Category: Communication

Introduction

Lack of spontaneous communication and delayed language acquisition have been recognized as among the most consistent challenges facing children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Kim, Junker, & Lord, 2014). Although research shows that the number of children with autism who speak fluently has increased beyond earlier approximations (Chiang & Carter, 2008), these challenges remain a central feature of the disorder as children with autism tend to initiate communication in fewer contexts compared to typical children (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Kossyvaki, Jones, & Guildberg, 2012). Although many researchers have studied the effectiveness of interventions aimed at eliciting spontaneous communication, only a few (e.g., Ploog, Scharf, Nelson, & Brooks, 2013) have focused attention on computer-based interventions.

Review of Literature

Available scholarship demonstrates that most individuals with autism share common deficits in social and language skills, which include failure to develop peer relationships, lack of engagement in play with peers, lack of emotion recognition, difficulties in communicative interactions, and generally poor social skills (Ploog et al., 2013, p. 301). The inability of some individuals with autism to elicit spontaneous communication has interested many researchers (Bauminger-Zviely, Kimhi, & Agam-Ben-Artzi, 2014; Duffy & Healy, 2011).

Although the concept of spontaneous communication lacks a universal definition in the literature, it has generally been defined as communicative behaviors that occur in the absence of prompts, instructions or other verbal cues (Duffy & Healy, 2011, p. 977). Using this conceptualization, persons with a diagnosis of autism are said to lack spontaneity in their interactions as they often depend on prompts such as oral cues, modeling, and material direction to induce some form of communication.

Several scholars have focused attention on the concept of spontaneous communication and its relationship to autism. In their study, Chiang and Carter (2008) define spontaneous verbalizations as communicative behaviors in response to nonverbal stimuli, in the absence of verbal discriminative stimuli (p. 698). These authors are clear that spontaneous communication must occur in the absence of questions and without partner prompting, meaning that it normally takes place without specified antecedents.

However, another study by Loncola and Graig-Unkefer (2005) shows that spontaneous communication is said to occur when a child utters something that may be directed to another child or object but not prompted by an adult. Such an utterance, according to these authors, usually occurs within 10 seconds of a specified antecedent. This view is reinforced by Potter and Whittaker (2001), who argue that spontaneous behaviors should not be judged by the existence of specific antecedents but rather by their demonstration to meet the communication requirements of the situation and their functionality in the given context. The description given by Potter and Whittaker (2001) provides some proof that computer-generated visual images may indeed be used as an intervention to elicit spontaneous communication in children with autism.

Some researchers have studied how the use of computer-assisted technology (CAT) influences the social, communicative, and language development in individuals who have been diagnosed with autism. One review by Duffy and Healy (2011) revealed that CAT and Applied Behavior Analysis can be incorporated together to enhance spontaneous communication in individuals with a diagnosis of autism through the use of procedures such as time delay/prompt fading, milieu language teaching, direct instruction, script fading, and fluency training (p. 978).

Another review by Stromer, Kimball, Kinney, and Taylor (2006) found that computer-generated activity schedules can be used to encourage learning about multiple cues and reinforce functional verbal skills of children with autism by increasing attention to projected stimuli. The capacity of computers to simultaneously integrate vocal and video cues was found to be particularly beneficial as it can be used to pair static visual support with additional instructional stimuli such as audio and video recordings to trigger social, communicative, and language development in children with autism (Stromer et al., 2006).

Another review by Ploog, Scharf, Nelson, and Brooks (2013) found that most researchers have recognized the potential of computer technology as an effective and efficient tool in research and treatment of autism as most children show a high affinity to computers and professionals using CAT are more likely to implement treatments with higher precision and less variability than those using traditional treatment approaches.

The review found that CAT may provide new ways of teaching language skills to children with autism, particularly in terms of increasing the use of voluntary speech for social communication, reinforcing the skills needed for enhanced adaptive functioning, and providing a higher precision in training (Ploog et al., 2013). Some of the flaws associated with the use of CAT noted in the review include reinforcement of undesirable behavior, a distraction from the relevant information intended to be conveyed, increased social isolation due to interaction with computers rather than humans, and encouragement of limited acts of behavior and ways of responding to various stimuli.

Need for the Proposed Study/Problem Statement

Despite recent advances in technology and the overflowing scholarship on autism and associated interventions, a fundamental question that remains unanswered is whether computer-based approaches are effective in eliciting spontaneous communication in children with a diagnosis of autism. Unfortunately, as reported by several scholars (e.g., Goldsmith & LeBlanc, 2004; Ploog et al., 2013), research studies that can be used to answer this question are sparse and highly fragmented.

Additionally, the few studies that focus on this area are exploratory and fail to demonstrate a rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of computer-based approaches (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Ploog et al., 2013). As such, many language therapists may still be unsure about the efficacy of computer-based interventions judging by assertions that more rigorous assessments need to be done to convincingly demonstrate the efficacy of these interventions. The proposed study aims to fill these gaps by evaluating the efficacy of computer-generated stimuli in eliciting spontaneous communication.

Purpose Statement

Drawing from the problem statement, the proposed study seeks to use professional language therapists to evaluate the effectiveness of computer-generated stimuli in reinforcing spontaneous communication in children with autism. The independent variable for the proposed study is computer-generated stimuli, while the dependent variable is spontaneous communication.

The independent/dependent variable relation that will be addressed in the proposed study is how exposure to computer-generated stimuli can generate spontaneous communicative episodes (e.g., vocalizations elicited in trying to ask for something, clarify a visual image, describe a visual image, or retell a video story) among children diagnosed with autism. These variables (computer-generated stimuli and spontaneous communication) are empirical since they deal with objects in the observable physical world surrounding us (Iversen & Gergen, 1997, p. 14). Their delimitation is described below.

Computer-generated stimuli will be conceptually defined as a thing or event that is performed by a computer system to elicit a particular functional reaction or to provide an incentive to behave in a particular way (Duffy & Healy, 2011). However, the concept will be operationalized as audio or visual incentives that are generated by a computer system to evoke a specific communicative reaction among children with autism. In the proposed paper, computer-generated stimuli will be delimited to incentives provided by computer-generated video images (video modeling), virtual reality, and audio-visual (multimedia) technology.

Spontaneous communication is conceptually defined as the vocalization of concepts generated by the speaker (Chiang & Carter, 2008, p. 694). In the proposed study, spontaneous communication will be operationalized as the capability of children with autism to demonstrate some form of communicative behaviors in the absence of physical prompts, instructions, or other orally-initiated cues. The spontaneous communicative behaviors will be delimited to the therapists feedback on their observation of children who are exposed to computer-generated stimuli to develop their communication skills. The issue of interest will be whether the children attempt to clarify something, tell a picture story, describe a picture, or retell a story without oral prompts (Kim, Junker, & Lord, 2014).

Method

Participants

Thirty (30) professional language therapists who use computer-based interventions to treat and manage children with autism will be enrolled in the study through purposive sampling. The therapists will be required to provide their perceptions about the effectiveness of computer-generated stimuli in encouraging spontaneous communication in children diagnosed with autism.

Internal Validity and Factors that Compromise Internal Validity

To achieve the required internal validity in the proposed study, the variations in the dependent variable [must] originate from variations in the independent variable(s) and not from other confounding factors (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 234). The variables that can compromise internal validity in the proposed study include (1) inadequate understanding of stimuli, (2) participants understanding of selected interventions, (3) researcher perceptions, (4) unrepresentative sample, (5) participant dropout, and (6) ineffective grading criteria of the perceptions provided by participants.

These variables can be categorized into factors which include instrumentation errors, subject/participant effects, mortality, and selection bias (Creswell, 2013). Researcher effects may present in the form of deliberate or unintentional attributes or expectations of the researcher that may influence the study participants, while instrumentation errors may appear in the form of ineffective measurement scales in the questionnaire as well as lack of understanding of various stimuli and how they affect spontaneous communication.

Additionally, subject/participant effects in the proposed study may take the form of inadequate understanding of stimuli as well as insufficient participant understanding of selected interventions and their effectiveness. The mortality problem may occur when some subjects fail to participate in the research study, resulting in a bias. Lastly, selection bias may occur due to failure by the researcher to use an effective sampling strategy to get the language therapists who will take part in the study (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001).

