Student question-asking is essential to the learning process, and yet little is known about this communicative phenomenon. More important, the research that is available suggests that students ask far fewer questions than might be expected by educators. An exploratory study examined 15 college communication classrooms and determined that: (1)…

A corporate employee newsletter offers an ideal opportunity to discover how literacy functions as a means of assimilating individuals into a social structure. Underlying the corporate newsletter's assimilative function are the assumptions: (1) that in reading, employees rely on attitudes toward types of texts evolved within society as a whole; and…

Although there have been frequent calls for over-time research in mass communication, there are still many reasons that researchers use simpler designs. Each approach: two-time point, panel/repeated measures, and time-series experimental designs, offers its own advantages and disadvantages. By examining the benefits and disadvantages of each…

A study examined skills related to an individual's satisfaction with a partner's listening ability. Forty-nine undergraduates in a listening skills class were asked to increase the use of effective listening behaviors with three to five individuals with whom they had a relationship--this resulted in 194 participants in the study. Two…

A study investigated whether females use more supportive behaviors than males and whether males demonstrate more delayed responses than females in observable listening behavior. It was hypothesized that females would use higher levels of gaze and a greater frequency of head nods and supportive back-channels (SBCs) than males, and that males would…

One of a series of semiannual reports, this paper presents articles exploring the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical research applications. Titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Lexical Organization and Welsh Consonant Mutations" (S. Boyce, C. P.…

Approximately 100 adults participated in a study that investigated the themes of communication people use to characterize their relationships. The subjects produced 55 self-reports: 29 audiotaped dyadic discussions, 12 audiotaped group discussions, and 14 written logs. Dyadic discussants were romantic couples (dating or married), roommates,…

Observing that the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger" had a profound impact upon the American public, this paper argues that its most direct impact was upon the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Specifically, the paper argues that the explosion was a crisis that resulted in loss of legitimacy for the space…

Reported are implications of the genesis and development of joint action between Spanish adults and their infants for early first language acquisition. Focusing on the naturally occurring context of the "give and take" game format, this investigation discloses the role of the interaction pattern in the language acquisition process,…

Prompted by the fact that personal sales is an area of human communication that has received little attention from communication scholars, this paper integrates previous sales research relevant to communication inquiry into a foundation for future research. The first section of the paper discusses the importance of personal sales, while the second…

A series of studies were conducted to develop a communication openness measure (COM) based on the concept of openness as specific message sending and receiving behaviors. A model of communication behaviors was first developed, consisting of three parts--who communicates to whom, how, and about what? Based on the model, two forms of a 120-item…

Two surveys were conducted to determine the attitudes of public relations practitioners and educators regarding whether public relations practitioners should be licensed. Questionnaires were mailed to public relations practitioners to obtain data for the first survey, and a second survey was mailed several months later to public relations…

To develop a method of categorizing public relations practitioners according to a hierarchy of professionalism which would also identify what training is needed to raise those in lower levels to higher levels, a study surveyed 93 Iowa practitioners listed in the 1986-87 Public Relations Society of America Register Issue. Response rate was 66% and…

Although the generation of creative appeals is the heart and soul of advertising, there has been little methodology developed for the classification and study of the appeals themselves. The paper recommends the use of an instrument which provides a technique that will enable the advertising researcher to develop descriptive studies of ad appeals.…

In order to discover whether Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's rhetorical perspective has provided a unique ethical perspective of communication, a review of the literature on existing ethical perspectives of communication would be in order. Ronald C. Arnett and Richard L. Johannesen, two contemporary researchers, have provided thorough reviews of…