Multidimentional Cheap Talk

In this paper, we extend the cheap talk model of Crawford and Sobel (1982) to a multidimensional state space. We provide a characterization of informative equilibria. Most importantly, we prove for a generic family of distribution functions, that no information transmission is feasible when the conflict between the sender and the receiver is too large. Thus, adding more dimensions cannot improve upon information revelation when interests are too divergentCheap Talk

Teachers' classroom feedback: still trying to get it right

This article examines feedback traditionally given by teachers in schools. Such feedback tends to focus on children's acquisition and retrieval of externally prescribed knowledge which is then assessed against mandated tests. It suggests that, from a sociocultural learning perspective, feedback directed towards such objectives may limit children's social development. In this article, I draw on observation and interview data gathered from a group of 27 9- to 10-year olds in a UK primary school. These data illustrate the children's perceived need to conform to, rather than negotiate, the teacher's feedback comments. They highlight the children's sense that the teacher's feedback relates to school learning but not to their own interests. The article also includes alternative examples of feedback which draw on children's own inquiries and which relate to the social contexts within which, and for whom, they act. It concludes by suggesting that instead of looking for the right answer to the question of what makes teachers' feedback effective in our current classrooms, a more productive question might be how a negotiation can be opened up among teachers and learners themselves, about how teachers' feedback could support children's learning most appropriately

Not just another ball game : young adult and adult football fictions are different

Current media attention on the crossover novel highlights the increasing permeability of the boundaries between young adult and adult fiction. This paper will focus upon some of the difficulties around definitions of young adult fiction before considering the fiction of football, or soccer as it is more commonly known in Australia. The football genre exhibits a number of discrete and identifiable differences between young adult and adult readerships including, for example, the role of the protagonist, and the narrative’s distance from the game. This paper will use Franco Moretti’s Mapping as Distant Reading model of abstraction to highlight and unpack these and other characteristic differences in the narratological and stylistic techniques employed across adult and young adult texts. Close reading analysis of the adult football fiction Striker (1992) by Hunter Davies and young adult football fiction Lucy Zeezou’s Goal (2008) by Liz Deep-Jones’ will further illustrate the range of tensions and divergences as they are reflected across those readerships. The texts have been selected because they speak to themes of fear and safety; Joe Swift (Striker) is driven by a need to move away from childhood poverty and insecurity, while Lucy Zeezou shelters a homeless friend. With both protagonists being kidnapped for ransom for example, the texts have also been selected for their striking similarities in form and content

Health system design and performance: what can other countries learn from the Nordic experience?

<p class="Abstract"><span lang="EN-GB">Nordic health systems are amongst the strongest in the developed world. This paper discusses their strengths and lessons for other health systems under five headings: sources of finance, provider payment, organization, regulation, and persuasion. It attributes the good performance of Nordic systems to good governance of the institutions of health care, the behaviour and attitude of citizens, and high levels of cooperation in Nordic countries. The paper notes that there is only modest use of competition or payment incentives in the provider market. It suggests that improving information on the performance of providers and other institutions is an important priority for the future.</span></p

Communication Accommodation in Context: An Analysis of Convergence and Divergence in Action

This collection of essays examines nature and relationship of discourse and social distance by focusing largely on the concepts of divergence and convergence throughout the communication process. The first essay examines the risk communication strategies used by officials to effectively and accommodatively confront and manage the outdoor New York City smoking ban. The second essay performs a rhetorical criticism of former-President Bush?s September 11th Speech, outlining specific instances in discourse that both decrease and increase social distance with the audience. And the third essay steps into the ESL classroom to propose ways in which we can better recognize and understand the effectiveness of different communication accommodative teaching styles from ESL instructors. Overall, the collection discusses how a better, more comprehensive understanding of convergence and divergence may provide more efficient and powerful discourse throughout various everyday communicative scenarios in the world

