Examines the influence of social identity and the intimacy of relationships on uncertainty reduction in interethnic relationships. Results reveal that social identity has a significant positive effect on uncertainty reduction processes. (JAD)

Examines British and American feminist cultural studies as examples of work that approaches communication within an overall feminist context. Argues that this type of feminist work maintains the political/critical edge of cultural studies and resists easy appropriation into the liberal-pluralist mainstream of research and theory in communication.…

Approximately 3.9 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2007. According to Allen and Seaman (2008), online education growth rates have continued to outpace total higher education growth rates and there are no signs of online growth slowing down. As higher education institutions offer increasing numbers of online and…

The present investigation sought to advance Psychological Reactance Theory (PRT) by examining whether trait reactance and sensation seeking influence the magnitude of a perceived threat, state reactance, and reactance restoration. Results revealed that high trait reactant (HTR) and low trait reactant (LTR) individuals and high sensation seekers…

For the thirty-second year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the national AECT Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

This study examined the relationship between viewing an infant DVD and expressive and receptive language outcomes. Children between 12 and 15 months were randomly assigned to view "Baby Wordsworth," a DVD highlighting words around the house marketed for children beginning at 12 months of age. Viewings took place in home settings over 6 weeks.…

There has been extensive reporting on the interactional characteristics of multi-participant text-based chat rooms. In these chat rooms there are several students typing at the same time, often on more than one topic. As a result, it is not uncommon to see multiple overlapping utterances. Despite these communicative challenges, research suggests…

Focuses on recent critiques of empiricism. Discusses the present state of communication research and theory. Asserts that examining levels of language and explanation helps to solve logical inconsistencies that have appeared to present philosophical problems in the past. (PRA)

Since 2005, the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has been conducting research to understand the needs and practices of faculty for in-progress scholarly communication (i.e., forms of communication employed as research is being executed) as well as archival publication. This…

Can perceived message effectiveness (PE) be considered a cause of actual effectiveness (AE)? If so, PE judgments can be used as valid indicators of the persuasiveness of messages in the preimplementation phase of campaigns. In addition, manipulating PE may be a viable persuasive strategy. But, if the reverse causal sequence obtains (AE[right…

This is an article in a series illustrating the way scholars in communication have pursued translating their research into practice. The translational nature of communication accommodation theory and examples of its application are the focus of this contribution.

This study analyzes the influence of avatars on social presence, interpersonal trust, perceived communication quality, nonverbal behavior, and visual attention in Net-based collaborations using a comparative approach. A real-time communication window including a special avatar interface was integrated into a shared collaborative workspace.…

This study examined the participation styles of nine parents while attending Individual Educational Program (IEP) meetings for their children. The nine parents consisted of three parents from a suburban school district, three parents from a rural school district, and three parents from an urban school district. Data collection through videotaping…

In this article, the authors present parent-educator conversations, which were selected to illustrate common communication patterns and provide links to some of the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children's recommended practices for communicating and collaborating with parents. Using conversation analysis, researchers…

This study examines references from three journals, "Communication Monographs," "Communication Research," and "Journal of Communication," for the years 1985, 1995, and 2005 to investigate the role of the scholarly monograph in the discipline of communication. The authors found that both the percentage of references to monographs and the average…