Conversational Skills Research Articles

Conversation difficulties rather than language deficits are linked to emotional problems in school children with hearing loss

BackgroundSocial communication difficulties are often associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as language disorder, intellectual development disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder, which impedes the investigation of the specific role of social communication problems in mental health outcomes.AimsWe investigated the association between conversation difficulties and increased risk of mental health problems in schoolchildren with hearing loss. It can be assumed of this sample that conversation difficulties are primarily due to limited auditory access to language rather than neurobiological deficits.MethodsFive complete birth cohorts of Carinthian children (n = 53) with significant hearing loss and an intelligence quotient over 70 were assessed in terms of language abilities in standardized tests and in terms of their conversation skills by use of a short teacher checklist developed by the authors. Mental health problems were assessed by means of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire by parents and teachers.ResultsConversation deficits were significantly correlated with lower SDQ emotional problems and total problem scores as rated by parents and lower peer problems scores as rated by teachers. Controlling for degree of hearing loss, maternal education and language skills, confirmed the specific value of conversation skills as a predictor of emotional problems (p = 0.010).ConclusionWith regard to mental health, our results suggest a focus on the assessment of conversation skills in addition to language abilities.

Need for Further Training for Function Holders of Cancer Self-Help Organizations

As part of the Center for Competence Development in Cancer Self-Help at the University Medical Center Freiburg, an analysis of the need for training and education was conducted among the member organizations of the House of the Cancer Patient Support Associations of Germany (HKSH). The online survey took place from February to April 2021 and was completed by functionaries at various organization levels and group members. In a questionnaire developed together with self-help representatives 19 potential training topics were ranked in terms of importance. In addition, it was indicated whether the respective topic was perceived as sufficiently covered by already existing qualification offers. Using a forced-choice approach, respondents finally named the five most important topics for them. The topics that a particularly high proportion of the N=293 respondents identified as "very important" and which at the same time were perceived as inadequately addressed by existing qualification offers were dealing with stressful issues (e. g. relapse, metastases, dying), recruiting new members and successors for association tasks, socio-legal aspects, as well as conversational and communication skills. In the prioritization of the five most important topics, the first three topics were named again, with dealing with excessive demands and assistance for self-care/burnout prevention following in fourth place and in the fifth place the topics of knowledge in dealing with complementary medicine and knowledge of professional care structures in oncology, each with the same number of votes. There was a clear need for a broad range of training topics that goes beyond the existing offers of the cancer self-help organizations. Through the needs analysis, the topics could be identified which are prioritized as training topics across all ten member organizations of the HKSH. Based on this needs assessment, the respective training courses can be prioritized and implemented in cooperation with the patient representatives of the HKSH.

Curating feedback for parents based on interactions during parent–child book reading activities

Assessing child language and communication skills in naturalistic settings requires a motivating framework for adults and children to interact. Book reading is widely used by parents to interact with children, providing parents opportunities to engage children in conversation and practice communication skills. Recordings of interactions between parents and children can be automatically analyzed to provide feedback to parents to maximize developmental benefits of book reading. Encouraging children to participate actively in book reading yields gains in terms of language acquisition and improved literacy. In this study, we focus on extracting fruitful feedback from parent–child book reading activities for parents. Audio evaluated were collected by consenting families in home settings during parent–child science book reading activities. A range of parameters are analyzed to track reading/learning behaviors that include number of questions asked, number of conversational turns, number of words spoken, repetition, and vocabulary diversity. These parameters can help track engagement of story reading, including changes over time. Discussions with various stakeholders including parents, teachers and researchers will be presented. Speech technology automation of this analysis process can help parents track language development, improve communication skills, and increase school preparedness of their children. [Work sponsored by NSF Grants #1918032 & #1918012.]

모바일 앱을 활용한 문장 수준의 영어학습이 산업대학 학생들에게 미치는 학습영향

This study examines the effects of using a smartphone application(App) for English learning on industrial college students. It focuses on the learning of English sentences by participants who are lacking practical communication skills. 42 participants used the App to learn sentences taught in an English elective course over a semester. They took the conversation class first and learned key sentences from the class using the App every week during the semester. When the course was finished, this study conducted a post-semester survey to examine the effects of using the App. As a result, first, this study found that participants had the attitudes of being repetitive and steady, self-directed, and willing to use spare time for learning English. Second, this study found that the App helped to improve participants’ motivation, confidence, and interests. The results also showed that the App helped students with their English reading, listening, vocabulary and expressions, understanding of sentences, and English conversation skills well. Overall, this study confirms that using an App satisfies the needs of industrial college students who want to improve their practical communication skills. Finally, this study provides some suggestions on how to improve English communication skills for industrial college students.

