bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Personnel Deregulation and the High Performance Workforce
Authors: Lynn Dahlia B.
Published: March 2007

Efforts to work better and more effectively are important themes ofthe 1993 National Commission on State and Local Service's report, Hard Truths/Tough Choices An Agenda for State And Local Reform A key recommendation urges the removal of barriers to high performance government and high performance workforces through deregulation and investment in employee training and development. This study seeks to determine the extent to which six state public personnel agencies in the New England region have invested in high quality training and development for their employees Utilizing surveys and in-depth interviews, the research assesses the extent to which four criteria m the Winter Commission Report are being met (1) rebuilding government's human capital, (2) enhancing labor/management communication, (3) creating financial incentives for learning, and (4) creating a new skills package for state government employees Thestudyconcludesby providing an assessment of these six states' efforts and the implications of these results for understanding the status of deregulation efforts in creating a "learning government"
Incentive Systems and Goal Displacement in Personnel Resource Management
Authors: Garson G. David , Brenneman D.S.
Published: March 2007

Writing in Policy Sciences in 1977, Birnberg and Gandhi analyzed the contribution of accounting to evaluation, concluding that while accounting might be appropriate and valuable in public administrative evaluation it was of limited applicability to social program evaluation. Since 1977 numerous efforts have been made to apply accounting procedures to personnel work evaluation in the public sector. Two of the largest attempts, statewide efforts in North Carolina and Florida in the late 1970s, are analyzed in the present essay. It is found that accounting-based personnel work evaluation led to incentive system instability, goal displacement, and ultimate diffusion and disintegration of the management system intervention effort. It is concluded that premises intrinsic to the accounting orientation to organizational dynamics render the utility of this approach to personnel work evaluation far more limited than indicated by Birnberg and Gandhi.
The Behavioral Impact of Impasse Resolution Procedures
Authors: Extejt Marian M. , Chelius James R.
Published: March 2007

Impasse resolution procedures, often utilized m the settlement of public sector disputes, have been found to have an impact on the collective bargaining process. This paper analyzes the impact of these procedures on both current and future negotiations by reviewing the evidence that details the influence on strike deterrence and contract acceptability, as well as the chilling, narcotic and half-life effects. Findings indicate that when strike avoidance is a major priority for a government, impasse procedures culminating in arbitration can effectively deter strikes without senously affect ing the collective bargaining process.
Whatever Happened To Affirmative Action? Employment of Women in the Los Angeles City Department of Water and Power, 1973-1983
Authors: Huckle Patricia
Published: March 2007

Affirmative action policies have always been controversial This study examines successes and continuing obstacles to implementation Results demonstrate increased employment of women and formal acceptance of affirmative action over the decade However, in spite of structural changes, few women have penetrated traditionally male areas.
Personnel Reforms and Formal Participation Structures: the Case of the Biloxi Merit Councils
Authors: Gabris Gerald T. , Mitchell Kenneth
Published: March 2007

This article attempts to demonstrate that personnel reform can be implemented much more smoothly if formal employee participation groups are established to ease system development and acceptance. Based on the experience of Biloxi, Mississippi, in its implementation of a merit pay plan, the utilization of employee merit councils appears to have had a very positive effect on employee attitudes toward management and merit system acceptance. Employees who participated on the merit councils were much more likely to perceive the system as fair and as one which actually in creased individual and team productivity — when compared to those employees who did not engage in formal group participation. These results, while not unexpected, provide further evidence support ive of participative management strategies.
A Case for Moving From Tolerance Tovaluing Diversity
Authors: Schachter Hindy Lauer
Published: March 2007

What are the administrative implications of public agency dress codes that have the effect of barring an employee from maintaining a personal appearance mandated by his or her religion? The conflict is generally presented as one between the right of a public organization to promote uniformity or religious neutrality versus the employee's right to religious free exercise, with the agency asserting that it maximizes its own goals by prohibiting religiously mandated clothing. The argument of this article is that the issue should be reconceptualized as one centering on workforce diversity.
Aging and Work Performance
Authors: Czaja Sara J.
Published: March 2007

The effects of age on productivity have been a long-standing concern for employers. A commonly held stereotype is that worker productivity declines with age. However, the available literature regarding occupational performance and age does not support this conjecture. This article provides an overview of the existing literature regarding aging and work and identifies those areas in the current knowledge base where additional research is needed.
Reinventing Government, The New Public Management and Civil Service Systems in International Perspective
Authors: Kearney Richard C. , Hays Steven W.
Published: March 2007