Plan to Control the Factors

The researcher intends to remain objective and also to pilot the data collection instrument with the view to addressing researcher effects and instrumentation errors. Participants will also be taken through the data collection instrument to ensure that they understand all the items and hence reduce response errors that may be related to instrumentation (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001).

To deal with subject/participant effects, the questionnaire will be administered only once and efforts will be made to ensure that participants are comfortable when responding to the questions contained in the questionnaire. The mortality factor will be addressed by educating the selected subjects on the need to participate in the study and also by removing bottlenecks to participation (e.g., distance, time, and location). Lastly, the researcher intends to address selection bias by using purposive sampling technique to ensure that all participants will have deep and insightful knowledge about the interventions under investigation and their effectiveness (Creswell, 2013).

Instrumentation

Quantitative data used to evaluate the effectiveness of the two interventions will be collected from sampled speech therapists through the use of a standardized questionnaire containing 5-point Lickert-type questions. Most of the items in the questionnaire will be closed-ended with possible responses as strongly agree, agree, not sure/no opinion, disagree, and strongly disagree (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 267).

The questionnaire will be administered online to remove the time and distance constraints that often lead to problems associated with mortality. A pilot study involving three language therapists will be administered before the actual data collection phase to ensure that the questionnaire is reliable and valid in terms of consistency of measurement and ability to measure what it is intended to measure.

Statistics

Data collected from the field will be analyzed using a statistical program known as SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) with the view to providing answers to the noted research gaps. Descriptive statistics will be used to investigate the effectiveness of the computer-based intervention based on percentages, mean scores, and standard deviations of various questions contained in the questionnaire.

According to Balnaves and Caputi (2001), descriptive statistics are highly preferred in this type of study as they not only use measures of central tendency (e.g., mean scores) to describe the most typical value in a data set (in this case, effectiveness) but also employ measures of dispersion (e.g., variance and standard deviation) to describe the variability of the responses given. It is also possible to present findings using frequency distributions and graphical presentations that are created by the software program.

References

Balnaves, M., & Caputi, P. (2001). Introduction to quantitative research methods: An investigative approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Bauminger-Zviely, K., Kimhi, Y., & Agam-Ben-Artzi, G.A. (2014). Spontaneous peer conversation in preschoolers with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder versus typical development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(4), 363-373.

Chiang, H.M., & Carter, M. (2008). Spontaneity of communication in individuals with autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 38(4), 693-705.

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Duffy, C., & Healy, O. (2011). Spontaneous communication in autism spectrum disorder: A review of topographies and interventions. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(2), 977-983.

Goldsmith, T.R., & LeBlanc, L.A. (2004). Use of technology in intervention for children with autism. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, 1(2), 166-178.

Iversen, G.R., & Gergen, M. (1997). Statistics: The conceptual approach. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Kim, S.H., Junker, D., & Lord, C. (2014). Observation of spontaneous expressive language (OSEL): A new measure for spontaneous and expressive language of children with autism spectrum disorders and other communication disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(12), 3230-3244.

Kossyvaki, L., Jones, G., & Guildberg, K. (2012). The effect of adult interactive style on the spontaneous communication of young children with autism at school. British Journal of Special Education, 39(4), 173-184.

Loncola, J.A., & Graig-Unkefer, L. (2005). Teaching social communication skills to young urban children with autism. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 40(2), 243-263.

Ploog, B., Scharf, A., Nelson, D., & Brooks, P. (2013). Use of computer-assisted technologies (CAT) to enhance social, communicative, and language development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 43(2), 301-322.

Potter, C., & Whittaker, C. (2001). Enabling communication in children with autism. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Stromer, R., Kimball, J.W., Kinney, E.M., & Taylor, B. (2006). Activity schedules, computer technology, and teaching children with autism spectrum disorders. A Focus on Autism & Other Developmental Disabilities, 21(1), 14-24.

Abstract

The paper reveals that the differences are present between white and black population segments in South Africa. The study states that the primary dissimilarities are defined by a different level of clarity, ambiguity, and involvement of emotions while building argumentation. Nonetheless, the critical similarity is the lack of competences in written communication due to the preference of oral interaction for the cultivation of trust.

Introduction

The ability to communicate with the assistance of the written skills requires attention in the modern world due to a high level of illiteracy in some regions such as South Asia and Africa (Kornblum, 2011). Nonetheless, written communication is more complicated while referring to the idea-expression due to the absence of personal contact (Martin & Chaney, 2012; Fielding, 2006). The primary goal of the paper is to analyze differences and similarities in written communication between black and white social segments in South Africa. In the end, the conclusions are drawn to summarize the findings acquired with the assistance of the statistical analysis and literature review.

Differences between Written Communication of Black and white Segments in South Africa

The primary difference in written communication is portrayed by the level of clarity among black and white citizens of South Africa (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In this instance, the whites to present their ideas in an organized manner while focusing on the achievement of the goals (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In turn, blacks tend to have a problem to present their ideas in the written form, as they have to rely on non-verbal communication while having a conversation in the real world (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012).

In terms of the presentation of the ideas in the written form, the whites tend to support their ideas with logical argumentation (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In turn, blacks tend to consider emotions and personal experiences a core basis for the relevant decision-making (Hurtley & Bruckman, 2008). This aspect is also identified by a different level of ambiguity and the significance of emotions.

Similarities between Written Communication of Black and White Segments in South Africa

Despite a wide range of differences, the core similarity is the preference of the oral communication to the written one due to the essentiality to build trusting relationships with the assistance of the personal contact (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). These aspects define the overall principles of South African business communication since they portray the necessity of the individual approach while establishing relationships with the partners. Consequently, both groups lack writing skills and are unable to present their ideas clearly due to the absence of direct interaction (Rasmussen, Mylonas, & Beck, 2012).

Additionally, it remains apparent that both social groups experience struggle due to the lack of practice of written communication (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In this case, this matter is the primary source of difficulties for international business operations. Nonetheless, the existence of this factor can be explained with the unimportance of this approach to South African etiquette.

Conclusion

In the end, the aspects of written communication have differences and similarities while referring to the comparison of the key principles among whites and blacks in South Africa. The core differences can be explained by the dissimilar utilization of logic level of clarity and necessity of the expression of emotions as a key argument in the communications. Nonetheless, despite being vehemently different in the expression of the ideas in the written form, the critical similarity is the deficiency of the competence in the written communication due to the absence of the popularity of this aspect in South African business culture. In turn, this matter is present, as the whites and blacks highly value the essentiality of personal interactions while building trusting relationships with customers and partners.

References

Fielding, M. (2006). Effective communication in organizations: Preparing messages that communicate. Lansdowne, Cape Town: Juta & Co. Ltd. Web.

Hogeschool van Amsterdam. (2012). Where cultures meet: A cross-cultural comparison of business meeting styles. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Web.

Hurtley, P., & Bruckman, C. (2008). Business communication. London, UK: Routledge. Web.

Kornblum, W. (2011). Sociology in a changing world. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Web.

Martin, J., & Chaney, L. (2012). Global business etiquette: A guide to international communication and customs. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. Web.

Rasmussen, R., Mylonas, A., & Beck, H. (2012). Investigating business communication and technologies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Web.

Summary

Creating the environment in which students will be eager to share their experiences, collaborate actively, and address emerging conflicts efficiently by applying appropriate negotiation strategies is a crucial step toward enhancing the process of knowledge acquisition by the target population. In their article, Hale, Freed, Ricotta, Farris, and Smith (2017) stress the significance of a teacher using the communication approach that incorporates essential elements of body language.

According to the authors of the study, the adoption of a proper body language technique as the means of conversing with students is bound to lead to a massive improvement in the quality of the education process and leave a profound effect on learners. Apart from increasing the levels of investment among students, the use of a body-language-based communication framework triggers a rise in the levels of analytical thinking and successful problem-solving. Therefore, the tool must be considered a crucial addition to the set of communication strategies used by a teacher.

Reaction

I was far from being surprised to find out that body-language communication is viewed as essential for successful learning. Indeed, a significant amount of information is received with the help of nonverbal communication. Therefore, the idea of using body language as the means of identifying the levels of engagement among learners, as well as deploying specific elements of body language to make students pay attention to specific themes, ideas, and concepts that are addressed during the lesson seems quite legitimate to me.

