scholarly journals Laughter as Strategies in Business Communication Between Thai and Burmese Professionals

MANUSYA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-309
Author(s):  
Tabtip Kanchanapoomi ◽  
Wannapa Trakulkasemsuk
Keyword(s):  
Business Communication ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Audio Data ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Ethnographic Data

Abstract Laughter is not just an element in human communication that signifies happiness and enjoyment, it can be used as a communication strategy to lubricate successful interaction including business communication. Nonetheless, not many studies have paid attention to laughter in business communication. Therefore, this paper sheds light on how Thai and Burmese participants used laughter in a restaurant and in a business meeting in Yangon, Myanmar. Audio data was collected together with various pieces of ethnographic data, for example, participant observations reported from extensive field notes, semi-structured interviews and audio recordings. The analysis was based on the classification of laughter adopted from Hayakawa (2003), and Murata and Hori (2007). The findings reveal that laughter is deployed as a communication strategy with different purposes such as to make fun of work, to ease tension and to threaten other interlocutors and unveil those factors which stimulate the laughter in informal and formal settings.

scholarly journals Crenças sobre a habilidade de fala dos aprendizes da língua japonesa como LE (Língua Estrangeira) em um curso universitário: uma analise da metodologia de ensino

1969 ◽  
pp. 77-100
Author(s):  
Jaqueline M. Fukushi ◽  
Yuki Mukai
Keyword(s):  
Direct Method ◽  
Classroom Observation ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Public University ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Oral Expression ◽  
Field Notes

In this paper we investigate a methodology used in Japanese Oral Expression 1 classes (intermediate levei) of a public university and the professor’s and students’ beliefs in relation to the methodology regarding the speaking ability. The aim of this research is to investigate and systematize (1) approaches，methods and techniques used by the professor and her beliefs conceming them and (2) students’ beliefs regarding the methodology used by the professor，and their speaking ability. This research is a qualitative approach and its nature is a case study. Our investigation was conducted in a Japanese Language and Literature course of a public university of Federal District. The participants were a professor and seven students of Oral Expression 1 classes. The data was collected by means of mix questionnaires, classroom observation with field notes，audio recordings of lectures and semi-structured interviews. The results suggest that the Japanese Oral Expression 1 professor’ belief is related to the grammar-translation approach，but in reality，she uses the direct method and communicative approach in the classroom. For students of this research，speaking is the most important language skill and also the most difficult one. We also found out that students are dissatisfied with their speaking ability.

scholarly journals Children's understanding of time: A study in a primary history classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Solé
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Intervention Strategy ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
School Students ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
Time Concepts ◽  
Audio Data ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Chronological Time

This paper reports findings from a study of Portuguese primary children's understanding of time and historical time. The research involved two classes (first grade, with 24 students aged 6 to 7, and third grade, with 25 students aged 8 to 9) of primary school students during two school academic years in an urban primary school in northern Portugal. The main aim of the study was to analyse how students from the first to fourth grade of education develop chronological (time) concepts and historical understanding. Different data collection techniques and methodologies were used that allowed for three types of triangulation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, open interviews, participant researcher observation, audio data, field notes and class diaries. The research was undertaken by the researcher and the class teacher. The research was carried out though a longitudinal study over two years. At three times during the study, the students were asked to arrange historical pictures in chronological order and to explain their sequences. The research data were analysed using a deductive approach. This allowed the construction of a conceptualization system with parameters, categories and subcategories. The findings suggest that temporal understanding and historical thinking are developed gradually but, significantly, they can be facilitated and accelerated by means of specific social studies/history teaching strategies and pedagogy – that is, an intervention strategy.

Classification of Infant Vocalizations by Untrained Listeners

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 3265-3275
Author(s):  
Heather L. Ramsdell-Hudock ◽  
Anne S. Warlaumont ◽  
Lindsey E. Foss ◽  
Candice Perry
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Additional Insight ◽  
Listener Responses ◽  
Infant Vocalization ◽  
Early Infant ◽  
Infant Vocalizations ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Speech And Language Development ◽  
Insight Into

Purpose To better enable communication among researchers, clinicians, and caregivers, we aimed to assess how untrained listeners classify early infant vocalization types in comparison to terms currently used by researchers and clinicians. Method Listeners were caregivers with no prior formal education in speech and language development. A 1st group of listeners reported on clinician/researcher-classified vowel, squeal, growl, raspberry, whisper, laugh, and cry vocalizations obtained from archived video/audio recordings of 10 infants from 4 through 12 months of age. A list of commonly used terms was generated based on listener responses and the standard research terminology. A 2nd group of listeners was presented with the same vocalizations and asked to select terms from the list that they thought best described the sounds. Results Classifications of the vocalizations by listeners largely overlapped with published categorical descriptors and yielded additional insight into alternate terms commonly used. The biggest discrepancies were found for the vowel category. Conclusion Prior research has shown that caregivers are accurate in identifying canonical babbling, a major prelinguistic vocalization milestone occurring at about 6–7 months of age. This indicates that caregivers are also well attuned to even earlier emerging vocalization types. This supports the value of continuing basic and clinical research on the vocal types infants produce in the 1st months of life and on their potential diagnostic utility, and may also help improve communication between speech-language pathologists and families.