Reinventing government is a cross-national movement that has important, and potentially negative, implications for the career civil service. This article examines the global development of the reinventing government movement, arguing that it represents at least in part an attack on bureaucratic power and the career public service Each of its principal themes—including debureaucratization, decentralization, privatization, and managerialism —poses challenges to important public service values We argue that reinventing government, contrary to its most ardent proponents' rhetoric, threatens to undermine the important role played by public servants in modern democratic governments The broad implications of this argument are explored.
Does Growth Management Matter? The Effect of Growth Management on Economic Performance
Authors: Nelson Arthur C. , Peterman David R.
Published: March 2007

Growth management attempts to improve the ordering of development to improve outcomes. To taxpayers, growth management promises more efficient delivery of public facilities and services. To developers, growth management promises more certainty. To citizen activists, growth management promises resolution of development problems in advance, instead of on an ad hoc basis. These promises are heroic. Nonetheless, even if only partly successful, communities engaged in growth management should out-perform other communities in overall economic output. This paper evaluates the economic performance of 182 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with 1990 populations between 100,000 and 500,000 over the period 1972 to 1992 with respect to presence or absence of growth management efforts such as urban growth boundaries, urban service limits, and state or regional oversight of local planning. We find a positive association between the presence of growth management and economic performance; communities engaged in growth management realized marginal improvements in economic performance relative to other communities, ceteris parnbus.
New Paradigm or Old Myopia? Unsettling the Communicative Turn in Planning Theory
Authors: Huxley Margo , Yiftachel Oren
Published: March 2007

During the last decade or so, many planning theorists have taken a so-called communicative turn, to the point where somiie have declared the emergence of a dominant new paradigm supported by increasing consensus among theorists. We wish to raise a number of broad questions about the communicative paradigm and claims for its theoretical dominance. We point to alternative analytical positions that focus on issues of power, of the state, and of political economy, in ways that are often underplayed in the communicative literature and that demonstrate a healthy diversity in the field. We offer six critical propositions about communicative planning theory as a contribution to the ongoing debates, in theory and practice, about the conitested nature of planning, its practices and effects.
Municipal Plans, State Mandates, and Property Rights
Authors: Pendall Rolf
Published: March 2007

In Maine, the state government does not require municipalities to plan, but it provides technical assistance, incentives, and state review to encourage local comprehensive planning. Most municipalities submit plans; the majority adopt plans that are consistent with state goals. Voluntary planning may therefore constitute a viable alternative to planning mandates if states offer incentives and assistance. The research finds little evidence that higher status municipalities are more likely to plan, casting doubt on the hypothesis that planning is driven by exclusionary motives in Maine. Municipalities’ planning actions correlate more consistently with indicators of their residents’ attitudes about property rights.
Teaching Computer and Policy Analysis Skills in a Case Study Course
Authors: Page G. William , Sawicki David S.
Published: March 2007

The ability to assess the impacts of alter native policy formulations in a timely man ner is an essential skill for a policy analyst The time available for analysis is often severely constrained Low priced com puters with existing software which is inexpensive and easy to use can dramat ically increase the ability of a policy analyst to evaluate very large numbers of alternatives
Targeting the Elderly to Meet the Housing Needs of Very Low and Low Income Families
Authors: Howe Deborah A. , DeRidder Tamara
Published: March 2007

The potential exists for creating public programs that link subsidized, new housing for the elderly with scattered site housing for very low and low income families. By identifying units that are vacated by the elderly and taking measures that facilitate their availability to those with very low and low income, local governments and housing advocates can serve a broader range of households. The vacated housing stock is often larger and offers a greater choice in neighborhoods, in schools, and in proximity to employment areas than is feasible when families are concentrated in a few public housing projects. The extent to which these benefits can be realized will vary depending on the local housing market and characteristics of the vacated housing. Additional research is needed to define multipliers that take into consideration the overall improvements in housing opportunities that are attributable to a subsidized housing project for the elderly.
Into the Unknown or into Planning? Managing the Transition to Work in the U.K.
Authors: Bailey Nick
Published: March 2007

Employment and recruitment practices in planning, as in other white-collar professions, have been affected by fundamental changes in Western economies. Changes during the last five years mean that planning school graduates are likely to face an increasingly competitive jobs market. In this article, I review trends facing the planning profession and explore how U.K. planning schools are responding to the challenge of promoting in students both the traditional academic skills and a much greater knowledge of practice. The European and U.K. government policy toward planning is reviewed, and the Network in Town Planning is discussed as a vehicle for exploring stakeholder interest in the educational process. I then propose the need to develop the concept of vocational learning.
Patterns of Doctrinal Development
Authors: Faludi Andreas
Published: March 2007

