High school teachers with the best student relationships frequently use five verbal response roles--feelings, thoughts, encounter/ encouragement, sharing, and motives. (Editor/MM)

A writing exercise consisting of a description of an automobile accident was carried out by two groups, one consisting of skilled workers, the other of professionals. The results were compared in terms of clarity, length, grammar, vocabulary, and tone. (AM)

Proposes an approach to effective communication instruction which avoids the use of techniques and instead emphasizes the linguistic, logical, psychological, and sociological analysis of discourse. (AM)

Sixty urban and 57 rural elementary school classrooms were observed to document the effects of rural versus urban locale, grade level, and subject matter taught on instructional quality. Teachers' verbal behaviors were grouped into 16 process-by-substance categories. Results showed that all three main effects were significant. (Author/MV)

Contemporary communication research suggests that students are non-communicative in the classroom because they perceive communication response/initiative channels to be blocked and many students lack basic speech skills that enhance effective, satisfying verbal response. Demonstrates how to circumvent these barriers and encourage instructors in…

This paper presents a case study of a skills development program for so-called high-risk students. The "Systems Approach to Learning Resources" summer course stressed analytical and verbal skills development, while serving a complementary and integrative role with the other summer courses. (Author)

Undergraduate student-initiated questions and responses were rated by trained observers during eight one-hour class sessions. In addition, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the State-Trait Curiosity Inventory, and the Tuckerman Teacher Feedback Form were administered. Results are reported for male and female students. (Author/JAC)

Treatment and control groups were used to test the effectiveness of a written instructional program in basic and integrated process skills. Findings revealed that the treatment group achieved higher than the control group on six of eight process measures following the experiment. In addition, subjects from the treatment group asked fewer closed…

Teachers' comments to children can positively affect children's understanding of their reading skills. (MKM)

The present study examines the effects of immediate feedback to the therapist. It was hypothesized that immediate feedback would increase the amount of therapeutic talk by the therapist, as defined by the HIM. (Author)

An attempt was made to describe the verbal interaction of 29 university tutorial groups. Tutor roles were identified (reflexive judge, data input, stage setter, elaborator, probe, and cognitive engineer) and examined in relationship to student ratings of the sessions and use by students of different cognitive levels. Applications of the research…

Listening comprehension of foreign languages is receiving increasing emphasis in language instruction. It is important therefore to consider some divergences between spoken and written language, together with their implications for language learning and teaching. This article analyzes some such differences in French. (CHK)

The effects of specific and nonspecific verbal corrections on vocational training of 38 low-moderately to severely mentally retarded adults were studied. Results demonstrated that specific verbal corrections enhanced acquisition by learners with higher receptive-language skills but did not do so for learners with lower receptive-language skills.…

Simultaneous communication used by four teachers in formal lessons was investigated, to determine the extent to which signs and speech matched and to delineate factors predicting communication behavior. Simultaneous communication was found to be sign-driven or speech-driven depending on factors such as student comprehension, teacher's expertise,…