However, the idea of incorporating body language into the process of teaching, especially when meeting the needs of ESL students, raises a lot of questions. For instance, I wonder whether it is possible to develop a set of universal signs that cannot possibly be misinterpreted by the learners whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds are different from the ones of a teacher and the rest of the class. The article inspires me to explore the challenges associated with deploying a body-language-based teaching strategy in an ESL classroom and identify the means of managing the associated difficulties successfully.

Implementation in a TESOL Classroom

To use a teaching strategy based on body language, an educator will have to consider the needs of learners carefully by taking account of the unique characteristics of the target population. For instance, teachers will have to use the elements of body language that can be misinterpreted by the representatives of specific cultures and ethnicities. The resulting set of gestures that cannot possibly be misinterpreted by any of the learners should be used as one of the tools for rendering essential information.

At the same time, an educator must keep in mind that body language is only a part of an efficient communication system. Thus, it must be used in tandem with other techniques contributing to a faster understanding of the essential information and acquisition of the relevant knowledge and skills. ESL learners are expected to develop crucial reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills within a relatively short amount of time once body language is incorporated into the set of available communication strategies.

Therefore, the adoption of the teaching techniques based on the active use of body language should be viewed as a necessity when addressing the needs of ESL learners. By using nonverbal elements of communication, a teacher will be able to deliver key messages without causing any misunderstandings. Thus, body language tools should be incorporated into the set of teaching tools to be used in the ESL setting.

Reference

Hale, A. J., Freed, J., Ricotta, D., Farris, G., & Smith, C. C. (2017). Twelve tips for effective body language for medical educators. Medical Teacher, 1(1), 1-6. Web.

Explain how the knowledge of psycholinguistic levels can help translators in producing an equivalent discourse in the process of translation

The language aspect of communication has to be examined for the efficient delivery and reception of information. The need for people to pick up, use, and comprehend language necessitated the demand to study the psychological aspect of language, which is referred to as psycholinguistics. The discipline digs into the neurological and psychological features of language in a bid to identify the factors underlying it from a scientific point of view. In this case, the knowledge of the various levels of psycholinguistics is necessary for professionals who translate one language into another without distorting the intended message.

From the neurological perspective of understanding language, the translators understand the importance of cognitive engagement and connectionism. The knowledge of the two aspects of translation enables the translators brain to read the source information and translate it instantly without errors. The psychology of language entails the application of some syntactic rules that govern the organisation of information received before it is translated. In this view, language is presented in the form of symbols and strings that need to be processed in a digital like manner. Therefore, before translating any language, the translator engages his/her left hemisphere actively whereby a series of analyses take place for the extraction of the right words. This technique of translation is further enhanced by the local serial principle (LSP) that provides for the sequential processing of symbols before translation. In this regard, information received by the translator has to undergo some serial processing before the symbols are translated to avoid the distortion of information.

In order to understand the text information from the source, the translators need to connect well with their intuition. By knowing this aspect of language, the translators would be in a position to think and translate according to the context simultaneously. For this reason, the translators use their common sense to comprehend the literary piece of information intuitively as presented to them before converting it into the preferred language. Knowledge of the connectionism concept equips the translators with the essential techniques of linking objects with the discourse. Thus, the engagement of the brain not only enhances the clarity of the discourse, but also puts it into the right context, thus resulting in better comprehension.

Knowledge in psycholinguistics adorns the translators with a well-structured framework for purposes of information processing. Understanding the systematic change of standard speech gives the translators an edge, and thus they engage their memory in processing the source text or sounds in their approach. Before interpreting the sentences and clauses semantically, the translator firstly divides the speech into natural linguistic groups comprising of clauses and sentences. Equivalent translation then proceeds after engaging the memory and systematic processing in the brain.

Therefore, psycholinguistics is essential for the enhancement of the translation process concerning connecting the symbolised ideas in the literary text through connectionism. In this regard, the neurological aspect of communication becomes a primary factor for consideration in a bid to engage in an efficient discourse. This aspect ensures that grammatical and orthographic errors are avoided whereby comprehensiveness of the information in the target language is achieved. In this light, translators can deliver translations that do not welcome the suspicion that they have been translated into, thus resulting in the delivery of quality literary works of translation.

Discuss how the translation of discourse and culture can be a challenge while translated from one language into another

The translation of language and discourse can be a threat to the efficient translation of one language into another. Literary texts of historical and cultural importance require a lot of effort from the translator to avoid falling victim of cultural variations in translating. Since language is a primary aspect of culture, it is significant to uphold it since it is a tool that is used for socialisation through discourse. Discourse entails the use of names and episodes that have substantial meaning to a particular culture whose language is subject to translation. Therefore, the translator needs to maintain the original context of the translation that could have a similar comprehension when the translated literary text is presented to people of a different culture.

The problem of translating unique names has troubled translators for a long time. In literary materials, characters are given names that go in line with their attributes in a particular culture. The need to translate the names correctly without interfering with the cultural context is thus essential for efficiency. For instance, a good number of the character names in the Harry Potter series had to be translated into other languages considering the context and accuracy. This aspect implies that the new names given to the characters have to consider the culture of the new language that it is being translated to in a bid to gain relevance in the new setting given that Harry Potter is an aesthetic piece of literature. In this regard, the need to bring out the artistic attributes of the story has to consider the translated names impact in the new context based on the culture. For this reason, cultural diversity challenges translators especially when character names have to maintain their meaning.

Religion is an important feature of culture whereby locations or names given to characters in the source text may have spiritual meaning. The religious context in which the names appear in the original text needs to be acknowledged by the translator in a bid to uphold the spiritual relevance that they possess. For example, the Islamic culture values names that have religious sense, thus leading to the commonality of names such as Abdullah and Mohammed. Translating these names from the Arabic context to a language of different culture poses problems in case the other culture does not have names that symbolise the religious attributes of the characters. The use of proper names in the Arabic culture portrays the conservative nature of their culture that might be contrary to other religions in which the text needs to be translated. Muslims have a unique way of conducting their greetings, thus implying that the discourse of the translated greetings might have different implications for other cultures. Social functions embedded in religion in the form of greetings characterised by self-ingratiation, humility before God, gratitude, and expressions of philanthropy tend to pose contextual challenges in translation.

Some communities use two languages at the same time for different reasons. Sociolinguistics refers to this situation as diglossia. For instance, discourse in the Arabic culture is characterised by diglossia that in turn could pose problematic cases when translating. The highly used vernacular (H) may prove to be easier to translate as compared to the lowly used vernacular (L), thus causing difficulties in translation. For instance, in the Arabic culture, H is used for formal purposes while L is common in colloquial or informal discourses. In this light, the application of lowly used vernacular tends to inhibit accurate translation since evoking the reactions intended could be relatively hard in another culture.

Comprehension begins with the perception of sounds Discuss this notion by providing an analysis of the speech organs and how they produce sounds: consonants and vowels

The reception of sounds during communication elicits different perceptions that affect the comprehension of the intended message. Speech perceptions from the psycholinguistics point of view entail picking the relevant information presented by the source whereby the linguistic capabilities of the listener are put to the test. The speech signal is usually given in the form of sounds that incorporates consonants and vowels. The production of speech is facilitated by various speech organs that undergo precise mechanisms as one speaks. Understanding how the organs of speech function provides one with valid information that could be used to understand foreign languages and enhance correct interpretation. Therefore, the way vowels and consonants are uttered influences the first impression and comprehension in the process of communication.

Speech organs above the lungs facilitate the production of speech in the form of consonants and vowels whereby air from the lungs is modified into sounds. The significant organs in this process include the nose, tongue, glottis, pharynx, and the lips. When these organs are closed or narrowed, air from the lungs is regulated, thus resulting in the production of vowels and consonants in the form of sounds that can be recognised by the listener. Therefore, the listener identifies the individual sounds that form words that build meaningful sentences regarding the topic that is being discussed. The listeners comprehend the sounds better through maintaining eye contact with the lips movement, hence sending signals to their brain, thus creating different perceptions in the process.