An Open Source Virtual Reality Training Framework for the Criminal Justice System

We developed an open-source training framework to practice conversation skills in a controlled and immersive virtual reality (VR) environment. Virtual characters with different biographies were developed with which a conversation using natural language is possible. The virtual characters integrate a dialog management system (ChatScript) to provide different biographical memories. Natural language processing for the German language is integrated by using Kaldi, an open-source speech recognition toolkit. As the framework allows for interchangeable content there are many different possible application cases to apply within the criminal justice system. The VR frameworks code is available under an open-source license. In this article, an overview of the framework’s functionality is given as well as an outlook on possible areas of application. Statements about user acceptance and usability cannot yet be made, as relevant data have first to be gathered through a concrete application case.

The beginning of a friendship: Teaching individuals with autism to identify shared interests.

Individuals with conversation skill deficits often have difficulties discriminating cues of interest and uninterest from their conversation partner(s). We used behavioral skills training (BST) to teach 3 individuals with autism spectrum disorder to converse about the conversation partner's topics of interest, initiate strategic preferred topics to identify shared interests after indices of uninterest, and end the conversation. We assessed generality of each skill across conversation partners and ratings of social acceptability. We replicated previous research on BST producing robust increases in following the conversation, shifting the topic of conversation, and ending the conversation. In addition, all participants learned to categorize shared interests. We observed overall high levels of generality across following, shifting, and ending the conversation with all conversation partners. However, for 2 out of the 3 participants the inclusion of rules was necessary to promote the generality of the intraverbal categorization response. We discuss the implication of these findings for clinical practice and future research.

Tibetiešu valodas specifika un mācību metodes Latvijā

The article offers a unique study on Tibetan language teaching methods and the usage in Latvia. Nowadays, more and more Buddhist masters from Europe and India arrive in Latvia; they are visiting Tibetan delegations from the Tibet Autonomous Region of the PRC. That is why the demand of the Tibetan language in Latvia constantly increases. In Europe, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the classical Tibetan language was mainly studied. The grammar-translation method dominated in teaching and studies, so that language learners would be able to translate Buddhist scriptures. But now, in the 21st century, thanks to the globalization, many Latvians have come into direct contact with the Tibetan culture and Tibetans. Thus, there is a real need for conversational skills, which can be acquired in a formal or informal way through communicative methods. The article consists of three parts. In the first chapter a sociolinguistic approach is used to illustrate the topicality of the Tibetan language in the Latvian society. In the second chapter the main differences of Tibetan and Latvian languages are highlighted from the perspective of contrastive linguistics. But the most important is the third part of the research, which is based on the author’s personal pedagogic experience, as well as on the theoretical and statistical conclusions made in the first and second chapters. First, the learning environment and opportunities for learning the Tibetan language in Latvia are evaluated, then the possible teaching methods and types are analysed, but in the end the author enlists and evaluates the most important teaching materials.

The Students’ Perception of the Teaching Methods and Media on Mandarin Conversation Online Learning at University

Mandarin is the second most widely used foreign language in the world. Teaching Mandarin needs appropriate teaching methods and media to achieve learning objectives. Researchers researched the learning of Mandarin conversation in one of the private universities of Bandung to analyze the influence of teaching methods applied and teaching media used during online learning. The research involved a descriptive analysis method with a qualitative approach. Data collection was done by filling out questionnaires and interviews to determine the alignment of teaching methods and teaching media used and the influence of teaching methods and media on online learning of Mandarin conversation in that university. The results showed that learning Mandarin conversation online using three learning methods (audio-lingual, communicative approach, and task-based methods) and online teaching media Zoom Meeting, YouTube, Morning, and WhatsApp was perceived as effective. It could improve university students’ Mandarin conversation skills.

