This article focuses on the interactional tasks for which direct reported speech (DRS) is used. DRS is defined as the reproduction of words produced by someone else on another occasion. (33 references) (CK)

Argues that business communication is not improving, despite a deluge of advice. Suggests that change is made more difficult by hard to remember rules and directives that are couched in technical jargon. Offers an alternative heuristic focusing on context. (JAD)

Notes that many psychological theories assume things belong in the same category because of their similarity. Recounts several arguments claiming, however, that similarity is an empty notion or is an insufficient quality upon which to base categorization. Concludes that, though these arguments have merit, similarity can be sufficiently constrained…

Issues discussed relate to improving translations or stages of the translation process, improving the theory and practice of translations especially regarding synonymy, and improving instruments such as dictionaries that help translators. (10 references) (LB)

Examined linguistic and nonlinguistic context effects on the shape bias in three year olds' word learning. Results indicated that children systematically attended to shape in interpreting novel count nouns, but their interpretation of adjectives was contextually determined. (GLR)

Presents historical, contextual, and methodological perspectives on the use of empirically supported interventions in school and community settings. Historical advances are reviewed within the context of scientist-practitioner model, psychosocial outcome research, meta-analysis, and the development of criteria and practice guidelines for…

Using a modified human paradigm, this article explores two language-competent bonobos' abilities to map new words to objects in realistic surroundings with few exposures to the referents. Also investigates the necessity of the apes maintaining visual contact with the item to map the novel name onto the novel object. (Author/VWL)

The second article in a two-part series (Hustad and Beukelman, 2001) reports on a study that examined effects of experimentally imposed topic cues, alphabet cues, and combined cues on listener comprehension of severely dysarthritic speech. Consistent with earlier intelligibility results, combined cues resulted in higher comprehension. Findings…

Studied aspects of cognitive load in 3 experiments involving 26 communication science, 69 engineering, and 87 educational science and communication science students. Results support the extraneous load hypothesis in relation to completion problems and provide some preliminary support to the germane load hypothesis in relation to high contextual…

Tests Coleman's (1995) hypotheses that the strategies adolescents use to cope with cultural diversity will be organized in a sequential manner and that adolescents will use different strategies depending on the situation. To test these hypotheses, 398 adolescents rated the likelihood of using 6 strategies for coping with cultural diversity. Makes…

This paper uses the notion of "pathological" social science, wherein large claims to knowledge are made on the basis of very small differences in the data, to consider the notion of the school mix effect. It describes a variety of plausible alternative explanations for the same sets of findings, including the school mix effect, but also errors in…

Four eye-movement monitoring studies examined the processing of expressions argued to require enriched semantic composition (Pustejovsky, 1995). Previous research found that noun phrases denoting entities (e.g., the book) were difficult to process following verbs that require event complements (e.g., begin). Expressions like began the book may be…

Although the idea of nature has all but disappeared from recent discussion of education, it remains highly relevant to the philosophy and practice of education, since tacit notions of human nature and what constitutes underlying reality--the "natural" order of things--necessarily orientates education in fundamental ways. It is argued that…

Semantic dementia (SD) is a progressive condition characterized by an insidious and gradual breakdown in semantic knowledge. Patients suffering from this condition gradually lose their knowledge of objects and their attributes, concepts, famous persons, and public events. In contrast, these patients maintain a striking preservation of…

Blocking occurs when previous training with a stimulus A reduces (blocks) subsequent learning about a stimulus B, when A and B are trained in compound. The question of whether blocking exists in olfactory conditioning of proboscis extension reflex (PER) in honeybees is under debate. The last published accounts on blocking in honeybees state that…