Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-108).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 284-304).

Sammanfattning Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera hur marknadsföring via social media på olika sätt är viktigt för researrangörer, samt vilka faktorer som kan påverka kommunikationen mellan researrangör och kund. Jag har valt att göra en fallstudie på Fritidsresors användning av sociala medier. För att uppå syftet har jag valt att besvara följande forskningsfrågor: - Hur bevakar och nyttjar Fritidsresor sociala medier i sin kommunikation med kunderna? - Hur hanterar Fritidsresor negativ spridning via de sociala plattformarna? - Hur ser Fritidsresor på marknadsföring via sociala medier ur ett framtidsperspektiv?   Marknadsföringen har ändrats mycket de senaste decennierna. Från att ha varit produktfokuserade till kundfokuserade. En dialog mellan företag och kund är idag mycket viktigt och relationsmarknadsföring har kommit att tas på större allvar än tidigare. Kunderna har allt mer makt på marknaden och genom internet kan de själva söka information och ta del av olika tjänster och produkters marknadsföring. Marknadsförarens största utmaning idag är att förstå och använda sig av internet på rätt sätt, samt att lära sig läsa kunder och deras behov. Det är inte längre möjligt för turismorganisationer att enbart se sociala medier som en del av marknadsföringen, utan istället som en central del av företaget vilket kommer att spela en avgörande roll i framtiden. Idag har företag inte ett val om de skall använda sig av sociala medier, utan det handlar om hur bra det gör det. Under studien har det framkommit att sociala medier främst bör användas som ett kommunikationsverktyg och en plattform där relationer kan skapas mellan företag och kund. Idag är det dock inte en självklarhet att researrangörer besitter kunskap om sociala medier och användandet av dem. Undersökningens resultat visar på att låta kunder diskutera och återkoppla med varandra är en viktig del av relationsbyggandet mellan företag och kund, då det skapar engagemang och lojalitet. För företag är det viktigt att inkludera kunden i verksamheten och se dem som medaktörer. Genom att bevaka de sociala plattformarna och bemöta negativ kritik på ett korrekt sätt kan företag minska risken för negativ spridning vilket är A och O i användningen av sociala medier.

Online discussion forums and reflective writing are proven methods for enriching conceptual understanding and are hallmarks of engineering education. Plagiarism and many students’ apprehension to contribute to online journals can plague the effectiveness of these educational tools. Using elements of the engineering design cycle, I have created a blogging website that addresses these problems by restricting comment visibilities for users and includes a graphic visualization called a “word cloud” to supplement discussion. A prototype was tested with UTeach Engineering teachers for feedback on design and use. The critiques provided examples of classroom use, constructive design feedback, and ideas for its use as a formative assessment. The design could be used as a pedagogical tool for an investigation of formative assessments in engineering education, but further research for “word cloud” visualizations and journal data collection is needed to expand the current design. / text

In Chinese, a large percentage of the vocabulary consists of compound words where exemplars in the same taxonomic category often share the same head noun (Chen & Chen, 2006; Chow, McBride-Chang, Cheung, & Chow, 2008). This structural characteristic may facilitate an early understanding of the noun taxonomy. The current study aims to investigate taxonomic development in a group of Mandarin-English speaking children in the United States. A contrast association task (i.e., "A dog is not a ____") and a category association task (i.e., "A dog is a kind of ____") were used to elicit responses from different levels of the taxonomic hierarchy (e.g., coordinates, superordinates). Participants were 25 bilingual children aged 3 to 8 and 25 English monolingual age matches. It was predicted that the bilingual group would produce more task-specific taxonomic responses (i.e., coordinates in contrast association; superordinates in category association) than their monolingual counterparts. The results, however, were somewhat opposite to this prediction. Monolinguals were found to, in general, perform better in the category association tasks and the two groups performed similarly in the contrast association task. When English vocabulary size was taken into consideration, there was no statistically significant difference between the monolingual and bilingual children on the category association task. Factors which possibly explain such a difference between the two language groups in the two tasks, or the absence of a significant difference when vocabulary size was incorporated as a covariate are discussed. / text

