Grading the ‘cultural literacy’ project

The essay examines the argument advanced by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., for instituting ‘cultural literacy’ as a fundamental priority of schools. A number of confusions and equivocations in Hirsch's reasoning are identified, and the propensity of his project to indoctrinate is exposed. Among the features of Hirsch's argument shown to be troubling are his shifting construal of ‘language’, his inconsistency about the requirements of cultural literacy, and his uncritical relation to traditional images of the American past and present. The upshot is to raise the question why Hirsch's project has elicited wide support and praise.     

Referenzsemantik in der Partnermodellierung

How can we explain that an assertion on something perceived can be understood in the same manner by somebody who cannot perceive that scene? This problem bases the interest in computational linguistics in how listener modeling could possibly be harmonized with reference semantics. Mental images substituting real perception appear as a way out. The architecture of the listener model has to be adapted to the creation and use of such pictorial data structures. Furthermore, the relation between the latter and a verbal (i. e., propositional) representation must be understood. The resulting architecture of a listener model with reference semantics can be employed to solve communicational problems from three general classes in a better way, as is demonstrated by an example implementation.     

The effects of room management and small-group procedures on the behavior of older adults who have Alzheimer's disease

The effects of room management and small groups procedures on the behavior of five older adults with Alzheimer's Disease was experimentally evaluated by a multielement design with replications across five subjects. Engagement during both room management and small groups was higher than during no treatment baselines. The effects on affective and maladaptive behaviors were of small magnitude. Evidence of individual differences was found both with respect to absolute proportions of time spent in various behaviors and with respect to interactions between individual differences and experimental conditions.     

Test anxiety and evaluation threat: Children's behavior in the classroom

Children differing in test anxiety level were observed in two art classes, one immediately preceding a classroom examination, the other when no examination was expected. The observational analyses indicated the following: (a) When an examination was expected there were general increases both in children's task orientation and in their concern with other's evaluations, and a decrease in general activity level. It was suggested that future research examine the effects of additional situational variables on children's classroom behaviors, (b) Highly test-anxious children were generally hardworking and inactive. They reacted to examination expectancy with a decrease in task orientation, reduction in communications, and attentional constriction. Less anxious children reacted to examination expectancy by working harder, eliminating task-irrelevant behaviors, and seeking feedback. These results were interpreted as supporting a cognitive theory of test anxiety.This research was supported by Canada Council Grant No. S71-0272.