Directors, teachers, parents, and mental health professionals in child care centers were interviewed about aggressive behavior of preverbal children to determine the caregivers' level of understanding about children's emotional development. The definition of aggressive behavior included hitting, biting, pushing, scratching, pinching, grabbing,…

This practicum concerned a staff development program designed to promote cultural awareness among the staff members of a high school. The program consisted of three 2-hour sessions of intensive workshops that focused on: (1) the definition of culture; (2) nonverbal communication; and (3) the influence of culture in language development and social…

A study tested paths predicted by Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) in the context of interactions between 105 Chinese and 283 Anglo-Australian students and 98 academic staff in situations of potential conflict. Videotapes of student-lecturer interactions in which speakers accommodated, over-accommodated, or under-accommodated were rated by…

This study investigated whether mothers' responses to their infants' gestures play a role in their infants' vocabulary development. Eight infants were observed interacting at home with their mothers on 2 occasions, when the infants were 10 to 12 months old, and 16 to 18 months old. Videotapes of the observations were transcribed and coded for…

This paper reviews the existing body of research on the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and nonverbal behavior. The strengths and limitations of three different approaches are considered. Contextual approaches are studies of CA and nonverbal behavior in which the primary focus is on communicative context (public speaking,…

An examination of key symbols and structures of the recent film, "Fried Green Tomatoes," reveals the nature of the process of coding representations of the real world and its effects. The movie depicts two parallel stories of female friendship. Changes and development of the characters are primarily portrayed through changes in their…

Educators must attend to complex and subtle possibilities for hidden learning and attempt to control them so as to mitigate harmful learning and promote educational benefit. Educators have always known that people learn from both the unnoticed and the noticed, and have attempted to shape unconscious experience. As education has become more of a…

Studies of children's deceptive behavior have scientific merit and can be carried out in an ethically defensible manner. Many arguments against studies requiring children to deceive others in an experimental context are relatively easy to refute. It is true, though, that the debriefing phase of deception studies presents ethical problems,…

Knowledge of a language requires more than mastery of grammar; effective communication includes social and cultural aspects of language use, such as speaking volume and intonation, conventions of politeness, and set social formulas. The language teacher must be aware of these rules to convey them to students. (CHK)

Investigates various ethnic interpretations of appropriate distances for interaction. (MH)

This article describes several types of native American nonspeech communications systems, including the Plains sign language, distance signaling of various kinds, picture writing and whistle speech. See FL 508 188 for availability. (CLK)

A total of 36 normally developing children of 13-30 months of age were evenly divided into three age groups and observed while playing with their mothers. Their communicative behaviors were recorded according to intent and level. Intent was classified as comment, request, and reject; levels were nonverbal, verbal-contextual, and…

The result of a project funded by the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture called Professional Knowledge and Research Base of Extension 4-H Youth Development (4hprk), this 18-item annotated bibliography represents a compilation of resources (on the topic of communication) most frequently identified by Extension 4-H…

The result of a project funded by the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture called Professional Knowledge and Research Base of Extension 4-H Youth Development (4hprk), this 26-item revised annotated bibliography represents a compilation of resources (on the topic of communication) most frequently identified by Extension…