The overall purpose of this study is to investigate lexical semantic representation in bilinguals who speak typologically different languages, specifically, Mandarin and English. Three questions are posed about semantic representation: 1) Do bilingual speakers demonstrate greater heterogeneity in semantic knowledge than monolingual speakers; 2) To what extent do bilingual speakers use paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations to organize their semantic knowledge; and 3) What is the cross- linguistic overlap in bilingual speakers' semantic representation. Thirty Mandarin- English bilingual adults and 30 monolingual English-speaking adults participated in a repeated word association task and generated three associations to each of 36 stimuli. The bilingual speakers completed the same task in their two languages on two different days whereas the monolingual speakers responded to the same 36 stimuli on two different days. Results indicated that 1) the bilingual speakers produced a more heterogeneous set of responses in English than monolingual speakers; heterogeneity was greater in English than Mandarin among the bilingual speakers; 2) the bilingual speakers produced more paradigmatic associations (e.g., happy-sad, spoon-chopsticks, catch-throw) and fewer syntagmatic associations (e.g., happy-smile, spoon-eat, catch-ball) than the monolingual speakers; and 3) approximately 48% of the bilingual speakers' responses were cross- linguistic synonyms, whereas approximately 76% of the monolingual speakers' responses were identical from session 1 to session 2. These findings suggest that late bilinguals (second language learners) use categorical relations to organize their semantic knowledge to a greater extent than monolingual speakers and that reduced experience with a second language can lead to greater heterogeneity in semantic knowledge in that language. The findings also suggest that bilingual speakers have more distributed semantic representations than monolingual speakers. Additional research is needed to explore the areas of heterogeneity, categorical organization, and cross-linguistic overlap in order to further our understanding of bilingual speakers' semantic knowledge representation. / text

Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) offers the potential to deliver cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies in mathematical word problem-solving for students with mathematics difficulties. However, there is a lack of commercially available CAI programs with cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies for mathematical word problemsolving that pay particular attention to the critical design features for students with mathematics difficulties. Therefore, empirical evidence regarding the effects of CAI program with cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies on the word problem-solving of students with mathematics difficulties has not been found. Considering the imperative need for a CAI program with cognitive and metacognitive strategies for students with mathematics difficulties, an interactive multimedia software, ‘Math Explorer,’ was designed, developed, and implemented to teach one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving skills to students with mathematics difficulties. Math Explorer incorporates: (a) four-step cognitive strategies and corresponding three-step meta-cognitive strategies adapted from the research on cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, and (b) instruction, interface, and interaction design features of CAI identified as crucial for successful delivery of cognitive and metacognitive strategies for students with mathematics difficulties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Math Explorer, which was designed to be a potential tool to deliver cognitive and meta-cognitive strategy instruction in one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving. Three research questions guided this study: (a) To what extent does the use of Math Explorer affect the accuracy performance of students with mathematics difficulties in grades 2-3 on computer-based tasks with one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving?, (b) To what extent does the use of Math Explorer generalize to the accuracy performance of students with mathematics difficulties in grades 2-3 on paper/pencil-based tasks with one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving?, and (c) To what extent does the use of Math Explorer maintain the accuracy performance of students with mathematics difficulties in grades 2-3 on computer- and paper/pencilbased tasks with one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving? A multiple probe across subjects design was used for the study. Four students with mathematics difficulties participated in the pre-experimental (i.e., introduction; screening test; and computer training I) and experimental (i.e., baseline, computer training II, intervention, and follow-up) sessions over an 18-week period. Each week of the intervention phase, the students received an individual 20- to 30-minute Math Explorer intervention, at most, five days. After each intervention, they took the 10-minute computer- or paper/pencil-based tests developed by the researcher. The intervention phase for each student lasted five to seven weeks. Two weeks after termination of the intervention phase, their accuracy performance on the computer- and paper/pencil-based tests were examined during the follow-up phases. The findings of the study revealed that all four of the students were able to use the cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies to solve the addition and subtraction word problems and improved their accuracy performance on the computer-based tests. Their improved accuracy performance found on the computer-based tests was successfully transferred to the paper/pencil-based tests. About two weeks after termination of the intervention phase, except for one student who had many absences and behavioral problems during the extended intervention phase, the three students successfully maintained their improved accuracy performance during the follow-up phase. Taken together, the findings of the study clearly provide evidence that Math Explorer is an effective method for teaching one-step addition and subtraction word problem-solving skills to students with mathematics difficulties and suggest that the instruction, interface, and interaction design features of CAI program is carefully designed to produce successful mathematical performance of students with mathematics difficulties. Limitations of the research and implications for practice and future research were discussed. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a web-based strategic, interactive computer application (Fun Fraction) on the ability of middle school students with LD, who have mathematics goals on their IEPs, to solve word problems with fractions and multiplication including two factors of a whole number (less than or equal to 4) and proper fractions. A multiple-probe single case research design across subjects was applied for the study. Three middle school students with learning disabilities participated in baseline, intervention, and maintenance test sessions over a 13-week period. Findings showed that there was an experimental effect for all three students, tested on their instructional probes; students' performance improved from baseline to intervention phases after receiving instruction through Fun Fraction. John and Alec reached the mastery level of 80% on two of the three review days. The level of change from baseline to intervention phases ranged from 28.67% to 68.89%. Even through there was no immediacy effect for John, the trend of his data (10.33) revealed a substantial growth in general. Additionally, the percentage of data showing improvement between baseline and intervention phases was 70% for Tiffany, 56% for John, and 100% for Alec. In particular, the improvement trend of Alec's data was statistically significant (Tau[subscript novlap] = 1, p < .05, CI 90% = .341<>1.659). All of them reached 80% accuracy percentage on their one-time maintenance tests. Regarding the three problem types of combine, partition, and compare for each representation and equation question, students struggled the most with combine representation questions and showed relatively better competence in compare equation questions. A learning-related social validity questionnaire and usability questionnaire indicated that students liked learning through Fun Fraction and recognized well the useful interaction design features embedded in Fun Fraction. Cognitive and metacognitive strategy questionnaires also indicated that students liked the represent strategy that allowed students to manipulate the rectangular area model, and students expressed positive views on the thinking process through metacognitive strategies embedded in Fun Fraction. / text