Planning doctrine refers to a conceptual scheme giving coherence to planning by means of conceptualizing an area's shape, developmental challenges, and ways of handling them. The focus of this article is on the dynamics of such a doctrine. Drawing on Thomas Kuhn, doctrine implies a phase model, from a pre-doctrinal to a doctrinal situation and on to one where revolution threatens. Four pre-doctrinal situations are discussed: the Flemish Structure Plan, the Second Outline Structural Plan for the Benelux, European Union planning, and Florida's state growth management. Conceiving of them as pre-doctrinal focuses on how, in the fullness of time, they may evolve. However, what about situations where, like in the Netherlands, doctrine is mature? In those situations, a ‘Laudanian Model’ of evolutionary change (after Larry Laudan, a critic of Kuhn) opens up new perspectives.
Self-Employed Hispanics and Hispanic Wage Earners: Differences in Earnings
Authors: Olson Patricia D. , Zuiker Virginia Solis , Montalto Catherine Phillips
Published: March 2007

The influence of employment sector on the income of Hispanics is examined using data from the 1990 U.S. Decennial Census. Human capital theory is augmented with measures of acculturation, and income equations are estimated separately for self-employed Hispanics and Hispanic wage earners. The results suggest that self-employment offers economic benefits. The importance of acculturation varies by employment sector. Decomposition of the differences in income between self-employed Hispanics and Hispanic wage earners indicates that these income differences are due more to differences in worker characteristics between the two employment sectors than to differences in rates of return to these characteristics.
An Overview of Conflicting Opinions in the TAAS Case
Authors: Valencia Richard R. , Bernal Ernesto M.
Published: March 2007

This article provides an introduction to a number of issues and resultant conflicting opinions, held by plaintiffs and defendants, that characterized the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case. The authors discuss eight different issues and the conflicting opinions that accompany them. These issues are concerned with the (a) explanation of why some minority students fail TAAS, (b) history of racial/ethnic minority discrimination in Texas schools, (c) opportunity to learn TAAS content, (d) alignment between teaching and TAAS, (e) adverse impact of the TAAS test on minority students, (f) psychometric integrity of TAAS, (g) decision model for awarding the high school diploma, and (h) accountability model.
Passing Through the Eye of the Needle: High-Achieving Chicanas
Authors: Gandara Patricia
Published: March 2007

This article deals with a study of 17 Mexican American women between the ages of 28 and 40 years who came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, yet succeeded in completing J. D., M. D., and Ph. D. degrees. The researcher investigated 10 areas of the women's backgrounds ranging from child-rearing practices used by the parents to peer and school variables. The objective of the study was to identify background factors and experiences held in common by the women that may have contributed to their extraordinary educational accomplishments. Among the things found to be most important for these women were the strong models their mothers provided, the emotional support of their families, and the fact that they had attended highly integrated schools.
Academic Achievement as Influenced by Bilingual Instruction for Spanish-Dominant Mexican American Children
Authors: De La Garza Jesus Valenzuela , Medina Marcello
Published: March 2007

The primary purpose of this study was to compare academic outcomes for two groups of Mexican American children (Spanish-dominant N = 24; English-dominant N = 118) equated for ethnicity, SES, grade level and duration of program participation. These Spanish-dominant subjects were exposed to a transitional bilingual education program and the English-dominant subjects to a traditional English-only curriculum for grades one through three. The study's secondary objective was to assess the impact of the experimental group's exposure to the transitional bilingual education program by examining their Spanish and English academic performance. Obtained data indicate that experimental group subjects outperformed the comparison group on second-grade vocabulary achievement while there were no other differences for reading comprehension, mathematics computation and concepts. It was also noted that experimental subjects developed English proficiency in reading and mathematics at an earlier grade than previously reported in the literature while maintaining Spanish proficiency in reading and mathematics above national norms. Implications of such findings for the education of bilingual learners are discussed.
Dual Utilization of Medical Services by Low Income Latino Families: An Exploratory Investigation
Authors: Coe Merilyn
Published: March 2007

Dual utilization, client long-term use of two or more medical providers, was investigated in this exploratory study. This study examines financial, structural, and cultural factors associated with choice and patterns of dual utilization. Specifically, is there evidence that any one of these factors is strong enough to systematically influence dual use behavior? An in-depth interview was conducted of fifty low income Latino family members who used two providers: Kaiser HMO and La Clinica de La Raza. Latino families chose to use and pay for clinic services even though the same services could be obtained at almost no cost through their Kaiser HMO coverage. The majority of services puchased at the clinic related to pre/postnatal care and birth control for the women and to optometry and dentistry for the men. The research suggests that any expenditure for services which could have been obtained at no cost from Kaiser supports the importance of the contextual conditions associated with the purchased service. Although the HMO system has experienced significant growth, results of this research raise the question of their level of comprehensiveness.
Selectivity of Mexican American Intraregional Migration in the Southwest
Authors: Saenz Rogelio
Published: March 2007

