Surveys training directors of Fortune 500 corporations to determine the content and nature of listening training offered to employees. Discusses types of listening instruction, personnel receiving listening training, length of listening training, and backgrounds of listening trainers. (KEH)

Discusses how the movie "Death of a Salesman" (a 1986 movie starring Dustin Hoffman in the role of Willy Loman) is useful for teaching communication concepts. Examines how the movie provides a rich case study for illustrating the negotiation of identities. (KEH)

Examines how closely academic freedom and the First Amendment actually are related. Traces the development of academic freedom as a constitutional right from shortly before World War II to the present. Analyzes influences exerted by intramural speech, institutional or corporate academic freedom, and professional liability. (KEH)

Suggests that temporal variables, such as speech rate, and pause and hesitation phenomena, which are studied within the science of pausology, are of direct relevance to second-language research and English language teaching methodology. Examples are given to demonstrate the use of methodology conventions from this specialized area. (81 references)…

Investigates how students perceive messages from their parents about control, support, and participation. Examines the relationship between these perceptions and rates of dropping out of high school. Provides insights into the influence of perceived parental communication on academic behavior of high school students. (HB)

Discusses the value of a nonperformance speech communication organization for both students and departments. Suggests criteria for discipline-centered student organizations. Offers a case study of one such club at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, and evaluates the effectiveness of this program. (HB)

Argues for a change in research priorities and a focus on power relationships in the definition of problems. Presents a case study analyzing a failed attempt by a dean of a school of engineering to enlist communication consultants to improve teaching in a department of Computer Engineering. (SR)

Proposes a framework to join journalists and communications scholars in dialog about conditions that best promote public dialoge of democracy itself. Sketches a news policy model, reviews research indicating areas of agreement about the dynamics of press-government-public interactions, and looks at steps toward a field of study built around these…

Compares communication course offerings in four-year U.S. colleges and universities against a list of needed communication skills for communication professionals in business, education, social sciences, and the health sciences. Offers suggestions for appropriate communication curricula to meet the need of the four disciplines. (SR)

Finds that New Zealand students sampled were significantly less willing to communicate and experienced greater communication apprehension than U.S. students. Finds significant negative correlations for United States students between communication apprehension and humor variables (liking of humor, sensitivity to humor, and coping humor), whereas…

Reports the findings of a study designed to investigate children's deictic changes, use of speech act verbs, and preference for reporting system in their retold narratives. Claims that a linear age function emerged and that children's mastery of direct and indirect speech extends over many years. (HB)

Analyzes the referential strategies used in narrative discourse by 10 adults and 60 Japanese children aged 3 to 7 years. Determines the factors underlying choice of nominal versus elliptical forms. Discusses results in terms of cognitive, social, and linguistic factors underlying referential choice. (HB)

This study seeks to provide an introduction to some linguistic features of adolescent-therapist conversation, focusing on characteristics of adolescent speech that may appear during therapy. These include problems of expressing feelings, therapy talk as schoolroom talk, powerful forms of questioning, adolescent narrative, and lying. (26…

Outlines a rationale, resources, and suggestions for teaching interpersonal communication with feature films. Includes a table of 72 widely available feature films and the interpersonal communication topics illustrated in each one. (SR)

Describes two projects developed as part of a Communication Skills course for trainee electronic technicians. The students are taught to communicate via a simulated TV phone. Some communicative features of the simulated TV phone are described, and potential uses in language teaching are outlined. (GLR)