Indices of Favourable and Unfavourable Emotions in the Inter-Actional Context of the Classroom: Constructions from the Chilean Case

The system for measuring the quality of education (SIMCE) is a standardised evaluation that provides results on the academic achievement of Chilean students, while also including indicators of personal and social development. Through a mixed analysis of variables extracted from these indicators, the purpose of this research study is to build a measurement system to assess the favourable and unfavourable emotions of students who took the test in 2018. To contextualise this work, a systematic literature review was carried out synthetising scientific evidence concerning emotions and the interactional context of the classroom. Through a methodological transposition, a qualitative theoretical model epistemologically grounded on radical constructivism was validated quantitatively. This transposition resulted in the construction of three indices of favourable and unfavourable emotions: motivation arising from interaction, exclusionary interaction and interactional context. The results show favourable and unfavourable emotions for learning are a variable in the SIMCE indicators that can be used to understand student academic achievement, confirming existing empirical evidence regarding the explanatory and predictive value of emotions in students’ performance. These results highlight the potential benefits of expanding on this type of research to improve the quality of Chilean education based on the resources already available in the current evaluation system.

Phasic pupillary responses reveal differential engagement of attentional control in bilingual spoken language processing

Language processing is cognitively demanding, requiring attentional resources to efficiently select and extract linguistic information as utterances unfold. Previous research has associated changes in pupil size with increased attentional effort. However, it is unknown whether the behavioral ecology of speakers may differentially affect engagement of attentional resources involved in conversation. For bilinguals, such an act potentially involves competing signals in more than one language and how this competition arises may differ across communicative contexts. We examined changes in pupil size during the comprehension of unilingual and codeswitched speech in a richly-characterized bilingual sample. In a visual-world task, participants saw pairs of objects as they heard instructions to select a target image. Instructions were either unilingual or codeswitched from one language to the other. We found that only bilinguals who use each of their languages in separate communicative contexts and who have high attention ability, show differential attention to unilingual and codeswitched speech. Bilinguals for whom codeswitching is common practice process unilingual and codeswitched speech similarly, regardless of attentional skill. Taken together, these results suggest that bilinguals recruit different language control strategies for distinct communicative purposes. The interactional context of language use critically determines attentional control engagement during language processing.

The dialectics of indexical semiosis: scaling up and out from the “actual” to the “virtual”

Conventional indexicality is semiotically effective when regimented by its meta-indexical (or “metapragmatic”) interpretant, a conceptual scheme presumed upon by participants in communication that determines the categories of possibility for a relevant “here-and-now” of indexically signaled co-presence, just as, conversely, such an interpretant is an emergent consequence of the sign’s pointing to its object. In the more general case of non-denotational indexicality – forms indicating everything from perduring demographic characteristics of participants in interaction to their role incumbencies, voicings of identity, and momentary relational attitudes and affects (loosely termed “stances”) – the culture – and thus group-specific metapragmatics (or “ethno-metapragmatics”) is central to how indexicals entail the mutual (il)legibility of interlocutors and the (in)coherence of interactional projects in which they are engaged, the “interactional text” of what is happening. This inherent metapragmatic functionality of models of indexical signs and their contexts is, in general, itself influenced by genres of metapragmatic discourse about social life that “circulate” among networks of people who participate in certain sites of sociality. Such “circulation” is a virtual reality that comes into being via chains of interdiscursivity, allowing us to imagine an “ideological” plane with its own order of virtual semiotic dialectic that, notwithstanding, we experience in actual interactional context by its effects on the ever-changing what and how of indexicality.

