Cassandra in the Classroom: Teaching and Moral Madness

Moral madness is a symptom of the moral violence experienced by teachers who are expected to exercise responsibility for their students and their work, but whose moral voice is misrecognized as self-interest and whose moral agency is suppressed. I conduct a feminist ethical analysis of the figure of Cassandra to examine the ways in which teachers may be driven to moral madness.     

Recalling semantic information about personally known faces and voices

Previous research that investigated whether biographical information about familiar people is harder to retrieve from voices than from faces produced contrasting results. However, studies that used a strict control of the content of spoken extracts reported that semantic information about familiar people is easier to retrieve when recognising a face than when recognising a voice. In all previous studies faces and voices of famous people were used as stimuli. In the present study, personally familiar people's voices and faces (standard faces and blurred faces) were used. Presenting such people (i.e., participants’ teachers) allowed controlling still more strictly the content of the spoken extracts since it was possible to ask all the target persons to speak the same words. In addition, it was previously stressed that we encounter famous people's faces in the media more frequently than we hear their voice. This methodological difficulty was presumably reduced when teachers’ faces were presented. Present results showed a significant decrease in retrieval of biographical information from familiar voices relative to blurred faces even though the level of overall recognition was similar for blurred faces and voices. The role of the relative distinctiveness of voices and faces is discussed and further investigation is proposed.     

Relationship between academic placement and perception of abuse of the voice

Informal polling of public school speech-language pathologists indicated that special education teachers referred more children for disorders of voice than did regular classroom educators. This study evaluated the effect of academic placement (regular or special education settings) upon children's and their teachers' ratings of abuse of the voice. Analysis showed the two groups of teachers' criteria for judging abusive vocal behaviors differed while the children's ratings from each setting did not differ. The special educators appeared to perceive their students' vocal behavior as more abusive possibly due to environmental constraints, training or the social affective interactions of their students.     

Teaching the Bible as a common culture

This essay discusses the teaching of Bible in the Israeli public school as reflected in the encounter between new immigrants and long-time Israelis during the two first decades of the state. The Israeli secular curriculum defines the study of the Bible as a prime agent of Zionist acculturation. This definition, however, was challenged by the arrival of new immigrants, pupils and teachers alike, who did not view the Bible – as it was taught in secular schools – as primarily a means of reinforcing the link between Jews and their land. For them, this conception had no resonance in the traditional cultures in which they had been reared, which perceived and taught the Bible as an important component in defining Jewish religious identity. The result was cultural interaction, which expressed itself in various ways. Some immigrants assimilated the prevalent secular view of the Bible, while others expressed reservation and continued to voice criticism. At the same time, there were non-immigrant teachers who adopted immigrant usages, for instance, men covering their heads during Bible lessons. But there was also interaction between teachers of varying background, and here the result was an amalgam, even a fruitful pluralism of approaches.     

Negotiating Femininity: Power and Strategies of Mexican American Girls

Popular views that female development entails a loss of voice and power in relationships have not been explored with Latina girls. In this study, data were collected from eight low-income Mexican American girls in middle and high school using surveys and open-ended interview questions. The findings show they view others as holding traditional expectations about how girls should behave, whereas they themselves engage in a more complex critique and performance of femininities in relationships with their family, peers, and teachers. The findings challenge assumptions that girls experience a linear loss of voice during adolescence, and suggest a distinction between personal power and power to help others. Finally, they show the importance of culture in understanding how girls negotiate gender roles.     

Prosodic aspects of motherese: effects on gaze and responsiveness in developmentally disabled children

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using voice tones (prosody) typical of "motherese" (O. K. Garnica, 1977, in C. E. Snow & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Talking to Children: Language Input and Acquisition, pp. 63-88, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press) on responsiveness and eye gaze in children with severe handicaps. Specifically, two conditions, "motherese" and "conversational" voice tones, were compared. The current study presents data from naturalistic observations of six children, and controlled experimental manipulations with four children. The results of the naturalistic observations in Study 1 suggested a positive relationship between the use of voice tones typical of "motherese" and responsiveness and eye gaze. Further analysis using an alternating treatments design in Study 2 revealed similar results. Specifically, the use of prosody associated with "motherese" showed increased levels of eye gaze when compared to the use of "conversational tones." The results suggest the importance of considering normal development in analyzing social and teaching interactions between teachers and severely handicapped children.     

VoiceRelay: Voice key operation using Visual Basic

Using a voice key is a popular method for recording vocal response times in a variety of language production tasks. This article describes a class module called VoiceRelay that can be easily utilized in Visual Basic programs for voice key operation. This software-based voice key offers the precision of traditional voice keys (although accuracy is system dependent), as well as the flexibility of volume and sensitivity control. However, VoiceRelay is a considerably less expensive alternative for recording vocal response times because it operates with existing PC hardware and does not require the purchase of external response boxes or additional experiment-generation software. A sample project demonstrating implementation of the VoiceRelay class module may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive,www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

VoiceRelay: voice key operation using visual basic.

