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School bullying is a serious problem worldwide, but little is known about how teacher interventions influence the adoption of bullying-related student roles. This study surveyed 750 early adolescents (50.5% female; average age: 12.9 years, SD = 0.4) from 39 classrooms in two waves, six months apart. Peer ratings of classmates were used to categorize students to five different bullying-related roles (criterion: >1 SD): bully, victim, bully-victim, defender, and non-participant. Student ratings of teachers were used to obtain class-level measures of teacher interventions: non-intervention, disciplinary sanctions, group discussion, and mediation/victim support. Controlling for student- and class-level background variables, two multilevel multinomial logistic regression analyses were computed to predict students’ bullying-related roles at wave 2. In the static model, predictors were teacher interventions at wave 1, and in the dynamic model, predictors were teacher intervention changes across time. The static model showed that disciplinary sanctions reduced the likelihood of being a bully or victim, and group discussion raised the likelihood of being a defender. Mediation/victim support raised the likelihood of being a bully. The dynamic model complemented these results by indicating that increases in group discussion across time raised the likelihood of being a defender, whereas increases in non-intervention across time raised the likelihood of being a victim and reduced the likelihood of being a defender. These results show that teacher interventions have distinct effects on students’ adoption of bullying-related roles and could help to better target intervention strategies. The findings carry practical implications for the professional training of prospective and current teachers.

The Discourse of Online Reviews is the first book to provide an account of the discursive, pragmatic and rhetorical features of this rapidly growing form of technologically-mediated communication. Examining a corpus of over 1,000 consumer reviews, Camilla Vásquez explores many of the discourse features that are characteristic of this new, user-generated, computer-mediated and primarily text-based genre. She investigates the language used by reviewers as they forge connections with their audiences to draw them into their stories, as they construct their expertise and authority on various subjects and as they evaluate and assess their consumer experiences. She also demonstrates how reviewers display their awareness about emerging conventions of the very genre in which they are participating. This book adopts an eclectic approach to the analysis of discourse, and explores topics such as evaluation, identity and intertextuality as they occur in online reviews of hotels, restaurants, recipes, films and other consumer products.

Collaborative learning is often used in higher education to help students develop their teamwork skills and acquire curricular knowledge. In this paper we test a mediation model in which the quality of group discussions mediates the impact of gender diversity and group motivation on collaborative learning effectiveness. Our results show that the proportion of women in groups, and the group level need for cognition and core self-evaluations (within group average) positively predict discussion quality that in turn predicts group (academic) performance. Our results show that discussion quality fully mediates the effects of need for cognition and core self-evaluations on group performance. The effect for gender diversity on group performance is only partly mediated by discussion quality.

If you have ever been apprehensive about initiating classroom discussion because you fear silence, the domination of a couple of speakers, superficial contributions, or off-topic remarks, this book provides strategies for creating a positive learning experience. You'll never again have to suffer a silence so profound that you can, as described by contributors to this book, hear the crickets chirping outside.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 may seem to have an impact on middle-aged and elderly people. However, not much is known about the lived experiences of middle-aged and elderly people during this pandemic. The study aims to explore psychosocial and behavioral impact of COVID-19 on the lives of these individuals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three focus group discussions and seven in-depth interviews were conducted. A format to guide discussions and interviews was made to bring uniformity across groups and participants. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis method was used to extract key conceptual themes. RESULTS: There were 12 male and 10 female participants included, with a mean age of 62.2 years. Five subcategories identified were: Fear and anxiety, household confinement, lifestyle modification, preventive practices, and coping strategies. These sub-categories formed three major categories-psychological, social, and behavioral which ultimately led to the emergence of the main theme that is, COVID-19 effects on the life of middle-aged and older individuals. CONCLUSION: Middle-aged and elderly people are affected in many ways due to COVID-19. Addressing the psycho-social and behavioral problems can help in the better adjustment to tide over the pandemic.