scholarly journals Exploring the experiences related to postpartum changes: perspectives of mothers and healthcare providers in Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahboobeh Asadi ◽  
Mahnaz Noroozi ◽  
Mousa Alavi
Keyword(s):  
Postpartum Period ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Childbearing Age ◽  
New Period ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Field Notes

Abstract Background Numerous changes occur in different aspects of women’s lives in the postpartum period. Women’s adjusting with problems and taking advantage of this opportunity can develop their personality. In this regard, accurate knowledge of their experiences and feelings is necessary to help them to benefit from this period. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the experiences related to postpartum changes in women. Methods In the present qualitative study, 23 participants, including women of childbearing age who gave birth and healthcare providers (midwives and obstetricians) in Isfahan, Iran were selected using purposive sampling with a maximum variation strategy. Data were collected through in-depth semi structured interviews, field notes, and daily notes, and simultaneously analyzed using the conventional qualitative content analysis. Results The data analysis results led to the extraction of three main categories including “feeling of decreased female attractiveness” (with two sub-categories of “ feeling of decreased beauty” and “feeling of decreased sexual function”), “feeling of insolvency and helplessness” (with two sub-categories of “physical burnout”, and “mental preoccupations”) and “beginning a new period in life” (with three sub-categories of “changing the meaning of life”, “feeling of maturity” and “deepening the communication”). Conclusions Findings of this study can provide a good context for designing interventions to improve the women’s quality of life by explaining and highlighting their experiences in the postpartum period. In this regard, providing sufficient empathy, social and psychological support from family members (especially husband), performing appropriate educational interventions and also regular assessment of women’s psychological state by healthcare providers in postpartum period can reduce their concerns and help to improve their health.

scholarly journals Students’ perceptions of visibility in physical education

2021 ◽  
pp. 1356336X2110258
Author(s):  
Eli-Karin S Åsebø ◽  
Helga S Løvoll ◽  
Rune J Krumsvik
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Transaction Model ◽  
Lesson Content ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Ninth Grade Students ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
And Coping

The purpose of this study is to explore students’ perceptions of visibility in physical education (PE) using a single cumulative case study approach. Data were generated from the descriptive field notes of seven participant observations ( n = 77), individual semi-structured interviews ( n = 13) and five focus group interviews ( n = 18) with ninth-grade students (ages 14–15 years) from three classes in a public lower secondary school in Norway. The findings show that students perceive visibility differently depending on the context; some students like being visible in PE, while others dread it. Perceptions change rapidly and are situation-specific, influenced by the lesson content, the way the teacher facilitates the lessons, self-perception shaped by past experiences, the presence, actions, and attitudes of fellow students, body pressure and societal body ideals. The findings actualise the relevance of the transaction model of stress and coping ( Lazarus and Folkman, 1984 ) in determining when visibility in PE is and is not perceived as stressful. Consequently, the organization of the PE environment benefits from these insights.

Poverty Delivered

Contexts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Jeff Cates
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Financial Data ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Field Notes

Through stories, interviews, pictures, and financial records, the author narrates the inner workings of a rent-to-own company where he worked. Spending over two years on the job, he developed extensive field notes, performed qualitative interviews with management, analyzed a year’s worth of financial data, shedding new details on the intimate process of “rent-to-own,” which make the poor poorer.

Beyond Posters and Pennants: College-Going Messaging at Three Racially and Economically Diverse Public Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Melissa A. Martinez ◽  
Isaac Torres ◽  
Katherine Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Ecological Model ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
College Going ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
College Going Culture

Context It has been argued that high schools with a majority of students of color and from low-income backgrounds must be purposeful in fostering a college-going culture in order to address the challenges and inequities historically underserved students face in preparing for and accessing a higher education. However, what this looks and sounds like in practice is not always clear, leaving schools seeking common ground on how to create a college-going environment. Purpose Through a symbolic and ecological model of college readiness framework, the messaging associated with the college-going culture at three racially and economically diverse Texas high schools that had consistently high college ready graduate rates was examined. The research questions that guided the study included: What types of college-going culture messages are conveyed at the schools, and how? How might such messaging impact students, school staff and leaders? Research Design This study drew on data from a three-year, multi-site descriptive case study of three public high schools in different regions of Texas that all served approximately 50% or more of students with financial need and 72% to 97% students of color, specifically Latina/o and Black students. Data Collection and Analysis Data was collected during week-long, yearly visits to the three schools and included: school and district documents; individual and group semi-structured interviews with 194 individuals including administrators, teachers, support staff, students, parents, and community members; observations of common areas and classrooms; archival data; and researcher-derived documents including field notes, memos, and photographs of the school grounds and school activities. This paper primarily drew on the pictures taken of the schools (in hallways, classrooms, and shared spaces like cafeterias and libraries), field notes, memos, and interview data that specifically spoke to the visual and verbal messaging associated with the college-going culture. Analysis of data revealed six themes: college is a revered goal with many options; varying degrees of integration; support and resources are at your reach; think college and career; finding funding for college is vital; college is an individual and shared success. Conclusions This study's findings suggest the need to: reconsider what a strong college-going culture entails, re-envision college-going cultures as dynamic, multi-layered, and responsive, reframe postsecondary opportunities so they are more expansive and varied, and re-evaluate inequities in college-going messaging and academic rigor.