The frequency at which the listeners hear a word from the speaker enhances the right comprehension of the communicated message. The regular pattern of words uttered by the speaker implies that the listener perceptions are enhanced, hence efficiency in communication. The aspect of frequency in the reception of the regular consonants and vowels is psychological in nature, thus indicating that the neurological framework is tuned according to the context. Therefore, listeners are highly accurate in sound recognition and interpretation when the stimuli they hear is from the same speaker since they are familiar with their voice.

The lexical neighbourhood of a word also plays a vital role in its perception. Consonants and vowels forming words that have many similarly pronounced words tend to create difficulties in comprehending the actual intended meaning. For instance, in English, the word cat has a number of neighbouring words that tend to delay the comprehension of the sounds uttered by the speaker. For this reason, consonants and vowels produced to form words that do not have many lexical neighbours tend to be comprehended fast according to the context.

Listeners translate the speech that they hear according to their understanding. Some listeners encode the sounds received in idealised or symbolic forms. In most cases, this aspect depends on the listeners and the speakers genders. For this reason, recorded vowel stimuli tend to evoke different perceptions of the message when the gender of the speaker is concealed. The accent too has a bearing on the interpretation of vowels and consonants. Speakers that are not fluent in the language they are communicating in may face accent problems, thus affecting the comprehension of sounds among listeners. Consequently, different perceptions of the sounds emanate thereby challenging comprehension.

The current essay deals with a very important issue of mass communication impact on modern language. By thorough analysis of mass communication literature and the main facets of media discourse formation, conclusions are made concerning its role in the formation of modern language.

Media studies are the interdisciplinary domain of research that embraces social psychology, political economy, linguistics, semiotics, discourse analysis and sociology. Hence, there is no denying the importance of the fact that the analysis of mass communication impact on language should be made through a multidisciplinary prism encompassing all measure findings of contemporary social and natural sciences. Two main approaches are conceptualizing the impact of mass communication and mass culture on language formation dominance.

The first approach proceeds from liberal principles in the analysis of mass culture and mass communication impact on the modern language. Its main representative is McLuhan, who is technologically determinist manner claimed that the level of technology determines media messages that are translated to a final recipient.

In the dominant vein of this tradition, media communication and mass culture are regarded as the main factor of language democratization and diversification. Language, according to this tradition, is democratized because it becomes more easy and understandable to ordinary people.

Aristocratic language dominance earlier is not widespread and becomes a historical artefact that can be found in literature and dusty archives. As McLuhan suggests, mass media and mass culture create a global village where all people are connected by the same cultural and cognitive value which can be understood by anybody. Besides this, mass culture is described to have a positive impact on language in terms of developing different linguistic patterns for different social and cultural identities for people, which provides the possibility for celebrating diverse lifestyles and orientations. Different underground youth communities, youth organizations and movements, as well as other civil institutions, are heavily indebted to modern media and mass culture, which play an important role in the dissemination of their language vocabulary (Flagan 2001). Youth language is developed by different musical programs on TV, radio, thematic journals, songs, films and other products of mass culture. Hence, the transformation of language can be described as the primary tool for constructing viable identities in postmodern society. Language becomes more and more differentiated and heterogeneous, which postulates heterogeneity of the modern society. Differences among various sociolects are diffused, and all layers of the populace obtain equal access to mass culture products. In this way, mass culture becomes closer to everybody. To sum up, a discussed approach to the abovementioned problems leaves no rule for critical analysis of language transformation as a result of the increasing impact of mass culture in the production of cultural products for the majority of the population.

Within the frames of another tradition, the impact of mass communication and mass culture on language and mass consciousness is analyzed in a different critical way. Adorno and Horkheimer criticize mass culture for its totalitarian impact on language in their work Dialectics of Enlightenment (1979). They claim that mass communication and mass culture is governed by the rules peculiar to a modern monopolist enterprise with mass production of standardized and purified from content mass products which are disseminated on the market. These mass cultural products are as homogenous in their form as the mass consumer products of monopolist enterprises. This standardization of culture results in the inevitable destruction of languages richness and its transformation into a commodity, a tool needed for the functioning consumerist society. The language which was used in culture mainly as the means for finding aesthetic truth now increasingly becomes just an operator of production. The abundance of its meanings is considerably increased, the scope of words used to signify emotions, feelings, abstract notions etc., are replaced by practical words, neologisms which are used not to widen the scope of understanding reality but for its control. Different marketing, PR, business and other dialects contaminate existing languages and reduce them to instrumental tools of communication.

Hence the conclusion is made that mass culture and media communication results in degradation of language, which in its turn leads to degradation of peoples consciousness. Language is inextricably linked to consciousness, and thus its degradation means degradation of peoples perception of reality and their living conditions (Hall 1992, p. 45-67). All this resembles Orwell description of Big Brother policy to exclude all dangerous and revolutionary meanings from the language, which is vividly described in his novel 1984. In the vein of this approach to this central problem, the diversification and differentiation of language sociolects as a result of mass culture are sufficiently underestimated, which results in a one-sided method of analysis.

The two concepts described above help us understand the role of mass culture and media in the process of language formation. It should be noted that neither of them presents a comprehensive account of the existing problem, and hence an alternative approach is to be elaborated. There is no denying the importance of the fact that Manichean vision of reality is not an appropriate tool for its cognition. Thus, a more balanced approach to the interrelation between language and mass culture must be developed, which puts primary emphasis on balanced vision.

References

Flagan, A. 2001, The Language of New Media, Afterimage, 29(1), 20.

Hall, S. (Ed.). 1992, Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972-79, London, Routledge.

Adorno, T. Horkheimer M., 1976, Dialectics of Enlightenment, Continuum International Publishing Group.

McLuhan, M. 1962, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.

The research article ESL Students Computer-Mediated Communication Practices evaluates and analyses language learning practices based on computer-mediated communication (CMC). The author concentrates on the problem of joint activities and on how a group of ESL students jointly constructed the context of their CMC activities through interactional patterns and norms This topic is extremely interesting to theorists and practitioners because it helps to understand students communication and participation in e-learning activities and the best possible ways to design effective language practices. Computer-mediated communication use in language learning is catching on for training and education worldwide at all levels. Computer-mediated communication is not just a trendy word. It is a new approach built on what we have learned from developing and instructing with thirty years of computer-based methods and on what we know about how to help people learn. The concept of Computer-mediated communication is changing the way educators instruct and learn. At the same time, Computer-mediated communication is evolving, and it is likely that what we call e-learning today will be different in a few years. Previous studies discuss the context and environment of language learning and teaching, technologies, pedagogy, curriculum, and social discourses on CMC. The author hopes to add facts and data about the interactional patterns of ESL students, interactional norms the ESL students establishing, and answer the question how do the ESL students utilize CMC activities for their linguistic, social, and academic goals? (Shin 65). All the questions are specific and clear based on careful literature analysis and problems identified by previous studies. While inputs are important to the success of learning, they are only part of the story. Instructional designers should concentrate on outputs such as measured increases in job and business performance, either in the quality of goods and services produced or in the job satisfaction of employees producing those goods and services. Solid instruction is concentrated on what people need to learn to enhance their performance as students or workers. A better understanding of what constitutes successful learning and how to achieve it helps managers with the selection of courseware from vendors and helps instructional designers in the creation of materials.

The research study follows an ecological Perspectives of Second Language Learning. Special attention is given to human learning processes and its environment perceived as an integrated entity involving cognitive, social, and environmental elements (Shin 66). The author uses interpretive parading of the research. This means that the article is based on personal experience, observational and interaction approaches. Inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning are both subsumed under scientific inquiry, yet they characterize a distinction between purely qualitative and purely quantitative methods. Student teachers quantitative ratings of their experiences on questionnaires followed interpretive analyses of their narrative responses. The research design is based on the ethnographic method. This ethnographic case study was conducted in an intermediate adult ESL class with 16 students at a university in the northeastern United States (Shin 66). Ethnography helps the author to study the commonsense features of everyday situations the common, ordinary happenings in a particular set of interests. In these studies, social interaction as an ongoing process is scrutinized and recorded in descriptive detail. The participants of the research are international graduate students, visiting scholars, and their spouses. All of the participants were from Northern Asia (1 student from Peru). All of them have at least a bachelors degree. They were selected based on the questionnaire method and personal interviews. Personal information was the main criterion for selection. The main principles were: (1) Asian origin, (2) BA degree obtained in a home country, (3) engineering or natural sciences field of study, (4) graduate student and visiting scholar participants were men, and all the spousal participants were women (Shin 66), (5) good relations with a teacher (Johnson 77).

