This essay responds to the problem that sociocultural literacy research has failed to adequately theorize individual literacy learners as moral agents with the capacity to produce harm or good to themselves and others. Building from the rhetorical construct of dialogism, this inquiry explores how the early ethical thought of Mikhail Bakhtin can…

This study uses social network analysis (SNA) in an innovative way to describe interaction and explain how interaction influences sense of community of students in online learning environments. The findings reveal differences on sense of community between two similarly structured online courses, and show unique interaction patterns for students in…

There has been an increasing interest in the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in problem-based learning. One line of research has been to introduce synchronous, or simultaneous, communication attempting to create text-based digital real-time interaction. Compared with face-to-face (F2F) communication, CMC may be a poorer medium…

In light of today's large amount of written workplace communication, this study attempted to reveal information regarding the quality in which business messages are encoded on the job. Data were gathered through a questionnaire administered to a sample of 1994-2004 MBA graduates of three AACSB-accredited programs. Findings suggest that business…

In this study, demand/withdraw patterns and feeling caught were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and young adults' mental well-being. Participants included 567 young adults from divorced and nondivorced families. For young adults in nondivorced families, family conversation orientations had both a positive, direct effect on…

Purpose: This study provides preliminary reference data for speech and articulatory rates of school-age children in conversational and narrative speaking contexts. Method: Participants included 36 typically developing children in 3 groups of 12 participants at ages 7, 9, and 11 years. Conversational and narrative speech rates were measured in…

A study examined the trajectory of uncertainty about a partner (target uncertainty) and uncertainty about what to say and do (conversational uncertainty) during initial interaction, those factors of the interaction which impact uncertainty, and the extent to which uncertainty reduction is mutual and collects around "critical events."…

A substantial number of published articles in speech communication research today is experimental/social scientific in nature. It is only in the past decade that scholars have begun to put the history of communication under the lens. Early advocates of the adoption of the method of social scientific inquiry were J. A. Winans, J. M. O'Neill, and C.…

This study combined qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the reasons many women use indirect messages to say "no" to men's attempts to escalate sexual intimacy. Subjects were six female students at a large southwestern university. At one time, one group had four women, at another time the group had two women. All were…

Nonverbal communicative behaviors are a primary channel for emotional expression. Emotions, in turn, strongly influence nonverbal communication displays. Thus, the role of emotions should be a central consideration in nonverbal communication studies. A study examined 34 articles, published in the "Journal of Nonverbal Behavior" between…

Sex differences in language use have been examined for many years, but no clear-cut conclusions exist. A meta-analysis of the existing literature was conducted regarding powerful/powerless language use, including 30 studies, with a total combined sample size of 3,012. The overall correlation indicated that men use more powerful language than…

The development of a "global village" strongly demands the ability of intercultural sensitivity between people for survival in the 21st century. Due to current lack of study on the subject, this paper aims to: (1) provide a conceptualization of intercultural sensitivity; (2) specify the role intercultural sensitivity plays in…

Noting that communication scholars have devoted considerable attention to communication apprehension, this 27-item annotated bibliography, however, focuses on receiver-based anxiety or communication apprehension. The journal articles, conference papers, and theses listed were published between 1975 and 1988. Sections of the annotated bibliography…

This paper describes a study which proposes a framework for discovering and exploring particular types of conversational acts which may be interpreted as disconfirming. The study offers examples from existing transcripts of conversations as well as hypothetical conversations which may demonstrate possible disconfirming acts. The…

A preliminary study explored the components of the assimilation stage of graduate teaching assistant (GTA) socialization. Subjects, 64 GTAs attending a large midwestern university, completed 4 survey instruments concerning their attitudes on mentoring and communication support, information seeking strategies, teacher communication concerns, and…