A significant amount of research in the last several decades has examined the migration of different racial groups such as whites and blacks in the United States. Such studies have identif ed important demographic and socioeconomicpredictors of migration. Mexican Americans represent one group that has largely been neglected in this respect. This study examines the relationship among demographic and socioeconomic variables and intraregional migration among Mexican Americans in five southwest states. Datafrom a subsample of 6,137 householders included in the 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample are usedfor this purpose. The findings demonstrate that while some of the predictor variables are significantly related to migration, others are not. The results demonstrate the needforfurther research examining the extent to which previous findings on migration selectivity can be generalized to different racial and ethnic groups.
The Relationships of Intergroup Contact to Social Identity and Political Consciousness
Authors: Rodriguez Jaclyn , Gurin Patricia
Published: March 2007

The impact of three forms of intergroup contact (Mexican descent, other minority, and Anglo) on the social identities and political attitudes of a national sample of native-born persons of Mexican descent was examined. Cast within Tajfel's Social Identity theory, the various social contexts were expected to predict three distinct types of ethnic identity: Cultural Ethnicity (Ingroup contact), Politicized Ethnicity (Ingroup and Minority Outgroup contact), and Assimilationist Ethnicity (Anglo contact). Contrasting political orientations were also predicted for the types of contact, with group-conscious attitudes associated with Ingroup and Minority Outgroup contacts and conservative political attitudes with A nglo contact. Support is provided for the expected relationships between Ingroup and Minority Outgroup interactions and identity and political attitudes. Anglo contact was related to conservative political attitudes.
Welfare Dependency Among Chicanos and Puerto Ricans: The Milwaukee Case
Authors: Velez William
Published: March 2007

This article examines some of the factors involved in welfare recipiency among Latinos living in the city of Milwaukee. The sample was drawn from neighborhoods that were identified as having high levels ofpoverty and high rates ofpublic assistance. The results suggest that Puerto Ricans are less likely to be on welfare with increasing levels of education, if they have spent a long time residing in Milwaukee, if they have access to kinship networks, if they have secondary earners in the household, and if they have a job. Women were more likely to be dependent on public aid and number of children also had a positive relationship with recipiency. Chicano respondents are less likely to be on welfare if they have spent a long time residing in Milwaukee, have lived at the same address for a longer period of time, are married, have a job, and are foreign born. Chicano respondents with higher levels of English proficiency were more likely to be classified as dependent than those whose command of English was not as good. Although the study uncovered high levels of welfare dependency, the results raise serious doubts about the applicability of the "underclass" concept to Latinos.
Chicana College Students on the Texas-Mexico Border: Tradition and Transformation
Authors: Young Gay
Published: March 2007

In interviews with a probability sample of 218 Mexican-American women university students, the authors found that the number of hours Chicanas work weekly is vastly more important than either their connection to the ethnic community or their challenge to gender relations in terms of the time it takes them to earn a baccalaureate degree. The findings-both descriptive and multivariate-suggest that institutional responsiveness to their combined student/worker status is critical to their educational "success. "
DSM-IV: Implications for Hispanic Children and Adolescents
Authors: Cervantes Richard C. , Arroyo William
Published: March 2007

Hispanic children and adolescents are a rapidly growing segment of the general population. The mental health needs of this group of youth are thought to be at least equal to the needs of nonminority children. Culturally appropriate diagnostic, treatment, and evaluation servicesfor this group of Hispanic youth are much needed so that ethical and appropriate mental health and educational services can be provided. This article provides an overview of the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV. Highlighted in this article is a discussion of the validity and reliability of the diagnostic categories included in the DSM-IV. An extensive review of the literature reveals few empirical studies related to the validity and reliability of the DSM when used with Hispanic children and adolescents. This review of the existing literature, as well as the clinical experiences of the authors, provide the basis for some general guidelines in the use of the DSM-IV such that diagnostic errors with Hispanic children and adolescents can be minimized.
"At-Risk" Chicano Students: The Institutional and Communicative Life of a Category
Authors: Ronda Michelle A. , Valencia Richard R.
Published: March 2007