Impact of interactional context on relationship between ethical leadership and unethical behaviors: a serial mediation model

Purpose Behavioral effects of contextual factors that organizations subject to daily life and social dynamics of ongoing organizational life are conveyed to interactional context. It is considered as a form of coorientation blending organizational and individual ethics in relational form. This study aims to examine well-known effects of ethical leadership on unethical behaviors in interactional context. Sequentially related mediator effects of leader member exchange and symmetrical communication in this relationship are empirically explored. Design/methodology/approach Survey is applied to 494 personnel from 29 large companies. Obtained survey data is analyzed by confirmatory factory analysis, and hypotheses are tested for serial mediation by structural equation modelling with bootstrapping procedure. Findings Study proves the impact of interactional context on organizational constructs. It is demonstrated that individual behaviors are influenced by interactional, dynamical, contextual and social factors. Study finds that leadership effect can be empowered by socialization processes. Quality of social relationships and social interactions; socializing impact of symmetrical communication can foster ethical management. Interactional context can facilitate organizations’ adaptation to changing conditions. Originality/value A human is a relational being. They cannot act in vacuum, rather, act in ongoing context of relationships. Taking account of relational aspect of individual–organizational interaction, this study contributes to literature by proposing a definition of interactional context and by exploring the impact of interactional context on organizational behaviors. Also, the impact of ethical leadership on unethical behaviors is empirically explored in relational dimension which seems to be neglected by ethics literature.

A GENERAL OVERVIEW ON THE EFFECT OF BILINGUALISM ON EXECUTIVE FUNCTION SKILLS IN CHILDREN: INCONSISTENT RESULTS AND MODERATOR FACTORS

In this study, we reviewed recent studies comparing executive function performance of bi and monolingual children. In that respect, we came across 27 studies. Most of these studies report “partial” executive function advantage for bilingual children (i.e., a bilingual advantage is reported only for some tasks within the same study). In this regard, we examined in detail whether the executive function advantage in bilingual children is general or this advantage appears only in specific executive function tasks. Upon this evaluation, we observed that the bilingual advantage is not specific to a particular executive function paradigm or executive function task classification. To better explain these inconsistencies, we assessed and discussed the moderator factors (i.e., second language age of acquisition, language proficiency, language exposure, language interactional context, minority status, and socioeconomic status) that potentially could affect the outcome of studies examining the executive function skills of bilingual children. We concluded that the bilingual advantage on executive functions is linked to the general executive function system rather than a single executive function task; however, these effects cannot consistently be demonstrated due to the ignored moderator factors. Thus, to obtain more precise results, we offered suggestions for future studies that will compare bi and monolingual children on executive function performance. Keywords Bilingualism, childhood period, executive functions

Assessing Without Words: Verbally Incomplete Utterances in Complaints

This study investigates the use of verbally incomplete utterances in French-language complaints about third parties or situations. In these cases, a speaker initiates a turn with verbal means but stops talking before reaching lexico-syntactic completion. The utterance becomes recognizable as an expression of negative stance or as a precise negative assessment by virtue of the linguistic formatting of the turn-initiation, its position within the larger interactional context, and the speaker’s accompanying bodily-visual displays and vocalizations. Data consist of video-recorded coffee-break conversations among first and second language speakers of French. Using multimodal Conversation Analysis, the analysis documents recurrent linguistic formats of the verbally incomplete utterances and examines the interactional deployment of the utterances in two distinct sequential contexts: (1) in the initiation of complaints, and (2) at the end of complaint tellings or reports. In the first of these, the action of leaving a turn verbally incomplete and expressing stance with bodily-visual means allows the speaker to prepare the grounds for the complaint by foreshadowing the negative valence of the upcoming talk. In the latter case, the verbally incomplete utterance and accompanying vocal and/or embodied conduct are deployed as a summary assessment or upshot of the complaint which shows, rather than merely describes, the complaint-worthiness of the situation. In both cases, the utterances work to enhance the chances for the speaker to obtain affiliative responses from coparticipants. While prior studies on verbally incomplete utterances have suggested that such utterances may be specifically suitable for subtly dealing with delicate actions, in this study the utterances are sometimes produced as part of multimodal ‘extreme-case expressions’ that convey negative stance in a high-grade manner. The findings contribute to a better understanding of interactional uses of verbally incomplete utterances and of the multimodal nature of negative assessments. The study thereby furthers our understanding of how grammar and the body interface as resources for the accomplishment of context-specific actions and the organization of social interaction.

