This article examines how the levels of student interaction change through the use of small groups and moderators in online writing courses. The study examines three technical and professional online writing courses: one course that employs small groups and group moderators and two courses that have no small groups or moderators. The results of…

Imagined interactions (IIs) constitute a type of social cognition that can reduce fear of communication. Through the mental preparation enabled by IIs, an individual can reduce disfluencies and mitigate the anxiety that arises from a speech. Study 1 indicated that rehearsal influences the reduction of silent pauses but not vocalized pauses. In…

Humor is an important aspect of interpersonal interactions as it is linked to the development and maintenance of relationships (Merolla, 2006). The purpose of this dissertation was to test the effect of a humor communication skills training program on the ability to minimize anti-social humor (i.e., aggressive, self-defeating) and enhance…

Background: It is well documented that as youth develop into adolescence, conflict with their parents increases. Unmanaged conflicts can have deleterious effects on youth health and development. Open parent-child communication has been found to be protective against a child's involvement in health-risk behaviors. The purpose of this study was…

Infants from birth itself are in constant interaction with their mothers and the environment. Thus the maternal styles of communication would play an important role in developing communicative competency in children. This process happens so naturally and incidentally that no one pays special attention to it. However, when a hearing impairment is…

Online distance education (ODE) has become pervasive and can potentially transform pedagogical practices across primary, secondary and university-based educational systems. ODE is considered a flexible option for non-traditional students such as adult learners and home-schoolers, and a convenient way to deliver remedial courses. ODE is also a…

In an English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL) class, special emphasis is often put on interaction and negotiation as a means of learning and understanding the language being taught (Long, 1981; Pica, 1994). However, student-student interaction as well as student-teacher interaction could be difficult to achieve in…

Recasts have figured prominently in recent SLA research, with studies documenting significant advantages for learners exposed to this type of negative feedback. Although some researchers have suggested that such findings imply a beneficial role for negative evidence (i.e., information regarding the impossibility of certain utterances in the…

Parents' goal orientations in parent-child reminiscing were examined in this study, where 28 preschoolers (mean age = 46 months) experienced a standardized event. Dyads discussed the event that evening, with parents randomly assigned to either an "outcome-oriented" or a "process-oriented" condition. Outcome-oriented parents, who were told that…