Use Of Communication Strategies Research Articles

Web Scripts and Mediation Dialogues as a Quality Factor in the Interaction of the Deaf

The difficulty in reading and interpreting textual information interferes in the quality of the interaction of pre-linguistic deaf in the web. This article aims at determining whether the use of new communication strategies improves interaction of the deaf. The stage of data collection and observation involved the participation of eight volunteers. Two sessions of observation of interactions were held, one with the system original interface, and another with the use of new communication strategies, using the communicability evaluation method (CEM) of Semiotic Engineering. The survey results identified that the development of communication strategies meeting the specific language of pre-linguistic of the deaf improves the quality of metacommunication, thus encouraging accessibility during interaction with the system.

Trends in Health Communication

According to the US-American Center of Disease Control and Prevention, Health Communication is ‘‘[t]he study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence decisions that enhance health.’’ (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). In the preface of his book ‘‘Health Communication’’ Richard K. Thomas points out that ‘‘many of the challenges facing healthcare today, in fact, reflect failures in communication’’ (Thomas, 2006, p. V). These citations underline two important aspects of health communication, the wide-ranging scope of the field and its importance. I believe that the articles chosen for this Special Issue on Health Communication of the Journal of Media Psychology reflect both features. The studies presented in this issue certainly demonstrate the diversity of theoretical and empirical approaches and, in some cases, also reflect newer trends. For example, there is a constant expansion of social media services the new features and potentials of which should be taken into account in health communication research. This is especially true for studies that aim explicitly at exploring idiosyncratic potentials of new media for communicating health messages. Not only do the media forms develop – also the messages and health topics change over the course of time, depending on what is perceived as acute health issues in society at any given point in time. The media forms explored in this issue range from video games (two articles) and television to info-websites, web clips, and postings on social media sites. The health issues touched upon are knowledge about hospital admission and the usage of safety gear (such as helmets and safety belts), general health (knowledge), and aspects such as ‘‘sexting’’, flu vaccination and obesity. Here are the short summaries of the six articles that were included in this issue: In the article ‘‘Ceiling Effect in Cultivation’’ Hetsroni investigates the presence of a cultivation effect for hospital-related beliefs triggered by TV consumption. In particular he looks into whether such a cultivation effect would be more influenced by the total time of the respective media exposure (TV viewing time) or rather by genre-specific exposure (time watching medical dramas on TV). The hospital-related beliefs that might be subjected to cultivation effects and that he investigates are beliefs regarding assumed morbidity rates in hospitals, frequency of diagnosis of injury and poisoning (as compared with less sensational, common illnesses) and the ratio of inpatients older than 65 years. His results show that for some of the items he investigated, the total viewing time was significantly linked to the cultivation effects for some of the items, however viewing time of medial dramas was not associated with ‘‘cultivated’’ responses. The lack of finding a genre-specific viewing effect underlines previous assumptions that cultivation does not happen through a specific part of the media program but through media exposure in general. Furthermore the author argues that ceiling effects can prevent detection of potential cultivation process in such studies for items whose distribution are prone to such an effect. In ‘‘Depictions of Injuries and Safety’’ Karazsia and Muller present a content analysis of the most popular 650 video games (across 13 video games genres) looking into 1) the frequency of injuries events encountered by the characters that are controlled by the player, and 2) the presence of appropriate safety gear utilization in the games for the characters. Results show that most games lack the portrayal of safety devices (such as helmets, safety belts) that would have been appropriate for the situation at hand (e.g., the character is driving a vehicle). Furthermore the content analysis revealed that when injuries occurred to the character, he or she only used the appropriate safety gear in 21– 40% of the cases, varying according to the game genre. The authors argue that the lack of safety gear portrayal in popular video games might influence the attitudes and beliefs about the need of safety devices in the players through a cultivation effect. According to their view, video game developers might have a chance to promote a culture of safety by depicting respective devices in future video games, possibly contributing to a decline of real life injuries in young people that are due to the lack of safety gear. In their article ‘‘The Concept of eHealth Literacy and Its Measurement – German Translation of the eHEALS’’, the authors Soellner, Huber, and Reder evaluate the German translation of the ‘‘eHEALTH Literacy Scale’’. The eHealth Scale was developed in Canada to measure the self-indicated competence to find, understand, and apply health information from electronic sources. Stefan Huber has

