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Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], vii, 82 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Mobile telephones are impacting societies around the world and text messaging, short type-written messages sent via mobile phones, has also garnered international research efforts. Research demonstrates that text messages are being used primarily to commence, advance, maintain or otherwise impact interpersonal relationships. The present study probes relational benefits of text messaging within familial and fraternal contexts. Specifically, the study seeks to answer the research question: How does text messaging impact feelings of “connectedness” (IJsselsteijn, van Baren & van Lanen, 2003, p. 928) within “strong-tie” (Howard, et. al., 2006), dyadic relationships? Findings from nineteen respondent interviews show that texting becomes a channel through which dialectical tensions in relationships are played out. Respondents use texting to both assert autonomy and to maintain connectedness with relational partners. Several participants noted that financial issues were an important consideration but nevertheless subscribed to texting services. Users also perceived texting as more constant and more private than mobile voice interaction. Romantic pairs vis-à-vis non-romantic dyads perceived the benefits of text messages differently.

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For many teenagers, learning to play guitar might only involve themselves and one or more of their peers interacting outside school. Music education research, however, does not reveal the spectrum of ways in which adolescent musicians interact to learn peer-to-peer. The purpose of this study was to examine this process: how adolescents verbally and nonverbally communicated to learn music together and without adult teachers. Two research questions in this study addressed how systems of meanings emerged in adolescent musicians’ processes of talk. The first was: How do participants learning jointly and independently communicate with a peer outside school? The second question was: How do participants assess independent learning along with their peer and joint learning outside school? The participants were six adolescent guitarists from El Paso, Texas. The final candidates included five males with Hispanic backgrounds and one Mexican-American adolescent male. Data were collected in three observations of the guitarists learning in pairs. Data were also collected in interviews, artifacts, and field notes. Discourse analysis involved review of recorded observations, field notes, and transcripts. Data were coded and parsed into categories. Multiple systems of meanings emerged in themes. Quoted material helped to explain the discourse themes. Three sets of findings included main dialectic discourse themes: together–individual, unreserved–reserved, and established–undetermined. Four identity discourses—self-learner, coach, musical artist, and friend—emerged from participants’ dialogues. Three themes indicated how participants individually assessed learning, and two themes showed how joint evaluations emerged peer-to-peer. This study and its results highlight a spectrum of ways adolescent musicians use everyday talk to learn music outside school. Findings in this study might empower music teachers to facilitate their students’ own peer dialogues. Future research can build on the foundation of findings here, which raise questions for exploring how communication outside school might compare with communication in school, how peer-to-peer music learning might be facilitated, as well as implications about why certain types of communication influence music learning.

The thesis is focused on the construction of conflict situations of social workers of OSPOD (Authority of Social and Legal Protection of Children). The first part explains what conflict is from the perspective of helping professions and social constructionism. This section explains the Relational Dialectics Theory (construction of meanings related to individual identity and relationships through the use of language) and the structure of discourse construction using Gee categories. The aim of this ork was to examine the construction of conflicts between clients and social workers who work at OSPOD. The results showed what is the structure of the construction of conflict situations and what kind of struggles of discourses can be called conflict.

The impact of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on relational behavior is a topic of increasing interest to communication scholars (McQuillen, 2003; Tidwell & Walther, 2002). One of the most interesting issues that CMC raises concerns the impact of CMC on relational maintenance and development. Using dialectical theory, social exchange theory, social information processing theory, and the hyperpersonal perspective as theoretical frameworks, this study used quantitative and qualitative analyses to identity potential effects of CMC on relationships. Study 1 (n=317) examined the effects of CMC on relational closeness, satisfaction, and social support. Study 2 (n=196) explored the reasons individuals provide for privileging computer-mediated forms of communication, and the perceived effects of using CMC in relational communication. Results indicated that quality of CMC predicted increased perceptions of social support and relationship satisfaction. Results further suggested that CMC enabled participants to manage more effectively relational tensions of autonomy-connection and openness-closedness. Specifically, individuals used CMC to retain higher levels of conversational control, and to maintain greater numbers of relationships with decreased levels of investment. This paper concludes with a discussion of implications and directions for future research.