Presents a course syllabus which incorporates recent research findings indicating that students that suffer from communication apprehension may be treated in a regular oral communication course with no detrimental side effects to the rest of the class. Claims that, in general, an immediate atmosphere of support and encouragement must be developed.…

Noting that speech instruction as a liberal study must include significant subject matter, rigorous intellectual application, high ethical standards, and responsibility, this paper describes the humanities core course at Allegheny College (Pennsylvania) as providing such a climate for speech instruction. The paper first describes the course goals…

The bargaining simulation unit is a useful educational tool in the introductory organizational communication course. It provides students with the opportunity to apply concepts such as communication, authority, and decision making already taught in the course, and teaches responsibility in analyzing, enacting, and discussing the bargaining case.…

The two articles in this publication focus on ways of teaching argumentation and debate in the college setting. The first article examines the place of the argumentation and debate course in the speech communication curriculum and suggests cognitive and behavioral objectives and assignments for use in such a course. The second article discusses…

The speech communication department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, provides a rigorous and legally oriented course in freedom of speech. The objectives of the course are to help students gain insight into the historical and philosophical foundations of the First Amendment, the legal/judicial processes concerning the First Amendment, and…

The University of Tennessee (Knoxville) offers as a special section of the public speaking curriculum, a "speech anxiety" program, taught by faculty and graduate students from the speech and theatre and educational psychology departments and staff from the counseling services center. The students spend the first few weeks of the special…

Three innovations combine to make it possible for Arizona State University to move 1,600 students a year through a performance based communication course with no expense but the salary of a single faculty member. Apart from the obvious economic benefits, the mass lecture/small group breakdown format assures that the student will receive an…

The place of argumentation within the speech communication curriculum is the focus of this article. The article provides a rationale for an upper-level college course in the deliberation and decision making process currently taught at the University of North Carolina, and relates that rationale to broader concerns of argumentation theory. Various…

Despite a professional commitment to "teach ethics," speech communication literature and textbooks contain almost no advice or help on how to accomplish this task. An integrated teaching approach, however, can involve students more directly in the ethical issues that may arise in a persuasion course. The first element in increasing student…

This paper asserts that by removing speech and rhetoric from the "English" department and making composition a stepchild of literature, Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities ultimately made it much more difficult for writing instructors today to capitalize on the strong physical underpinnings that speech and rhetoric provide to writing.…

Designed as a 13-week self-help course to meet the speech and language needs of college students in the areas of articulation, voice control, standard American usage, and fluency, this combination syllabus and workbook offers a rationale for the course, describes course objectives and content, and provides worksheets and evaluation forms for the…

The contents of this document include a paper describing a contract approach in the fundamentals of speech course and the syllabus for the course taught for the last six quarters at Florida State University. The course description outlines the objectives, grading procedures, and requirements for successfully fulfilling the performance contract…

Describes a program that gives psychology students practice in written and oral communication. It involves students in writing an abstract of a journal article and in making an oral presentation. Writing and speaking skills, along with methodology, may be the most enduring legacy of introductory psychology courses. (CS)

One hundred thirty-eight college communication departments responded to a survey to assess the status of intercultural communication instruction. The questionnaire was designed to identify the demographic characteristics of institutions that offer introductory courses in intercultural communication, the type of students taking such courses, class…

Intended as a curriculum development aid for speech communication instructors, this paper provides an outline model for basic speech competencies. The first section of the outline offers approaches to the basic speech communication course, including traditional versus competency-based approaches to education, and presents the three dimensions of a…