The relationship between working memory and speech has been a topic of intense research interest and investigation for many years. Memory studies have found that the active processing of working memory is required for language comprehension and speech production. Though there are studies that discuss the capacity of working memory, the processing…

Vocabulary learning that overlooks the discrimination of single sounds in English language learning could lead to communication difficulties, such as the inability to hear and speak English pronunciation. To address this issue, vocalization strategy, in which students listen to the sounds of words and memorize them aloud, is considered a useful…

Junctures are specific phonemes in English language and work like what the traffic lights do in the structures of phrases at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. They indicate both the pauses and continuation in the flow of speech in between or among the utterances some of which can be the…

Librarians often have communication "accidents" with reference questions as initially presented. This article presents linguistic analysis of query categories, including: simple failures of hearing, accidents involving pronunciation or homophones, accidents where users repeat earlier misinterpretations to librarians, and accidents where…

Presents a case history of a private clinical treatment of an individual for communication reticence. Focuses on rhetoritherapy which deals with inculcating effective communication skills. Illustrates the kinds of problems and strategies that characterize private treatment. (JMF)

Defines the term "shyness" and provides data regarding its prevalence. Discusses the relationship of shyness to other psychological problems and describes attempts to treat it in brief psychotherapy. The general goal of treatment is to provide patients with a problem-solving approach to interpersonal difficulties. (JMF)

Instructors of speaking apprehension courses can get a better picture of how speaking apprehension "feels" by having their students create a visual representation of their fear. One instructor supplied her students with newspapers, magazines, comic books, construction paper, crayons, glue sticks, and small scissors and had them create…

A study tested a delivery skills method of instruction for reducing public speaking anxiety. Subjects were 59 male and 71 female undergraduates (ranging in age from 17-49) enrolled in a basic public speaking course at a midwestern university during the 1986-87 academic year. The Personal Report of Public Speaking Apprehension (PRPSA) which…

A number of college students in forensic debate may be deterred from debating broad topics due to a lack of appropriate cognitive development and a perception of unacceptable certainty. These students have failed to develop formal thinking patterns because they lack reinforcing experiences in reasoning at that level. A sequenced pattern of…

Tells how using a hand puppet in classroom interactions helped a quiet and inhibited little girl develop skills and spontaneity in written and oral communication. (GT)

This article describes the current training and certification procedures in place for linguistic interpreters, the continuum of interpreter roles, and how interpreters' perspectives may influence the interpretive interaction. The specific skills needed for interpreting in either health care or educational settings are identified. A table compares…

The community services department of an eastern community college offers a noncredit course called Overcoming Speech Anxiety. The students range from those who avoid conversation with most people to those who speak publicly often but with a great deal of discomfort. Their reasons for taking such a class suggest that most people suffer situational…

To personalize a course in intercultural communication at a northwestern university, each student is allowed to design an individual project concentrating on a single area of prejudice held by each student. Students select a target area and then treat the problem (and the communication breakdown it represents) as the real enemy. They choose from a…

To provide special instruction for students who report fear and avoidance of communication, a reticence program was instituted at Pennsylvania State University. Since the school has a general speech requirement that nearly all students have to meet in order to graduate, students are given an opportunity to enroll in this special section if they…

A free response self-evaluation instrument to determine the existence of communication apprehension or anxiety has been used at Pennsylvania State University and Mansfield State College in Pennsylvania as part of their programs to identify reticent and communication apprehensive students. The instrument is administered as an assignment on the…