This report considers some of the expectations, conventions, and strategies relied upon by Anglo children when they are participating in the speech event of storytelling, with particular focus on the children's interweaving of narrational and metanarrational speech. The data were obtained from white middle-class schoolchildren, aged six through…

A study was conducted to examine children's use of social factors as bases for evaluating different patterns of code switching in dyadic social interaction. The factors were role-related and social norms, interpersonal accommodation, intergroup biases, and socio-cultural status. An initial study was conducted of monolingual and bilingual English…

A study was designed to determine the particular effects of humorous illustrations on a textbook's teaching effectiveness, appeal, persuasibility, and potential to motivate. Experimental text materials were prepared in two levels of difficulty and six cartoons were drawn to illustrate different educational points that were made in the materials.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) interpersonal communication patterns in whole families, (2) interpersonal conflict and cognitive complexity, (3) adult conceptualization of interpersonal…

A study examined the relationships among communication predispositions and behaviors and learning preferences. It also assessed instrumentation adequacy for learning style preference. Subjects were 423 high school students who completed a battery of instruments, including D. A. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), that measured their perceptions…

An exploratory study was conducted to define and differentiate interruptions structurally and tactically. The participants were 60 college students assigned to female-female, female-male, and male-male conversational dyads. The dyadic conversations were recorded for 14 minutes, during a period of "getting to know each other" and during a…

Students in the traditional public speaking course spend the bulk of their time in listening, yet little structure is given to this time to improve its educational value. The assumption underlying the Critical Listening in Public Speaking (CLIPS) Index is that students' listening time can be used to learn more about public speaking by using a…

This booklet, a discovery/work text, asks learners to take a careful look at the ways they participate in communication situations, at the form their participation in communication takes, and at the personal and societal consequences of communication. Laboratory activities focus on techniques of communication and on strategies for dealing with…

Because of the close relationship between self-concept and behavior, knowledge and understanding of self-perception is vital to improving communicative behavior. A few measurement instruments have been developed that globally assess the self-concepts of communicators and public speakers. Self-concept concerning communication ability is, however,…

This study analyzed the effect of an instructor's modeling behavior on the amount of self-disclosure exhibited by 120 students in interpersonal communication classes. Under one condition, the instructor revealed little or no information about self; under the second condition, the instructor made at least four self-referent statements during every…

This report presents preliminary findings concerning the utility and validity of a new fuzzy matrix procedure for the measurement and identification of leader emergence and hierarchical structure of leadership in small groups. The instrument was designed to reflect the interactive, perceptual and shared nature of leadership. Several leadership…

The tradition of forensics is being threatened by philosophical differences within departments of speech communication. If the area of forensics is to regain its former academic and cocurricular prominence, directors of forensics need to adjust to changing philosophies and needs. They must clarify the aims and goals of forensics programs,…

This monograph contains a series of discussions about the ways in which oral interpretation specialists view literature in its various genres and suggestions for oral interpretation techniques that might be applicable to literature instruction. The eight articles address the following specific topics: the fabric of literature, sensory approaches…

Developed as part of a Statement of Educational Principles project for the Newport Beach (California) School District, the method of teaching speech communication that is detailed in this guide has been cited for its clarity, developmental approach, adaptability, and workability. The ten units in the guide cover the following areas: vocal delivery…

Based on the premise that the examination of primordial and universal genres of utterance illuminates universal principles of speaking and meaning, this paper examines the Anglo-Saxon boast, a common form of speaking among Germanic warrior societies during the early middle ages. It tells how Old English literature provides evidence from which the…