In this study comparing peer group conversation with conversation in other settings, five college freshmen were observed and taped in the 12th week of the semester during a group discussion about their own writing. Four types of conversational moves were tallied: structural comments, solicitations, responses, and reactions. Comparison of these…

This paper reviews the historical experience of a new public relations program housed in a speech communication department (rather than in a journalism department, which is traditional), discusses some of the internal and external struggles experienced in the implementation and administration of the program, and reports on the placement of its…

This annotated bibliography provides a broad perspective on the way religion and communication relate to one another. Forty-two references are listed in the areas of (1) "Religion and Communication Theory"; (2) "Religion and Language"; (3) "Televangelism and Televangelists"; (4) "Historical Roots of Religion and…

The value of the basic course in speech has been affirmed in several surveys, and indications are that a high priority should be given to keeping the introductory course a quality course. In order to examine the aspects of the basic course, such as class size, interaction, and instructional format, a study assessed differences between two…

Evaluations of basic speech courses should be undertaken to benefit the students. Traditional evaluations in education typically do not assess the education of students, and departmental reviews seldom focus on how well students' needs are being met by specific courses. Evaluations should identify the skills and knowledge students need, and…

Since the concept of "communication competence" is a relatively recent development in the field of speech communication, there is as yet no universal agreement as to its definition and constitution. However, it seems that the purpose of the study of communication competence is to inform classroom instruction. The efforts to define and understand…

Major concepts and findings related to the acquisition of early childhood bilingualism among Mexican American children are examined. Results are reported for empirical studies of bilingual acquisition, bilingual mother-child discourse, contextual and input parameters, interlanguage transfer, interactional language switching, and bilingual…

Rhetoric handbooks and composition texts continue to teach that the main techniques of effective argumentation are based on logic--the use of evidence, deductive and inductive reasoning, definition of terms, and so on. Yet, as Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca argue in their book "The New Rhetoric," the most solid beliefs are those…

A study was conducted to determine whether there is a significant correlation between the scores obtained on a communication functional dominance instrument and those obtained from an instrument of the Ohio State Leadership Scales. Subjects, 102 freshman speech students, completed the Human Communication Functional Dominance instrument, which…

Research indicates that about 40% of the population fear public speaking. There is a wide variety of possible causes for this unwillingness to communicate: a lack of skills, social introversion, alienation, lack of fluency in English, and communication apprehension. Despite the fact that evidence indicates everyone may have some difficulty with…

For those analyzing oral interpretation performance, the theory of Symbolic Interactionism can be used to explain two interrelated phenomena that occur during the performance: expanded understanding of the text (emergent meaning) and expanded understanding of oneself (development of the self-concept). George Herbert Mead, a founder of Symbolic…

Noting that the ethics of forensics is a complicated and controversial subject, this paper outlines some of the issues that should be addressed in preparing codes of ethics. The following issues are discussed: (1) the nature of professional ethics; (2) the functions of an ethics code; (3) approaches to ethical systems in forensics; (4) standards…

Specific strategies need to be developed and implemented if teachers are to transmute cultural knowledge into cultural understanding in the classroom. The processes involved in developing successful pedagogy for basic speech courses with culturally diverse student populations must grow out of accurate information. A survey of recent literature…

To analyze listening in relationship to other communication modes, to investigate the relative utility of four models for communication theory building research (national, psychological, organizational culture, and situational), and to examine the relationship between organizational change and the modes of communication, a study examined the…

Instructional applications of Q methodology (a set of procedures that can be used in studying the subjective nature of things) provide a means for teaching communication skills, analyzing thinking patterns, making comparative analyses, and structuring intrapersonal processes. Taking the best from quantitative and qualitative research methods,…