Master of Science

thesisThe goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between mood states and conversational argument behavior. Specifically, relationships among vigorous, angry, and depressive mood states and specific agreement or disagreement prone argument behaviors is analyzed. Stephen Toulmin’s argument model, concepts of field argument, and substantial and analytic argument types provided the theoretical background for this study, as Toulmin’s model of argument and related features outline how arguments unfold. An observational study of married couples revealed significant correlations between vigor with agreement acknowledgement, anger with objections, and depression with responses. Seventy-two individuals composing 36 romantic couples engaged in problem-solving interactions in their homes regarding conflict topics that they nominated. Correlations between mood state and argument behavior suggest that mood plays an important part as people negotiate conversational arguments. Specifically, mood and argument behavior appear to have a strong connection during social interaction. This study also revealed biological sex differences in how argument behaviors associate with mood. Moreover, links between positive and negative mood differ according to argument forms of agreement and disagreement. Finally, this study points toward future research exploring a wide range of mood states and argument behavior and possible causal connections between the two phenomena

A Thick Industrial Design Studio Curriculum

This presentation was part of the session : Pedagogy: Procedures, Scaffolds, Strategies, Tactics24th National Conference on the Beginning Design StudentThis paper describes an industrial design studio course based in a private university in Izmir, Turkey where second year industrial design students, for the first time, engage in a studio project. The design studio course emphasises three distinct areas of competence in designing that are the focus of the curriculum. They are; design process: the intellectual act of solving a design problem; design concept: the imagination and sensibility to conceive of appropriate design ideas; and presentation: the ability to clearly and evocatively communicate design concepts. The studio is 'thick' with materials, tasks and activities that are intentionally sequenced to optimise learning in a process that is known as educational 'scaffolding.' The idea of a process--a patient journey toward it's destination, is implicit in the studio that is full of opportunities for reflection-in-action. A significant feature is the importance placed on drawing and model making. An exemplary design process should show evidence of 'breadth'--meaning a wide search for solutions where a range of alternatives explored throughout; followed by an incremental refinement of the chosen solution where elements of the final design concept are developed thoroughly and in detail--called 'depth.' Learning to design is predicated on an engagement in and manipulation of the elements of the design problem. Evidence of that learning will be found by examining the physical materials and results of the design process. The assessment criteria are published with the brief at the outset of design project and outcomes are spelt out at the end. Students are remind throughout project of the criteria, which is to say they are reminded of pedagogical aims of the studio. Assessment criteria are detailed and the advantages of summative assessment are described

Oracy in the New Millennium: Storytelling revival in America and Bhutan

Video recording of presentations from the National Storytelling Conference in Bhutan, June 2009. Dr Joseph Sobol (East Tennessee State University) delivers a presentation on 'Oracy in the New Millennium: Storytelling revival in America and Bhutan'. This is followed by presentations delivered by Ap Degang, Ap Lobzang Yeshi and an unknown male.World Oral Literature Project: an urgent global initiative to document and make accessible endangered oral literatures before they disappear without record

Testing the Message: Making Sense of Converging Multimodal Messages in a Foodborne Illness Outbreak

The goal of risk and crisis communication is to reduce and contain the harm inherent in a threat. In order to achieve this goal, risk and crisis scholars call for continued testing of messages surrounding these events; specifically, messages that address the needs of the at-risk message receiver. Previous scholarship suggests that these messages should include adapting and instructing information (Coombs, 2012), and should be designed using pedagogically sound instructional approaches (Frisby, Sellnow, Sellnow, Lane, & Veil, 2011; Sellnow & Sellnow, 2010). In order to meet this call, this dissertation tested an instructionally sound message that includes both adapting and instructing information related to a foodborne illness event including a hypothetical E. coli contamination in ground beef affecting the state of Kentucky. Foodborne illness outbreaks are unique in that they must address those at risk of contamination while simultaneously addressing the needs of those experiencing the crisis (i.e. those already contaminated). The research tested the ability of participants to make positive sense of risk message related to the E. coli outbreak; specifically exploring the effect of augmenting traditional video warning messages with converging Twitter messages and positive sensemaking on behavioral intentions and self-efficacy. Results indicate that individuals who are able to make positive sense of the message, report greater self-efficacy and behavioral intentions in line with message recommendations. Further, individuals who receive an IDEA model message and converging Twitter messages report greater attitudes and beliefs related to the message than individuals who receive a traditional video warning message. These findings indicate a need for continued research on the role of positive sensemaking and the type of message received as they directly affect perceptions of messages and intentions to comply with recommendations