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Engaging in productive political discussion has long been a valued aspect of American democratic life. Due to ease of access and the potential for exposure to diverse views, the Internet and social media may support mediated political talk. Literature on the concept of face and politeness theory provides a framework for understanding interpersonal interactions, both online and offline. To understand if social media has the potential to host political discussion among millennials, a survey (N = 352) of undergraduate students examined social media use and political interaction experiences. Facebook was the most popular platform for exposure to others' political opinions and political self-expression. Facebook users with more diverse networks engaged in more political expression. Across numerous platforms, participants reported frequently being exposed to others' political opinions but infrequently sharing their own views. Negative and positive political interactions on Facebook and Twitter were explored for their threat to and support of negative face (need for autonomy) and positive face (need for validation). Findings indicate that engaging in negative interactions leads to more face threat while observing negative interactions solicits more face support. Engaging in positive interactions results in more face support and observing positive interactions leads to more face threat. Across interaction type and platform, participants who actively engaged in political interactions as opposed to merely observing them reported significantly more subsequent online political engagement. Future research on political interactions across various social media platforms and the application of interpersonal communication theory to the study of mediated political talk is warranted. / Master of Arts

This study expands research on uses and gratifications by exploring political information-seeking uses of the Internet and social networking sites (SNS) and their relationships with political efficacy and political participation. Approximately 300 young adults completed a survey covering information-seeking, information access, and information sharing uses for local civic and political purposes. The study hypothesizes that young adults' political talk, particularly in their online social networks, is associated with political efficacy. Variables that support the relationship between information-seeking and political efficacy are also explored. Random and convenience samples of young adults were combined in this study to explore the cognitive (perceived efficacy) and civic (actual behavior) behaviors of undergraduate students at Virginia Tech in order to examine the role of political talk in individuals' opinion networks measured by the outcome of political talk. Results show considerable support for hypotheses emphasizing the predicted relationships between Internet and SNS for political information-seeking uses, political efficacy, and political participation gratifications. Future research exploring the broad range of political communication uses and their association with political efficacy and political participation is warranted. / Master of Arts

The purpose of this study was to better understand associations between acculturation, parental beliefs, mother-child emotion talk, and emotion understanding in Latino preschool-aged children. Research on Latino families may prove to be important given the little research that has focused on emotion understanding strictly in Latino cultures. Forty Latino mother-child dyads were observed throughout a series of naturalistic observations. Mothers self-reported their acculturation and their beliefs about the value and danger of children's emotions, children's emotional development processes, and their role in guiding their children's emotions. Mother-child emotion talk and framing was measured during a 15 minute story-telling task using a Lego house and through a wordless picture book. Children's emotion understanding was measured using two standard tasks. Results showed that mothers' acculturation was related to their beliefs about the danger of emotions, their role in guiding their child's emotions, and their child's readiness to learn about emotions. Mothers' acculturation was also related to children's emotion understanding. Mothers' beliefs about guiding children's emotions were related to mothers' labeling of emotions and to children's emotion understanding. This study confirms and expands several previous findings relating to emotion socialization of children. Overall, results highlight the importance of acculturation for parents' beliefs about emotions and children's emotion understanding. / Master of Science

Studiens syfte är att undersöka möjligheter till att implementera kommunikativa dragen i utvecklandet av matematikundervisningen genom lärares perspektiv och erfarenheter. Denna studie besvarar tre forskningsfrågor som rör utmaningar, framgångsfaktorer, de kommunikativa dragens effekter och användningen av dessa strategier i undervisningen. I denna fallstudie användes en metodkombination av observation och intervju. Resultaten visade att implementeringen av de kommunikativa dragen stötte på flera utmaningar, såsom tidsbegränsningar och elevers varierande förutsättningar. Det identifierades också framgångsfaktorer, såsom tillgängligheten till dragen, möjligheten att anpassa dragen och en trygg miljö. Att beskriva och resonera var de mest använda kommunikativa dragen av lärarna, medan andra användes i mindre utsträckning. Studien visar att det är möjligt för lärare att med relativt lite stöd introducera kommunikativa drag i undervisningen och att de ser det som ett användbart verktyg för att stödja elevernas kommunikation och matematiska utveckling.

