Enraged and Engaged? Emotions as Motives for Discussing Politics

The 2016 presidential campaign made some feel angry, while others felt anxious, embarrassed, or enthusiastic. We explore how these emotions relate to patterns of political talk within informal conversation networks. Using items from the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we link emotional reactions to rates of conversation, interest in political talk, and exposure to disagreeable viewpoints. Rather than deterring people from contentious conversations, we find that the heightened emotions are associated with greater engagement in political talk. Those who feel angry do not confront their opponents. Instead, they avoid conversations with those who do not share their views, where anger is tied to partisan patterns of political discussion. Feelings of embarrassment have the opposite relationship, as those who felt embarrassed during the campaign were more likely to discuss politics with those with contrary views. These results inform when and how people engage in political talk.

The Interaction of Civil Engineering Students in Group Work through the Social Network Analysis

A sustainable approach in the construction industry requires civil engineering professionals with technical and soft skills. Those skills complement each other and facilitate the professional to work effectively in multidisciplinary groups during the development of construction projects. Universities apply collaborative learning methods such as group work (GW) in the classroom to achieve these skills. There is disagreement on the best way to select the members of the GW to achieve their best performance, but it is clear that it should favor the interaction of diverse actors to promote the development of soft skills. A random or criteria-based selection could bring groups of people very close together, leading to the academic homogeneity of GW members and impairing performance and learning. Even the most alert instructors lack information about the closeness of their students, so they rely on their intuition without having tools that allow them to confirm their assumptions or relate them to GW performance. The objective of this paper was to discover the social structures within the classrooms and to identify the groups of people close by trust, knowledge, and informal conversation to relate them to their GW performance. For this purpose, a social network analysis (SNA) was applied to Civil Engineering degree students. In addition, a correlation analysis between SNA metrics and GW grades was performed. The results show that beyond the way in which members are selected, there is a social structure that affects such selection and GW performance. This study presents information that can be used for instructors for a better GW selection that propitiates the development of soft skills in Civil Engineering students.

Deals that start when you sign them

This essay explores six sentences from Oliver Williamson – five providing context and the sixth the central topic. Decades ago, Williamson asserted that: (a) ‘substantially the same factors’ (1973: 316) create governance issues not only within organizations but also in interactions between organizations; and (b) relational contracting might be useful in addressing these issues in both domains (1979, Figure II). More recently – in an informal conversation in 2002 – he suggested a perspective on relational contracting that appears valuable in both of these domains: relational contracts as ‘deals that start when you sign them’. The bulk of this essay explores past, present, and potential research on this perspective.

Intra-individual variation across the lifespan: Results from an Austrian panel study

This article explores intra-individual variation and language change across the lifespan of eight speakers from a small Austrian village. Four phonological variables in two settings (informal conversation vs. formal interview) are traced across longitudinal panel data that span 43 years. The analysis reveals an increase of dialect features (retrograde change), even though apparent-time as well as real-time trend studies indicate dialect loss in the Bavarian speaking parts of Austria. The panel data also indicate that neither the group means at one moment in time nor their averaged changes are representative of the intra-individual variation of any of the eight speakers. Regarding this non-representativity, the article introduces the classical ergodic theorem to variationist sociolinguistics. Evidence will be provided that change across the lifespan of an individual is a non-ergodic process. Thus, it is argued that variationists have to be more cautious when they generalise from group-derived estimates to individual developments and vice versa.

Education of university students – Cultural perceptions on technology of English learning

This study aims to identify a range of changes and challenges that education in English (as a foreign language) presents to Saudi university students' mainstream culture. With greater exposure to the internet and foreign media, travel to other countries, and observation of the country's immigrant populations' cultures, the young Saudis are changing their perception of the native culture. Though it is too early to identify the nature and extent of these changes, these are perceptible at least on the educational campuses. Though not very pronounced because of the Saudi culture is very deeply rooted and firm, these changes can be perceived during informal conversation setups. A certain degree of inhibition also laces the young people's views, unsure as they are to the reaction of society to their changed perceptions. It is essential to understand these changing perceptions of the young Saudi people so that the impressions formed by them may be given a positive turn vis-à-vis the rich Saudi heritage and ancient cultural ethos, while at the same time, ensuring that the nation walks in tandem with its compatriots across the globe. This study takes a phenomenological qualitative research approach, seeing the opinions of fifty proficient English students at Qassim University via a self-report survey to gather data on their behaviors and attitudes vis-à-vis learning English and native culture.