Virtual Worlds and Social Media

The use of virtual worlds and social media has grown to the point that more than one-quarter of the world's population utilize it in some manner. Security and privacy concerns regarding the use and capabilities of current and emerging technologies such as gaming, blogging, podcasting, virtual meetings, virtual worlds and Web 3.0 is examined. Security and privacy concerns are investigated in the context of exploits, vulnerabilities, and related security risks; confidential access control; communication trends and patterns in the use of massive communication strategies; intellectual property and product risk management; resource management; financial considerations and accountability; and safety. Several technologies and personal practices are reviewed, as well as ways to mitigate or eliminate their associated risks. The core principles of information security - confidentiality, integrity, and availability - provide an overall framework.

Recognizing the Child as Knowledgeable Other: Intergenerational Learning Research to Consider Child-to-Adult Influence on Parent and Family Eco-Knowledge

This article presents a review of current research used to shape and guide an investigation into the nature of the influence of children as agents of intergenerational learning in environmental studies. Five children and their mothers were interviewed regarding their views about children's influences on parent and family eco-knowledge and behavior. Four of the five children and four of the five parents interviewed referred to positive child-to-adult influence. Use of effective communication strategies and examples of new knowledge and action were cited as evidence of influence. Approaches to support intergenerational learning are discussed and areas for future research are identified.

The influence of learning context and age on the use of L2 communication strategies

This study examines the effects of foreign language learning context (three-month study-abroad; versus ‘at-home’ instruction) and age (10–11-year-old children versus university students) on the development of effective foreign language communication strategies (CS) in monologue production. Participants (N = 95) were all Spanish/Catalan bilingual learners of English as a foreign language. A pre-test/post-test design was adopted, with participants performing an oral narrative both before and after a ‘learning’ period of three months spent either studying abroad in a target language context or studying the target language at home. The narratives were analysed for use of first-language (L1)-based strategies; further, a measure of CS effectiveness was developed and implemented. Results suggest that the study-abroad experience had a significant positive effect on children, who increased their use of effective CS and reduced the proportion of L1-based CS as compared to at-home children. However, the influence of learning context on adult use of effective CS and reduction in L1-based CS was not so clearly marked.

Communication strategies in a multimodal virtual communication context

Using VEC3D as a platform, this study examines the influence of task type on the use of communication strategies (CSs) in a 3D virtual environment that enables English as a Foreign Language learners to employ multiple communication modalities. A curriculum based on a communicative, interactive, task-based, and computer-mediated approach to CSs and language acquisition is developed and implemented in conjunction with a comprehensive framework for analyzing CS use in this innovative virtual environment setting. Analysis of the data provides information about learners' use of various CSs during synchronous computer-mediated communication. The findings shed light on how task type influences learners' use of verbal CSs, including gambits/fillers, appealing for assistance, paraphrasing, borrowing, avoidance, and all-purpose words, as well as non-verbal CSs in the form of haptics, kinesics, paralanguage, and object communication, as means of avoiding communication breakdowns during virtual events. The results reveal that role-play tasks elicited more CS use from learners than open-ended discussion tasks.

