Investigated the manner in which the temporal order and variability of events influence three and seven year olds' event representation. Children participated in three events: a logical-invariant, a logical-variable, and an arbitrary-invariant event. Both the structure of the event and children's representational capabilities influenced children's…

Describes the use of dialogues in teaching introductory women's studies courses. Discusses interior, textual, and verbal dialogues. Suggests that teaching in this manner challenges traditional processes of knowledge production and evaluation. Argues that journals and peer support groups widen the scope and nature of exchanges within feminist…

Evaluation of the conversational behavior of 36 children (ages 48-59 months) playing in dyads with 3 different materials (modeling dough, a farm set, and animal puppets) found that each toy elicited the same amount of talking, though there were differences in discourse structure attributable to play materials. (DB)

Native English speakers have difficulty determining which form of direct address is appropriate in German, and students also need practice in giving commands to one another. This article describes an easily organized drill covering both areas. (Author/LB)

The immediate recall is compared of 15 speech concepts presented in mixed order in 3 modalities: auditory, symbolically visual (written), and iconic. Results of experiments with 121 subjects suggest that the first step of information processing is a differentiation of sensory stimuli. (10 references) (LB)

An exploration of the interpretive potential semiotics offers for study and understanding of meaning production in science classrooms is presented. Some very basic concepts of the theory are introduced, followed by analysis of a single science lesson. The organization of the room, the structure of the lesson, and the behavior and interaction of…

Discusses a technique for identifying the function of minimal responses in conversation. Describes a study in which subjects listened to one of two versions of a recorded conversation: one complete, one with minimal responses deleted. Concludes that minimal responses serve to denote agreement and suggest informality. (DK)

This article reviews communicative competence in the forensic context of child abuse cases. It examines adult questioners' competence in terms of the form, content, and pragmatics of questions; time and number concepts; and physical appearance and kinship terminology. It examines child respondents' competence in terms of comprehension, cognition,…

Some aural activities are described that can help language students with their listening comprehension. They include dictation, a "who am I?" exercise, sketch-drawing, chart completion, a comparison exercise, and a flow diagram. (LB)

Drawing on the empirical literature on classroom interaction and nonverbal communication, attempts to show that latent sex discrimination in schools continues. Finds that teachers expect and encourage more participation by boys. Girls are more often interrupted and are expected to be better listeners. (DM)

Forty-four undergraduate women at a small liberal arts college were asked to characterize conversations with college women friends and to describe the role these women play in intellectual growth and academic performance. Results show that women are more comfortable expressing their views within female friendship than in the classroom. (MKA)

Analysis of videotapes of 24 individuals with autism and 24 nonautistic persons with mental retardation found that subjects with autism were less likely to offer spontaneous verbal and nonverbal gestures of greeting and farewell and were less likely to establish eye contact when they were greeted. Results suggest a relative lack of intersubjective…

Multidimentional assessment procedure was used to evaluate effects of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH) program principles and strategies on 18 children and adolescents with autism after 12 and 18 months of structured intervention. Results showed an increase in working skills and functional…

A study tested the differences between eight children (ages 6 through 11) who stutter and typical children on measures of narrative complexity and cohesion use in two narrative tasks and in stuttering frequency produced across tasks. No significant differences were found on measures of narrative complexity or cohesion use. (Author/CR)

Six adolescents with traumatic brain injury and six adolescents hospitalized for an illness not affecting the brain were administered two narrative tasks. Both groups produced significantly more coherent and cohesive narratives in a personal-event task than in a current-event task, and there was no significant difference between groups. (Author/CR)