Absenteeism: Its Causes and Effects in Bhutanese Context

Aims: To understand the reason of absenteeism and its causes and effect in Bhutanese context. Study Design: Qualitative research design Place and Duration of study: It was conducted in Wangchu Middle Secondary School, Chhukha Bhutan and it took five years. Methodology: Data were collected from almost 120 students of classes IX and X including 10 parents and 10 teachers. Data were analyzed using direct content analysis technique. Informal conversation was also arranged for better understanding of the situation of students, teachers and parents. Findings: The analysis of the data found out more than three areas for reconsideration. The curriculum thinning and proper selection of topics to be done. Basis for selection of teachers for undergoing training, at the first place, in College of Education should be done on attitude and aptitude not on marks obtained. Provide ample avenues for young parents to get enough awareness programs in school which should train them in psychology and values. Conclusion: This study examined all the perspective put forward by students, teachers and parents. Based on the analysis of the data three measures are suggested for stakeholders. These measures are Proper selection of topics in curriculum and thinning, revamping of selection of teachers and creation of avenues for parents to get awareness programs in schools.

Human information behaviour in conversation: understanding the influence of informal conversation on learning in a political party

Introduction. This paper explores information behaviour in the underrepresented but increasingly important area of informal conversations and their influence on learning within political parties. The application of an extended model on information behaviour in conversation, which arose from the initial research analysis, enabled more granulated interpretation of results. This facilitated greater understanding, through the information behaviour lens, of informal conversations and how they contribute to learning. Method. Qualitative case-study of a political party. Analysis. Template analysis was used, followed by the application of the emergent extended model of human information behaviour in conversation. Results. Characteristics of informal conversation reflected the unique nature of the organisation. The extended model provided additional insights into context, information seeking and knowledge sharing during the conversations including motivations and affective factors, and outcomes from the conversations. Conclusions. A key reason for engaging in informal conversation was the need to strengthen capacity to influence. Self-efficacy was increased through mutual support and engaging in information behaviours. Application of the extended information behaviour model confirmed that learning occurred during informal conversations at individual and group level. Additional research is needed to test the model further with political parties and their members before extending it to wider applications.

CONSTITUTIVE PARAMETERS OF A SPORTS COMMENTARY AS A GENRE OF SPORTS DISCOURSE

New media technologies and social media have further added to and exacerbated the powerful cultural configuration that sport (and) media comprise. Sport should be understood as a complex site with many intersecting and interrelated levels and elements that are mutually self-constituting. Modern research in the field of sports discourse, in particular the problem of analyzing sports commentary as a genre of discourse of sport still remains unresolved. The aim of the study is to establish the constitutive characteristics of tennis commentary as a genre of sports discourse. Live tennis commentary is shown to be an internally complex form of media communication that combines elements of live spoken informal conversation. The typology of sports commentary as a genre of sports discourse is determined by the following constitutive characteristics: phatic function, which includes cognitive and axiological competence, descriptiveness and presentation of utterance, semantic sufficiency and control of semantic redundancy, understanding of the context and speech continuum; instrumentality: communicative influence (suggestion), evaluation and dialogicity: appeal to TV viewers. The communicative behavior of the tennis commentator is characterized by a number of specific functions — moderation, the presence of cognitive and axiological competence, descriptiveness and presentation, manifested in the evaluation / figures of speech.

Drafting Success: Creating a National Action Plan for Patient Safety

An informal conversation with Dr. Tejal Gandhi and Dr. Jeffrey Brady about their work as co-chairs of the National Steering Committee for Patient Safety and how the committee’s new action plan, Safer Together: A National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety, aims to change the patient safety landscape. The plan, released September 14, focuses on four foundational areas: culture, leadership, and governance; patient and family engagement; workforce safety; and learning systems.