The main data collection methods were observations and surveys, formal and informal interviews with participants, e-mail exchanges between the teacher and the ESL participants. also, the data was collected from offline FtF class meetings, In all situations, the researcher acted as a participant-observer. The researcher identified recursive patterns through triangulation of field notes, transcripts of recorded FtF class meetings, interview data, and electronically saved chat data (Shin 67). Interviewing informants involved using phrasing and vocabulary more closely in tune with the subjects own and less abstractly than in instruments used in quantitative studies. This, therefore, increased the likelihood of the instrument being able to tap the information for which it was developed. Participant observation was conducted in natural settings that were the reality of the life experiences of subjects more so than are contrived settings of quantitative studies. The analysis in ethnography used a process of researcher self-monitoring, a disciplined subjectivity that brings the study under continual questioning. The data were analyzed systematically and appropriately answered the research questions. The analysis allowed the researcher to reconstruct Interactional Patterns among students.

The findings show that the teacher should pay special attention to computer-mediated learning environments and communication practices among students because they have a major impact on language learning. The participants learning experiences in online chatting demonstrate that language learning and language socialization are interwoven into the fabric of CMC practices (Shin 70). An informal computer-mediated communication resource is the online discussion group. Participants can learn a great deal by formulating and posting queries and by just lurking and observing questions and answers posted by other participants. Some discussion groups archive the replies to questions, and many have a section where key questions and answers are posted. In self-paced e-learning, the learners themselves determine the speedand sometimes the sequenceof their progress through a professionally developed training course (Morrison 31). Because self-paced courses and materials are designed and developed by training professionals, they are a formal rather than informal method of learning. The researcher identifies that offline lives influence language learning practices and the success of language acquisition. Ecologically exploring the ways illustrates their identities/subjectivities regarding co-constructed norms, rules, and goals, as well as specific interests and concerns embedded in their language socialization processes through CMC (Shin 70). Generally, students appreciate the convenience, choice, and flexibility that CMC activities offer. Instructional designers value the standardized framework and flexibility of CMC activities. Instructors think CMC activities are convenient; they applaud the ease of record-keeping and the reduced travel that are part of the e-learning revolution. The author finds that learners must first acquire the lower-level skills (knowledge, comprehension, and application, for example) before they can perform the higher-level skills (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). The different levels are also taught differently. The higher-level skills require carefully designed application exercises to ensure that the learning has occurred and has stuck. For example, if the focus is on learning to synthesize the concepts of e-learning as presented in this book, an effective learning program would ensure that participants acquired the basic knowledge of the four types of e-learning, were able to explain them either orally or in writing, could explain the relationships between e-learning and conventional learning, and would be able to synthesize or use this knowledge in a specific situation to recommend what types of e-learning to use. The first step to understanding learning, in general, is an understanding of learning styles. People have ways they prefer to learn, which are often called preferred learning styles. The most effective teaching methods, whether in the classroom or through a computer, are those that accommodate the preferred learning styles of the people being taught.

The author concludes that CMC activities are seen as language socialization and help students to understand complex lives and a complexity that comes from multiple social roles (Shin 70). There are no conclusions made on the researchers guesses thus he states that it is important to examine how language learners carry their interests and life stories over to online language learning spaces (Shin 70). All recommendations follow logically from the findings and data analysis. There are many schools of thought about learning styles, but no universally accepted approach to defining them or adjusting instructional designs and methods to account for them.

The research study proposes an interesting analysis of computer-mediated learning and language acquisition practices. I would like to ask the researcher about problems he was faced during the research and the attitude of students towards this research.

The research is well-constructed and based on appropriate methodology. Thus, the researcher ignores external validity. First, the purpose is to describe in detail aspects of a single subject, group, or unit. And, even if multiple sites are used, the researcher is obligated to enter each site as if he or she had no other information and as if this site were unique. Therefore, there are no bases for comparison or generalizability. Third, the problem studied, the nature of the goals and the application of the findings differ substantially from traditional quantitative methods, and so definitions of external validity must vary. Concerning the problem studied, the credibility of quantitative designs should be based on examining effects in controlled situations, looking at variables uniquely, one at a time. Regarding the goals of studies, the goal of ethnographic research should be to develop theory not to test it, which requires that a priori relationships be avoided. While quantitative researchers aim to generalize from the sample to the population, and external validity must be (Garrison and Anderson 23).

The author did not consider the different learning styles. First, it is critical to identify the predominant learning styles of the people who will be taking the e-learning program. Research indicates, for example, that recent graduates from Asian countries prefer concrete action. The same research indicates that instructors tend to prefer an abstract approach to learning. In other words, young people prefer to learn by doing, while instructors prefer to learn by developing concepts. Potential trouble here! At least there could be trouble if instructors teach youth in the way that they personally prefer to learn. The researcher materials must also take care to ensure that their own preferred learning styles do not govern the instructional design. The researcher must consider the learning styles of the people who will be taking the programand they could be convergers, divergers, assimilators, or accommodators, or likely a mix of all four (Morrison 102).

Much has been written about the virtue of interactive learningusing questions, exercises, and other activities to engage learners as active participants in the learning process. The research under analysis does not take into account the nature and types of tasks and different perceptions of students. Interactive learning should keep students energized and help participants absorb information and remember it. It would be important to analyze how interactive learning help students focus. To understand how this works, consider that the human brain functions five or six times faster than instructors speak or e-learning audio files play. If a classroom instructor, an online instructor, or an e-learning module limits the messages to facts, participants whose minds are working five times as fast as the information is being delivered will start to draw their own conclusionsand perhaps daydream about subjects not related to the material being taught. Clearly, interaction is a valuable component of a successful learning experience. But how to create interaction in e-learning? As an instructor, instructional designer, or administrator, you must think clearly about interactivity. also, the researcher does not take into account the fact that carefully designed learning activities challenge learners, even in a self-directed format. Games are one engaging activity from the classroom that can be applied to e-learning, and there are several others. Learning works best, you have been taught, when the designer follows a structured process of needs analysis, development of performance objectives, rigorous development of content, a structured delivery, and evaluation.

Works Cited

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T.R. E-Learning in the 21st Century: A Framework for Research and Practice. RoutledgeFalmer, 2003.

Johnson, D. M. Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning. Longman Publishing Group, 1992.

Morrison, D. E-Learning Strategies: How to Get Implementation and Delivery Right First Time. Wiley, 2003.

Shin, D., ESL Students Computer-Mediated Communication Practices: Context Configuration. Language, Learning & Technology, 10 (2006), 65-73.

Introduction

Lack of spontaneous communication and delayed language acquisition have been recognized as among the most consistent challenges facing children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Kim, Junker, & Lord, 2014). Although research shows that the number of children with autism who speak fluently has increased beyond earlier approximations (Chiang & Carter, 2008), these challenges remain a central feature of the disorder as children with autism tend to initiate communication in fewer contexts compared to typical children (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Kossyvaki, Jones, & Guildberg, 2012). Although many researchers have studied the effectiveness of interventions aimed at eliciting spontaneous communication, only a few (e.g., Ploog, Scharf, Nelson, & Brooks, 2013) have focused attention on computer-based interventions.

Review of Literature

Available scholarship demonstrates that most individuals with autism share common deficits in social and language skills, which include failure to develop peer relationships, lack of engagement in play with peers, lack of emotion recognition, difficulties in communicative interactions, and generally poor social skills (Ploog et al., 2013, p. 301). The inability of some individuals with autism to elicit spontaneous communication has interested many researchers (Bauminger-Zviely, Kimhi, & Agam-Ben-Artzi, 2014; Duffy & Healy, 2011).

Although the concept of spontaneous communication lacks a universal definition in the literature, it has generally been defined as communicative behaviors that occur in the absence of prompts, instructions or other verbal cues (Duffy & Healy, 2011, p. 977). Using this conceptualization, persons with a diagnosis of autism are said to lack spontaneity in their interactions as they often depend on prompts such as oral cues, modeling, and material direction to induce some form of communication.

