As part of the Speech Communication Association (SCA) 1990 Summer Conference on Communication Competency Assessment held in Denver, Colorado, one work group worked on the development of a speech performance evaluation form and/or process grounded in and driven by the competency paradigm. Prior to and during the conference, the group developed a…

This paper discusses the role of the Speech Communication Association regarding issues of assessment and testing in speech communication in the public schools. The paper describes the genesis of the 1990 summer assessment conference for oral communication skills (held in Denver, Colorado), outlines the goals undertaken, enumerates the resolutions…

The college speech communication classroom can serve as a laboratory for rhetorical theory and criticism. Applying the hypothesis of "experimental persuasion" to the study of oral expression, an instructor can promote in his/her students the development of story-telling skills of concrete depiction, dramatic action, the elements of…

This manual, designed to assist professionals in health and health-related agencies, offers guidance for planning a health communication program about cancer based on social marketing and other principles as well as the experiences of National Cancer Institute staff and other practitioners. The six chapters are arranged by sequentially ordered…

A study investigated the influence of interpersonal variables, such as communicative competence, loneliness, and roommate rapport, upon persistence in college. The study includes self-reports as well as reports of roommates' behaviors. Subjects were 200 freshman students (out of a total of 350) who participated in several sections of a…

Values can and should be a part of small group communication instruction. Discourse is value laden and to understand the communication process, the role of values must be understood. Many students come to the classroom not understanding values, and not being aware of the role of values in decision-making. Their lack of understanding requires that…

A study examined the means of and correlations between perceptions of willingness to communicate, communication competence, communication apprehension, and introversion of college students in the United States and Micronesia. Subjects were 159 undergraduate students enrolled in 19 classes at the Community College of Micronesia on the island of…

An evaluative study examined the role communication scholars should play in the planning, development and teaching of peace studies courses. Numerous surveys indicate increased student concern over world communication and peace. The language and war metaphors being used by the various governments in the Persian Gulf crisis illustrate how the…

The paper disucsses the need for training in critical thinking and the effects of debate training across the curriculum as a teaching tool and learning mechanism. The debate training provided through the Oral Communication Program at Virginia's Radford University is described (design, implementation, results), along with data from a report on the…

In human speech, messages are conveyed to listeners through both verbal and vocal sources. Comparing verbal content-only with verbal plus vocal content permits assessment of the contribution of vocal cues in spoken messages. This study involved evaluations of physicians interacting with patients via the telephone. Thirty doctor-patient…

Mark Twain was a strong proponent of the superiority of the spoken word. Realizing the importance of conversational style, Twain derived from and acted in accordance with the principles of communication effectiveness which subsequently formed theoretical bases for communication instruction by such scholars as James Winans and Charles Woolbert. An…

The role of temporality as a cognitive and cultural factor in communication processes has been largely neglected in communication research. However, it is possible to examine the representation of time on three levels: allocation of events or actions to categories (as in sacred time versus profane time), temporal orientation, and the content of…

The mythical community of Lake Wobegon, created by Garrison Keillor and presented each week through the public radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," is the place to which everyone wants to return. A town devoid of newfangled technology, where life goes on pretty much as it always has, Lake Wobegon offers respite to listeners who daily…

Academic discourse, which takes its definitive characteristics from the papers written by professors to those in a particular discipline for the purpose of solving problems or furthering knowledge, is sustained by disciplinary rhetorical exigencies that prompt, shape, and convene an audience for such writing. The phrase "rhetorical…

An increase in foreign student enrollment and subsequent questioning of traditional concepts of western rhetorical practice, particularly freedom of speech, resulted in an evaluation of current teaching practices in South Dakota State University's basic speech communication course. In a summer session course, 36 international students responded to…