Finds that reading-disabled fifth-grade children were inferior to control groups in their ability to assign words to semantic categories, identify first phonemes in spoken words, and judge morphologic relationships between word pairs. Concludes that the developmental reading-disabilities syndrome includes a deficit in linguistic skills necessary…

Predicts that in the future, speech communication, journalism, and information science will be incorporated into a single unit. Reports on a survey administered to American colleges to see if the prediction is coming true. Concludes with three impressions, most importantly, that this trend is happening and that a need exists to examine the…

Examined adolescents' verbal and nonverbal behavior in 30 female-male dyads. All behaviors were coded. Analysis of videotaped interactions revealed more similarities between girls and boys than differences, although gender distinctions were evident in speaking time and in smiling. Results focus on developmental and contextual accounts of…

Explored how hand gestures help interlocutors coordinate their dialogue. Analysis of dyadic conversations and monologues revealed that requirements of dialogue uniquely affect interactive gestures. Gestures aided the speaker's efforts to include the addressee in the conversation. Gestures also demonstrated the importance of social processes in…

Describes a strategy for enhancing counselors' effectiveness with elderly women in group settings by using a pregroup reminiscence session. The interviews provided a warm-up to a more extensive group experience, served as a potential screening mechanism, and identified themes that might later be developed. (RJM)

Paper examines how objective and detached scientific discourse negatively influences children's learning, especially in significantly oral cultures like India. It recommends fundamental redefinition of scientific discourse, urging school science to review communicability, address disparate linguistic and conceptual structures in diverse student…

Introduces a "discovery process" method for teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) speech communication. The method is designed to prepare ESL students for participation in the basic speech course as defined in the literature on first-language speech communication. (73 references) (JL)

Describes the design and implementation of an assessment program for a college communication program that led to a new competency-based curriculum with expanded assessment procedures. (SR)

Acoustic and video data tracing the development of intrasyllabic coarticulation suggest that young children (n=30; ages three, five, and eight) and adults (n=10) produce similar patterns of anticipatory coarticulation, and perceptual data indicate that coarticulatory cues in the speech of three year olds are less perceptible than those of the…

This study found that consonantal lingual-palatal contact patterns of 10 normal hearing children were consistent across subjects, whereas productions by 18 hearing-impaired subjects (ages 10-15) showed wide variability across subjects, contact patterns, and listener identifications. Hearing-impaired subjects who produced more correctly identified…

A note-taking aid for individuals with blindness or handwriting difficulties is proposed, in which students record the important ideas from a speech using a delayed recording system. The system stores a portion of the speech on an endless loop of tape as a buffer until the decision to record is made. Prototype test results are discussed. (JDD)

This paper reviews the research on speech perception and reassesses the contribution of innate capacities versus external stimulation in conjunction with age in first- and second-language acquisition. A developmental model of speech perception is then discussed in relation to neonatal auditory perception. (Contains 86 references.) (MDM)

This paper describes a speech teaching aid developed to assist in foreign language pronunciation teaching. The methodology used in designing the graphical user interface and the teaching plans are described, and the technical aspects (algorithms used, hardware requirements, etc.) are briefly discussed. (36 references) (JL)

Mothers in 22 mother-child dyads read 5 experimental stories aloud to their children and to an adult during which the durations of 7 function-word vowels were measured. Only function-word vowels in the final position (rather than initial or medial) were significantly longer in child-directed rather than adult-directed speech. (Author/DB)

Discusses the growing popularity and characteristics of departmentally sponsored internships for graduate students in communication master's degree programs. Provides a national profile of such internship programs. (HB)