Soft skills for success for job seekers with autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND: Direct Skills Teaching (DST) is a method for distilling a skill into digestible components for ease of teaching and learning of a new skill. Job retention is a complex phenomenon requiring numerous social competencies that include verbal and non-verbal fluency among others. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle with social communication and therefore are at a disadvantage in employment settings; even when otherwise qualified for the position. OBJECTIVE: This preliminary pilot study tested the feasibility of a DST group intervention to assist individuals with ASD with work-related soft skills, with a particular focus on informal conversational skills. METHODS: Eight master’s level Rehabilitation Counseling students facilitated groups of adults with autism spectrum disorder seeking employment. Student facilitators followed the Conversing with Others manualized curriculum, designed to teach workplace based informal conversational soft skills. Participant feedback was sought both pre and post intervention, and student facilitators recorded their observations of each group session. RESULTS: The initial findings support the feasibility of soft-skills training for work-related conversational skills teaching for job seekers with ASD. The results also supported the need for significant adjustments to the intervention as well as any future studies of the small group intervention Conversing with Others. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace conversational skills can be facilitated in a small group setting. Master’s level counselors-in-training, were able to follow a manualized DST soft-skills small group.

Roberta Frank. The Etiquette of Early Northern Verse

This fabulous book of ‘Northern’ poetics developed out of the Robert Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies, delivered at the University of Notre Dame in 2010 and—according to the author—only awaiting retirement to be transformed into a monograph. It condenses the work of a lifetime: from Frank’s very first publication on ‘Some Uses of Paranomasia in Old English Verse’ (1972), to more recent work on ‘the Incomparable Wryness of Old English Poetry’ (2006) and ‘Conversational Skills for Heroes’ (2014)—with all her research on Old Norse Court Poetry in between. In many ways, it positions itself as a handbook of poetics, an extension of Snorri Sturluson’s Edda—that invaluable guide to Old Norse poetry which is so envied by scholars of Old English: ‘Snorri Sturluson outlined several subcategories of extra rhymes, but not even he could net them all’ (40). The way Frank collects, lists, and succinctly analyses samples of poetry to illustrate wordplay, rhyme, and alliteration—adding anecdotes and witticisms along the way—both looks and feels very like a contemporary version of Snorri’s treatise Skáldskaparmál (‘On Poetic Diction’).

CHATBOT TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT A BASIC LEVEL: FROM DEVELOPMENT EXPIERENCE

The article is concerned with study of chatbots in the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The practice of chatbots for teaching Russian as a foreign language is a new element in the development of linguodidactics. Researchers agree that chatbots will become an indispensable partner in learning foreign languages. In the field of teaching Russian as a foreign language, chatbots are just beginning to be created. Teachers make first attempts to introduce them into the educational process. Since teaching Russian as a foreign language today is generally aimed at developing communicative skills, it seems possible to introduce chatbot technologies into the teaching process. Сhatbots can help to drill speech patterns, conversation skills in social networks, to help overcome the psychological barrier in the communication in Russian. The article presents a series of chatbots "S chatbotom po doroge" which gives conversation practice for elementary language level students. Chatbots compliment a textbook of Russian as a foreign language "Doroga v Rossiyu".

Low-Cost, Low-Resource Training Model to Enhance and Sustain Serious Illness Conversation Skills for Internal Medicine Residents.

Background: Funding and limited resources are barriers to required training of residents in serious illness conversation (SIC) skills. Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of a low-cost, low-resource (LCLR) SIC training embedded within a required palliative care rotation. Design: Pre-post prospective cohort study design. Setting/Subjects: Second year internal medicine (IM) residents received an LCLR three-hour training in the SIC Guide (SICG) with a single-faculty member and paired-participant practice replacing actors during a required two-week palliative medicine rotation. Measures: SIC competence checklist measured within simulated patient encounters longitudinally. Results: Twenty resident average SIC checklist scores improved from 11 (95% confidence interval [CI] 9-13) at the beginning of rotation to 19 (95% CI 17-20) at the end of rotation and 18 (95% CI 16-20) at six months after the rotation. Conclusions: LCLR SIC training for IM residents significantly increased the sustained use of basic SIC skills, but was less effective for more complex skills.

