The development of relative clauses in child speech was investigated using an elicited production task instead of spontaneous speech samples. In an elicited production task, the context is manipulated so that a complex sentence must be used for communication. Thirty-six English speaking children from 3 to 5 years old were provided with contexts…

Two ideas about language as communication that can guide teachers' thinking about language, their observations of their pupils' language, and their curriculum planning activities are that (1) language is a social enterprise, and (2) language provides the means of distancing oneself from the here and now. When teachers make use of these two ideas,…

A survey was conducted to update previous rankings of speech communication doctoral programs. Subjects were a random selection of every sixth name on the Speech Communication Association (SCA) membership list, and members of the SCA who have been the first authors of journal articles in the SCA journals in the past 10 years. In addition to…

A study examined the grading patterns in basic public speaking and communication courses. It was hypothesized that female students would receive higher grades in basic performance and nonperformance communication courses than would male students. The grades for one academic quarter in two nonperformance communication courses and one public…

Surveys, content analyses, and laboratory experiment/judgment task strategies continue to be the dominant research methods used in mass communication research. Some researchers, however, are advocating method triangulation--the use of at least two and as many as five methods within the same study. A manual and computer search of several databases…

Because research in speech communication is predominantly the study of human behavior, a major goal of researchers in the field is to provide sound communication propositions about people in general or specific groups of people. A review of recent speech communication research reported in journals reveals that researchers in the social and…

No teaching method is more widely used and yet more strongly criticized than the lecture. Yet, an examination of more than 40 basic public speaking textbooks reveals that lecturing is seldom mentioned. There are, perhaps, several reasons for this omission. For example, authors of textbooks might feel that (1) material on lecturing duplicates their…

In exploring the role and status of the ethics that govern communication research, the two parts of this paper examine the practices of researchers and the role of deception in their methodology and conclusions, and the role of communication research as a whole to the society that it is supposed to benefit. At the end of both discussions are…

The observations gleaned from the experiences of two editors of speech communication journals served as the basis for the identification of the limitations inherent in research studies employing qualitative methods. Among their observations are the following: (1) qualitative research remains a relatively ill defined descriptor which embodies a…

A study was conducted to enhance understanding of the role of sex in influencing beliefs about argumentative communication. Using a belief structure framework, the study investigated how males and females discriminate on beliefs about arguing. The study also explored whether trait argumentativeness influences biological sex in discriminating…

That communication is the engineer's responsibility is inherent in the nature of engineering. The engineer's first order of responsibility is to the organization for which he or she works. Engineers fill specific roles in business, industry, public institutions, and government agencies, and their responsibilities are to get things done for those…

Ways in which various uses or applications of a microcomputer can help improve the image of a college or university department are discussed in this paper. The paper discusses applications such as instruction, word processing, management, programing, communications, statistics, and graphics, and audiences for these applications, such as department…

Rhetorical force can be used to analyze interaction in organizational communication. In such an analysis, force is conceived of as being perceptual, arising out of interaction, aiding in understanding communication patterns, and increasing one's abilities both to anticipate actions and to plan or constrain one's actions. Rhetoric is a product of…

Since the Japanese writing system seems to frighten secondary school students as a compulsory study, the author recommends teaching only Romanized Japanese at the high school level. (PMP)