Exploring the Process of Conveying Information about Side Effects: A Qualitative Study among Pharmacists

This study explored how a sample of Australian pharmacists would convey information about the side effects of a medicine, if they were to counsel a patient. A qualitative method was selected and written responses to a case-based scenario were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The grounded theory approach elicited a fluid and dynamic model for side effect counselling. The study identified strategies for counselling, such as encouraging adherence through emphasising the benefits of the medication, referral to the prescriber, and providing empathy and reassurance to ease anxiety and address concerns. Pharmacists acknowledged the potential for risk, although only a minority used numerical descriptors. The final themes or outcomes were that pharmacists aim to allay fears, minimise harm and promote medication use when counselling about side effects. Professional empathy, the acknowledgment of patient concerns, and the importance of providing tailored information to promote medication adherence, emerged as features of the quality use of medicines. This study contributes to existing literature by identifying the role of allaying patients’ fears when conveying side effect information. It also describes a process to convey tailored information. Implications for practice include the importance of effective use of communication strategies to encourage adherence, as the appropriate use of medication can lead to positive health outcomes.

Cancer Prevention and Control in the Changing Communication Landscape

Cancer Prevention and Control in the Changing Communication Landscape

The Direct-Method: A Good Start to Teach Oral Language

Oral language development has always played a big role in foreign language learning process. Oral proficiency is considered as the major goal of foreign language learning. The use of communication strategies highly contributes to oral proficiency in the target language. This study focuses on developing students' communicative abilities through using the target language constantly in the classroom. And this study emphasizes the benefits of the Direct Method to teach how to communicate in the target language.

The Role of Effective Partnerships in an Australian Place-Based Intervention to Reduce Race-Based Discrimination

Localities Embracing and Accepting Diversity (LEAD) is an ongoing place-based pilot program aimed at improving health outcomes among Aboriginal and migrant communities through increased social and economic participation. Specifically, LEAD works with mainstream organizations to prevent race-based discrimination from occurring. The partnership model of LEAD was designed to create a community intervention that was evidence-based, effective, and flexible enough to respond to local contexts and needs. LEAD's complex organizational and partnership model, in combination with an innovative approach to reducing race-based discrimination, has necessitated the use of new language and communication strategies to build genuinely collaborative partnerships. Allocating sufficient time to develop strategies aligned with this new way of doing business has been critical. However, preliminary data indicate that a varied set of partners has been integral to supporting the widespread influence of the emerging LEAD findings across partner networks in a number of different sectors.

Latino youths' sexual values and condom negotiation strategies.

Young Latinos in the United States are at high risk for STDs and are less likely than other youth to use condoms. To our knowledge, no studies have examined the relationship between sexual values and condom negotiation strategies among young Latinos. Cross-sectional data collected in 2003-2006 from 571 Latino women and men aged 16-22 in the San Francisco Bay Area were used to examine associations between sexual values (e.g., considering sexual talk disrespectful or female virginity important) and use of strategies to engender or avoid condom use. Linear regression analyses were used to identify such associations while adjusting for potential covariates and gender interactions. Among women, sexual comfort and comfort with sexual communication were positively associated with frequency of direct communication to foster condom use; the importance of female premarital virginity and levels of sexual self-acceptance were positively associated with expressing dislike of condoms to avoid using them; and levels of sexual self-acceptance were negatively associated with expressing dislike of condoms to avoid using them. Moreover, the degrees to which women considered sexual talk disrespectful and female virginity important were positively associated with the frequency with which they shared risk information as a condom use strategy. Among both sexes, the importance that respondents placed on premarital female virginity was negatively associated with use of direct communication strategies. Researchers designing interventions to influence Latino youths' sexual decision making and behaviors should consider including program components that address sexual values.

Matched and mismatched appraisals of the effectiveness of communication strategies by family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease

Communication problems stemming from Alzheimer's disease (AD) often result in misunderstandings that can be linked with problem behaviours and increased caregiver stress. Moreover, these communication breakdowns also can result either from caregivers' use of ineffective communication strategies, which paradoxically are perceived as helpful, or can occur as a result of not using effective communication strategies that are perceived as unhelpful. The two primary aims were to determine the effectiveness of strategies used to resolve communication breakdowns and to examine whether caregivers' ratings of strategy effectiveness were consistent with evidence from video-recorded conversations and with effective communication strategies documented in the literature. Twenty-eight mealtime conversations were recorded using a sample of 15 dyads consisting of individuals with early, middle and late clinical-stage AD and their family caregivers. Conversations were analysed using the trouble-source repair paradigm to identify the communication strategies used by caregivers to resolve breakdowns. Family caregivers also rated the helpfulness of communication strategies used to resolve breakdowns. Analyses were conducted to assess the overlap or match between the use and appraisals of the helpfulness of communication strategies. Matched and mismatched appraisals of communication strategies varied across stages of AD. Matched appraisals by caregivers of persons with early-stage AD were observed for 68% of 22 communication strategies, whereas caregivers of persons with middle- and late-stage AD had matched appraisals for 45% and 55% of the strategies, respectively. Moreover, caregivers of persons with early-stage AD had matched appraisals over and above making matched appraisals by chance alone, compared with caregivers of persons in middle- and late-stage AD. Mismatches illustrate the need for communication education and training, particularly to establish empirically derived evidence-based communication strategies over the clinical course of AD.

An Assessment of Selected Relationships in a Model of the Industrial Marketing Negotiation Process

Given the importance of understanding the determinants of successful buyer/seller negotiations in industrial sales settings, the authors tested specific relationships in a general model proposed by Graham (1987). Sixty industrial managers participated in a simulated sales negotiation exercise, which involved the potential purchase/sale of a high-end industrial product. Insights are provided regarding the effects of demographic and personality variables on the use of coordinative (versus competitive) communication strategies in sales negotiating, as well as the subsequent effects of different strategies on both deadlock and satisfaction outcomes.

Mapping Web Interactivity

This paper explores the use of interactive communication and dialogic relationship building strategies on political campaign Web sites. In contrast to presidential races that often feature substantially more sophisticated campaign Web sites, congressional candidates’ ability and willingness to use the Web as an electioneering tool has varied greatly. The present research sought to address two broad research questions: 1) how candidates from the same electoral districts used their Web sites during the 2006 and 2010 congressional elections; and 2) to what extent could several candidate and district level variables explain the differences in Web utilization. A typology was proposed to examine the first question, while content analysis was performed to collect empirical data that addressed the second question. Results indicate that while the use of interactive Web strategies may be concentrated among candidates with certain characteristics in 2006, the adoption of social media in political campaigns has trickled down from the presidential level, and that interactive tools have become a norm in the 2010 congressional election, with virtually no observable differences emerging among candidates. Theoretical and practical implication for online political public relations is discussed.

Is there ELF in ELT coursebooks?

This article aims to explore whether well-attested findings in the fields of World Englishes (WE) and of English as a lingua franca (ELF) have determined a shift in perspective in the overall approach to English language teaching (ELT), and how far this shift has permeated teaching materials and coursebooks. The research study was carried out in Italy, a country where ELT coursebooks have often played a relevant role in introducing innovations in language teaching methodology. The research design included a corpus of ten coursebooks that have been published and adopted in Italian secondary schools in the last 6 years. The coursebooks were evaluated in terms of the presence or absence of references to WE and/or ELF, of awareness-raising activities, of the promotion of using English outside the school environment and of the use of effective English communication and intercultural strategies among nonnative speakers. Findings show that there have been no significant changes in the inclusion of WE- and ELForiented materials and related tasks, apart from the area of promotion of cultural and intercultural awareness.

Listening Practice Influence on the Use of Communication Strategies in Oral Translation

Effective communication plays an important role in translation. In oral translation, translation major students must understand the meaning well enough to translate orally or employ some strategies to compensate for the lack of their linguistic knowledge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find out the types of communication strategies undergraduate students employ during oral translation and examine the relationship between authentic listening materials’ practice and employment of these strategies. To this end, 34 senior translation major students were videotaped and represented some CNN news samples in the laboratory and their oral translation performance was recorded, for three weeks, and extracted based on Tarone’s taxonomy (1977).The students listened to the audio materials of TOFEL IBT for 5 to 10 minutes a day 4 or 5 times a week at home for two months. Then the same news was represented in the laboratory for three weeks after listening to find whether the frequency of communication strategies has changed and listening materials have affected the frequencies. Despite the unawareness of communication strategies, the students locate them in oral translation. Finally, the statistical results revealed a significant relationship between authentic listening materials’ practice and the use of communication strategies.

