The area of rhetorical criticism has rarely been perceived as having a valid or useful role in the high school speech curriculum. However, a rationale for the inclusion of rhetorical criticism in high school speech instruction may be found in the accepted goals of speech instruction, because the failure to teach students the skills of rhetorical…

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…

Delineating the content that must be covered in the secondary schools of the State of Idaho, this guide presents a course of study for a full-semester course designed to help students better understand the complexities of the communication process and succeed in a world of interaction. Although educators sometimes use the terms interchangeably,…

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…

This paper presents a rationale for combining public speaking with interpersonal communication and group discussion, in basic speech courses. A survey of textbook authors, administrators, teachers, and students reveals that most feel that the public-speaking approach, alone or in conjunction with other approaches, continues to be the most valid…

This course description presents information on Speech 50, Practical Oral Communication, a course offered at Fullerton College and designed to provide two-year college students with basic communication skills for use in everyday situations. Introductory material provides basic information on the course; the major course goals and long-range…

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 journal is devoted to the art of teaching in the field of speech communication. Articles collected in this issue address topics in the development of the basic speech communication course and include the following titles: "Concept Speech Assignment,""The Circle Game: A Teaching Device for the Concept of Ethos,""To Hear Ourselves As Others…

The tentative course objectives presented in this publication are intended to specify as precisely as possible in behavioral terms the desired outcome of a particular population. Listed under each of the course titles are the performance objectives observable in the classroom and the long-range objectives often not immediately observable. For some…

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…

Designed to provide direction and guidance for secondary classroom teachers in planning classroom instruction in speech, this guide is organized into four groupings ("strands"): thinking, writing, listening, and speaking. Each page, in chart form and headed by a statement of goal ("terminal objective"), shows instructional…

Developed by a team of 13 teachers, this guide presents student performance standards for 36 high school language arts courses. For each course described, performance standards and intended outcomes are preceded by a curriculum framework that includes a statement of major concepts and content, laboratory activities, special notes, and intended…