Race talk, conversations about race, racism, and white privilege, have been popularized in empirical literature and in popular press. These difficult dialogues, in alignment with intergroup contact theory, boost participant's critical consciousness, reduce endorsement in prejudicial beliefs, and assist in dispelling racial stereotypes . Despite compelling evidence of benefits, many individuals report race talk as anxiety-provoking, and tend to avoid discussions of race when possible. While the bulk of research and popular press has focused on the reactions of white participants, the present study builds upon this extant literature and exploratory work to further examine and quantify evidence that people of color's level of comfort in race talk is predicated by the race of the other person in the conversation. Utilizing directed content analysis of open-ended survey responses, this project identified key initiators of race talk among a sample (N = 126) of people of color and offered mixed support for hypotheses related to variable levels of comfort in race talk among them. Results are contextualized by critical race theory, intersectional frameworks, and the burgeoning field of intergroup dialogue.

Les travaux de thèse présentés dans ce manuscrit ont pour but d’étudier les effets de différents niveaux d’activité physique, jusqu’à l’inactivité extrême sur des acteurs du dialogue inter-organe comme l’adiponectine et les microARNs, et sur le métabolisme, notamment dans le muscle ou le foie. Nous démontrons que l’inactivité physique extrême, dans le cadre d’un bedrest de 60 jours, augmente les marqueurs de l’inflammation hépatique, prémices du développement d’une stéato-hépatite non alcoolique. Nos données montrent que des exercices réguliers peuvent limiter les altérations métaboliques induites par l’inactivité physique. Nous montrons, ensuite qu’indépendamment des effets de l’activité et l’inactivité physique sur la masse grasse, les concentrations circulantes d’adiponectine sont inversement associées avec le niveau d’activité physique. Nous montrons notamment que les variations des taux circulants d’adiponectine totale avec le niveau d’activité physique sont principalement dû aux variations de la forme de haut poids moléculaire, et ne sont pas expliquées par des variations d’expression de l’adiponectine dans le tissu adipeux ou musculaire. Nous montrons également une relation inverse entre l’insulinémie plasmatique à jeun et les récepteurs de l’adiponectine, et un de ses effecteurs (APPL1) dans le muscle supportant l’amélioration de la sensibilité à l’adiponectine musculaire. Au cours d’une intervention contrastée et modérée sur le niveau d’activité physique chez l’homme et la souris, nous avons pu montrer que la transition d’un statut actif vers inactif augmentait le niveau d’expression de miR-148b dans le muscle, participant à la dégradation du métabolisme. Notre étude de modulation de l’expression de miR-148b in vitro dans les myotubes humains, montre son implication dans la voie de signalisation de l’insuline, et suggère que l’accumulation de miR-148b dans le tissu musculaire peut participer à l’altération de la sensibilité à l’insuline qui est caractéristique des comportements sédentaires persistants. L’ensemble de ces résultats démontrent que l’étude des acteurs de la signalisation inter-organe est cruciale pour comprendre les mécanismes mis en jeu par les comportements actifs et inactifs, et leurs effets sur la santé / Current lifestyle changes, notably sedentary behavior, are associated with chronic diseases, while regular activity improves metabolic functions The purpose of my work is to examine the effects of different level of physical activity, until extreme inactivity on cross-talk mediators, such as adiponectine and microRNAs, and on metabolism, notably in muscle or liver. We demonstrate a significant increase of hepatic markers under severe physical inactivity (60d bed-rest), showing the onset of a development of NASH. Our data support that regular exercise can limit these physical inactivity-induced metabolic alterations. We demonstrate that independently of effects of physical activity and inactivity on fat mass, adiponectin plasma concentrations were negatively related to physical activity level. Our data highlight that variations in total plasma adiponectin with physical activity level are mainly due to changes in HMW adiponectin plasma concentrations, and are unlikely explained by variations in expression of adiponectin in adipose tissue and muscle. We also show an inverse relation between fasting insulin plasma concentrations with both adiponectin receptors, and one of its downstream effector (APPL1) in the muscle, suggesting an improvement of adiponectin muscular sensitivity. During a contrasted and moderate physical activity intervention in human and mice, we show that transition from activity toward inactivity results in muscle miR-148b content increase, leading to muscle metabolism alteration. Our study on miR-148b expression modulation in vitro in human myotubes, show its involvement in insulin signaling pathway in muscle, suggesting that miR-148b accumulation in muscle could participate in the whole body insulin sensitivity degradation, which is a feature of persistent sedentary behavior. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the study of cross-talk actors is crucial to understand the mechanisms involved in active and inactive behaviors, and their effects on health

