When the social boundaries between groups are breached, the tendency for people to erect and maintain symbolic boundaries intensifies. Drawing on extant perspectives on boundary maintenance, we distinguish between two strategies that people pursue in maintaining symbolic boundaries: boundary retention--entrenching themselves in pre-existing…

This review of literature presents research about young children's (ages 2-8) early experiences with comprehension. Using a theoretical framework for emergent comprehension, the review demonstrates how each research study contributes to a holistic theory of emergent comprehension. Influences on emergent comprehension such as children's…

One of the central issues in the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel is the distinction between "problem" and "mystery." The author claims that speech communication scholars find it necessary to objectify elements of communication in the framework of a problem in order to find answers in the form of systematic theories to explain the…

Qualitative stories garnered from six students with mental retardation and published autobiographical and biographical stories by people with disabilities or their parents are used as a "research synthesis" to describe an intimate, caring relationship which is of central importance when constructing a non-traditional approach to literacy that…

Adolescents need to develop a positive sense of belonging, of competence and of self-worth. Clothing is a silent but powerful language. Adolescents use clothing to help them cope with changes. Clothing functions in a positive way in the transition period from childhood to adulthood. (Author/BEF)

Symbolic interaction is the foundation for a theory of rhetoric developed in this paper. As manipulators of symbols, humans, unlike all other animals, use abstractions both to indicate (describe things present) and to represent (describe intangible things). Only human beings are capable of the elaborate systems of linguistic reference called…

Three profoundly retarded students (ages 6, 8, and 12) were taught prelanguage signalling behaviors (grasping the experimenter's finger and tapping the back of one hand with the other) to initiate co-active imitation behaviors with an adult. (JW)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the symbolic languages of movement and drama in terms of their ability to stimulate and expand the oral communication of children in grade two. Included was a substudy to determine the effect of such a program upon the self-actualization of children in grade two. The oral language was studied…