Using a voice key is a popular method for recording vocal response times in a variety of language production tasks. This article describes a class module called VoiceRelay that can be easily utilized in Visual Basic programs for voice key operation. This software-based voice key offers the precision of traditional voice keys (although accuracy is system dependent), as well as the flexibility of volume and sensitivity control. However, VoiceRelay is a considerably less expensive alternative for recording vocal response times because it operates with existing PC hardware and does not require the purchase of external response boxes or additional experiment-generation software. A sample project demonstrating implementation of the VoiceRelay class module may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive, www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

'It's who you know, not what you know!': Penetrating the credentialling ideology

The kinds of messages teachers give students regarding the value of credentials in the job-getting package during a period of high youth unemployment are explored. The response made by students to the credentialling ideology promoted in schools, and their construction of the job-getting formula, are also described. The validity of the two versions of job-getting strategies is considered in the light of evidence provided by a number of empirical research projects. The superiority of student knowledge in this area is used to present a case for a critical and democratic education which appropriates and legitimises the student voice.     

员工建言行为的人口统计特征元分析

研究目的在于明确人口统计学特征与员工建言行为的关系。共81篇实证文献被纳入元分析, 被试人数为39118人。结果发现, 员工年龄、教育程度、组织任期和职位均与建言行为显著正相关, 即年龄越大、受教育程度越高、组织任期越长的员工会表现出越多建言行为; 同时, 在不同的文化背景下, 职位高低与建言行为的关系存在显著差异, 受中国传统文化影响, 高、低职位员工的建言行为数量差异明显, 而在非中国情境下, 员工职位高低对其建言行为的数量影响差异不明显; 此外, 建言行为的数据来源对员工年龄与建言行为之间的关系存在显著调节作用, 采用他评方式时, 年龄与建言行为的正向关系更为显著。研究结果为人口统计特征预测建言行为提供较为精确的估计, 并为未来建言行为的相关研究指引了方向。     

Selective attention in perceptual adjustments to voice

The effects of perceptual adjustments to voice information on the perception of isolated spoken words were examined. In two experiments, spoken target words were preceded or followed within a trial by a neutral word spoken in the same voice or in a different voice as the target. Over-all, words were reproduced more accurately on trials on which the voice of the neutral word matched the voice of the spoken target word, suggesting that perceptual adjustments to voice interfere with word processing. This result, however, was mediated by selective attention to voice. The results provide further evidence of a close processing relationship between perceptual adjustments to voice and spoken word recognition.     

Contributions of surface and conceptual information to recognition memory

The present experiments were designed to determine whether memory for the voice in which a word is spoken is retained in a memory system that is separate from episodic memory or, instead, whether episodic memory represents both word and voice information. These two positions were evaluated by assessing the effects of study-to-test changes in voice on recognition memory after a variety of encoding tasks that varied in processing requirements. In three experiments, the subjects studied a list of words produced by six voices. The voice in which the word was spoken during a subsequent explicit recognition test was either the same as or different from the voice used in the study phase. The results showed that word recognition was affected by changes in voice after each encoding condition and that the magnitude of the voice effect was unaffected by the type of encoding task. The results suggest that spoken words are represented in long-term memory as episodic traces that contain talker-specific perceptual information.     

Separate but Equal: Teachers’ Intolerance for Ethnic,and Cultural Diversity as Experienced in 6th Grade Israeli Classrooms

This study gave a voice to 71 Israel-born and immigrant students from the former USSR and from Ethiopia to convey in their own words their experience of teachers’ intolerance for ethnic and cultural diversity in 6^th grade classrooms. In-depth group and individual interviews were conducted and subsequently analyzed through Strauss constant comparative method. Israeli native and students from the former USSR, Ethiopia, and Morocco reported that immigrant and ethnic students’ language, culture and traditions were often the target of teachers’ verbal attacks, and prejudice. Immigrant parents were not spared by teachers and demeaned for their inability to help their children. Ethiopians’ skin color was mentioned as a major criterion for exclusion and separation. Fear of punishment and parents’ reluctance to interfere often rendered students helpless. This study stresses the centrality of schools and teachers in reflecting the acculturation expectations of the dominant society and in enabling immigrant students achieve a safe sense of ethnic identity. Teacher education programs that enhance teaching in culturally diverse classroom are imperative in global economy with worldwide migration.     

Reviews

Abstract

By juxtaposing the findings, analysis and conclusions of a recent educational paper with appropriate theological writings, this article seeks to problematize Anglican bishops' commitment to listen to the experience of lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) people. The article starts by describing the educational research, its general conclusions and some of the methodological issues around voice raised by qualitative enquiry. Continuing the theme of voice, it looks at three elements of theological method, which might prevent the hearing of such accounts. Given this evidence, and the way in which lifestories of marginalized people tend to be devalued, the argument is reversed to ask whether Church authorities can be entrusted with them. Returning to the study of trainee teachers, more attention is given to their particular stories as the basis for theological reflection, around three emerging themes: discrimination, resistance and identity. Finally, methodological concerns are highlighted, which enable narratives of emancipation to be pursued, and to encourage a more fluid view of Jesus as storytelling ‘exemplar of resistance’.     

