Reading aloud. A phenomenographic study of educators' work with and perceptions of reading aloud in preschools. The purpose of this phenomenographic study is to investigate how preschools teachers work with reading aloud in preschools, as well as to identify educators' different perceptions of this subject. Our intent is also to get an expanded picture of how reading aloud in preschools can contribute to children's language development. The theoretical point of view of this study is based on sociocultural theory. To gather our empirical data, we have conducted qualitative interviews with ten preschool teachers in four different preschools in Sweden. From our study it has become apparent to us that there is variation in the educators'perceptions of reading aloud. Based on the result of this study the approaches and perceptions differ depending on the educators' knowledge and purpose. Although there is a similarity when it comes to their awareness of the importance of reading aloud to children, they all express that reading aloud at early age contributes positively to children's language skills. The result of this study brings attention to the responsibility that every preschool teacher needs to take in order to create an inspiring and effective reading activity. In one of the examined schools, not all of the teachers are allowed to read to the children, due to problems with pronunciation of the Swedish language; the reading time is only done by the teachers who have Swedish as a mother tongue. In addition, the results show a lack of good collaboration between home and the preschools.There are many children who do not show interest in books, and this may be because they have never had reading experiences at home. Thus, according to the respondents, the environment at home affects the childrens’ ability to learn from reading aloud in preschool.

This thesis investigates the experience of bodily movement as the basis of social interaction. The design concept is based on the exploration of “unfocused interaction” among visitors to a public library (library of Malmo university).This thesis is framed with relevance to the “Soma Design program,” as proposed by Kristina Höök, and it expands Höök’s foundation of attending to bodily senses by paying attention to bodily movement. Moreover, this thesis looks explicitly at the experience of using body movement as the most basic form of human communication in social interaction.Imagining the world in which using body movement is an effective alternative to oral communication motivated me to formulate and select the methodological approach in this thesis project. Research Through Design has been utilizing as the primary process to explore the subject. This concept emerged from the participants’ experiences in exploratory workshops based on somaesthetic techniques focusing on body movement with the help of the body storming method and the experience of using body movement as a tool/medium for creating social interaction. The final concept is presented in this thesis through the Wizard of Oz prototype.The final concept focuses on tow keys areas: 1: individuals’ awareness of their body movement. 2: Embodied interaction and using technology along with natural body movement to create social interaction.

Approximately 37% of the U.S. labor force currently works from a remote location. Costs and competition are driving organizations to increase the use of telework among remote workplaces. Increasing organizational knowledge of the perceptions of current teleworkers could increase its adoption by employees and improve its implementation by managers. The purpose of this research was to test hypotheses regarding the perceived levels of telework efficiency, social interaction, and technical support to determine in those perceptions differed between teleworkers and office workers. Goldratt's Theory of Constraints framed the quantitative research design. A purposive sample of 54 teleworkers and office workers in the Southeastern Division of the USDA received Harandi & Ghafari's Telework Management Scale. Thirty-eight participants responded yielding a confidence level of 0.95 with an interval of 0.15 given the population of 211 employees in the division. Teleworker scores from the Telework Management Scale were found to be significantly higher than office workers scores for telework efficiency (p=.001), social interaction (p=.027), and overall approval of telework (p=.017). No statistically significant difference existed between the two groups for technical support. The scores of both groups, however, were lower than the maximum approval scores of 25 per factor and the overall maximum potential score of 75. Nevertheless, preliminary indications from the findings of this study suggest that the perceptions of current teleworkers could increase its adoption by other employees and improve its implementation by managers. Increasing the level of adoption of telework and improving its implementation by managers could bring about positive organizational, economic, and social changes across the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Perhaps due to the increase in the workforce of mothers with young children, much attention has been directed in the past decade towards the subject of out-of-home child care. In order to gain further understanding of the socialization of preschool children, an observational study was carried out which was designed to measure the amount of negative behavior expressed by children participating in mixed-age versus same-age preschool groups.

