Designed to aid school districts, administrators, and teachers in meeting the Idaho Department of Education Speech Communication requirement, this pamphlet first defines the learning-teaching environment for the speech communication course, describes who should teach it, and justifies its inclusion in the school curriculum. The main part of the…

Describes a course developed by a speech instructor and instructional librarian at Spoon River College, Illinois, to foster the students' ability to orally present information in a coherent and understandable fashion and their ability to access information effectively. (CBC)

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.…

This paper describes a short course for middle school students that was sponsored by the Higher Education Council of Columbus, Ohio, and undertaken to promote the development of self-expression capabilities by using public speaking as a communicative channel. The class was designed to be completed in three class meetings of three hours each,…

This paper describes a comprehensive assessment program utilized in the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs' basic public speaking course, The Speech and Thought Curriculum. The paper begins with a description of the theoretical underpinnings of the course and its approach to assessment. Next, the paper outlines the competency objectives…

Surveyed student opinions of their skill development in two different basic speech courses: (1) a basic blend of communication theory through interpersonal, small group, and public communication and (2) a blend with public speaking emphasis. Found that the course with public speaking emphasis ranked higher on all improvement items. (PD)

A laboratory approach to instruction is employed in the basic speech communication course at a southern university. Approximately one-third of the semester is spent on public speaking and performance assignments, while the remainder of the course focuses on interpersonal communication. During the oral performance part of the course, half of the…

People spend about three-fourths of their waking hours engaged in some form of communication and about half of this time speaking and listening. In spite of this, communication generally is ineffective. There are many reasons for improving one's communication skills, the most important being employability. For example, a survey of personnel…

Of interest to curriculum developers, the materials in this paper pertain to the communication component of the prelaw curriculum initiated in the 1979-80 school year at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The materials include (1) a brief decription of the prelaw program; (2) information sheets for students considering the program;…

Defining basic speech communication courses as those public speaking, interpersonal, or communication courses that treat fundamental communication concepts, this annotated bibliography reflects the current thought of speech educators on the basic course. The bibliography consists of 27 citations, all of which are drawn from the ERIC database. (SKC)