Offers an application of Mikhail Bakhtin's heteroglossia model, describing literature from a diversified point of view. Analyzes two examples to show nevertheless that Bakhtin unilaterally celebrates "stereo" qualities of language blending, and leaves no room for "mono" texts, which use polyglot devices as borders much more…

Develops a typology of strategies people use to cope with public speaking anxiety. Assesses the influences of anxiety level on strategy use. Finds 65 basic tactics in 6 strategy types (Relaxation, Preparation, Positive Thinking, Audience Depreciation, Concentration, and Resignation). Finds high anxious persons more likely to report Relaxation and…

Finds that training in argumentation enhanced the ability of undergraduate students to discern weak example and causal arguments, increased perceived arguing effectiveness, and decreased verbal aggressiveness. Discusses these findings in terms of critical thinking and outcomes assessment for argumentation instruction. (SR)

Investigates whether background television produces structural interference with aspects of cognitive processing. Finds a significant deleterious effect on a geometric analogies and completion task involving visuo-spatial processing and marginal improvement on a parallel verbal analogy test. Shows that concurrent television exposure had no…

Examines Students for a Democratic Society's recruitment efforts through public, mass, and interpersonal communication channels. Concludes that scholars investigating movements should look beyond public and mass communication if they seek a general theory of the rhetoric of movements. (SR)

Collects and categorizes nonverbal comforting responses of college students to a hypothetical scenario. Assesses the relationship of use of emotions to comforting. Notes that males reported fewer comforting strategies and less diverse comforting responses than did females, and that comforting strategy use was positively correlated with affective…

Investigates the impact of teachers' use of immediacy behaviors on students' motivation to study. Finds that students beginning the semester with either low or moderate motivation to study increased their levels of motivation when exposed to a highly immediate teacher but that high motivation students maintained their level of motivation…

Examines college students' level of argumentativeness in relation to persuasion. Finds that highly argumentative individuals experienced more attitude change than their less argumentative counterparts. Shows that topic had no effect upon attitude change and that topic did not interact with argumentativeness. (SR)

Examines the utility of public-relations theory, specifically situational theory of publics, for assessing response to the New Madrid earthquake prediction. Finds that high personalized risk was associated with high constraint recognition regardless of belief in the prediction. Suggests development of more effective messages for communicating with…

Investigates the structure and composition of a naturalistic rumor chain that surfaced on a computer-mediated communication discussion group. Finds that rumormongering is a collective, problem-solving interaction that is sustained by a combination of anxiety, uncertainty, and credulity. (CR)

Argues that rhetorical scholars should recognize resistive reading, strategic ambiguity, and hermeneutic depth as three types of polysemy that support different scholarly purposes. Complicates assumptions about the critical judgment of polysemous texts and suggests that some types of polysemy are best identified through the adoption of a new…

Examines the sexual etiquette developed in advice columns in magazines popular among teenage girls. Suggests that teen magazines limit females' sociality and sexuality within narrowly defined heterosexual norms and practices. Finds that young women are encouraged to subordinate self for others, to be sex objects and teachers of interpersonal…

Argues that "goodwill," the third of Aristotle's three elements of ethos, is ignored by many contemporary researchers because of misanalysis and/or misinterpretation of data. Reports empirical research indicating the existence of the goodwill dimension as part of the structure of the ethos/source credibility construct, and provides a…

Examines the impact of nonverbal cues on participants' and observers' perceptions of relational messages in an experiment in which participants interacted with a confederate who systematically varied his or her communication style. Finds that nonverbal indicators of involvement and pleasantness were systematically related to relational message…

Offers an overview of Canada's business-communication research efforts. Describes its definition and scope; issues facing Canadian researchers (gaining an institutional presence, creating Canada as a viable research site, and creating a Canadian research focus); disseminating research in Canada; and expanding Canadian business-communication…