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Moral thinking and communication are critical competencies for confronting social dilemmas in a challenging world. We examined these moral competencies in 70 college students and graduates from Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants were assessed through semi-structured written interviews, Facebook group discussions, and a questionnaire. In this paper, we describe the similarities and differences across cultural groupings in (1) the social issues of greatest importance to the participants; (2) the factors influencing their approaches to thinking about social issues and communicating with others; and (3) the characteristics of their moral functioning in terms of moral awareness, moral judgment, moral discourse, and moral decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a self-paced reading experiment comparing the processing of subject-extracted relative clauses (SRCs) and object-extracted relative clauses (ORCs) in supportive contexts in Chinese. It is argued that lack of a consistent pattern in the literature for the comparison between Chinese SRCs and ORCs is due to potential temporary ambiguity in these constructions in null contexts. By placing the materials in contexts biased towards a relative clause (RC) interpretation, we limit the effects of temporary ambiguity. The results of the experiment demonstrate that SRCs are read more slowly than ORCs in supportive contexts. These results provide evidence for working memory-based sentence processing theories whereby processing difficulty increases for connecting sentence elements that are further apart. Some convergent evidence that strengthens these conclusions comes from recent research on aphasic populations where a dissociation between English and Chinese RC processing has been revealed: whereas English aphasic patients have more difficulty with ORCs and Chinese aphasic patients have more difficulty with SRCs (Su, Lee, & Chung, 2007). Taken together, these results support the idea that sentence processing is constrained by working memory limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategy training is a promising stroke rehabilitation intervention commonly delivered in Western countries. We examined the perspectives of rehabilitation therapists who have delivered strategy training in Taiwan and the United States to understand the influence of culture on strategy training implementation. In this rapid ethnographic study, the maximum variation sampling approach was used to recruit seven therapists in Taiwan and seven therapists in the United States with experience delivering strategy training. Data was collected from multiple sources, including interviews, study documents, therapist notes, and reflective memos. Interviews with the recruited therapists in Taiwan and the United States were conducted in Mandarin and English, respectively. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. The following two themes were generated: (1) differences between conventional rehabilitation and strategy training, namely that conventional rehabilitation is therapist-directed and emphasizes impairment reduction, whereas strategy training empowers clients and focuses on real-life generalization, and (2) challenges in implementing strategy training in practice, including difficulty in achieving client buy-in and disengagement. Therapists from both countries shared similar perspectives on the perceived advantages of strategy training, such as enhancing client empowerment and engagement, and the generalization of strategies. Family involvement was more prominently discussed by therapists in Taiwan than by those in the United States. Strategy training differs from conventional rehabilitation in its emphasis on clients' life participation and empowerment, generalization of strategies, and enhancement of their engagement, confidence, and problem-solving skills. Therapists may face challenges related to client buy-in and disengagement as well as difficulties in establishing a therapeutic rapport at the beginning of strategy training because clients have different expectations from those of conventional rehabilitation. Cultural differences in norms and expectations and the clinical experiences of therapists may influence the delivery of strategy training to clients. Family support may influence the success of strategy training. Thoughtful conversations to reach a mutual understanding regarding the expectations of strategy training among clients, family, and rehabilitation practitioners are necessary prior to implementing strategy training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]