Migrant doctors’ narratives about patients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar ◽  
Olga Zayts
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Professional Practices ◽  
Vicarious Experience ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Collaborative Project ◽  
Host Culture ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
The Creation

Abstract Narratives of personal and vicarious experience are part and parcel of being a doctor, as doctors routinely (re)interpret and (re)tell patients’ narratives when reflecting on clinical cases. Taking an interest in migrant doctors’ self-initiated narratives about patients in doctor-researcher interviews about cultural transitions, this study examines over thirty hours of audio-recordings of forty semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a collaborative project in Chile and Hong Kong. The study explores how migrant doctors construct their professional ‘self’ through narratives about patients, and how these narratives help migrant doctors legitimise their arguments and professional stance in criticizing cultural and societal attitudes towards health and illness, and the professional practices of local doctors. Finally, the paper reflects on the ways in which migrant doctors’ identity positionings provide space for the creation of a “symbolic territory” in which the practices of migrant doctors co-exist within the boundaries of the practices of local doctors in the host culture.

Principled Improvisation to Support Novice Teacher Learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Philip
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Novice Teachers ◽  
Novice Teacher ◽  
Relational Work ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sense Of Power ◽  
Learning To Listen

Background A significant body of scholarship has highlighted the importance of improvisation in teaching, particularly the interactional and responsive creativity that is required for teachers to co-construct meaning with students. However, recent efforts inside and outside university-based teacher education have pushed against novice teacher learning through improvisation, preferring to focus on the “practicing” of identifiable components or discrete techniques of teaching. Purpose Based on an expansive view of practice, I argue that improvisation is inextricably connected to practice and illustrate that the marginalization of improvisation limits opportunities for novice teachers to learn the relational aspects of teaching. I develop the concept of principled improvisation: improvisation that is purposefully oriented toward justice and that accentuates each moment of teaching as political, ethical, and consequential. I describe the design of a learning environment for preservice teachers that was organized around principled improvisation and demonstrate its unique affordances for particular forms of novice teacher learning. Research Design Based on a close reading of novice teachers’ weekly reflections and audio recordings and field notes from the whole-class discussions, I highlight five examples of practice guided by principled improvisation that span a diversity of participants, contexts, and scale. These illustrative cases are not meant to systematically characterize all instances of practice guided by principled improvisation in the course; rather, they are meant to be invitations to grapple with new pedagogical and learning possibilities (and limitations) that emerge when teacher education is organized around principled improvisation. In particular, I explore how learning to listen played prominently in teacher practice guided by principled improvisation and examine how the opportunity to narrate, re-narrate, and re-envision experiences allowed novice teachers to learn and collectively build place-relevant theory. Conclusions The opportunities to learn to recognize emotion, listen, see race in place, consider political expression, and make sense of power across scales were significant aspects of the relational work of teachers that were learned by organizing novice teacher learning around principled improvisation. These forms of learning could not have taken place if the experiences of the novice teacher were only organized around the rehearsal of components of teaching. It required teaching in a complex space that connects self and interactions in place to larger structures and ideologies in society.

Lebanese conversational style and cultural values

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 571-604
Author(s):  
Sasha G. Louis ◽  
Rana N. Khoudary
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Conversational Style ◽  
Topic Shift ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Expressive Phonology

Abstract This paper investigates the Lebanese conversational style in relation to Lebanese cultural values. The study adopts a discourse analysis approach based on interactional sociolinguistic methodology for the analysis of audio-recordings and semi-structured interviews involving Lebanese nationals (multi-active culture) and members of linear-active cultures, in addition to participant observation. Four distinctive linguistic features characterizing the Lebanese conversational style are identified: topic (focus on personal topics and abrupt topic shift), pacing (overlap and fast pace), expressive phonology and intonation, and formulaic language. The findings of this study reveal that the Lebanese have a high-involvement conversational style as a result of their cultural values which reflect those of high-context, multi-active and collectivist cultures. Furthermore, a connection is made between cultural and communicative differences which can account for instances of stereotyping and misunderstandings between members of the two cultural groups.

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