Cette thèse étudie les talk-shows, ces émissions sociopolitiques « dialogiques » qui ont marqué la scène médiatique et politique durant les dernières années du règne de Moubarak, jusqu’à la nouvelle donne politique post-juillet 2013. La question principale qui a guidé cette recherche était : dans quelle mesure les talk-shows ont-ils constitué une arène de parole dissidente ? La thèse démontre, à travers l’étude du processus qui a permis l’émergence de ces émissions, de leurs acteurs et de leurs modalités de fonctionnement, que ce dispositif s’est inscrit dans un espace public dessiné par des dynamiques particulières et caractérisé par un autoritarisme adaptif et libéralisé. Ce dispositif a également permis la manifestation de processus sociaux, notamment des mouvements d’opposition, en leur permettant de s’exprimer et de gagner en visibilité. Les talk-shows ont fait partie de différentes dynamiques politiques et les ont alimentées, défiant ainsi le pouvoir politique. Ils ont gagné des rôles et un espace de parole que le pays n’avait pas connu depuis 1952, dépassant leur fonction première qui était conçue par le pouvoir. Ce processus a pu avoir lieu malgré les outils de contrôle que le pouvoir a conservés pour garantir un minimum de mainmise sur les médias, élargissant ainsi les domaines de luttes et les espaces de contentieux. La thèse observe ensuite les dynamiques des révoltes de janvier 2011. Partant d’une approche interactionniste, d’un travail issu d’une enquête de terrain de plusieurs années, menée aussi bien auprès de professionnels de la télévision que d’invités de ces émissions et d’une analyse d’un corpus d’émissions, nous démontrons que le rôle des talk-shows fut incontournable dans le conflit médiatique doublant celui sur le terrain. / The subject of this thesis is the talk-shows, those socio-political tv shows that marked the media and political scene during the last years of Mubarak’s regime till the new political era post-July 2013. The main question that guided this research was: to what extent have the talk shows been an arena of dissident speech? The thesis demonstrates that this mechanism was a part of a public space designed by specific dynamics and branded by a liberalized and adaptive authoritarianism. It allowed the manifestation of social practices including counter movements endorsing them to express themselves and to gain visibility.Thus, through the study of the process that allowed the appearance of such shows, its actors and its operating methods, we observe how these broadcasts were a part of different political dynamics and served challenging the political power. They acquired roles and a freedom of expression that the country hadn’t experienced since 1952, exceeding their initial function as designed by the regime despite the means of control that the latter kept in order to maintain a minimum control on media and hence widening the fields of struggles and spaces of contentious. Then, the thesis studies the dynamics of January 2011 uprisings. Based on an interactionist approach and a work of several years field study of both television professionals and guests of these shows and an analysis of a record of broadcasts. We demonstrate that the talk-shows role was fundamental in the media conflict which doubled the conflict in the field.

