Examines the roles of deans, department chairs, and other administrators in addressing issues of sexual harassment. Provides discussion of safe places, fair practices, and trust. Gives 25 suggestions for action that administrators can take to deal with and eliminate sexual harassment. (HB)

Investigates the pragmatic input of parents and the ways it contributes to preschoolers' acquisition of pragmatic competence (the appropriate use of language in social situations). Analyzes audiotapes of five families' interactions over a one-year period. Discusses results of research and offers insight into preschoolers' growth in pragmatic…

Discusses a technique for identifying the function of minimal responses in conversation. Describes a study in which subjects listened to one of two versions of a recorded conversation: one complete, one with minimal responses deleted. Concludes that minimal responses serve to denote agreement and suggest informality. (DK)

Explores the basic communication research course for undergraduates. Discusses several key notions for making this course valuable to the undergraduate: the attitude of the instructor, the attitude of the students, course requirements and activities, and evaluation techniques. (SR)

An exploration of the rhetorical contract--i.e., the expectations for appropriate interaction--as it develops in human-computer interaction revealed that direct manipulation interfaces were more likely to establish social expectations. Study results suggest that the social nature of human-computer interactions can be examined with reference to the…

Examines whether knowledge gaps decrease when motivation to acquire information is similar among more and less educated groups. Compares two groups with differing motivations to acquire cancer and diet information in a community that received a year-long health campaign. Finds evidence of education-based differences in knowledge even among members…

Examines the relationship between sign language and gesture in language acquisition. Specifically, the question is asked, are sign language and nonlinguistic gestures treated differently by infants acquiring a sign language? The answer is found in reexamining data concerning two deaf children learning American Sign Language (ASL). The data…

Argues that a fair amount of confusion in media studies has resulted from the lack of explicit treatment of the most basic question: What are media? Suggests three underlying metaphors: media as conduits, media as languages, and media as environments. (SR)

Suggests that the reason important parts of the communication field have failed to engage developments within communications is because of a rapid march up the blind alley of cultural studies. Relates the authors' experience working with the Broadcasting Research Unit in London to suggest some of the ways in which policy and policy debates can,…

Uses Kenneth Burke's writings on the negative in language to account for the rhetorical appeal of the Reagans'"just say no" rhetoric. Argues that this strategy advocates private solutions to public problems, reasserts the authority of the government to define both problems and solutions, and undermines the vitality of the public sphere.…

Explores the kinds of persuasion used by preschool children in two role-playing tasks. Finds that children role played effectively and persistently, with Bargains and Guarantees the most frequently used strategies. Finds that the choice of strategies changed with age (more Positive Sanction, less Assertion) and with sex (boys used more Norm…

Studies the processes by which organizational newcomers acquire information from their peers. Indicates types of information acquired, channels through which they acquire it, and the relationship between type and channel. Suggests that information acquisition is affected by type of organization, newcomer-peer work interactions, and newcomer…

Notes that much research in telecommunication and development continues to treat technology as neutral and neglects its impact on the powerless. Argues that the view of development as desirable often goes uncontested. Calls for a paradigm which places power in the center of the analysis. (SG)

Argues that fragmentation of American culture has resulted in communication role reversal, making interpretation the primary task of speakers and writers and text construction the primary task of audiences. Suggests audiences must be provided with dense, truncated fragments which cue them to produce a finished discourse in their minds. (KEH)

Examines autobiographical narratives of three scientists from the wartime Los Alamos Laboratory. Finds an organizational structure manifest in ideological discourses for nuclear practice and sensemaking, permitting rationalization for working identities and labor objectives. Considers implications for the critical study of organizational…