Business communication is different from other domains in that its contextual meaning requires previous metacognitive mediation of signs. The communicative process in business is aimed at accomplishing a specific outcome. Various forms of meaning come into play in business communication such as denotative, connotative, stylistic, affective,…

In two experiments, five-year-old children participated in a referential communication task to investigate (1) whether they were more likely to imitate the length rather than the quality of a speaker's utterances and (2) whether they would confuse length with quality, judging any long communication to be adequate. (Author/RH)

Argues that reliance upon verification procedures has inhibited theory building in communication. Advances four falsification procedures and presents examples from communication studies. Offers several implications these procedures have for empirical research in communication. (PD)

Discusses the nature and usefulness of talking to ourselves, silently or aloud. Poses questions for research and for education concerning this universal habit. (HTH)

Results of the study suggested that the four measurement instruments of communication problems are not capable of discriminating students with communication problems from students without. Concluded that what may be most important in distinguishing the two groups is whether or not persons perceive their uncomfortable feelings about communication…

Communication researchers have recently expressed concern with the lack of statistical power in their literature. Authors propose a method for increasing statistical power: the partitioning of the decision region in three parts. This procedure results in an unambiguous interpretation of nonsignificant results and leads to increased power. (PD)

Memory for discourse by older adults was examined by comparing their performance with that of younger subjects on a text recognition task. Results showed that the old were better at detecting lexical substitutions than subject-object reversals, suggesting that the old retain lexical items better than the relations between them. (FL)

Children (ages 5-8) were presented with a communication task under four different experimental conditions, to find contexts which would encourage their use of the indefinite article. Even older children failed to identify their referents consistently, although nearly all subjects used indefinite expressions intermittently when mentioning new…

Restates A. D. Baddeley's hypothesis about the limited capacity for information processing: an individual's limited capacity to handle information (including production and storage), although presumably never reached in actual performance, exercises a definable constraint on performance. (RL)

A study of the reported sampling methods and respondent/subject characteristics in 297 published communication research studies suggests that the vast majority of published communication research literature does not meet minimal scholarly standards for reporting research results. (GT)

Examines, through meta-analytic review, the connection between communication apprehension and communication behavior. Indicates a consistent negative relationship between the level of communication apprehension and communication skills, using a total of 36 studies involving 3742 participants. Finds that as a person becomes more apprehensive both…

Presents a developmental model of intimacy and explicitness. Finds that affection for a partner had a significantly more negative association with episodic explicitness when closeness was low versus high. Finds that intimacy was negatively correlated with explicitness from low to moderate levels of intimacy, but positively correlated from moderate…

Analyzes data from five different kinds of organizations, showing that, regardless of how much information organization members reported receiving, they wanted more, thus revealing a general belief in the communication metamyth that more communication is better. (SR)

Studies the conference as a strategic communication tool used to facilitate complex interorganizational business relationships. Develops and tests a model of the necessary prior conditions for conference success, conference process variables, conference outcomes, and the long-term consequences of effective integration for an organization. (SR)

Studies 35 organizational meetings (each from a different organization) to examine the development and use of five primary tools for planning and managing meetings (agendas, support documents, announcements, meeting minutes, and evaluations). Analyzes the relationships of these tools to meeting processes, and looks at control of these tools by…