A practicum was conducted to address the needs of teachers and administrators in Pasco County, Florida to provide programs for kindergarten children who were developmentally younger than their chronological 5 years of age. The program goal was to increase the maturity of at least one developmental behavior in each child by at least 80 percent;…

The current style-specific theories of human communication include the public speaking style, the relationship style, and the message communication style. It now appears that intercultural communication may emerge as the fourth style-specific theory as a result of scholars' concern over the ethnocentric bias found in the study of communication.…

The paper describes research examining the interrelationships among cognitive, linguistic, and social development in a sample of dysphasic children (having severe linguistic problems disproportionate to cognitive abilities) using microprocessors as a special diagnostic and training environment. Two studies are described; the first (the Comparison…

This report describes a formative evaluation and presents an overview of the background and design of an instructional television series, "On the Level," designed to encourage teenagers' personal and social development. The series includes 12 15-minute video programs, 12 audio programs, and a student workbook. The design issues discussed…

There are at least four distinct uses of the term "competence" in speech communication: (1) to refer to some set of standards used in evaluating aspects of communication processes, (2) to refer to some set of objects to be evaluated, (3) to refer to a method for evaluating aspects of communication against some standard, and (4) to refer to a…

This module (part of a series of 24 modules) is on teachers' use of systematic observation records of social behavior to aid in assessing students' special needs and in evaluating the effects of specific programs. The genesis of these materials is in the 10 "clusters of capabilities," outlined in the paper, "A Common Body of…

A study examined the behaviors exhibited by 17 teacher trainees with elementary school pupils identified as having special learning problems. These teacher student relationships were examined during a twice-weekly practicum and one full week of full-responsibility teaching. The trainees provided self-report data on specified behaviors and…

Kirsten Cole, the Director of FUN (Family University) Afterschool Program at Long Island University's Brooklyn Campus, shares her experience of working with children in an afterschool program where nightly community meetings address topics the children want to discuss. The topics change, but the underlying themes are often the same: issues of…

Summaries of five research reports investigating Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) student teachers, their perceptions of program effectiveness, internship situations, and future professional plans are presented. The studies (undertaken in response to a National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education standard…

In "creative listening" sessions, participants alternately present their ideas (for fixed periods of time) and listen silently to the other participants. This paper examines the value of this method as an aid to problem solving and offers suggestions for teachers serving as mediators and participants in creative listening sessions. It describes…

The three papers in this symposium explore various aspects of communication apprehension. The first paper develops a theoretical model which attempts to explain the causes of oral communication apprehension, in terms of family structure and levels of communication skill development. A study of high school students indicates that children from…

Oral responses of 180 male and female undergraduates to scenarios containing positive-loving, neutral-informational, and/or negative-rejecting (male) child communications were obtained and scored along 25 specific categories, as well as a global rating of acceptance/rejection of child. A factor analysis generated six factors, which, along with the…

This paper examines the role of foreign language teaching in answering the external needs of students, including equipping the student with vocational or professional skills, and the internal needs, including the broadening of perception of self, society and culture. Communication in general and participation in society benefit from foreign…

Second of five articles in a series, titled "The Elementary School: Focus on the Culturally Different.

Paper presented at the Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency (1st, Montpellier, France, September 16, 1967).