Discusses the significant differences between the former process of evaluation and the new assessment movement as they define the communication discipline. Suggests the articles in this special issue will contribute to an understanding of the assessment process and will provide strategies and direction for implementing or adapting methods for…

Focuses on some basic questions regarding assessment in higher education that may be useful to administrators in speech communication facing pressures to develop an assessment program. (KEH)

Discusses two assessment alternatives applicable to departments of communication: oral communication across the curriculum and assessment centers. Argues the efficacy of integrating assessment and learning. (KEH)

Examines the effectiveness of rhetoritherapy as a treatment for individuals with communication difficulties. Finds that performance-based communication training is effective in decreasing communication apprehension and problems communicating and in increasing other-perceived talkativeness. Reports that rhetoritherapy may be a more effective…

Explores married couples' understanding and recall of conversations to consider how intersubjective understanding in marriage is affected by the ambiguity and coding difficulties associated with particular perceptions. Shows that individual-level perceptions are only partly responsive to direct communication between spouses. (SR)

Examines verbal influence behavior during couples' disagreements. Finds the most frequently used strategies are content validation, self-assertions, and other accusations. Finds less use of content invalidation, self-defense, and other-support. Analyzes male/female differences in persuasive tactics. Finds interaction patterns are predominantly…

Discusses ways that affirmative action is used in the context of faculty recruitment. Argues that affirmative action should be viewed as a method to achieve positive change within a department and not as a quota. (KEH)

Examines Carol Gilligan's thesis that women use care orientation while men use justice orientation in structuring their ethical systems. Argues the usefulness of Gilligan's position as an interpretative framework for explaining conclusions drawn from selected experimental studies in psychology, sociology, and communication. (KEH)

Reports on a study in which subjects heard the beginnings of spoken words, followed by increasingly larger segments of word-onset information until the words could be correctly identified. Results are discussed in terms of word-initial phonology as a trigger for response activation. (34 references) (Author/OD)

Shows that hiring decisions in a natural setting are affected by the temperament similarity of interviewer and applicant, supporting Keirsey's hypothesis that temperament similarity affects compatibility. Suggests that general personality and temperament may be an influential variable in a number of commonly investigated communication constructs.…

Examines Susan Sontag's February 1982 Town Hall Address as a case study of strategies and constraints associated with contextual reconstruction (whereby rhetors address perceived conflicts between text and context). Traces the development of these concepts in Sontag's writings. Discusses the counter-intentional understanding of Sontag's speech by…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of married couples who are both members of the communication discipline. Proposes several ways that married couples, departments, and institutions can deal with dual-career couples creatively and effectively. (MM)

Pursues Kenneth Burke's conceptions of piety and appropriateness. Argues for propriety as the master term of rhetorical completion, assimilating style and argument to a common goal. Suggests in a case study of Voltairine de Cleyre's speech, "The Fruit of Sacrifice," that even radical text might be self-justifying by creating its own…

Advocates reinforcing the connections among speaking, listening, reading, and writing in the English classroom. Discusses the author's frustrations experienced in integrating speaking and listening with reading and writing instruction, and suggests several ways to deal with these frustrations. (MM)

Describes how speech acts in the beginning of many telephone conversations signal and resolve problems. Examines data from telephone conversations using "call-waiting" to show how ambiguity may provide resources for problem solving. (MM)