We tested sarcasm production and identification across original communicators in a spontaneously produced conversational setting, including testing the role of synchronous movement on sarcasm production and identification. Before communicating, stranger dyads participated in either a synchronous or nonsynchronous movement task. They then completed…

Research suggests that readers learn about word meanings from the various contexts of words in texts. Therefore, context clue instruction is often recommended as a way of boosting students' word learning skills. Ideally, such instruction should focus on context clue types that are common in authentic texts. We examined the prevalence of context…

This study describes the development and validation of a multidimensional measure of preadolescent and adolescent readers' abilities to apply reading comprehension strategies necessary for understanding challenging academic texts. The Strategy Use Measure (SUM) was designed with the intention of being pedagogically informative to the increasingly…

This study used a quasi-experimental design to test if a small scale intervention improved self-regulation with 94 kindergarten children in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to draw on the theory of Vygotsky and examine activities that could fit into the class schedule without substantially changing the basic curriculum and would require…

The purpose of the mathematics methods course where this study took place was to support pre-service teachers (PSTs) as their thinking about instruction transitioned from a traditional, teacher-centered approach to a more problem-based, student-centered approach, and to guide them as they developed strategies for teaching through problem solving.…

In 1998, Sturrock and Else introduced the Play Cycle which has been integrated into both playwork theory and practice. An online survey with 157 responses found that playworkers' understanding Play Cycle varied to how they were first introduced to the theory. In addition, understandings of the six elements of the Play Cycle were significantly…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by deficits in social communication, partly attributed to the inability to pick up cues from social partners using joint attention (JA) skill. These deficits have cascading adverse effects on language acquisition and the development of cognitive skills. Therapist-mediated JA…

When judging subject-specific aspects of students' texts, teachers should assess various characteristics, e.g., spelling and content, independently of one another since these characteristics are indicators of different skills. Independent judgments enable teachers to adapt their classroom instruction according to students' skills. It is still…

Purpose: This study tested the hypothesis that audiovisual training benefits children more than it does adults and that it improves Japanese-speaking children's English /r/-/l/ perception to a native-like level. Method: Ten sessions of audiovisual English /r/-/l/ identification training were conducted for Japanese-speaking adults and children.…

When faced with the task of trying to "read" a stranger's thoughts, what cues can perceivers use? We explore two predictors of empathic accuracy (the ability to accurately infer another person's thoughts): use of stereotypes about the target's group, and use of the target's own words. A sample of 326 White American undergraduate students…

This paper addressed the under-investigated question whether speech act moves can be identified and classified in conversation by examining the content, positioning, and strategic role of utterances in turns and turn sequences. To this end, offering exchanges were analysed in the transcripts of 31 open role-plays. These were elicited from American…

Despite the evidence implicating implicit racial bias in teacher decision-making as one reason for the overrepresentation of Black male students in school discipline practices, there is minimal research regarding interventions that address implicit racial bias in the school setting. A System 2 cue refers to a behavioral cue that engages more…

This dissertation investigates how English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Mandarin perceive, process and learn Mandarin lexical tones. While most languages use modulations in pitch (intonation) to convey meanings at the phrasal and sentential levels, a number of languages, including Mandarin, also use suprasegmental features such as…

Becoming more disciplined about teaching disciplinary literacy in our classrooms can be a challenge. Encouraging student production of the academic language and the demands and styles of thinking associated with each discipline requires an additional push that was often overlooked in content area instruction of the past. As this new journey in…

Social learning has been shown to be an evolutionarily adaptive strategy, but it can be implemented via many different cognitive mechanisms. The adaptive advantage of social learning depends crucially on the ability of each learner to obtain relevant and accurate information from informants. The source of informants' knowledge is a particularly…