This study is focused upon an investigation of observable interactive behaviors which might be characteristic of reticence. A reticent individual is defined as one for whom apprehension about participation in oral communication consistently outweighs the projection of gain from the situation. Previous research in the area of reticence has been focussed on an analysis of the reticent student's attitudes toward communication relying primarily upon subject self-reports via journals and the in-depth interview. This in turn has provided possible areas in which observable reticent behaviors might evidence themselves in face-to-face small group communications with other reticents and non-reticents. An answer to the following question was sought: In what ways and to what extent are the interactive profiles of task groups with reticent members similar to each other in the amount and distribution of task and social-emotional acts, and to what extent are they different from the groups with no reticent members? Twenty-four subjects, six reticent and eighteen non-reticent, were selected from the population of students enrolled in Fundamentals of Speech at Portland State University, Spring Term, 1971. Prior to the study, the reticent subjects were identified according to performance on a paper-and-pencil test designed to expose speech fears, and a preliminary interview. Subjects were divided into six four-person groups. Three of the groups consisted of two reticent and two non-reticent members, while the remaining three groups were composed of four non-reticent subjects. Each group participated in a single fifty-minute discussion. Data from the group interactions were subjected to statistical interpretation based upon the twelve categories established by Robert F. Bales in his Interaction Process Analysis system. The hypotheses tested, and the principal findings, are as follows: Hypothesis I: The groups with reticent members will have a significantly smaller total of all acts initiated than will the groups with no reticent members. This hypothesis failed to be confirmed. No significant differences were revealed in the total number of acts initiated. Because of this result, a test was made for differences in the amount of talking initiated by reticent and non-reticent subjects. No significant differences were found. It was therefore ascertained that no differences exist in the number of acts initiated by reticent and non-reticent subjects, nor are their differences in the total number of acts initiated by the groups in which they interact. Hypothesis II: Within the groups with reticent members, the reticents will address significantly more acts to non-reticents than to other reticicents. This hypothesis was also unsubstantiated. The reticent person initiates the same number of acts to other reticents as to non-reticents. Hypothesis III: In a comparison of groups with reticent members and groups with no reticent reticent members, there will be no significant differences in the acts scored in the various categories of the interaction analysis. Significant differences were found in the distribution of total acts and acts scored in the "task and social-emotional” areas. A further breakdown of the task categories revealed differences in the area "questions and attempted answers." The distribution of acts in the “positive and negative" categories of the social-emotional area revealed no significant differences between the two types of groups. In short, although the interaction analysis successfully discriminated between the groups with reticent members and groups with no reticent members, the differences are subtle enough to make it impossible to ascertain which students are truly “normal" and which are merely masking the more serious reticent symptoms. It is therefore concluded that, precisely because the reticent student is unrecognizable from his peers, pedagogies applicable to the reticent student should be implemented in the traditional speech classroom. Further research in the area of reticence is needed in the following four areas : Delineation of similarities and differences between those reticents characterized by their silence and those characterized by their verbosity. Determination of the incidence and nature of reticent problems in the elementary and secondary school populations. Development of pedagogies applicable to the reticent population. Development of standardized measuring instruments for "reticence" and "attitudes toward communication."

The present study was designed to determine the reliability and validity of an observation code and rating scale developed by Smith (unpublished research) to measure prosocial behavior in young children.

This study is one of four exploratory studies concerned with coalitions of organizations that are formed to plan and develop social welfare programs within the local community. Although each study was conducted independently, taken together, their major purpose was to develop some insights and knowledge into the behavior of organizations and the ways in which they interact as they work together to develop community programs. They are then, exploratory studies of interorganizational behavior.

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One characteristic of abused children that is often observed but not yet empirically examined is social hypervigilance. In this study, 20 abused and 20 distressed children were compared using WISC-R subtests, two measures of locus of control and need for attention.