Managing the Openness-Closedness Dialectic: How Graduate Teaching Assistants Handle the Tension

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are a pervasive part of undergraduate education. When interacting with undergraduate students, GTAs must balance a tension of being a friend and an authority figure with students. One of the ways that balance is managed is through GTA self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is defined as, "the act of revealing personal information to others" (Jourard, 1971, p. 2). Prior research has linked instructor self-disclosure to positive learning outcomes. The current study, therefore, examined the ways in which GTAs balance a dialectic between being open and closed with their private information in the classroom. Rooted in communication privacy management theory (Petronio, 1991), relational dialectics theory (Baxter, 1988), and the affective learning model (Rodriguez, Plax, & Kearney, 1996), this qualitative study examined: (1) how GTAs make decisions about what private information to disclose to students; (2) GTA motivations for self-disclosing to students; and (3) GTA perceptions of the effects of self-disclosure on undergraduate learning. Twenty-three, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with GTAs at a large Midwestern University. Participants were asked to talk about their experiences and perceptions of self-disclosure in higher education classrooms. Data were inductively coded to reveal 13 overarching themes regarding GTA self-disclosure. Results revealed that GTAs make decisions about self-disclosure by: considering the nature of topics, learning about a culture of self-disclosure, and balancing a friendship-authority dialectic. Data also indicated that GTAs are motivated to self-disclose: for interpersonal reasons, to increase credibility, for reciprocity, to explain course content, to keep students' attention, and to improve student evaluations. Results also suggested that GTAs perceive that self-disclosure: makes them more approachable, increases student motivation, is a useful tool for explaining course content, and can assist students' retention of course material

Processing of insect retrotransposons by self-cleaving ribozymes

We show that several classes of insect non-LTR retrotransposons harbor self-cleaving ribozymes of the HDV family at their 5′ termini. In Drosophila the R2 ribozymes exhibit highly differential in vivo expression and robust in vitro activity, modulated by an upstream sequence originating from the insertion site. Our data suggest a role for self-cleaving ribozymes in co-transcriptional processing of retrotransposons with implications for downstream events, including translation and retrotransposition

Teaching the Communication Course: Intercultural Communication

Intercultural Communication is a course that can help individuals gain the knowledge and tools to be an effective communicator in a globalized world. This article seeks to answer the question about what students enrolled in an Intercultural Communication course should learn. Specifically, the Intercultural Communication course is examined by examining its foundations, content areas, applied assignments, and issues to consider

Instructor-student rapport in Taiwan ESL classrooms

Positive relationships between instructors and students are critical to effective learning in the classroom. Rooted in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and centered at the crossroads of interpersonal communication and instructional communication (Affective Learning Model), this study examines how instructors in a Taiwan ESL school build relationships with Taiwanese students. Instructors were interviewed regarding the behaviors they use to build rapport with their students. Results show that instructors build rapport with their students using several specific techniques: uncommonly attentive behaviors, common grounding behaviors, courteous behaviors, connecting behavior, information sharing behavior, a balancing of connection and authority, adaptation of rapport to student level, and provision of a respite to norms. The findings provide specific examples of how instructors can build rapport in intercultural classrooms

Phosphine Functionalization of GaAs(111)A Surfaces

Phosphorus-functionalized GaAs surfaces have been prepared by exposure of Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surfaces to triethylphosphine (PEt3) or trichlorophosphine (PCl3), or by the direct functionalization of the native-oxide terminated GaAs(111)A surface with PCl3. The presence of phosphorus on each functionalized surface was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. High-resolution, soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to evaluate the As and Ga 3d regions of such surfaces. On PEt3 treated surfaces, the Ga 3d spectra exhibited a bulk Ga peak as well as peaks that were shifted to 0.35, 0.92 and 1.86 eV higher binding energy. These peaks were assigned to residual Cl-terminated Ga surface sites, surficial Ga2O and surficial Ga2O3, respectively. For PCl3-treated surfaces, the Ga 3d spectra displayed peaks ascribable to bulk Ga(As), Ga2O, and Ga2O3, as well as a peak shifted 0.30 eV to higher binding energy relative to the bulk signal. A peak corresponding to Ga(OH)3, observed on the Cl-terminated surface, was absent from all of the phosphine-functionalized surfaces. After reaction of the Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surface with PCl3 or PEt3, the As 3d spectral region was free of As oxides and As0. Although native oxide-terminated GaAs surfaces were free of As oxides after reaction with PCl3, such surfaces contained detectable amounts of As0. Photoluminescence measurements indicted that phosphine-functionalized surfaces prepared from Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surfaces had better electrical properties than the native-oxide capped GaAs(111)A surface, while the native-oxide covered surface treated with PCl3 showed no enhancement in PL intensity