It is well-known that the meaning of a word often changes depending on the context in which the word is used. Determining the appropriate interpretation for a word occurrence requires a knowledge of the range of possible meanings for that word, and consideration of those possibilities given available contextual evidence. However, there is still much to be learned about the nature of our lexical knowledge, as well as how we make use of that knowledge in the course of language comprehension. I report on a series of three experiments that explore these issues. I begin with the question of how precise our perceptions of word meaning in context really are. In Experiment 1, I present a Magnitude Estimation study in which I obtain judgments of meaning-in-context similarity over pairs of intransitive verb occur- rences, such as The kid runs / The cat runs, or The cat runs / The lane runs. I find that participants supply a large range of very specific similarity judgments, that judgments are quite consistent across participants, and that these judgments can be at least partially predicted even by simple measures of contextual properties, such as subject noun animacy and human similarity ratings over pairs of subject nouns. However, I also find that while some participants supply a great variety of ratings, many participants supply only a few unique values during the task. This suggests that some individuals are making more fine-grained judgments than others. These differences in response granularity could stem from a variety of sources. However, the offline nature of Experiment 1 does not enable direct examination of the comprehension process, but rather focuses on its end result. In Experiment 2, I present a Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff study that explores the earliest stages of meaning-in-context resolution to better understand the dynamics of the comprehension process itself. In particular, I focus on the timecourse of meaning resolution and the question of whether verbs carry context-independent default interpretations that are activated prior to semantic integration. I find, consistent with what has previously been shown for nouns, that verbs do in fact carry such a default meaning, as can be seen in early false alarms to stimuli such as The dawn broke -- Something shattered. These default meanings appear to reflect the most frequent interpretation of the verb. While these default meanings are likely an emergent effect of repeated exposure to frequent interpretations of a verb, I hypothesize that they additionally support a shallow semantic processing strategy. Recently, a growing body of work has begun to demonstrate that our language comprehension is often less than exhaustive and less than maximally accurate -- people often vary the depth of their processing. In Experiment 3, I explore changes in depth of semantic processing by making an explicit connection to research on human decision making, particularly as regards questions of strategy selection and effort- accuracy tradeoffs. I present a semantic judgment task similar to that used in Experiment 2, but incorporating design principles common in studies on decision making, such as response-contingent financial payoffs and trial-by-trial feedback on response accuracy. I show that participants' preferences for deep and shallow semantic processing strategies are predictably influenced by factors known to affect decision making in other non-linguistic domains. In lower-risk situations, participants are more likely to accept default meanings even when they are not contextually supported, such as responding "True" to stimuli such as The dawn broke -- Something shattered, even without the presence of time pressure. In Experiment 3, I additionally show that participants can adjust not only their processing strategies but also their stimulus acceptance thresholds. Stimuli were normed for truthfulness, i.e. how strongly implied (or entailed) a probe sentence was given its context sentence. Some stimuli in the task posessed an intermediate degree of truthfulness, akin to implicature, as in The log burned -- Something was dangerous (truthfulness 4.55/7). Across 3 conditions, the threshold separating "true" from "false" stimuli was moved such that stimuli such as the example just given would be evaluated differently in different conditions. Participants rapidly learned these threshold placements via feedback, indicating that their perceptions of meaning-in-context, as expressed via the range of possible conclusions that could be drawn from the verb, could vary dynamically in response to situational constraints. This learning was additionally found to occur both faster and more accurately under increased levels of risk. This thesis makes two primary contributions to the literature. First, I present evidence that our knowledge of verb meanings is at least two-layered -- we have access to a very information-rich base of event knowledge, but we also have a more schematic level of representation that is easier to access. Second, I show that these different sources of information enable different semantic processing strategies, and that moreover the choice between these strategies is dependent upon situational characteristics. I additionally argue for the more general relevance of the decision making literature to the study of language processing, and suggest future applications of this approach for work in experimental semantics and pragmatics. / text

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a review and discussion of the current literature on auditory processing, speech discrimination, word recognition, and early lexical representations in children with normal hearing and those with hearing impairment in addition to identifying areas in which current research is lacking. This information is needed to consider potential interactions between various factors affecting the development of spoken word recognition. This will also provide a starting point for identifying further research needs. Since children with hearing loss do not receive the same amount of exposure to speech and language as typically developing children, it can be expected that the development of speech and word recognition in this population may progress differently. If we can identify differences in auditory processing and phonological development in children with hearing impairment, we can modify speech and language therapy to focus on more specific and effective targets. The subsequent chapters will provide a critical review of the current literature on the aforementioned topics. In Chapters 2 and 3, studies assessing differences in processing, attention to sound, intersensory perception, and sound discrimination abilities in children with normal hearing and hearing impairment will be discussed. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on word recognition skills, and early lexical representations. Chapter 6 will synthesize results of available studies and suggest areas in which more research is needed. Together, these chapters will help us gain a better understanding of the complex interactions between auditory processing, executive functioning, phonological development and later word recognition outcomes. By identifying which avenues have the greatest effect on outcomes in cochlear implant users, we can modify speech and language therapy in order to address the unique needs of this special population. / text