當母語者與非母語者在進行溝通時，母語者通常會使用較為簡化的語言形式，此種語言形式研究者稱之為「調整語」。本文旨在探討在台灣的成人美語教室中，外籍教師針對不同程度的學生，使用調整語的情形，文中主要從「句法」與「言談功能」兩個角度分析外籍教師的語言使用。 有三位教授中、高級美語會話的外籍教師參與本研究，每位教師於不同層級的課堂各接受兩次錄音，總計收集到18小時的錄音語料，351頁的逐字稿，全數經過分析比較後，主要發現如下： (1) 外籍教師之語言平均句長並未隨著學生程度越高而有顯著增加。外籍教師在中級教室之平均句長為8.197，在高級教室為8.388，p>0.05。此結果顯示，當學生程度到達中級以上，「句長上的調整」似乎不再是外籍教師採用的調整方式。 (2) 外籍教師之語法正確率在兩個層級都非常高。外籍教師在中級教室之語法正確率為99.81%，在高級教室為99.79%，在兩個層級都僅有10個錯誤句子，透過錯誤類型分析，發現中級教室中出現較多句法層面上的錯誤，而篇章層面的錯誤則全出現在高級教室中。 (3) 外籍教師之言談功能會隨學生層級不同而有調整。外籍教師在中級教室中給予較多主動的語言輸入、提供較多的發問，主要功能為傳輸語言知識；在高級教室中，教師減低發言的比例，使用較多的回饋功能。 綜合以上研究結果發現，英語為母語之外籍教師在上課時面臨不同語言程度的非母語對話者有不同的語言調整方式，在中、高級程度的班級上，「句法上的調整」不再是外籍教師的主要考量，而轉向採用「語言功能上的調整」，在教學應用上，儘管隨著學生層級的增加，外籍教師減少了「主動語言輸入」功能，而採用較多的「語言回饋」功能，但整體而言，學生發言的比例仍然偏低（中級教室9.93%；高級教室12.15%），教師應給予學生更多的口語練習機會，採用更多的回饋機制，以增加學生之溝通能力。 / When addressing to non-native speaker, native speakers will modify his speech to what he thinks is simpler and easier for the non-native listener to comprehend. Such simplified register is referred to as “Foreigner Talk.” The present study aims to explore both the syntactic and discourse characteristics of FT in Taiwan’s adult English classrooms. Three measurements (1) syntactic complexity (2) grammaticality and (3) discourse functions are adopted to investigate if the interlocutor’s language proficiency affects the foreigner teacher’s language use. The data were collected from 18-hour recording of three English native speakers’ utterances in intermediate and advanced classrooms. The major findings of this study are summarized as follows: (1) In terms of syntactic complexity, the mean words per t-unit at both levels are very similar with 8.197 at the intermediate level, and 8.388 at the advanced level. The result of t-test (p>0.05) also indicates that no significant difference is found concerning the language complexity between the two levels. It is suggested that the adjustment of language complexity may only resort to students with lower proficiency. Once the student’s proficiency goes beyond a specific level, the length of teacher’s utterances will keep in a fixed range. (2) In terms of grammaticality, over 99.79% of the foreigners’ utterances are grammatical sentences in both language classrooms, showing that the foreigners’ language form is quite accurate. By analyzing the 20 ungrammatical utterances, it reveals that the foreigner teachers are more likely to utilize the syntactic adjustment for the lower level learners and conserve the discourse adjustment for the more advanced ones. (3) In terms of discourse functions, Sinclair and Coulthard’s model (1992) is modified to categorize the functions of the foreigners’ utterances. It is found that the distribution of the functions varies with the development of the students’ language ability. The foreigner teachers use significantly more initiation functions to the intermediate students and provide much more responsive functions for the advanced students. Based on the findings of this study, some pedagogical implications are addressed. It is suggested that teachers should pay more attention to their language use and consider if their adjustments of language really enhance language learning. In order to increase the learning potential, teachers are recommended to employ more judicious silence, to reduce the percentage of teacher-initiated utterances and to resist the temptation to interrupt. Also, teachers should realize that they are not only an instructor but also an interlocutor for their students at the same time. By realizing the dual roles as being a language teacher, the teacher can make language class less artificial and help learners to overcome the gap between communication in and outside the classroom.

The main goal of this thesis is to describe what happens in the collaborative approach to therapy from a conversation and discursive analytical perspective. The data we worked with are part of collaborative therapy sessions in Mexican Spanish Dialect. Chapter 1 is an introduction to two of the main social constructionist approaches to therapy, the `reflecting team approach' and the `collaborative approach' to therapy. This sets out the theoretical environment in which the therapy was done. Chapter 2 is a review of the state of the art in conversation and discourse studies on therapy talk and related fields, illustrating the type of analysis done up to now. Chapter 3 describes aspects of Mexican population that were part of the context in which the data originated; some notes on translation issues are included here. Chapter 4 is the first analytic chapter and it describes the dynamics in conversation of the English particle `okay' as found in Spanish therapeutic interaction. It shows both the work okay is doing when found in the therapists' discourse and what it is doing when found in the clients' discourse. Chapter 5 presents the analysis of instances of informality that were found in the data, arguing that aspects of an `egalitarian therapeutic stance' can be displayed in the participants' talk. Chapter 6 is a study on questions and therapy, more specifically it shows the questions that can be asked by the clients in therapy talk and the conversational job this is doing. Chapter 7 is an example of research done when taking as a starting point a category that is relevant for therapy and counselling: active listening. In reading through this thesis, the reader will find aspects of the therapeutic approach as displayed in talk. Examples of this are the displays in talk of the philosophical stance, such as being egalitarian in an institutional setting. Besides describing how theoretical assumptions can be displayed in talk, this work describes in detail several aspects of therapy talk.