The three research papers in this document concern open admissions and student success in the classrooms of Bronx Community College. Together, these projects capture much of what is involved in a comprehensive open admissions program. The first research report explores the technical characteristics, and therefore, the feasibility for use with…

This is a comprehensive report of a study of the mechanisms by which the family regulates its interaction with the immediate social environment. Subjects were four multiple family groups, each composed of six or more families, meeting in both hospital and home settings. In each family, at least one member was either an alcoholic or an adolescent…

Communication cannot and should not be studied as the simple, isolated phenomenon known as language, because language occurs in a cultural context and its messages are shaped by nonverbal elements. The basic structure of total communication includes language, paralanguage (vocal-nonverbal communication), and kinesics (communication through…

Utilization of two checklists for recording observed student and teacher classroom behaviors is the main topic of this report. The format, sections, procedures, and methods of analysis of the checklists are discussed. These checklists were used with 40 students and 4 teachers in an on-going, two year research project at the Model Secondary School…

This paper describes a method to extract, by computer, maximum amounts of sequential information on pattern frequencies underlying verbal interactions in the foreign language classroom. For this purpose, an observation instrument was developed which was expected to allow the study of the structure of the interaction process; it was hypothesized…

Cited are two studies which analyzed the reinforcing effectiveness of verbal evaluative comments on educable retarded and handicapped elementary school children. In the first study, a two-choice push button discrimination, it is reported that Ss consistently chose a button which avoided the verbal comment "wrong", but made no significant…

Compared was the relative effectiveness of two teacher questioning styles on the motivation and learning of eight intermediate educable mentally retarded pupils. Interactive process data and pupil achievement on a recall posttest were examined for two different types of lessons: one utilizing "episodic" questions (that encouraged the child to…

Speech errors have been used in the construction of production models of the phonological and semantic components of language, and for a model of interactional processes. Errors also provide insight into how speakers plan discourse and syntactic structure,. Different types of discourse exhibit different types of error. The present data are taken…

This study was undertaken in an attempt to determine if the traits of flexibility, openness, and sensitivity found in high school teachers would be associated with higher levels of satisfaction among students in general and among minority students in particular. Thirty-nine teachers and 953 students served as subjects in the study. Three measures…

This study analyzes the effects of costs on day care center quality for a total of 13 high cost ($40-50 per week for each child) and low cost ($20-30 per week) day care centers in three New York counties. A mail survey questionnaire (included in Appendix) was used to gather data on program operations, core services, and budget expenditures.…

Both popular and academic perceptions of conflict have been historically negative. Conflict, however, or the discrepancy between the demands of the environment and the demands of a living system, is common to individuals, groups, organizations and societies, and is part of the communication process by which living things interact with their…

Findings from a three-county epidemiologic survey of 2,029 randomly selected respondents are presented. The authors examine the relationship between stressful life events, sociodemographic factors and rates of psychological disorder. A specific analysis of low socioeconomic status as the key to increased number of stressful life events experienced…

The Involvement Instrument, an observational technique for examining children's interaction patterns and degree of involvement within the school setting, is presented in this paper. Training protocols for obtaining skill in using the Involvement Instrument, methods of analyzing data obtained by using the instrument, and criteria for determining…

Most personality theories of the aging devote insufficient consideration to the social learning transpiring during the aging period and to the dynamics of the interaction between developmental and social forces. Erikson emphasized the formulation of a philosophical verdict on one's earlier experiences. Similarly, in Neugarten's version of the…

Message biasing of upward communication in organizational hierarchies has been an ongoing concern of communication researchers. The purpose of this study was to analyze this distortion in actual message from subordinates to superiors in simulated situations and to determine the effects of favorable and unfavorable situations on message content.…