work on LaRa, this study investigates the phenomenon in genetically unrelated languages. Native speakers of Estonian and Russian were engaged in a…

We evaluated the separate and combined effects of the antecedent manipulations of effective instruction delivery and time-in, as well as the effects of the addition of the consequent manipulation of contingent praise in a compliance training package for four elementary students displaying low levels of compliance. Four teachers were trained to…

The development of effective policies and programs to prevent sexual coercion among young people requires thorough understanding of the diversity of coercive sexual experiences, patterns in such types of experiences, and similarities and differences between subgroups, especially by gender, in patterns of coercive sexual experiences and…

Three-dimensional synthetic worlds introduce possibilities for nonverbal communication in computer-mediated language learning. This paper presents an original methodological framework for the study of multimodal communication in such worlds. It offers a classification of verbal and nonverbal communication acts in the synthetic world "Second…

The purpose of the experiment was to examine whether students better understand a science text when they are asked to self-generate summaries or to study predefined summaries. Furthermore, we tested the effects of verbal and pictorial summaries. The experiment followed a 2 x 2 design with representation mode (verbal vs. pictorial) and learning…