Predictions about the Cognitive Consequences of Language Switching on Executive Functioning Inspired by the Adaptive Control Hypothesis Fail More Often than Not

The adaptive control hypothesis developed by Green and Abutalebi is the most influential theory of bilingual language control. The focus of this article is on the predictions that other researchers have derived based on the three different modes of interactional context described by the hypothesis. Foremost, that dual-language contexts should enhance domain-general executive functions more than single-language contexts. Several recent and ambitious behavioral tests of these predictions are reviewed. Although there was some evidence that dual-language contexts are associated with smaller switch costs, the evidence is inconsistent and there were no similar advantages for inhibitory control. The hypothesis also predicts neuroanatomical adaptations to the three types of interactional context. A careful evaluation of the relevant fMRI and ERP studies that take into account whether behavioral differences align with neuroscience differences and resolves valence ambiguities led to the conclusion that the neuroscience evidence for the hypothesis is, at best, inconsistent. The study also includes new analyses of two large-sample studies that enable the identification of relatively pure cases of single-language bilinguals, dual-language bilinguals, and dense-code switchers. Across nine different measures of executive functioning, the predicted advantage of the dual-language context never materialized. The hypotheses derived from the adaptive control hypothesis do not accurately predict behavioral performance on tests of executive functioning and do not advance our understanding as to what dimensions of bilingualism may lead to enhancements in specific components of executive functioning.

Intertextual, action-orientated, political and occasioned constructions of Zimbabwe as a country in crisis

The notion that textual, verbal and visual representations of places are more or less accurate depictions of reality has been challenged by cultural geographers and discursive psychologists who regard language as constitutive rather than reflective. This paper builds on this work by demonstrating that constructions of Zimbabwe produced by UK residents from Zimbabwe during life history interviews in 2011 appropriated other representations; were action-orientated; had political consequences; and were orientated to the interactional context in which they were produced. More specifically, I show that the interviewees challenged the ‘narrative of the nation’ promoted by the ruling party and their supporters by producing intertextual constructions of Zimbabwe as a country in crisis; attributed blame for the crisis; and accounted for their presence in the UK.

Dilemmi digitali e governance dell’identità digitale dei minori: l’interazione fra pari come opportunità informale di media education

The contribution investigates parents’ digital dilemmas associated with sharenting as an informal learning opportunity to rethink and orient their online sharing behavior. The paper reports on some results of an exploratory study based on the analysis of online conversations on a parenting forum focused on these dilemmas. Findings suggest that the interactional context where such exchange takes place can function as an informal learning environment, fostering informal peer-to-peer media education practices for parents in the digital age.

See with Your Eyes, Hear with Your Ears and Listen to Your Heart: Moving from Dyadic Teamwork Interaction towards a More Effective Team Cohesion and Collaboration in Long-Term Spaceflights under Stressful Conditions

The scientific study of teamwork in the context of long-term spaceflight has uncovered a considerable amount of knowledge over the past 20 years. Although much is known about the underlying factors and processes of teamwork, much is left to be discovered for teams who operate in extreme isolation conditions during spaceflights. Thus, special considerations must be made to enhance teamwork and team well-being for long-term missions during which the team will live and work together. Being affected by both mental and physical stress during interactional context conversations might have a direct or indirect impact on team members’ speech acoustics, facial expressions, lexical choices and their physiological responses. The purpose of this article is (a) to illustrate the relationship between the modalities of vocal-acoustic, language and physiological cues during stressful teammate conversations, (b) to delineate promising research paths to help further our insights into understanding the underlying mechanisms of high team cohesion during spaceflights, (c) to build upon our preliminary experimental results that were recently published, using a dyadic team corpus during the demanding operational task of “diffusing a bomb” and (d) to outline a list of parameters that should be considered and examined that would be useful in spaceflights for team-effectiveness research in similarly stressful conditions. Under this view, it is expected to take us one step towards building an extremely non-intrusive and relatively inexpensive set of measures deployed in ground analogs to assess complex and dynamic behavior of individuals.