Shows that, for students in a basic communication class, communication competence increased and communication apprehension decreased, and communication competence with strangers increased and communication apprehension in groups decreased. Shows that high apprehensive and low competence students experienced greater changes in their scores than did…

Examines the role of standardized, performance-based assessment measures in the high school context. Reports validity and reliability information on the "Communication Competency Assessment Instrument--High School Edition," which was used to assess student speaking performance and to gauge the level of improvement as a result of instruction. (SR)

Examines the development of communication competence in college students over a four-year period, and investigates how communication factors are related to college success. Suggests that communication competence appears to decrease significantly during the sophomore year, but increases during the junior and senior years. Reports that communication…

Presents a short summary report of the results of a national survey, commissioned by the SCA Committee on Assessment and Testing, to determine the range and degree of assessment occurring in colleges and universities and to evaluate the methods used to assess the communication skills of college students. (PD)

In an effort to assess the communication skills of prospective teachers, a study examined the role of three pedagogical domains in speech communication instruction--skill, knowledge, and motivation. Fifty student teachers were tested using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PCRA; McCroskey l977), the Communication Competency…

The first step in developing a communication competency assessment instrument is determining whether there is conceptual support for such an instrument. Funding should also be determined, since speaking skills must be assessed as a person speaks, a procedure that requires more time and money to complete than in the case of machine-scored tests.…

Surveys communication researchers about the importance of 116 research questions and 24 general areas in communication education to identify future research needs for the discipline. Indicates that priority should be placed on investigations of student and teacher communication competence, effects of teacher communication on learning, and…

Divided into two sections, this report describes research on the range and degree of assessment of students' communication skills in colleges and universities and includes the following findings: (1) of the 384 respondents from college speech communication departments, 45 reported using large-scale, uniform testing of students; (2) these…

Examined relationships among cognitive complexity (social perception skill), verbal ability, and communication competence in classroom communication. Found (1) moderate correlations between cognitive complexity and verbal ability and between communication competence and verbal ability and (2) minimal association between the overall communication…

The Communication Competency Assessment Instrument (CCAI) was developed as a college-level communication competence measure. However, because the listening portion of the CCAI requires individual testing and is not practical for large-scale testing situations, an additional multiple choice measure was developed. In a study conducted at Kent State…

This study examined changes in communication predispositions of 2 clinical populations--13 adult stutterers and 15 foreign dialect students--over 3.5 months of therapy. Results indicated that both groups reduced levels of communication apprehension and increased levels of communication competence. Each group also demonstrated improvements in…

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…

Reports on the development of an assessment instrument to test basic communication skills necessary for students' success in college. Covers the instrument's conceptual foundation, administration procedures, development, and analysis. (PD)

Argues in defense of Rubin's CCAI, that Powell and Avila's study did not use adequate controls to assess the instrument's reliability. Asserts that their study simply discovered differences in communication competence among ethnic groups. (MS)

To examine the developmental process of communication competence and the resulting relationship between competence and college success, a longitudinal study of college students was undertaken. In this study, pertinent background factors and measures of communication skills were collected on the same population over the course of a student's…