The at-risk student has attracted much attention in American schools during the last decade. In 1986, the Texas legislature approvedHouse Bill 1010 that includedaprovision specifying criteria that schools would use to identify students as at-risk of dropping out of school, and thus a category was created. This article attempts tofill a gap in research on at-risk students that often emphasizes adult perspectives on such students, without exploring the worldviews of the students themselves. This article describes and explains how talk constructs a worldfor a group of predominantly Chicano (Mexican American) students (N = 19) enrolled in a dropout prevention program in a middle school in Bowie (pseudonym), a large metropolitan area in Texas. Ethnography is the method of research. The at-risk category is explored asa production of adult worldviews, and adults "'official talk" about these students. The at-risk students come to communicate this association as a source of both shame and unity and, thereby, reproduce the category on the one hand and produce a counter-culture to the adults'construction of that world on the other It is suggested that viewing Chicano studentsuccess in this country 's educational systemfrom a communication perspective may provide an effective alternative to a preoccupation with student failure and deficit thinking. The at-risk category masks larger institutional problems and communicates deficiency to and about those students so categorized.
Beyond the Superwoman Syndrome: Work Satisfaction and Family Functioning among Working-Class, Mexican American Women
Authors: Herrera Ruth S. , DelCampo Robert L.
Published: March 2007

The "superwoman syndrome" developed as a result of the mistaken belief that women's participation in outside employment was not to come at a cost to their homemaker responsibilities. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether a "superwoman mentality" existed among working-class, Mexican American women in dualearner families. The present study investigated the interaction of sex-role attitudes, the division of household and child-care responsibilities, role strain, work satisfaction, and family functioning among working-class Mexican American women in dual-earner families. Findings from the present study indicate that Mexican American women do not subscribe to the superwoman myth. Instead, they seem to endorse an expansion of the husbands' roles to include housework and child care. The economic and social changes of the past several decades have influenced patterns of work and family. Married women have entered the labor force en masse. Their employment outside the home has resulted in both financial gains for families and increased opportunities for women. Previously, women's contributions to the family and society came primarily through their homemaker responsibilities. Wives' participation in the labor force has allowed them to contribute economic resources as well. Outside employment permits women to expand their roles to include those of the working and professional woman.
Movement Patterns of Persons With HIV Receiving Treatment in Public Clinics in the Southern Health Region, Puerto Rico
Authors: Brett Kate M. , Yamamura Yashuhiro , Kam W. Thomas , Rios Carlos F. , Rodriguez Nayra , Marconi Katherine M.
Published: March 2007

Health planners suspect there is a pattern of movement, dubbed the "air bridge," between Puerto Rico and the continental United States by persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who are seeking health services. The authors tested this hypothesis in publicly supported HlVclinics in the Puerto Rican Southern Health Region (SHR). A survey was conducted of 187 patients who were at least 18 years of age, confirmed HIV positive, and not incarcerated. Only 7% of the respondents had been outside the SHR for 2 weeks or more in the past year. Intravenous drug users and men who have sex with men were 7 to 8 times more likely to have traveled than were heterosexual respondents. Fifty-seven percent of all movement was within Puerto Rico, and no one had traveled to the United States primarily to receive medical services. Thus the results of this study do not support the concept of an "air bridge. "
Motivation and Learning Environment Differences between Resilient and Nonresilient Latino Middle School Students
Authors: Waxman Hersholt C. , Huang Shwu-yong L. , Padron Yolanda N.
Published: March 2007

This study tries to address the problems of Latino students by drawing on two distinct and emerging theoretical frameworks: (a) educationally resilient students and (b) classroom learning environments. The authors compared the motivation and learning environment of 60 resilient and 60 nonresilient Latino middle school students from a multiethnic metropolitan city located in the south central region of the United States. The multivariate analysis and univariate post hoc tests revealed that resilient students had significantly higherperceptions of involvement, satisfaction, academic self-concept, and achievement motivation than nonresilient students. The discriminantfunction analysis revealed that the variables of academic aspirations, involvement, academic self-concept, expectations for high school graduation, not being held back in school, and satisfaction were related most highly to the overall discriminant function. Results are discussed in relation to previous work on educational resilience and to implications for improving the education of students at risk of failure.
What Does It Mean to Be “Mexican”? Social Construction of an Ethnic Identity
Authors: Niemann Yolanda Flores , Romero Andrea J. , Arredondo Jorge , Rodriguez Victor
Published: March 2007

To better understand the impact of ethnic identity, it is important to examine people’s social construction, or definition, of that identity. In this study, the social construction of ethnic identity of predominantly low-acculturated, first-and second-generation U.S. Mexicans and Mexican Americans was examined by asking focus group participants to talk about what it meant to them to be members of their ethnic groups. These open-ended responses then were coded along Phinney’s aspects of ethnicity. Several interesting patterns emerged, some of which have not been emphasized in previous literature, such as conflict with African Americans and Chicanas/Chicanos. Discussion centers on the value of listening to people’s social constructions of their ethnic identity to better understand their social realities.
Do Cuban American Women Suffer from Eating Disorders? Effects of Media Exposure and Acculturation
Authors: Jane Dulce M. , Hunter George C. , Lozzi Bettina M.
Published: March 2007

