Debate as an elitist activity can be defined in two ways: it may mean that entry to a tournament is restricted to only a few participants from any one school, or it may mean that although a wide range of students may participate in debate, only the best debaters are allowed to compete in prestigious national tournaments. The restriction on the…

A classroom technique, the "Educational Lure" provides activities for the preschool child to "cruise, choose, explore, and learn." The "lure" consists of an object or collection of objects brought into the school, usually by the teacher. It may be made up of generally unfamiliar objects, familiar objects rarely talked about, or familiar objects…

Reported are three studies investigating the mental abilities of children and adolescents. The first study (by Chamnong Vibulsri) had three purposes: (1) to determine whether and how language affects logical thinking in Thai children; (2) to ascertain whether Piaget's or Bruner's theory would more accurately explain any such relationship; and (3)…

This study investigated the effects of an intervention--audio-cuing--on teaching behaviors of a male elementary school physical education teacher with five years of teaching experience. The audio-cuing intervention was applied by way of a micro-cassette recorder that was concealed in the teacher's clothing. Cues were prerecorded and could be heard…

This study investigated the influence of the speaker's experience and addressee's developmental level on baby talk characteristics. A total of 240 mothers of only child infants (l-l8 months) or of children 2-3 years old responded to an Infant or Child Series of drawings with an attached list of sentences. Subjects described situations in drawings,…

In mixed-sex discussion groups males tend to dominant conversation, focusing the discussion on task-oriented topics. In order to investigate the effect of the sex-role orientation of the speaker on verbal participation in group discussions, 54 college students (28 male, 26 female) participated in three 15-minute, four person group discussions.…

An investigation of methods to manage verbal aggression in elementary level emotionally handicapped and learning disabled students in self-contained classrooms and resource rooms is reported. The bulk of the document contains a synopsis of the guide given to the 27 master's level Florida teachers who volunteered to use the 14 recommended…

Idioglossia is a private communication system, most commonly occurring in twins. It also occurs between singletons and between other siblings of multiple births. These communication systems range from manual gestures to a fully developed vocal language with its own grammar. The literature of idioglossia is scanty and largely anecdotal. Much of the…

Instructors who accept responsibility for improving the spelling of their students, must, to be successful, turn that responsibility over to the students. Abjuring their position as rule givers, effective spelling teachers encourage students to pursue their study inductively by exploring the relationship of the spoken language to the written form,…

A study of randomly selected "Donahue" shows revealed how host Phil Donahue interacts with several parties at one time and how he subordinates various interactions to suit the hierarchy of importance he attributes to each party, with the television viewer being the most important. Donahue organizes his body movement mainly for television…

Various communication studies have revealed the existence of a "preverbal" stage of communication consisting of centers within the brain that exists in an innate form or a form preprogrammed for future information acquired from the environment through experience (socialization). Such centers serve to prepare the individual for…

Arguing that a systems theory can be applied to the description and analysis of families and other close relationships, this paper first describes a method for coding verbal interaction that involves three steps: categorizing messages according to grammatical form and response mode, assigning control directions to those categories, and combining…

H.P. Grice's theory of conversation can be used effectively to teach revision in composition courses because it teaches students the rules for effective writing. Grice has formulated a general principle, the Cooperative Principle, based on the assumption that talk-exchanges among speakers are "cooperative efforts" having "a common…

The author cites studies which prove shop students are correct when they say they "can't hear" with the radial arm saw operating; earmuffs and earplugs, while they help eliminate the health problem, further restrict communication. Provide verbal instructions prior to the operation of the noise generating tools, the author suggests. (AJ)