Several scholars have focused attention on the concept of spontaneous communication and its relationship to autism. In their study, Chiang and Carter (2008) define spontaneous verbalizations as communicative behaviors in response to nonverbal stimuli, in the absence of verbal discriminative stimuli (p. 698). These authors are clear that spontaneous communication must occur in the absence of questions and without partner prompting, meaning that it normally takes place without specified antecedents.

However, another study by Loncola and Graig-Unkefer (2005) shows that spontaneous communication is said to occur when a child utters something that may be directed to another child or object but not prompted by an adult. Such an utterance, according to these authors, usually occurs within 10 seconds of a specified antecedent. This view is reinforced by Potter and Whittaker (2001), who argue that spontaneous behaviors should not be judged by the existence of specific antecedents but rather by their demonstration to meet the communication requirements of the situation and their functionality in the given context. The description given by Potter and Whittaker (2001) provides some proof that computer-generated visual images may indeed be used as an intervention to elicit spontaneous communication in children with autism.

Some researchers have studied how the use of computer-assisted technology (CAT) influences the social, communicative, and language development in individuals who have been diagnosed with autism. One review by Duffy and Healy (2011) revealed that CAT and Applied Behavior Analysis can be incorporated together to enhance spontaneous communication in individuals with a diagnosis of autism through the use of procedures such as time delay/prompt fading, milieu language teaching, direct instruction, script fading, and fluency training (p. 978).

Another review by Stromer, Kimball, Kinney, and Taylor (2006) found that computer-generated activity schedules can be used to encourage learning about multiple cues and reinforce functional verbal skills of children with autism by increasing attention to projected stimuli. The capacity of computers to simultaneously integrate vocal and video cues was found to be particularly beneficial as it can be used to pair static visual support with additional instructional stimuli such as audio and video recordings to trigger social, communicative, and language development in children with autism (Stromer et al., 2006).

Another review by Ploog, Scharf, Nelson, and Brooks (2013) found that most researchers have recognized the potential of computer technology as an effective and efficient tool in research and treatment of autism as most children show a high affinity to computers and professionals using CAT are more likely to implement treatments with higher precision and less variability than those using traditional treatment approaches.

The review found that CAT may provide new ways of teaching language skills to children with autism, particularly in terms of increasing the use of voluntary speech for social communication, reinforcing the skills needed for enhanced adaptive functioning, and providing a higher precision in training (Ploog et al., 2013). Some of the flaws associated with the use of CAT noted in the review include reinforcement of undesirable behavior, a distraction from the relevant information intended to be conveyed, increased social isolation due to interaction with computers rather than humans, and encouragement of limited acts of behavior and ways of responding to various stimuli.

Need for the Proposed Study/Problem Statement

Despite recent advances in technology and the overflowing scholarship on autism and associated interventions, a fundamental question that remains unanswered is whether computer-based approaches are effective in eliciting spontaneous communication in children with a diagnosis of autism. Unfortunately, as reported by several scholars (e.g., Goldsmith & LeBlanc, 2004; Ploog et al., 2013), research studies that can be used to answer this question are sparse and highly fragmented.

Additionally, the few studies that focus on this area are exploratory and fail to demonstrate a rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of computer-based approaches (Duffy & Healy, 2011; Ploog et al., 2013). As such, many language therapists may still be unsure about the efficacy of computer-based interventions judging by assertions that more rigorous assessments need to be done to convincingly demonstrate the efficacy of these interventions. The proposed study aims to fill these gaps by evaluating the efficacy of computer-generated stimuli in eliciting spontaneous communication.

Purpose Statement

Drawing from the problem statement, the proposed study seeks to use professional language therapists to evaluate the effectiveness of computer-generated stimuli in reinforcing spontaneous communication in children with autism. The independent variable for the proposed study is computer-generated stimuli, while the dependent variable is spontaneous communication.

The independent/dependent variable relation that will be addressed in the proposed study is how exposure to computer-generated stimuli can generate spontaneous communicative episodes (e.g., vocalizations elicited in trying to ask for something, clarify a visual image, describe a visual image, or retell a video story) among children diagnosed with autism. These variables (computer-generated stimuli and spontaneous communication) are empirical since they deal with objects in the observable physical world surrounding us (Iversen & Gergen, 1997, p. 14). Their delimitation is described below.

Computer-generated stimuli will be conceptually defined as a thing or event that is performed by a computer system to elicit a particular functional reaction or to provide an incentive to behave in a particular way (Duffy & Healy, 2011). However, the concept will be operationalized as audio or visual incentives that are generated by a computer system to evoke a specific communicative reaction among children with autism. In the proposed paper, computer-generated stimuli will be delimited to incentives provided by computer-generated video images (video modeling), virtual reality, and audio-visual (multimedia) technology.

Spontaneous communication is conceptually defined as the vocalization of concepts generated by the speaker (Chiang & Carter, 2008, p. 694). In the proposed study, spontaneous communication will be operationalized as the capability of children with autism to demonstrate some form of communicative behaviors in the absence of physical prompts, instructions, or other orally-initiated cues. The spontaneous communicative behaviors will be delimited to the therapists feedback on their observation of children who are exposed to computer-generated stimuli to develop their communication skills. The issue of interest will be whether the children attempt to clarify something, tell a picture story, describe a picture, or retell a story without oral prompts (Kim, Junker, & Lord, 2014).

Method

Participants

Thirty (30) professional language therapists who use computer-based interventions to treat and manage children with autism will be enrolled in the study through purposive sampling. The therapists will be required to provide their perceptions about the effectiveness of computer-generated stimuli in encouraging spontaneous communication in children diagnosed with autism.

Internal Validity and Factors that Compromise Internal Validity

To achieve the required internal validity in the proposed study, the variations in the dependent variable [must] originate from variations in the independent variable(s) and not from other confounding factors (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 234). The variables that can compromise internal validity in the proposed study include (1) inadequate understanding of stimuli, (2) participants understanding of selected interventions, (3) researcher perceptions, (4) unrepresentative sample, (5) participant dropout, and (6) ineffective grading criteria of the perceptions provided by participants.

These variables can be categorized into factors which include instrumentation errors, subject/participant effects, mortality, and selection bias (Creswell, 2013). Researcher effects may present in the form of deliberate or unintentional attributes or expectations of the researcher that may influence the study participants, while instrumentation errors may appear in the form of ineffective measurement scales in the questionnaire as well as lack of understanding of various stimuli and how they affect spontaneous communication.

Additionally, subject/participant effects in the proposed study may take the form of inadequate understanding of stimuli as well as insufficient participant understanding of selected interventions and their effectiveness. The mortality problem may occur when some subjects fail to participate in the research study, resulting in a bias. Lastly, selection bias may occur due to failure by the researcher to use an effective sampling strategy to get the language therapists who will take part in the study (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001).

Plan to Control the Factors

The researcher intends to remain objective and also to pilot the data collection instrument with the view to addressing researcher effects and instrumentation errors. Participants will also be taken through the data collection instrument to ensure that they understand all the items and hence reduce response errors that may be related to instrumentation (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001).

To deal with subject/participant effects, the questionnaire will be administered only once and efforts will be made to ensure that participants are comfortable when responding to the questions contained in the questionnaire. The mortality factor will be addressed by educating the selected subjects on the need to participate in the study and also by removing bottlenecks to participation (e.g., distance, time, and location). Lastly, the researcher intends to address selection bias by using purposive sampling technique to ensure that all participants will have deep and insightful knowledge about the interventions under investigation and their effectiveness (Creswell, 2013).

Instrumentation

Quantitative data used to evaluate the effectiveness of the two interventions will be collected from sampled speech therapists through the use of a standardized questionnaire containing 5-point Lickert-type questions. Most of the items in the questionnaire will be closed-ended with possible responses as strongly agree, agree, not sure/no opinion, disagree, and strongly disagree (Balnaves & Caputi, 2001, p. 267).

The questionnaire will be administered online to remove the time and distance constraints that often lead to problems associated with mortality. A pilot study involving three language therapists will be administered before the actual data collection phase to ensure that the questionnaire is reliable and valid in terms of consistency of measurement and ability to measure what it is intended to measure.