This study examined the dual roles of continued close ties with the Cuban community and culture of origin as well as influences of print and broadcast media in the development of attitudes toward body type and propensity toward eating disorders among young Cuban American women. Continued exclusive or primary use of Spanish language in the home as well as frequent consumption of Cuban meals were associated with lower (less problematic) scores on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). Regular attendance at parties and social functions attended primarily by Cubans did not appear related to lower scores on the EAT. Unlike some previous studies, no relationship was found between levels of media exposure and propensity toward eating disorders as measured by the EAT.
Intimate Victimization of Latina Farm Workers: A Research Summary
Authors: Gorton Joe , van Hightower Nikki R.
Published: March 2007

This article summarizes the findings from an analysis of domestic abuse experienced by low income, Latina farm workers in a nine-state area. Using logistic regression analysis, we analyzed factors that predict victimization of these women. Among the 820 study participants, 17% reported that during the past year, they had been physically or sexually abused by a husband, boyfriend, family member, or companion. Two variables were statistically significant predictors of intimate victimization. Respondents whose partners used drugs and/or alcohol had a significantly higher probability of being victimized than respondents whose partners abstained from drug and/or alcohol use. Pregnant respondents were significantly less likely to be abused than respondents who were not pregnant.
Aristotle's Definition of Rhetoric in the Rhetoric
Authors: NEWMAN SARA J.
Published: March 2007

In spite of the continuing influence of Aristotle's Rhetoric on the discipline of rhetoric, no widespread agreement exists about whether the text is a systematic treatise about the tekhne (art) of rhetoric or a disconnected set of lecture notes. A significant piece of the puzzle belongs to Aristotle's metaphorical definitions of rhetoric in Book I of that text. Although scholarly efforts to interpret these definitions have informed our understanding of the text, they have done so without fully addressing how these definitions function within the text. This article affers a new approach to investigating these statements, one that considers them from Aristotle's own perspective on such linguistic matters: the author uses Aristotle's theory of metaphor as a measure of his practice in these definitions. The outcome indicates that Aristotle's practice in this situation does not match his theory, a circumstance that has certain consequences for our reading of the Rhetoric.
Score Resolution and the Interrater Reliability of Holistic Scores in Rating Essays
Authors: JOHNSON ROBERT L. , PENNY JAMES , GORDON BELITA
Published: March 2007

The assessment of students' writing skills through essays is a common practice in educational institutions. Scoring of essays requires considerable judgment on the part of those who rate the response. When raters assign different scores to an essay, testing practitioners must resolve the discrepancy before computing an operational score to report to the examinee. This study investigated five forms of score resolution that were reported in a national survey of state department of education-testing agencies. The study examined the effect that each form of resolution has on the reliability of the resulting operational scores. It is shown that some methods of resolution can be associated with higher interrater reliability than can others. It is also shown that the choice of resolution can affect the magnitude of the reported score as well as the final passing rate of an assessment.
Genre Systems at Work
Authors: BERKENKOTTER CAROL
Published: March 2007

In this article, I describe four interrelated analytical concepts useful for studying the discursive practices of professional writers: intertextuality, interdiscursivity, genre systems, and recontextualization. Drawing on structuration theory and neo-Vygotskyan activity theory to provide a framework for the above concepts, I present three theoretical assumptions: (a) genre systems play an intermediate role between institutional structural properties and individual communicative action, (b) a central means for identifying texts in a genre system is their intertextual activity, and (c) the concept of “genre systems” enables the analyst to foreground the discursively salient components of human activity systems. An elaboration of each of these assumptions is followed by an illustration of genre systems at work in one psychotherapist's session notes and the process I call rhetorical recontextualization.
How Students Read Student Papers
Authors: NEWKIRK THOMAS
Published: March 2007

This study uses protocol analysis techniques to compare written evaluations of college freshmen with those of instructors in Freshmen English sections. These evaluations of two students papers indicate that many students apply criteria that are significantly and consistently different from those of instructors. The differences suggest that composition teachers who urge students to “write for their peers” may put themselves in a position of having to reward writing that fails to meet basic expectations of academic audiences.
Two Parallel Traditions
Authors: BOICE ROBERT , MEYERS PATRICIA E.
Published: March 2007

