How do school professionals distinguish between social, communication, and behavioral differences observed in typically developing English language learners (ELLs) and those ELL students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Informed consideration is necessary to avoid inaccurate identification and to ensure appropriate supports are provided;…

Communication competence has been approached primarily from three perspectives in the communication literature: (1) as cognitive understanding of communication, (2) as a capability of performing certain communication skills, and (3) as achieving effective communication. Most scholars who write about communication competence view competence either…

French native speakers' reactions to phone calls in the United States indicate a difference in the norms of interaction between the two countries. This difference, in turn, is understood when one realizes that the phone call, constituting a speech event, is open to different cultural interpretations. (CHK)

Recent research studies suggest a relationship between an individual's level of competence in the use of language and of nonlinguistic communication and that person's ability to function competently in society. This document reviews the theories and definitions related to the concept of communicative competence, discusses the cognitive and…

An exploratory study was conducted to define and differentiate interruptions structurally and tactically. The participants were 60 college students assigned to female-female, female-male, and male-male conversational dyads. The dyadic conversations were recorded for 14 minutes, during a period of "getting to know each other" and during a…

Assesses the value of competency/skill research in speech pedagogy. (PD)

Guided by the belief that impressions of communication competence are based on observations of behavior appropriate to a particular context and on inferences about others' capabilities and motivations, a study was undertaken to (1) examine the relationship between self perceptions and other perceptions, (2) discover the role of motivation in…

A study was conducted to compare the validity of two theories of interpersonal communication: (1) uncertainty reduction theory, based on the assumption that communication consists of attempts to reach a cognitive state of balance, and (2) coordinated management of meaning theory (CMM), based on the assumption that persons attempt to create a…

Five components of communication competence have been derived from research: affiliation/support, empathy, behavioral flexibility, social relaxation, and interaction management. This paper describes these dimensions of communication competence; it then reports on a study in which two college females judged by their peers to be effective…

A study was conducted to examine speech interruption patterns as an index of communication dominance and gender differences in language behavior. Six graduate student groups involving a total of 35 subjects were videotaped. The data extracted for study were 255 transcribed interruption sequences. A category system was developed and used to code…

To explain evidence that females receive higher grades in communication courses than males, one researcher has posed a competence/compliance paradox: either, women are more competent communicators and are only judged to be less competent in public life because of prejudice, or, women are not as competent as men in communication as demonstrated in…

Competent listeners possess the knowledge and ability to listen, the positive attitudes and desire to listen, and the willingness to apply the ability and desire to listen. Having only one or two of these ingredients ensures ineffective listening. One common negative listening attitude is self-centeredness, as opposed to being other-oriented. The…

To determine if an interviewer's orientation toward satisfaction and commitment actually produced different interviewee reactions in these two areas, 20 interviewers conducted an informative and persuasive interview with two different sets of five interviewees (physical education majors). The Conversation Self-Report Inventory (CSRI) was used to…

To determine the effects of videorecording experience on the communication process in community college sophomore nursing students, 20 students were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received 90-minute sessions of videorecording/feedback experience twice weekly for five weeks. The control group was not exposed to the experimental…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 36 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) control theory, self-focus, and behavior in organizations; (2) relationships between communicator style and supervisory performance across functional…