Metaphor has long provided a rich way to speak about the unspeakable, to refer to delicate issues.Sex is one such area.This book follows a cognitive-linguistic and relevance-theoretic approach to the language of sex, considering metaphor as a bridge that brings together mind and language.

This study examines how preservice teachers’ reflections contribute to their professional development based on guided group discussions and individual written reflections in real practicum settings. In particular, the study explores whether and to what extent guided group discussions appear to enhance preservice teachers’ oral reflection after each teaching implementation, as well as whether and how guided group discussions appear to shape their individual reflection after completing their practicum. Through a qualitative approach involving eight participants’ teaching implementations in Literature and History courses, this study highlights the evolution of reflective thinking from group discussions to individual reflection. The data analysis revealed that preservice teachers initially demonstrated a technical type of reflection, focusing on teaching activities with minimal theoretical engagement. Guided group discussions and university supervisors’ scaffolded questions fostered deeper reflection, enabling participants to progressively connect their practice with theory, reframe their understanding, and co-construct knowledge. As the discussions matured, reliance on supervisors diminished, leading to genuine peer-led dialogue. Although most preservice teachers embraced the reflective process, two expressed some resistance. These findings underline the transformative potential of guided group discussions to enhance preservice teachers’ reflections.

Literary culture has become a form of popular culture over the last fifteen years thanks to the success of televised book clubs, film adaptations, big-box book stores, online bookselling, and face-to-face and online book groups. This volume offers the first critical analysis of mass reading events and the contemporary meanings of reading in the UK, USA, and Canada based on original interviews and surveys with readers and event organizers. The resurgence of book groups has inspired new cultural formations of what the authors call \"shared reading.\" They interrogate the enduring attraction of an old technology for readers, community organizers, and government agencies, exploring the social practices inspired by the sharing of books in public spaces and revealing the complex ideological investments made by readers, cultural workers, institutions, and the mass media in the meanings of reading.

The influence of one teacher's scaffolding moves on children's performance in free-flowing child-led small-group discussions was investigated. Three moves were examined: prompting for and praising the use of evidence, asking for clarification, and challenging. Lag sequential analysis was applied to a corpus of over 5,300 speaking turns during 30 discussions to identify recurrent turn-by-turn patterns of teacher-child and child-child talk initiated by the teacher's moves. A complex system of influence among discussion participants was documented in which the teacher's moves had delayed effects as well as immediate effects, indirect as well as direct effects, and reciprocal instead of unidirectional effects. Some children appropriated scaffolding moves of the teacher and began to spontaneously employ the moves in later discussions.

Directed self-learning (DSL) is an active learning approach where the learners are provided with predefined learning objectives and some facilitation through the learning process in the form of guidance and supervision. It can help establish a strong foundation for autonomous and deep learning. The aim of this study was to introduce a modified form of DSL to second-year undergraduate medical students using pre-small group discussion (pre-SGD) worksheets. The authors intended to evaluate its effectiveness through theme assessment and investigate students' perceptions using a feedback questionnaire. This was an analytical cross-sectional study. Modified DSL (MDSL) was introduced to 96 second-year undergraduate medical students in two themes. Students were divided randomly into two groups. One group was exposed to traditional DSL (TDSL), and the other was introduced to MDSL using pre-SGD worksheets for the first theme. Groups were reversed for the second theme. The activity was followed by a theme assessment, which was scored for research purpose only. The scores of this assessment were compared, and perceptions of the students were gathered using a validated questionnaire. Data were analyzed using IBM's statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) version 22. The comparison of theme assessment scores revealed statistically significant difference (P = 0.002) in median scores between control TDSL and experimental MDSL groups. The percentage of students scoring ≥80% in theme assessment was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group (P = 0.029). This strategy was well perceived by the students in terms of acceptability and effectiveness as depicted by a high degree of agreement on the Likert-scale. Modified DSL resulted in significant improvement in academic performance of undergraduate medical students. MDSL was also well perceived as an active learning strategy in terms of acceptability, effectiveness, and comparison with TDSL.