Examines a shift in American culture away from the Protestant ethic, which emphasizes personal responsibility and effort, towards the "cargo cult," which emphasizes factors beyond individual control such as luck. Discusses the implications for education, which is based on the Protestant ideology. (FMW)

Argues that the focus of literacy studies or applied linguistics should not be language, or literacy, but social practices. Introduces a concept of language usage called "Discourse," incorporating words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. (FMW)

Investigated effects of pubertal, social, and biological factors on negative affect of 103 White girls aged 10 t0 14 years. Results indicate that social factors, and the interaction of negative life events and pubertal factors, accounted for more variance than did hormonal pubertal factors alone. (RJC)

Independent descriptive (correlational) and functional (experimental) analyses, conducted with six subjects with profound mental retardation exhibiting self-injurious behavior (SIB), found that the descriptive analysis was useful in identifying the extent to which SIB was related to social versus nonsocial contingencies but was limited in its…

Edited by three authorities in the field, this "Handbook" presents contributions from experts across the world who report the cutting-edge of international research. It is ground-breaking in its holistic, evidence-informed account that aims to synthesize key messages for policy and practice in English, language and literacy teaching. A…

This paper examines the validity of Vygotsky's interpretation of the private speech (PS) phenomenon on the basis of findings reported in the literature. A review of available findings provided support for an age-related shift from overt to covert means of verbal self-regulation and for an interpsychological to intrapsychological shift in the…

Research on social influence in counseling has examined how clients perceive counselors and how counselors influence clients. There has been little attention to counselors' perception of clients or the ways clients influence counselors. Research in this area could identify client characteristics which contribute to the counseling process and could…

Despite low levels of criminal victimization, older people often express greater fear of crime than others. To examine the causes and consequences of such fear, 1,185 adults aged 60 and over, were interviewed about their personal characteristics, social resources, environment, subjective well-being, and lifestyle. Results showed that older people…

Presents a curriculum development model that is arranged logically rather than chronologically, and emphasizes process rather than product or syllabus contents. The model's various components are related to recent research on student learning. Observations are presented on its use as a framework for curriculum development in workshops for…

A longitudinal study of child behavior and health in a newly urbanized part of Khartoum was carried out in 1979-1980 on 245 children 3 through 15 years of age. Generally, fewer behavioral problems were found in this population than has been reported from other developing and developed countries. (RH)

This study articulates the construct of social presence and develops a social presence questionnaire for examining online collaborative learning with tests for reliability and validity. Questionnaire items were developed by revising the social presence questionnaire developed by Picciano in 2002 as well as eviewing research in the literature of…

Two articles debate a recent research report on the status of Blacks in American society that concludes that differences in socioeconomic attainment between Blacks and Whites are the result of racial discrimination. The authors defend their report, although a critic asserts that such differences are the result of individual differences that place…

Examines a study of the effects of sociocultural change on an individual's beliefs concerning control over personal and political events. Explains that Polish students' political control beliefs significantly shifted from external sources (the government) to internal sources (the individual) after democratization of their country. Reports that…

The effects of different patterns of adult social interaction during play on children's exploration of toys and emotional responses was investigated with four preschoolers with moderate developmental delays. Results suggested more positive emotional responses during child-centered play than during the adult-centered condition and the possible…

A population-based study of the prevalence of mental retardation among children (ages 2-9) in Bangladesh screened 10,000 children and found the prevalence rates of 5.9 per thousand for severe and 14.4 per thousand for mild mental retardation. Only the prevalence of mild mental retardation was strongly associated with low socioeconomic status.…