Statistics

Data collected from the field will be analyzed using a statistical program known as SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) with the view to providing answers to the noted research gaps. Descriptive statistics will be used to investigate the effectiveness of the computer-based intervention based on percentages, mean scores, and standard deviations of various questions contained in the questionnaire.

According to Balnaves and Caputi (2001), descriptive statistics are highly preferred in this type of study as they not only use measures of central tendency (e.g., mean scores) to describe the most typical value in a data set (in this case, effectiveness) but also employ measures of dispersion (e.g., variance and standard deviation) to describe the variability of the responses given. It is also possible to present findings using frequency distributions and graphical presentations that are created by the software program.

References

Balnaves, M., & Caputi, P. (2001). Introduction to quantitative research methods: An investigative approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Bauminger-Zviely, K., Kimhi, Y., & Agam-Ben-Artzi, G.A. (2014). Spontaneous peer conversation in preschoolers with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder versus typical development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(4), 363-373.

Chiang, H.M., & Carter, M. (2008). Spontaneity of communication in individuals with autism. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 38(4), 693-705.

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

Duffy, C., & Healy, O. (2011). Spontaneous communication in autism spectrum disorder: A review of topographies and interventions. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5(2), 977-983.

Goldsmith, T.R., & LeBlanc, L.A. (2004). Use of technology in intervention for children with autism. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, 1(2), 166-178.

Iversen, G.R., & Gergen, M. (1997). Statistics: The conceptual approach. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Kim, S.H., Junker, D., & Lord, C. (2014). Observation of spontaneous expressive language (OSEL): A new measure for spontaneous and expressive language of children with autism spectrum disorders and other communication disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(12), 3230-3244.

Kossyvaki, L., Jones, G., & Guildberg, K. (2012). The effect of adult interactive style on the spontaneous communication of young children with autism at school. British Journal of Special Education, 39(4), 173-184.

Loncola, J.A., & Graig-Unkefer, L. (2005). Teaching social communication skills to young urban children with autism. Education and Training in Developmental Disabilities, 40(2), 243-263.

Ploog, B., Scharf, A., Nelson, D., & Brooks, P. (2013). Use of computer-assisted technologies (CAT) to enhance social, communicative, and language development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 43(2), 301-322.

Potter, C., & Whittaker, C. (2001). Enabling communication in children with autism. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Stromer, R., Kimball, J.W., Kinney, E.M., & Taylor, B. (2006). Activity schedules, computer technology, and teaching children with autism spectrum disorders. A Focus on Autism & Other Developmental Disabilities, 21(1), 14-24.

Abstract

The paper reveals that the differences are present between white and black population segments in South Africa. The study states that the primary dissimilarities are defined by a different level of clarity, ambiguity, and involvement of emotions while building argumentation. Nonetheless, the critical similarity is the lack of competences in written communication due to the preference of oral interaction for the cultivation of trust.

Introduction

The ability to communicate with the assistance of the written skills requires attention in the modern world due to a high level of illiteracy in some regions such as South Asia and Africa (Kornblum, 2011). Nonetheless, written communication is more complicated while referring to the idea-expression due to the absence of personal contact (Martin & Chaney, 2012; Fielding, 2006). The primary goal of the paper is to analyze differences and similarities in written communication between black and white social segments in South Africa. In the end, the conclusions are drawn to summarize the findings acquired with the assistance of the statistical analysis and literature review.

Differences between Written Communication of Black and white Segments in South Africa

The primary difference in written communication is portrayed by the level of clarity among black and white citizens of South Africa (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In this instance, the whites to present their ideas in an organized manner while focusing on the achievement of the goals (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In turn, blacks tend to have a problem to present their ideas in the written form, as they have to rely on non-verbal communication while having a conversation in the real world (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012).

In terms of the presentation of the ideas in the written form, the whites tend to support their ideas with logical argumentation (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In turn, blacks tend to consider emotions and personal experiences a core basis for the relevant decision-making (Hurtley & Bruckman, 2008). This aspect is also identified by a different level of ambiguity and the significance of emotions.

Similarities between Written Communication of Black and White Segments in South Africa

Despite a wide range of differences, the core similarity is the preference of the oral communication to the written one due to the essentiality to build trusting relationships with the assistance of the personal contact (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). These aspects define the overall principles of South African business communication since they portray the necessity of the individual approach while establishing relationships with the partners. Consequently, both groups lack writing skills and are unable to present their ideas clearly due to the absence of direct interaction (Rasmussen, Mylonas, & Beck, 2012).

Additionally, it remains apparent that both social groups experience struggle due to the lack of practice of written communication (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2012). In this case, this matter is the primary source of difficulties for international business operations. Nonetheless, the existence of this factor can be explained with the unimportance of this approach to South African etiquette.

Conclusion

In the end, the aspects of written communication have differences and similarities while referring to the comparison of the key principles among whites and blacks in South Africa. The core differences can be explained by the dissimilar utilization of logic level of clarity and necessity of the expression of emotions as a key argument in the communications. Nonetheless, despite being vehemently different in the expression of the ideas in the written form, the critical similarity is the deficiency of the competence in the written communication due to the absence of the popularity of this aspect in South African business culture. In turn, this matter is present, as the whites and blacks highly value the essentiality of personal interactions while building trusting relationships with customers and partners.

References

Fielding, M. (2006). Effective communication in organizations: Preparing messages that communicate. Lansdowne, Cape Town: Juta & Co. Ltd. Web.

Hogeschool van Amsterdam. (2012). Where cultures meet: A cross-cultural comparison of business meeting styles. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Web.

Hurtley, P., & Bruckman, C. (2008). Business communication. London, UK: Routledge. Web.

Kornblum, W. (2011). Sociology in a changing world. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Web.

Martin, J., & Chaney, L. (2012). Global business etiquette: A guide to international communication and customs. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. Web.

Rasmussen, R., Mylonas, A., & Beck, H. (2012). Investigating business communication and technologies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Web.

Summary

Creating the environment in which students will be eager to share their experiences, collaborate actively, and address emerging conflicts efficiently by applying appropriate negotiation strategies is a crucial step toward enhancing the process of knowledge acquisition by the target population. In their article, Hale, Freed, Ricotta, Farris, and Smith (2017) stress the significance of a teacher using the communication approach that incorporates essential elements of body language.

According to the authors of the study, the adoption of a proper body language technique as the means of conversing with students is bound to lead to a massive improvement in the quality of the education process and leave a profound effect on learners. Apart from increasing the levels of investment among students, the use of a body-language-based communication framework triggers a rise in the levels of analytical thinking and successful problem-solving. Therefore, the tool must be considered a crucial addition to the set of communication strategies used by a teacher.

Reaction

I was far from being surprised to find out that body-language communication is viewed as essential for successful learning. Indeed, a significant amount of information is received with the help of nonverbal communication. Therefore, the idea of using body language as the means of identifying the levels of engagement among learners, as well as deploying specific elements of body language to make students pay attention to specific themes, ideas, and concepts that are addressed during the lesson seems quite legitimate to me.

However, the idea of incorporating body language into the process of teaching, especially when meeting the needs of ESL students, raises a lot of questions. For instance, I wonder whether it is possible to develop a set of universal signs that cannot possibly be misinterpreted by the learners whose ethnic and cultural backgrounds are different from the ones of a teacher and the rest of the class. The article inspires me to explore the challenges associated with deploying a body-language-based teaching strategy in an ESL classroom and identify the means of managing the associated difficulties successfully.

Implementation in a TESOL Classroom

To use a teaching strategy based on body language, an educator will have to consider the needs of learners carefully by taking account of the unique characteristics of the target population. For instance, teachers will have to use the elements of body language that can be misinterpreted by the representatives of specific cultures and ethnicities. The resulting set of gestures that cannot possibly be misinterpreted by any of the learners should be used as one of the tools for rendering essential information.

At the same time, an educator must keep in mind that body language is only a part of an efficient communication system. Thus, it must be used in tandem with other techniques contributing to a faster understanding of the essential information and acquisition of the relevant knowledge and skills. ESL learners are expected to develop crucial reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills within a relatively short amount of time once body language is incorporated into the set of available communication strategies.