We review automaticity, effortless writing that comes with freedom from excessive conscious interference, in terms of its origins in automatic writing and its growth into contemporary techniques such as free writing. We characterize automaticity (a) as a form of dissociation from consciousness, (b) as an aid to spontaneity and creativity, and (c) as a key to understanding why some writers block more readily than others. Conclusion: All forms of automaticity resemble hypnosis and, so, should be used with carefully planned structures and cautions.
The Writing of Research Article Introductions
Authors: SWALES JOHN , NAJJAR HAZEM
Published: March 2007

Introductions to research articles (RAs) have become an important site for the analysis of academic writing. However, analysts have apparently not considered whether RA introductions typically include statements of principal findings. In contrast, this issue is often addressed in the manuals and style guides surveyed, most advocating the desirability of announcing principal findings (APFs) in RA introductions. Therefore, a study of actual practice in two leading journals from two different fields (physics and educational psychology) was undertaken. In the Physical Review 45% of the introductions sampled contained APFs (with some increase in percentage over the last 40 years), while in the Journal of Educational Psychology the percentage fell to under 7%. These figures are at variance with the general trend of recommendations in primary and secondary sources. Thus preliminary evidence points to (a) a mismatch between descriptive practice and prescriptive advice and (b) diversity in this rhetorical feature between the two fields.
Transfer of Writing Skills
Authors: TEICH NATHANIEL
Published: March 2007

R. M. Gagné's distinction between lateral and vertical transfer can be elaborated for written composition: (a) the lateral transfer of mechanical and formal skills and (b) the vertical transfer of higher-order knowledge in the domain of rhetoric and writing. Vertical transfer of writing skills is situational: a function of the context and content of a specific rhetorical situation. Success in a situational writing task depends on two types of domain-specific knowledge being operational: (a) knowledge of the specific content of the subject matter and (b) knowledge of the domain of rhetoric and writing. The theory of lateral and vertical transfer as applied to writing is compatible with current conceptions of declarative and procedural cognitive processes and with a balanced pedagogy of both student-centered and direct, content-oriented instruction. Two appendixes present practical procedures based on transfer theory for improving general program goals and classroom instruction of writing.
A Speech Act Theory of Metadiscourse
Authors: BEAUVAIS PAUL J.
Published: March 2007

Metadiscourse commonly is defined as “discourse about discoursing.” In its brief history, the term has appeared in several studies of text structure; however, theorists disagree concerning the functions and forms of metadiscursive structures and the role of metadiscourse in a larger theory of text linguistics. This study provides representative examples of the problems that diminish the utility of the metadiscourse theories that currently are available. It then proposes an alternative theory that locates metadiscourse within the larger context of speech act theory. The study defines metadiscourse as indicators of expositive illocutionary acts, and it then provides a taxonomy of metadiscursive functions and forms.
Novelty in Academic Writing
Authors: KAUFER DAVID S. , GEISLER CHERYL
Published: March 2007

Authorial newness or innovation has become a subject of growing interest in the sociology of science. We review some of this literature and elaborate constituents of a theory of authorial novelty. We also discuss some parameters that account for the changing assumptions of novelty across disciplinary communities. Finally, we show that many of the insights required in a parameterized theory of newness have not yet made their way into theories of rhetoric or written composition.
Cultural Preference and the Expository Writing of African-American Adolescents
Authors: BALL ARNETHA F.
Published: March 2007

Research by linguists and educators confirms the observation that aspects of the African-American experience are reflected in the grammatical, phonological, lexical, and stylistic features of African-American English and in the patterns of language use, including narrative, found in African-American speech communities. This study goes beyond prior research to investigate and characterize what Hymes refers to as the preferred patterns for the “organization of experience” among African-American adolescents. The results of the study revealed that, although subjects from several ethnic backgrounds stated a preference for using vernacular-based organizational patterns in informal oral exposition, African-American adolescents, in contrast to a group of Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and European-American adolescents, reported a strong preference for using vernacular-based patterns in academic writing tasks as they got older. These findings suggest that the organization of expository discourse is affected by cultural preference and years of schooling and that preference for organizational patterns can be viewed as an obstacle to or as a resource in successful literacy-related experiences.
Essayist Literacy and Other Verbal Performances
Authors: FARR MARCIA
Published: March 2007

The style of discourse underlying writing instruction in this country, which has been termed essayist literacy by Scollon and Scollon and others, is grounded historically and culturally in the development of Western civilization. This style of discourse is the register of English used in academic situations, and it also has been found to be characteristic of some educated (especially male) mainstream speakers in other contexts. Because this register often differs from the naturally acquired discourse styles of students from nonmainstream groups, many such students face difficulties in writing instruction that mainstream students do not face. Given the importance of the essayist literacy register in this society, it is important (a) to make the characteristics of this discourse style explicit in order to increase the likelihood that writing instruction will be clear and available to all students, and (b) to learn about other discourse styles that are already known and used by students from a range of communities. A conceptual framework from the ethnography of communication is presented for studying verbal performances in different cultural contexts, and two examples of persuasive oral performances from ongoing research among Mexican immigrants are analyzed within this framework.
Some Concepts and Axioms about Communication
Authors: KAUFER DAVID S. , CARLEY KATHLEEN
Published: March 2007