Nurses' perspectives on their potential role in advance care planning in home care: A qualitative study

Nurses' perspectives on their potential role in advance care planning in home care: A qualitative study Abstract. Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) in long-term care in Germany has been identified as a potential area of nurses' responsibility. In the StAdPlan study (DRKS0016886), an ACP intervention in outpatient care was implemented and evaluated: Trained nurses conducted ACP conversations with patients. A comprehensive process evaluation was part of the study. Aim: A partial result of the process evaluation was analysing the perspective of nurses on their potential role as ACP facilitators for outpatients. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with nursing professionals and nursing service managers (n = 42) were carried out prior to the implementation of the ACP intervention. A qualitative content analysis of the recorded interviews was performed. Results: Participants described the importance of ACP in outpatient care, their personal motivation and competence as well as necessary contextual conditions. Nursing professionals are motivated to offer ACP to patients to be able to care for them according to their wishes. For effective ACP conversations, nurse professionals considered in-depth knowledge of ACP, conversational skills and sufficient time resources as necessary. ACP consultations can be a suitable field of action for nurses as they have access and an established relationship of trust with patients. Conclusions: Under certain conditions, nurses' role in offering guidance on ACP in outpatient care was seen as feasible and beneficial. Prerequisites for implementation are financial resources and training for nurses for this service.

Formation of Conversational Skills among Linguists-translators when teaching Chinese as a foreign Language

The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the development of interpretation skills. The object of the study is the formation of oral conversational skills among linguists-translators when teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The study used methods of deduction and induction, comparative, contextual analysis. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the formation of translation erudition, characteristics and methods of teaching interpretation, identification of effective exercises for translators. It is noted that a professional translator specializing in consecutive translation should be fluent in Chinese and Russian, have high stress resistance. Special attention is paid to the development of short-term memory, working out of oral speech. The main conclusions of the study are the need to pay attention to group and individual speech, practice with native Chinese speakers and use authentic materials to replenish vocabulary, apply an integrated approach for the most effective development of hieroglyphs, form a system of extralinguistic knowledge, exercises that allow you to deeply explore the culture and traditions of the Chinese people. The novelty of the research lies in the study of approaches to the formation of oral conversational skills among linguists-translators, the development of methodological recommendations. The importance of articulation gymnastics, which should precede practical exercises, is substantiated. A special contribution to the study is the identification of the functional principle, the classification of authentic training materials.

Fostering Balanced Contributions Among Children Through Dialogue Visualization

As children develop conversational skills such as taking turns and openly listening to ideas, they often experience conflicts and inequity within collaborative dialogue for learning. Previous research suggests that increasing children's awareness about their own behaviors during collaboration may help them adjust their behaviors and become better partners. Despite this promise, there are currently no educational technologies designed to support children in visualizing and reflecting on their collaborative dialogues. This article reports on an application that generates interactive visualizations of children's dialogue illustrating their word counts, questions counts and types, dialogue content, keywords from their dialogue, and a video recording of their interaction. We evaluated the application by conducting a study with 20 children who were completing computer science (block-based coding) tasks collaboratively and examined how they changed their dialogues in a subsequent dialogue after interacting with the visualizations of their dialogues. Results show that after viewing their dialogue visualizations, children engaged in more balanced dialogues and that less-engaged students talked more and asked more questions. This article provides evidence that dialogue visualization tools have a great potential for supporting young learners as they deeply think about their own dialogue and improve their collaborative behaviors.

Motivational interviewing for employment: An exploration of practitioner skill and client change talk

AbstractMotivational interviewing (MI) is an evidenced‐based approach for building and strengthening motivation for change. The effect of MI training on practitioner conversations with unemployed clients within a government work and income service was evaluated using a mixed‐method approach, comprising a multiple‐baseline across practitioner (n = 5) design and a pre/post quasi‐experimental design. After workshop MI training, practitioners demonstrated greater MI skills in conversations with clients, and MI skills were maintained during the period of post‐workshop feedback and coaching. There was also more change talk spoken by clients in conversations that occurred post‐MI workshop training compared to pre‐training, suggesting increased motivation for change.

Implementation of Healthy Conversation Skills to support behaviour change in the Bukhali trial in Soweto, South Africa: A process evaluation

