Critical Review of Articles/Chapters
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Critical Review of Articles/Chapters
Summary of the Articles
Cicourel (2007) sought to explore ecological validity. Presented in this article is a selective discussion of three previous research projects that ventured to approximate ecological validity. The author noted that ecological validity remained a longstanding topic through his academic career as a point of view. He explains that ecological validity is more about the way people use every means to available to convince other people to buy into their claims. He adds that ecological validity can best be understood by using both primary and secondary sources of data, some of which include demographic distributions, structured interviews, unstructured interviews, recorded discourse, and sample surveys during social interactions. Cicourel (2007) notes that ecological validity can only be explored in the context of behavioural and social sciences. The most important issue considered in this case is the extent to which data matches the systematic time samples of activities and events within the organizational setting. An example of ecological validity, as given by the author, is the direct observation of and indulgence in human actors’ daily activities as they go about their life using, where possible, either audio or video recording. Social scientists may be guided by systematic behavioural sampling executed in biological studies of animals. This article’s findings indicate that in the course of human interactions, they try to sway each other by different means, including discourse. As such, the article contributes to the understanding of discourse by highlighting how important it is to human interactions.
In writing his article, Nevile (2004) mainly focused on showing the way approach briefing, which materializes as both talk and non-talk activities like touching displays and writing, are precisely coordinated to form a series of embodies claims by pilots during their briefing about their progress in executing various parts of their task. He is of the view that this coordination is constructive in sociotechnical work settings, including the airline cockpit. The author explains that the flight’s standard procedure is that when the crew is preparing to land, the pilots have to hold a discussion and agree on a plan on how to go about the final stages of the flight. They plan the descent, how they will approach the runway, and how they will finally land. They do this so that they can breakdown the plane safely to the ground. In essence, the pilots have to undertake a cockpit briefing. Nevile (2004) used transcriptions of video recordings of pilots delivering cockpit briefings on scheduled passenger flights to evaluate micro-detail processes of talk-in-interactions during this process. It is crucial to perform and accomplish tasks in the socio-technical settings, and these individuals have a strict sequence required of them for both talk and non-talk activities. Therefore, the people who undertake these activities must demonstrate a sense of integrity in ensuring an understanding of the conduct in line with the task-related actions. The article suggests that the findings would be particularly applicable for commercial aviation and accident investigation, especially for human error and situation awareness. The author also presents a novel way of presenting non-talk activities and the timing of these activities relative to talk in transpiring details. Discourse is the main focus of this article since the crew has to engage in discussions to come up with an effective plan for the landing. As such, the article contributes to the understanding of discourse as a tool of human interaction.
Critique of the Articles
The article by Cicourel (2007) mainly had social scientists as its audience. Ecological validity, which is the point of focus of this article, deals with the way humans interact with one another to try to convince them to accept their claims different data sources, some of which include structured interviews, demographic distributions, and recorded discourse as they interact. The article is appropriate for this audience since social scientists are concerned with human behavior and how they interact with one another. The central claim made in this article is that the validity of inferences obtained by studying recordings and observations of discourse and social interactions presupposes intricate forms of social organizations, including kinship systems and various related and bureaucratic forms of organizations. This being a qualitative study, there is evidence to show that the data used were “thick” enough to warrant the claims made. The author presents data from three studies that were previously conducted to approximate ecological validity. These studies are comprehensive and present critical details that justify the claims made. The article presents other relevant studies to support the various points made by the author. For example, the article highlights the studies conducted by Franz Boas (1938) and (Mandelbaum 1949) to present his case about linguistic methods that have been used over the years. The practical relevance of this article would be in the juvenile justice systems to understand the minors’ behaviour and why some of them tend to engage in delinquent behaviours. The findings of this article would be relevant to child psychologists and school counsellors to explore the behaviour of the children and adolescents.
The article by Nevile (2004) was written for aircraft accident and incident investigators. The article is all about approach briefing in which pilots have to engage in both talk and non-talk interactions with other crew members as they approach the end of the flight so that everything is coordinated well to enable safe landing of the plane. The aircraft accident and incident investigators will want to establish whether there was proper approach briefing if an accident or incident occurs, especially when the plane was about to land. In this article, the central claim is that in sociotechnical work settings like airline cockpit, performing tasks and undertaking talk and non-talk activities require to be executed in strict sequence. To obtain evidence, the author conducted a primary study where he witnessed the approach brief from two separate airplane cockpits. The evidence that he obtained and to lay this claim correctly match the claim since he noted the strictness with which the briefing was executed. The qualitative data obtained from the study was “thick” enough to warrant the claims made. The author collected the data primarily from different airplanes and backed it up with secondary data obtained from previous studies in the same area of study. The article presents other relevant studies in various instances. In one case, he uses such studies as Goodwin (1986), Kendon (1990), and Schegloff (1998) to explain the importance of integrating talk and non-talk activities in human interactions. The practical relevance of this article would be in commercial aviation and aircraft accident investigation. The findings would be particularly significant to those involved in the description and analysis of matters surrounding human error and situation awareness in commercial flights.
Application of the Behaviourism Theory of Learning in Classroom
Behaviourism is attributed to B.F Skinner, and it stems from the idea of operant conditioning. It supposes that knowledge usually exists independently and outside of individuals. The learner is viewed as a blank slate, which has to be furnished with the experience. Behaviourists hold that learning will only occur when changes in behaviour or new behaviours are acquired when associations happen between stimuli and responses. This is to say that associations lead to a change in behaviour. Based on this theory, a teacher will have to interact with the learners through discourse and other activities, including rewards and punishments for the learners to get to acquire the knowledge.
Reference List
Cicourel, A.V., 2007. A personal, retrospective view of ecological validity. Text & Talk, 27(5-6), pp.735-752.
Nevile, M., 2004. Integrity in the airline cockpit: embodying claims about progress for the conduct of an approach briefing. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 37(4), pp.447-480.