Communicative competence is the ultimate goal of most learners of a second language and intelligible pronunciation a fundamental part of it. Unfortunately, learners often lack the opportunity to explore how intelligible their speech is for different audiences. Our research investigates whether synchronous-voice computer-mediated communication…

Student-led chapter presentations provide an excellent opportunity for instructors to evaluate a student's comprehension of the assigned chapter, as well as the student's ability to present and convey information in a public forum. Although several instructors realize the benefits of requiring students to complete chapter presentations either as…

The purpose of this research was to determine whether using an audience response system improves student achievement. Audience response systems are computer-based tools for use in classrooms for the purpose of providing feedback to students on questions asked during instruction. This study used a quasi-experimental design to determine if students…

As well as being a founding father of modern chemistry and physics Michael Faraday was also a skilled lecturer, able to explain scientific principles and ideas simply and concisely to nonscientific audiences. However science didactics today emphasizes the use of open and student-centered methods of teaching in which students find and develop…

Ideally, through blogs, students would create content and construct knowledge using the wonders of these publishing tools that abound online. The author definitely believes in the power of blogs to improve students' abilities while learning a second language, in her case, in an EFL context. However, blogging doesn't simply happen. The word has…

This paper explains how first-year composition students wrote business sales letters about short fiction and then revised those letters into full-fledged literary essays that analyzed the stories. By completing these two writings back-to-back (that is, experiencing the metagenres between business writing and literary analysis), students not only…

The concept of audience has emerged as a central theme in many scholarly discussions. Walter Ong focuses on fiction and believes that what has been said about fictional narrative applies to all writing. Lev Vygotsky offers the view that students work in the zone of proximal development and observes that thought itself develops as a result of our…

The poet is a person who wishes to communicate and his audience is people willing to respond to someone else's experiences. The classroom should provide the setting for such interaction. (Author)

Suggests that few references to the important issues of audience awareness exist in news writing textbooks and that technical writing literature can fill this gap. Identifies two main aspects of audience awareness, three key reasons why it should be taught to journalists, and gives audience types. Provides classroom exercises. (MS)

In this essay, Albertson and Davidson explore the attributes of photography and ceramic arts education to identify eight key elements integral to engagement in these art studios for under-served and disenchanted learners. They suggest that these key elements can provide numerous clues as to how teachers and school communities might reimagine both…

Investigates the effects of letter writing on the writing of sixth graders. Describes the process of establishing a communicative relationship between the writer and the audience. Finds that students' writing improved in the following areas: length, syntax, paragraphing, openings and closings, questions, topics, and borrowed features. (PRA)

The purpose of this naturalistic study was to extend our understanding of the ways in which consideration of audience may be salient in diverse students' and teachers' approaches to literacy. Data related to literacy interactions in one school were collected from the preschool class and three multiage elementary classrooms. Findings indicated that…

An audience response system (ARS) has become popular among educators in medicine and the health professions because of the system's ability to engage listeners during a lecture presentation. No one has described the usefulness of ARS technology during planned nonlecture peer teaching sessions in gross anatomy instruction for health professionals.…

In this article, the authors offer an approach to teaching that can help students prepare to write for the workplace and in the community: a case study of community-based writing. In this case-study project, students work in groups to study the writing needs and practices of a community-based group or organization, such as a local public library,…

Despite years of formal education, approximately one-third of all undergraduate students still cannot explain the causes of the seasons. Student manipulation of a handheld model is one approach to teaching this concept; however, the large number of students in many introductory classes can dissuade instructors from utilizing this teaching…