DACUM, an acronym for Developing A Curriculum, is a standardized curriculum development process used primarily in community colleges across the United States. DACUM results provide a valid national database that can: (1) further justify the study of speech communication in most academic curricula; and (2) help define the nature of the basic speech…

Surveyed engineers to determine their communication needs. Results showed that interpersonal communication, listening behavior, leadership, and group discussion were considered the most important communication skills, while public speaking, interviewing, and parliamentary procedures were considered the least important. (PD)

Discusses the future trends possible in the field of communication education and research. Argues that administrators of communications programs should anticipate dynamic curricular changes that will strain traditional concepts of the discipline. Considers how paradigm shifts might affect the discipline's growth and organization. (HB)

A study of 178 secondary school teachers in the California was motivated by the passage of the Ryan Act of 1970, which eliminated the high school speech credential and subsumed it under the English umbrella. The result has been that the speech communication subject matter is expected to be integrated into the English courses in the state. The 1987…

In order to discover and evaluate the nature of large-scale, standardized assessment programs in colleges and universities in 1986, a survey followed up the Committee on Assessment and Testing (CAT)-sponsored study of 1982. A questionnaire was mailed to speech departments of more than 2,000 institutions, asking first whether the institution has…

The results from several studies indicate clearly that students, alumni, and employers of college graduates are far more aware of the importance of a wide range of oral communication skills than are college faculties and administrations. The belief that students develop sufficient oral communication skills before coming to college, or that they…

There is overwhelming research and anecdotal evidence suggesting that traditional letter writing has significantly dwindled due to the increase use of email, online chats, telephone, and other electronic communication devices. People who became mainly dependent on internet relay chats in the late 1990s found themselves developing a new phraseology…

Intended for a largely European audience, this paper offers an overview of current definitions and goals of instructional communication and communication education teaching and research in the United States. The first major section of the paper looks at recent advances in instructional communication studies, concentrating on field research,…

Explores the possibility of collaborative research undertaken by professors in conjunction with their undergraduate students. Provides various institutional strategies by which student-faculty collaborative research might be encouraged. (HB)

The history of the basic course in speech communication in college shows that it has maintained a continued emphasis on public speaking and that change has been slow. A review of the literature revealed that the course has been typically viewed as a public speaking course taught in self-contained sections with one instructor responsible for…

International public relations continues to be a rare experience in most public relations curriculums, but courses are found in journalism and business. The emphasis, however, is slightly different. Business departments emphasize international economic principles to be supported by public relations, whereas journalism stresses issues management…

A total of 106 college graduates who had taken a basic communication course was surveyed to obtain their perspectives on communication training. Although the alumni rated communication skills as being highly important, three-fourths of them did not receive communication training after college. Most of the alumni felt either "fairly well" or "okay"…

The research reported in this book was based on the belief that Australian schools should develop the speech communication as well as the reading and writing skills of their students. The book is designed to provide educators and researchers with guidelines for future work on oral language assessment and on curriculum development. The first…

When designing a contemporary curriculum in communication, it is important to adapt the specific set of skills and knowledge to the needs of the marketplace. The change in the transformation from speech to communication to communication/information technology is reflected in the various names of university departments. Schools that have changed…

Since the relationships among theory, research, and pedagogy often are not clearly explicated in the literature on communication in the helping professions, this paper seeks to remedy the situation by exploring these relationships. Part I presents the general perspectives and orientations that are used to study and explain communicating in helping…