Finds that more argument and less verbal aggression were observed in constructive as compared to destructive disagreements regardless of context; more verbal aggression was reported in family as compared to organizational disagreements; and participants, when compared to observers, perceived the most argument and verbal aggression. (SR)

Describes the diversity of spoken English in high school classrooms in America. Advocates coming to terms with matters of language diversity. Suggests ways that this might be accomplished. (HB)

Discusses the future trends possible in the field of communication education and research. Argues that administrators of communications programs should anticipate dynamic curricular changes that will strain traditional concepts of the discipline. Considers how paradigm shifts might affect the discipline's growth and organization. (HB)

Discusses the current state in higher education regarding the assessment of institutional and departmental communications. Argues that academic institutions and their units can benefit from systematic evaluation of their communications activities. Outlines an assessment process that administrators might use to undertake such an evaluation. (HB)

Reports the results of a national survey of state teacher certification directors finding a lack of uniformity among states on standards and means of assessing communication competence. Recommends seven ways in which the Speech Communication Association can serve as advocate of oral communication competence in teacher education. (KEH)

Describes a procedure that communication departments, advisors, and graduate students can utilize to help students cope with the task and social pressures that accompany working on a dissertation. Suggests that being and having a dissertation partner supplements the advisor's role by providing task support and social support. (KEH)

Home visits and parental diaries revealed that children of deaf parents produced their initial recognizable sign at 8.2 months of age, attained a lexicon of 10 signs at 13.5 months, and combined signs at 16.1 months. Children did not use signs to name new things until 12.6 months, typically after they had demonstrated communicative pointing. (BC)

Describes the current state of undergraduate academic advising in the field of communications, including procedures and practices. Questions whether some advising training should be provided for academics and how important the activity of academic advising really is for students. (HB)

Finds that students enrolled in a basic communication course perceived significant improvement in class, work, and social settings, with the changes greater for the class context in terms of public speaking, interpersonal communication, group communication, interviewing, and self-confidence. (SR)

This article offers a linguistic and paralinguistic explication of the oral practice of chismeando (gossiping) as engaged in by a group of women from the Dominican Republic. A culture-specific study of the structuring resources by which the participants construct, maintain, and/or modify their in-group identities in everyday oral practice is…

Presents three related metaphors for understanding the relations among rhetoric, social forms, and social processes (and thus among text, context, and culture): contemporary America as empire, empire's concern with feeding, and empire's feeding habits as pornography. (SR)

Responds to several essays in the same journal issue. Suggests distinct yet equally important roles of theory and lived experience, concepts, and materiality in speech communication research. Argues for an engaged scholarly attitude that views the self as relational, others' accounts as valid, research as self-critical, and judgment as a…

Comments on the attempt to construct a coherent intellectual viewpoint to span the disparate projects of interpersonal and mass communication research. Considers how the discipline of communication can construct functional representations of itself despite diversity. (SR)

Discusses the lack of academic legitimacy enjoyed by mass media research in Europe, in particular. Attributes the problem in part to the specialism of the discipline and to the normative dimension of European research. (SR)

Focuses on the fiscal implications that revenue-centered budgeting can have for programs in speech communication and related disciplines. Discusses implementation at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, in terms of service courses, equipment, class size, cocurricular programing, and off-campus offerings. (SR)