The speech/debate team at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, California, begins each competition with a prayer and does not emphasize winning trophies. Nevertheless, they consistently qualify their students at the yearly state championships. According to their coach, this is because the school has supportive and encouraging administrators and…

A study examined the ways in which members of low-income Southern African-American families deal with writing in their everyday lives. Three families headed by single parents participated in the study. The researcher resided with each family for 2 months, following the adults to their workplaces, sharing chores and leisure activities, and…

This paper provides an example procedure used to design and install a program of assessment to improve communication instruction through a competency-based core curriculum at a mid-sized, urban university. The paper models the various steps in the process, and includes specific tests, forms, memos, course description, sources, and procedures which…

Numerous studies indicate that communication apprehension can and does have considerable negative consequences for college students so affected. There are strategies that can be undertaken in the classroom that may help alleviate communication apprehension for some students. Classroom instructors must first recognize how students are processing…

Within the past decade there has been an increasing number of portfolios submitted by adult students requesting academic credit for their experiential learning in speech communication. The numbers of portfolios and the institutions accepting them are growing so much that the communication profession should develop policies for their assessment. In…

One hundred college remedial writing students participated in a study designed to (1) demonstrate some of the differences between speaking and writing in a controlled situation; (2) test the hypothesis that the writing of subjects who have spoken about a particular topic will be qualitatively superior to the writing of those who have not; and (3)…

The logic and the benefits of requiring college students in basic speech communication classes to tape-record oral journals are set forth along with a detailed description of the assignment. Instructions to the students explain the mechanics of the assignment as follows: (1) obtain and properly label a quality cassette tape; (2) make seven…

The name of Ezra Christian Buehler deserves to be added to the list of significant contributors to speech communication education. As an instructor at the University of Kansas, Professor Buehler has distinguished himself through his contributions to basic speech students, graduate students in speech education, and his colleagues. He expressed his…

Designed as a 13-week self-help course to meet the speech and language needs of college students in the areas of articulation, voice control, standard American usage, and fluency, this combination syllabus and workbook offers a rationale for the course, describes course objectives and content, and provides worksheets and evaluation forms for the…

A review of the role of theory and research in the teaching of public speaking reveals that although speech models have been an important pedagogical tool since the beginning of systematic instruction in public speaking, research investigating the value of model speeches is limited. A 1966 survey of 861 instructors in public speaking indicated…

To assess the role of communication in scholarly research and writing about dual careers, a review was made of 89 articles on dual careers that were listed in the bibliographic source, "The Inventory of Marriage and Family Literature," Volumes V-IX. Articles were assessed on three dimensions. First, every article was categorized as addressing…

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet presents a holistic view of learning focused on the development of oral communication. The first section of the booklet provides a rationale for increasing oral communication skills instruction, and discusses the…

Designed to assist with the monitoring of the Basic Skills Program Standards for grades K-8, the individual student profiles provided in this booklet are arranged according to grade level for the section on mathematics, written communication, and oral communication. The section on reading is arranged according to skills in word identification,…

Sexual harassment is not an isolated phenomenon and should, therefore, not be studied in isolation. Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination and can be studied from a theoretical framework that addresses discrimination. In analyzing sexual harassment as a form of discrimination, it is important to distinguish between prejudice (an attitude)…

Questionnaires completed by 100 certified audiologists were analyzed to determine their positions on the deafness communication methodology (oral/manual) controversy. (LS)