Therefore, the adoption of the teaching techniques based on the active use of body language should be viewed as a necessity when addressing the needs of ESL learners. By using nonverbal elements of communication, a teacher will be able to deliver key messages without causing any misunderstandings. Thus, body language tools should be incorporated into the set of teaching tools to be used in the ESL setting.

Reference

Hale, A. J., Freed, J., Ricotta, D., Farris, G., & Smith, C. C. (2017). Twelve tips for effective body language for medical educators. Medical Teacher, 1(1), 1-6. Web.

Explain how the knowledge of psycholinguistic levels can help translators in producing an equivalent discourse in the process of translation

The language aspect of communication has to be examined for the efficient delivery and reception of information. The need for people to pick up, use, and comprehend language necessitated the demand to study the psychological aspect of language, which is referred to as psycholinguistics. The discipline digs into the neurological and psychological features of language in a bid to identify the factors underlying it from a scientific point of view. In this case, the knowledge of the various levels of psycholinguistics is necessary for professionals who translate one language into another without distorting the intended message.

From the neurological perspective of understanding language, the translators understand the importance of cognitive engagement and connectionism. The knowledge of the two aspects of translation enables the translators brain to read the source information and translate it instantly without errors. The psychology of language entails the application of some syntactic rules that govern the organisation of information received before it is translated. In this view, language is presented in the form of symbols and strings that need to be processed in a digital like manner. Therefore, before translating any language, the translator engages his/her left hemisphere actively whereby a series of analyses take place for the extraction of the right words. This technique of translation is further enhanced by the local serial principle (LSP) that provides for the sequential processing of symbols before translation. In this regard, information received by the translator has to undergo some serial processing before the symbols are translated to avoid the distortion of information.

In order to understand the text information from the source, the translators need to connect well with their intuition. By knowing this aspect of language, the translators would be in a position to think and translate according to the context simultaneously. For this reason, the translators use their common sense to comprehend the literary piece of information intuitively as presented to them before converting it into the preferred language. Knowledge of the connectionism concept equips the translators with the essential techniques of linking objects with the discourse. Thus, the engagement of the brain not only enhances the clarity of the discourse, but also puts it into the right context, thus resulting in better comprehension.

Knowledge in psycholinguistics adorns the translators with a well-structured framework for purposes of information processing. Understanding the systematic change of standard speech gives the translators an edge, and thus they engage their memory in processing the source text or sounds in their approach. Before interpreting the sentences and clauses semantically, the translator firstly divides the speech into natural linguistic groups comprising of clauses and sentences. Equivalent translation then proceeds after engaging the memory and systematic processing in the brain.

Therefore, psycholinguistics is essential for the enhancement of the translation process concerning connecting the symbolised ideas in the literary text through connectionism. In this regard, the neurological aspect of communication becomes a primary factor for consideration in a bid to engage in an efficient discourse. This aspect ensures that grammatical and orthographic errors are avoided whereby comprehensiveness of the information in the target language is achieved. In this light, translators can deliver translations that do not welcome the suspicion that they have been translated into, thus resulting in the delivery of quality literary works of translation.

Discuss how the translation of discourse and culture can be a challenge while translated from one language into another

The translation of language and discourse can be a threat to the efficient translation of one language into another. Literary texts of historical and cultural importance require a lot of effort from the translator to avoid falling victim of cultural variations in translating. Since language is a primary aspect of culture, it is significant to uphold it since it is a tool that is used for socialisation through discourse. Discourse entails the use of names and episodes that have substantial meaning to a particular culture whose language is subject to translation. Therefore, the translator needs to maintain the original context of the translation that could have a similar comprehension when the translated literary text is presented to people of a different culture.

The problem of translating unique names has troubled translators for a long time. In literary materials, characters are given names that go in line with their attributes in a particular culture. The need to translate the names correctly without interfering with the cultural context is thus essential for efficiency. For instance, a good number of the character names in the Harry Potter series had to be translated into other languages considering the context and accuracy. This aspect implies that the new names given to the characters have to consider the culture of the new language that it is being translated to in a bid to gain relevance in the new setting given that Harry Potter is an aesthetic piece of literature. In this regard, the need to bring out the artistic attributes of the story has to consider the translated names impact in the new context based on the culture. For this reason, cultural diversity challenges translators especially when character names have to maintain their meaning.

Religion is an important feature of culture whereby locations or names given to characters in the source text may have spiritual meaning. The religious context in which the names appear in the original text needs to be acknowledged by the translator in a bid to uphold the spiritual relevance that they possess. For example, the Islamic culture values names that have religious sense, thus leading to the commonality of names such as Abdullah and Mohammed. Translating these names from the Arabic context to a language of different culture poses problems in case the other culture does not have names that symbolise the religious attributes of the characters. The use of proper names in the Arabic culture portrays the conservative nature of their culture that might be contrary to other religions in which the text needs to be translated. Muslims have a unique way of conducting their greetings, thus implying that the discourse of the translated greetings might have different implications for other cultures. Social functions embedded in religion in the form of greetings characterised by self-ingratiation, humility before God, gratitude, and expressions of philanthropy tend to pose contextual challenges in translation.

Some communities use two languages at the same time for different reasons. Sociolinguistics refers to this situation as diglossia. For instance, discourse in the Arabic culture is characterised by diglossia that in turn could pose problematic cases when translating. The highly used vernacular (H) may prove to be easier to translate as compared to the lowly used vernacular (L), thus causing difficulties in translation. For instance, in the Arabic culture, H is used for formal purposes while L is common in colloquial or informal discourses. In this light, the application of lowly used vernacular tends to inhibit accurate translation since evoking the reactions intended could be relatively hard in another culture.

Comprehension begins with the perception of sounds Discuss this notion by providing an analysis of the speech organs and how they produce sounds: consonants and vowels

The reception of sounds during communication elicits different perceptions that affect the comprehension of the intended message. Speech perceptions from the psycholinguistics point of view entail picking the relevant information presented by the source whereby the linguistic capabilities of the listener are put to the test. The speech signal is usually given in the form of sounds that incorporates consonants and vowels. The production of speech is facilitated by various speech organs that undergo precise mechanisms as one speaks. Understanding how the organs of speech function provides one with valid information that could be used to understand foreign languages and enhance correct interpretation. Therefore, the way vowels and consonants are uttered influences the first impression and comprehension in the process of communication.

Speech organs above the lungs facilitate the production of speech in the form of consonants and vowels whereby air from the lungs is modified into sounds. The significant organs in this process include the nose, tongue, glottis, pharynx, and the lips. When these organs are closed or narrowed, air from the lungs is regulated, thus resulting in the production of vowels and consonants in the form of sounds that can be recognised by the listener. Therefore, the listener identifies the individual sounds that form words that build meaningful sentences regarding the topic that is being discussed. The listeners comprehend the sounds better through maintaining eye contact with the lips movement, hence sending signals to their brain, thus creating different perceptions in the process.

The frequency at which the listeners hear a word from the speaker enhances the right comprehension of the communicated message. The regular pattern of words uttered by the speaker implies that the listener perceptions are enhanced, hence efficiency in communication. The aspect of frequency in the reception of the regular consonants and vowels is psychological in nature, thus indicating that the neurological framework is tuned according to the context. Therefore, listeners are highly accurate in sound recognition and interpretation when the stimuli they hear is from the same speaker since they are familiar with their voice.

The lexical neighbourhood of a word also plays a vital role in its perception. Consonants and vowels forming words that have many similarly pronounced words tend to create difficulties in comprehending the actual intended meaning. For instance, in English, the word cat has a number of neighbouring words that tend to delay the comprehension of the sounds uttered by the speaker. For this reason, consonants and vowels produced to form words that do not have many lexical neighbours tend to be comprehended fast according to the context.

Listeners translate the speech that they hear according to their understanding. Some listeners encode the sounds received in idealised or symbolic forms. In most cases, this aspect depends on the listeners and the speakers genders. For this reason, recorded vowel stimuli tend to evoke different perceptions of the message when the gender of the speaker is concealed. The accent too has a bearing on the interpretation of vowels and consonants. Speakers that are not fluent in the language they are communicating in may face accent problems, thus affecting the comprehension of sounds among listeners. Consequently, different perceptions of the sounds emanate thereby challenging comprehension.