Practical Knowledge of Language

One of the main challenges in the philosophy of language is determining the form of knowledge of the rules of language. Michael Dummett has put forth the view that knowledge of the rules of language is a kind of implicit knowledge; some philosophers have mistakenly conceived of this type of knowledge as a kind of knowledge-that. In a recent paper in this journal, Patricia Hanna argues against Dummett’s knowledge-that view and proposes instead a knowledge-how view in which knowledge of the rules of language is a kind of practical knowledge, like an agent’s non-propositional knowledge of counting. In this paper I argue, first, that Hanna misunderstands Dummett’s conception of knowledge of linguistic rules, and, second, that Dummett’s considerations of practical knowledge of language pose a problem for Hanna’s knowledge-how view. At the end of the paper, I briefly sketch an account of practical knowledge of language that meets the requirements set by Dummett.     

Involving students in a blended course via teacher's initiation in Web-enhanced collaborative learning

Teachers of application software in Taiwan have traditionally applied disjointed and out-of-context examples in their teaching, which usually result in ineffective learning outcomes. A Web-enhanced, collaborative learning approach was therefore adopted to help students become involved in a course more positively. Additionally, the teacher provided initiation, establishing the essential knowledge and required skills for students at the beginning of the course in order to help students climb the learning curve. The results showed that students who received Web-enhanced collaborative learning with initiation were significantly more involved than those who did not receive the initiation. Moreover, findings also revealed that the initiation contributed to significant increases in students' involvement at the end of the course. The implications for teachers, schools, and scholars who plan to provide Web-based learning for their students are also discussed.     

Position Sense Dysfunction Affects Proximal and Distal Arm Joints in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

It is unclear, whether proprioceptive dysfunction in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is localized affecting only specific joints or whether it is generalized affecting proximal and distal joints. Thus, this study assessed position sense acuity at the elbow and wrist in twenty children with DCD (age: 9–11 yrs.) using a joint position matching paradigm. Position sense bias (systematic error) at either joint was not significantly higher in DCD children when compared to typically developing children (TD). However, DCD children exhibited significantly lower position sense precision (random error) than TD children at both elbow and wrist. That is, response reliability to proprioceptive stimuli is altered in DCD. Our findings are consistent with a view that proprioceptive dysfunction in DCD is generalized in nature.     

Role of visual-perceptual skills (non-motor) in children with developmental coordination disorder

The purposes of this study were to examine test-retest reliability of the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (Non-Motor)-Revised (TVPS-R), to explore motor-free visual-perceptual skills, and to categorize subtypes thereof in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). One hundred and seventy-eight children, aged 9 and 10 years, identified as having DCD with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC), were assessed, along with 200 typically developing children. The results showed good test-retest reliability for the total perceptual quotient scores of the TVPS-R, but not for all subtests. Children with DCD performed significantly poorer compared to typically developing children on the visual-perceptual test, but the deficits were not common to all children with DCD. This study supported the stance that we should consider the heterogeneous characteristics of children with DCD when designing experimental studies or developing educational interventions.     

Relation of dispositional optimism with burnout among athletes

Optimism is important in enhancing human psychological and physical well-being; however, the association of optimism with burnout has received little attention in sport psychology. This study recruited 139 young volleyball players (M = 16.3 yr., SD = 0.8) to examine this relation. Athletes completed the Chinese version of the Life Orientation Test at Time 1 and 4 mo. later (Time 2). The Chinese version of the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire was also administered. Analysis showed scores on optimism were negatively related to athletes' burnout scores.     

Orthographic combinability and phonological consistency effects in reading Chinese phonograms: an event-related potential study

In this study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to trace the temporal dynamics of phonological consistency and phonetic combinability in the reading of Chinese phonograms. The data showed a significant consistency-by-combinability interaction at N170. High phonetic combinability characters elicited greater negativity at N170 than did low phonetic combinability characters, and the combinability effect was only found in the reading of high consistency characters. The results support the phonological mapping hypothesis of the reading-related N170 effect and suggest that the earlier stages of visual word recognition are shaped by the mapping of orthography to phonology even in Chinese. Moreover, our data revealed both consistency and combinability effects at P200 and N400, accounted for by the two-stage framework for visual word recognition. That is, characters with high combinability or high consistency facilitated the earlier stages of orthographic or phonological processing which were due to increased activation at the perceptual level; consequently, less positive P200 was demonstrated. In the later stages, high combinability or high consistency characters were associated with a larger semantic neighborhood, which increased semantic competition and exaggerated the N400 effect. These data support the assumption of radical-based inputs proposed by the lexical constituent model. However, the phonetic consistency effects found at N170 and P200 cannot be reconciled with the current framework of the lexical constituent model. A possible revision will be discussed.     

The Effect of Terminologies on Attitudes Toward Advertisements and Brands: Consumer Product Knowledge as a Moderator

Purpose  

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between advertisement terminology and consumer product knowledge in the attitudes toward advertisements and brands.