BackgroundTo address the need for preconception health interventions in low- and middle-income countries, the Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) was launched in Soweto, South Africa to optimise young women's physical and mental health to establish healthier trajectories for themselves and, where relevant, the next generation. As part of HeLTI trial, the Bukhali intervention utilises the Healthy Conversation Skills (HCS) approach to promote behaviour change with 18–28-year-old women. The aim of this article is to report on the process evaluation of implementing HCS, to identify implementation challenges, and make recommendations for HCS adaptations. MethodsData were collected from intervention session records (participants’ response to setting behaviour change goals, community health workers (CHWs) impression of their HCS use; n ​= ​7418), individual in-depth interviews with participants (n ​= ​35), focus groups (3) and debrief sessions (13) with CHWs who deliver the intervention. ResultsThe findings indicated that the HCS approach was not implemented as originally intended. Challenges were reported regarding participants' willingness to set behaviour change goals, and prioritise health and health behaviour change, as well as participants’ exposure to trauma, influencing their ability to prioritise health behaviour change. While CHWs were able to identify strengths of the HCS approach, there were challenges with contextual adaptation, especially using HCS in a multilingual setting such as Soweto. Recommendations for contextual adaptations of the HCS approach in Soweto, South Africa include simplification of certain HCS tools, language adaptions for a multilingual setting, adapting training to fit in with time constraints of a trial, and adopting a trauma-informed perspective to health behaviour change. ConclusionsThis article extends our understanding of challenges to health behaviour change for young women in a low-income setting, highlighting the role of trauma, and the need for a trauma-informed perspective to understand behaviour change in this context.(PACTR201903750173871, Registered March 27, 2019).

Speech Intelligibility in Children with Cochlear Implants Compared to Normal-Hearing Peers Matched for Chronological Age and Hearing Age

Background and Aim: Cochlear implants (CIs) can lead to the development of verbal communication in areas such as sound repertoire, speech intelligibility (SI), and conversational skills. The SI refers to the ability to make recognizable speech sounds. Children with CIs may experience poorer SI than normal- hearing (NH) children. This study aims to compare the SI between children with CIs and NH peers matched for chronological age and hearing age. Methods: The speech samples of 40 monolingual Persian-speaking children, including 20 children with CIs and 20 NH children were used in this study. The children’s SI was analyzed using three measures of the percentage of correct consonants, percentage of correct vowels, and percentage of intelligible words. One speech-language pathologist and two non-professional listeners transcribed each speech sample. Results: The results showed no significant difference in any measures of SI between CI children and NH hearing age-matched peers, but there was a significant difference between CI children and NH chronological age-matched peers (p<0.05). Conclusion: The SI in Persian-speaking children with CIs is the same as in NH hearing age-matched peers, but it was poorer compared to NH chronological age-matched peers. If the children with hearing impairments receive CIs sooner, their SI can be greater. Cochlear implantation improves SI by increasing the hearing experience. Keywords: Speech intelligibility; percentage of correct consonants; percentage of correct vowels; percentage of intelligible words; cochlear implant; hearing age

Feasibility of Work-Related Interviewing and Conversational Skills Trainings for Individuals With Psychiatric Disabilities

This study examined the feasibility of group interventions using the Direct Skills Teaching (DST) approach to teach interview preparedness skills (“Presenting Qualifications”) and basic work-related conversational skills (“Conversing with Others”) to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. This quasi-experimental pilot study included 87 participants in Study 1 and 55 participants in Study 2, all with various psychiatric diagnoses. Each group intervention consisted of four sessions delivered by graduate counseling students. Participants reported increased confidence in presenting qualifications at interviews in Study 1, and in conversational skills at work in Study 2. Participants in both studies reported high levels of satisfaction with the respective group intervention. The results of the study supported the feasibility of DST group interventions designed to teach work-related skills to individuals with psychiatric disabilities.

Theory of mind in naturalistic conversations between autistic and typically developing children and adolescents.

Conversation is a key part of everyday social interactions. Previous studies have suggested that conversational skills are related to theory of mind, the ability to think about other people's mental states, such as beliefs, knowledge, and emotions. Both theory of mind and conversation are common areas of difficulty for autistic people, yet few studies have investigated how people, including autistic people, use theory of mind during conversation. We developed a new way of measuring cToM using two rating scales: cToM Positive captures behaviors that show consideration of a conversation partner's mental states, such as referring to their thoughts or feelings, whereas cToM Negative captures behaviors that show a lack of theory of mind through violations of neurotypical conversational norms, such as providing too much, too little, or irrelevant information. We measured cToM in 50 pairs of autistic and typically developing children (ages 8-16 years) during 5-min "getting to know you" conversations. Compared to typically developing children, autistic children displayed more frequent cToM Negative behaviors but very similar rates of cToM Positive behaviors. Across both groups, cToM Negative (but not Positive) ratings were related to difficulties in recognizing emotions from facial expressions and a lower tendency to talk about others' mental states spontaneously (i.e., without being instructed to do so), which suggests that both abilities are important for theory of mind in conversation. Altogether, this study highlights both strengths and difficulties among autistic individuals, and it suggests possible avenues for further research and for improving conversational skills.