Differential effects of cue dependency on item and source memory

The authors investigated the cue dependency of source and item memory. Individuals listened to words spoken by a man or a woman and later determined whether a test word was previously presented by a man or by a woman, or whether it was a new word. Cue dependent effects were assessed by presenting test words with (a) the same voice (match condition) that originally presented the word, (b) a different but familiar voice (mismatch condition), (c) a novel test voice (novel condition), and (d) no test voice (control condition). Compared with the control condition, source recollection was facilitated in matching-context conditions, disrupted in mismatching-context conditions, and not affected in novel test conditions. By contrast, item recognition was not affected by the match-mismatch manipulation but was significantly worse in novel test voice conditions. The authors propose an associative source interference view to account for the voice match-mismatch effects observed in source recollection.     

'She Herself was the Ultimate Rule': Arabic biographies of missionary teachers and their pupils

Arabic biographies of missionary teachers and their pupils found in magazines published in Cairo and Beirut voice an indigenous perspective on missionary activity by educated women and men. The feelings of the missionaries' target population reveal a tension between local histories and foreign incursions as well as between female domesticity and professional aspirations. This larger imperial discourse informed worldwide missionary agendas for women at the turn of the twentieth century; however, the individual biographies cited within the paper demonstrate the personal interaction and effects on both foreign missionary and local women within their specific context through insightful Arab sources.     

Impression management motive and voice: Moderating effects of self‐monitoring,self‐efficacy,and voice instrumentality

The purpose of this study is to examine how employees’ impression management motive influences their voice by considering dispositional and situational variables. Drawing on the theory of self‐motive, we hypothesized that voice would be more positively related to impression management motive than prosocial motive. In addition, based on the interactional approach of motive and trait and trait activation theory, we hypothesized that the relationship between impression management motive and voice would be moderated by self‐monitoring, self‐efficacy, and voice instrumentality. Using a sample of 307 supervisor–subordinate dyads from South Korea, we found that, although prosocial motive had a positive influence on voice, impression management motive had a stronger influence on voice than prosocial motive. We also found that the positive influence of impression management motive on voice was stronger for employees with high levels of self‐monitoring, self‐efficacy, and voice instrumentality. This study helps verify the boundary conditions as to when impression management motive is strongly related to voice. In addition, this study will provide theoretical clues for resolving the inconsistent findings on the relationship between impression management motive and voice.     

Prenatal discrimination of a male and a female voice uttering the same sentence

Using a habituation/dishabituation procedure, near-term foetuses (36-39 weeks gestational age) were tested in a low variability HR state, to examine whether they could discriminate between a male and a female voice repeatedly uttering the same short sentence. Prosody and loudness of the two voices were controlled. Once the foetal heart rate (HR) habituated to the first voice, the effect of a second voice was investigated in two experimental conditions: male/female voice and female/male voice. HR variations after the onset of the second voice were compared to those occurring in two control conditions in which the same voice was presented twice (male/female voice and female/female voice). Highly conservative statistical criteria taking each subject's pre-stimulus HR variability into account showed that most foetuses exposed to the voice change displayed decelerative cardiac changes, with no significant difference between the two conditions. These HR decelerations were found in the first seconds following the onset of the new voice, and reached their peak amplitude within 10 s in most subjects. These responses lasted more than 10 s for two-thirds of the experimental subjects. Mostly transient HR accelerations and only a few decelerative changes were recorded in the control subjects. Furthermore, mean amplitudes of these changes were significantly lower than the HR decelerations induced by the new voice in the experimental conditions, suggesting that the latter were not spontaneous HR modifications but rather cardiac responses to the voice change. It is argued that near-term foetuses may perceive a difference between voice characteristics of two speakers when they are highly contrasted for fundamental frequency and timbre.     

Characterizing positive and negative ‘voicers’ in elite sport teams: The role of the Five Factor Model and narcissism in players’ frequency and passing on of voice

ObjectiveThis study examined the role of the Five Factor Model and grandiose narcissism in players’ positive (i.e., constructive voice, supportive voice) and negative voice (i.e., defensive voice, destructive voice) in elite sport teams.MethodPlayers from six field hockey and seven korfball teams from the two highest national levels were assessed for four weeks. Using social network analyses, players’ personality was related to their self-reported voice frequency, their voice frequency as perceived by all teammates (other-ratings), and the extent to which they pass on voice.ResultsExtraversion was positively related to players’ frequency of positive and negative voice. Other traits such as conscientiousness and emotional stability were only related to, respectively, positive or negative types of voice. Not all personalities (e.g., extraversion) were consistent in how they assess their own voice versus how others perceive this. Interestingly, traits such as extraversion, emotional stability and the agentic facet of narcissism were found to predict the passing on of voice.ConclusionThis study explored the importance of personality for (a) players’ frequency of a differentiated set of positive and negative voice and (b) the extent to which they function as ‘gates’ that more covertly pass on voice. Further, the results provide perspective on how specific personalities view their voice behavior versus how their teammates perceive their voice behavior. In this way, this study is a first step in identifying players who have the potential to endanger or strengthen a team in a clear or subtle, yet influential way.