Communication Studies

Dr. Bessie Lee Lawton (and co-author Kim Logio) just had an article entitled "Teaching the Chinese language to heritage versus non-heritage learners: Parents' perceptions of a community weekend school in the United States" published in an international journal called Language, Culture, and Curriculum. Results show differences in expectations regarding teacher communication and teaching style, and an increasing call to incorporate cultural practices into the curriculum and language learning process. These changes not only helped self-identified non-heritage learners achieve identification with the ethnic group; heritage learners who experienced ethnic ambivalence were also drawn back through increased pride and enjoyment in their heritage.

Michael Boyle is co-author of a research article recently published in Mass Communication & Society (Volume 12, Issue 3). The article, "Community Structure and Social Protest: Influences on Newspaper Coverage," considers the role of community-level characteristics such as population size, income, and how rural or urban a community is on how news organizations from those communities treat protest groups. Results showed that newspapers in less pluralistic (i.e., typically smaller, more rural, and lower per-capita income) communities were more critical of protesters when local government was the target and were less likely to quote protesters in stories. Overall, the findings suggest that - all things being equal - protest groups have a better shot at receiving favorable coverage in big city papers than in small town papers.