Meta-Knowledge of Culture Promotes Cultural Competence

A behavioral signature of cross-cultural competence is discriminative use of culturally appropriate behavioral strategies in different cultural contexts. Given the central role communication plays in cross-cultural adjustment and adaptation, the present investigation examines how meta-knowledge of culture—defined as knowledge of what members of a certain culture know—affects culturally competent cross-cultural communication. We reported two studies that examined display of discriminative, culturally sensitive use of cross-cultural communication strategies by bicultural Hong Kong Chinese (Study 1), Chinese students in the United States and European Americans (Study 2). Results showed that individuals formulating a communicative message for a member of a certain culture would discriminatively apply meta-knowledge of the culture. These results suggest that unsuccessful cross-cultural communications may arise not only from the lack of motivation to take the perspective of individuals in a foreign culture, but also from inaccurate meta-knowledge of the foreign culture.

POSITIVE VERSUS NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN TASK-BASED LEARNING

This study aimed at describing how the implementation of Task- Based Learning (TBL) would shape or change students' use of oral communication strategies. Students' problems and strategies to solve the problems during the implementation of TBL were also explored. The study was a mixed method, employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis through multi-methods of questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussion, learning journals, and classroom observation. Participants were 26 second year students of the State Polytechnic of Malang. Data collection was conducted for one semester. Findings show linguistic and non-linguistic problems encountered by students during one-semester implementation of TBL. Students also performed increased use of positive strategies but reduced use of negative strategies after the implementation of TBL.

Use of Communication Strategies by Tourism-Oriented EFL Learners in Relation to Gender and Perceived Language Ability

This study was intended to explore the relationship of gender, perceived language ability with communication strategy use by tourism-oriented EFL learners studying at the universities in the Southwest China to improve and maintain their oral communication in English. The Communication Strategy Questionnaire was used for data collection, and the quantitative method such as Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square tests were employed for data analysis. The results demonstrated that although the gender and perceived language ability had minor relationship with students’ overall use of communication strategy, the gender and the perceived language ability showed their significant variations in the students’ choice of individual communication strategies.

Social marketing and public health

Social marketing uses the principles and techniques of commercial marketing by applying them to the complex social context in order to promote changes (cognitive; of action; behavioral; of values) among the target population in the public interest. The advent of Internet has radically modified the communication process, and this transformation also involved medical-scientific communication. Medical journals, health organizations, scientific societies and patient groups are increasing the use of the web and of many social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube) as channels to release scientific information to doctors and patients quickly. In recent years, even Healthcare in Italy reported a considerable application of the methods and techniques of social marketing, above all for health prevention and promotion. Recently the association for health promotion "Social marketing and health communication" has been established to promote an active dialogue between professionals of social marketing and public health communication, as well as among professionals in the field of communication of the companies involved in the "health sector". In the field of prevention and health promotion it is necessary to underline the theme of the growing distrust in vaccination practices. Despite the irrefutable evidence of the efficacy and safety of vaccines, the social-cultural transformation together with the overcoming of compulsory vaccination and the use of noninstitutional information sources, have generated confusion among citizens that tend to perceive compulsory vaccinations as needed and safe, whereas recommended vaccinations as less important. Moreover, citizens scarcely perceive the risk of disease related to the effectiveness of vaccines. Implementing communication strategies, argumentative and persuasive, borrowed from social marketing, also for the promotion of vaccines is a priority of the health system. A typical example of the application of social marketing, as mentioned in the manuscript, is the campaign to promote the proper practice of HPV vaccination through the use of effective and cost-saving communication strategies.