This project combines interdisciplinary conversations within the field of communication to examine environmental meaning systems and communication practices in the context of forest environmental education. Due to concerns over children's environmental alienation, there has been a continued push toward place-based environmental education. One such…

This study examined the participation styles of nine parents while attending Individual Educational Program (IEP) meetings for their children. The nine parents consisted of three parents from a suburban school district, three parents from a rural school district, and three parents from an urban school district. Data collection through videotaping…

This article reports on key aspects of a theory generative study into social presence in text-based online learning environments. The focus of the article is the nature of social presence as experienced by online learners in those environments. Employing a collective case study design, the study accessed online learners' experience-based heuristic…

Language is not to be considered neutral for it works to establish privileged interpretations of reality that assume the illusion of a shared and natural reality. This study examined how consultants specializing in multicultural organizational interventions construct a particular meaning of "diversity" in their responses to a…

Outlines a model of the speech act of apologizing that ranges apologies along a continuum from the most situational to the most personal. Analyzes 252 occurrences of apologies in 62 telephone interviews. Shows how most apologies are functions of discourse task management tactics. (HB)

In the context of low fertility and Australia's ageing population, a national longitudinal telephone survey, "Negotiating the Life Course" (NLC), asks women about their childbearing intentions. This paper uses conversation analysis (CA) to examine interaction between an interviewer and respondents on one NLC question about the likelihood…

Using a rhetorical approach to communication and communicative competence that defines communication as an interactive process in which people participate to achieve their goals, a study was undertaken to determine whether the communication skills postulated from the rhetorical definition could be judged independently from the linguistic skills of…

Discusses the interactional state referred to by speakers of Hebrew as "brogez" as an example of the ritual regulation of conflict. Identifies specific forms and strategies of this type of interaction as they are used by Israeli children and their relevance to children's communicative competence. (SED)

A study explored the relationship between personal narratives and their contexts by developing an analytical framework and applying it to the personal narratives told by guests on "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night with David Letterman." Three episodes of each program, containing a total of 22 personal narratives, were…

Focuses on the relationship between storytelling and organizational socialization. Examines the form, subject matter, and functions of stories and concludes that stories serve as a means for members of an organization to express their knowledge, understanding, and commitment to the organization. (PD)