An important element of written and other technological forms of communication is that they accommodate “distance” between sender and receiver in a way proximate communication does not. Despite its importance, the notion of distance has remained pretty much undeveloped in theories of written communication, and the reference points for developing it have remained scattered across various, often noninteractive, literatures such as social theory, network theory, knowledge representation, and postmodernism. Synthesizing across these diverse literatures, we formulate a set of concepts and axioms that lays down some baselines for the general communication context, proximate or at a distance. Our baseline concepts include, among others, relative similarity, signature, reach, and concurrency. We then move beyond these baselines to concepts and axioms that accommodate the specialized distance characteristics of written (also print and electronic) communication. These concepts include asynchronicity, durability, and multiplicity. We conclude by discussing how these concepts and axioms matter to (a) the theoretical modeling of proximate and written systems of communication (including print and electronic systems); and (b) the educational challenge of teaching communication at a distance in the proximate space of the writing classroom.
Revising Psychiatry's Charter Document
Authors: McCARTHY LUCILLE PARKINSON , GERRING JOAN PAGE
Published: March 2007

A composition researcher and psychiatrist report findings from their 3-year study of the revision of the most important book in the mental health profession: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). This 500-page diagnostic taxonomy defines some 250 mental disorders, and it functions for the field as a charter document, shaping the way mental illness is understood, treated, and studied. The revision project, which culminates in 1994 with the publication of DSM-IV, is a 6-year project involving some 1,000 psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. In this study the authors examine the DSM revision using three methodologies: in Part I they trace the history of the DSM classification system; in Part II they analyze published accounts of the revision by project leaders; and finally, in Part III they observe the revision process as it was actually carried out in one of the 13 work groups. The authors conclude that the revision of DSM functions less to change the text than to achieve certain social and political effects. They find the revision works to further entrench the biomedical model of mental disorder, to maintain the dominance of psychiatry within the mental health field, and to enhance the prestige of psychiatry in relation to other medical specialties.
The Multivoiced Classroom
Authors: DYSTHE OLGA
Published: March 2007

This article presents descriptions of and examples from qualitative case studies of 3 high school classrooms in Norway and the United States. The focus is on how classroom discourse and writing interact with each other and provide an important and unique instructional resource. The teachers in 2 of the classrooms consistently elicited, overtly valued, and helped develop student opinions and ideas. In this process, authentic questions and uptake were common, and a great diversity of voices was heard. Bakhtin's and Rommetveit's dialogical framework is used as the basis of analysis, as is Lotman's theory about the functional dualism of texts. The main argument is that the interaction of oral and written discourse increased dialogicality and multivoicedness and therefore provided more chances for students to learn than did talking or writing alone. In this way, the texts, both oral and written, were used to generate thoughts and opinions.
Contested Relations and Authoritative Texts
Authors: DIAMONDSTONE JUDITH V.
Published: March 2007

In this article, orientations to text taken by seventh-grade students preparing for a simulation of the 1954 school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education, are compared with those taken by legal professionals in the historical event itself. The author uses Halliday's definition of register to show that meanings are made on several dimensions of social life simultaneously, along with Bakhtin's theory of heteroglossia to show that meaning is made from divergent social positions. Textual analysis shows that seventh-grade students rejected what they saw as violations of the conventions of Supreme Court argument, while the winning argument in the actual Supreme Court hearing of Brown plays with conventions by signaling conflicting social positions. The author suggests that teachers might encourage students to reflect on their own positioning within a complex rhetorical context and draw attention to how registers are actually realized in historically significant texts.
Reading Materials for Adults
Authors: Cass Angelica W.
Published: March 2007

Mrs. Cass has had wide experience as an instructor, supervisor and administrator in elementary adult education. Her text and filmstrip materials are well known to workers in this field.
Knee-Deep in Alligators
Authors: Brown Leslie E.
Published: March 2007

No one who was there will have forgotten the democracy, efficiency, and élan of the Founding Assembly that adopted the constitution of the Adult Education Association in Columbus, Ohio, on the 14th of May, 1951. Because it was an important moment in the history of the adult education movement, and because the AEA is striving to realize the promise of that occasion, we are happy to have at last pried out of Les Brown, the chairman of the Founding Assembly's Constitutional Revision Committee, this story of the adoption of the AEA's constitution.