This booklet looks at the role of learner feedback in the quality improvement process. It suggests how adult and community learning (ACL) providers can adapt and improve their practice to meet the needs of learners in the changed policy context. Chapter 1 explores why providers should listen to learners and finds that listening to learners…

This study explored the current demographic profile of faculty governance leaders, focusing on communication style. A total of 223 faculty senate leaders (or equivalent faculty governance leaders) completed a mailed questionnaire requesting information on demographic variables and communication behaviors. The questionnaire included the Personal…

A comparison of frequency and directionality of 13 Navajo and 7 Caucasian preschool children's oral-linguistic and nonoral-visual behaviors in an urban classroom and playground revealed Navajo children to be far less oral-linguistic, considerably less oral-nonlinguistic, and strikingly more nonoral-visual than the Caucasian children. (NEC)

The author defines literacy as a communication skill and argues that India's national adult education program should promote vernacular literacy rather than standard language literacy, using the traditional vernacular oral communication channels with writing as an extension of but not a replacement for the oral mode. (MF)

Discusses the importance of fostering conversation about difficult issues such as racism and injustice. Offers six guidelines for teacher facilitated group discussions in the classroom about sensitive issues that cover planning, goals, setting the stage, rules, and encouraging openness. (JB)

The impact of changing classroom grouping practices from those requiring individual outcomes to those requiring cooperative outcomes was investigated in classrooms of 15 primary (elementary) school teachers in the United Kingdom. The nature and quality of talk in the cooperative groups with 4- to 11-year-old students were examined. (SLD)

Described is the use of story telling as a context to introduce mathematical concepts by providing a model, offering problem-posing situations, stimulating investigation, and illustrating concepts. Examples of appropriate stories are given for the primary and low secondary levels. (MDH)

This study formulated and tested a mathematical model to predict learning in which the amount of correct information recalled from an audio learning task is a function of the rate of oral communication. (Contains 36 references.) (MDH)

Investigated primary school children's scientific understanding and the conceptual change that occurs when using an interactive approach to teaching science. Discourse analysis of classroom conversations indicated three different types of teacher-child and child-child interactions. (Contains 53 references.) (MDH)

This study of 16 Singapore child care centers found that children spent most of their time engaged in adult-led group, cognitive, and daily routine activities. Findings also suggest that good quality centers offer a variety of cognitively stimulating activities, such as literacy activities, academic and problem-solving tasks, and verbal…

This study compared 20 young deaf children with either exceptionally good or exceptionally poor spoken language for their hearing loss, age, and intelligence. Factors associated with high performance included earlier use of binaural ear-level aids, better educated mothers, auditory/verbal or auditory/oral instruction, reliance on spoken language…

Study explored differences in conversational power by comparing discourse in whole language and traditional basal second-grade classrooms. Researchers compared the contextual setting and discourse of rug-time during reading instruction in the classrooms. Results suggested two contrasts between teachers' rug-time discourse: imposed versus generated…

Verifies observations made of the American Indian population, who appear to demonstrate a high incidence of chronic hoarseness. Examines hoarseness in the general population, American Indian communication styles, causes of Indian voice disorders, study methods, and study results. Speculates that one possibility for the hoarseness is the…

Aims: To compare siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) and siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) at 4 and 14 months of age. Methods: At 4 months, mother-infant interactional synchrony during free play, infant gaze and affect during the still-face paradigm, and infant responsiveness to a name-calling paradigm were examined (n…

This paper examines the construct of evidence-based practice, how existing data on the effectiveness of the Auditory-Verbal (A-V) approach for children with hearing loss are evaluated within this construct, and whether implementation of an A-V intervention model is therefore justified. It concludes with a recurrent call for action towards…