Describes the process followed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in implementing an oral communication across the curriculum core requirement. Discusses program adaptation, oral intensive guidelines, basic course structure, implementation recommendations, preparing faculty, identifying and meeting faculty need, and evaluation of pilot courses.…

Analyzes children's verbal disputes for the development of discourse markers "because,""so,""and,""but," and "well." Shows that the markers were primarily used to mark the exchange structure of discourse when they were first used by children two years seven months to three years six months and that the first markers to do so were "but" and…

Describes how interactive hand gestures made during conversation help maintain the conversation as a social system. Relates the methods and results of three experiments designed to test this theory. Finds that interactive gestures maintain involvement with the interlocutor without interrupting the flow of conversation. (HB)

Assesses Bolinger's distinctive contribution, a theory of intonation as an extra-grammatical phenomenon, and suggests how these fundamental insights can be built upon. (22 references) (GLR)

Presents the results of a survey assessing the state-of-the-art of graduate teaching assistant training. Indicates that speech communication departments are leading the way in the proportion that train but not in the breadth or scope of that training. (SR)

Three autistic children (ages 9-11) received spontaneous communication training using a time delay, modeling, and food reinforcement procedure. Results showed gains in 2 spontaneous responses ("please" and "thank you") and 1 verbally prompted response ("you're welcome"). Gains were validated socially with 10 adults. (Author/JDD)

Explores the relationship between speech and spelling in a case study of developmental dyslexia. Finds that the 14-year-old subject's articulation difficulties were recapitulated in his spelling. Suggests that, although young children make use of a phonological frame on which to organize orthographic information, dyslexics are unable to do so. (RS)

Assesses the typical number of core courses departments have, the most commonly used ones, and, in a general way, their contents. Provides data on department names and undergraduate program areas for a picture of the communication disciplines in the 1990s. (RS)

Word substitution errors from a corpus of 2,400 French slips of the tongue were grouped into several categories: contaminational, semantic, formal, and mixed cases; substitutions of syntagmatic codependents also occurred. Semantic and formal substitutions involved a resemblance between target and error. All substitutions exhibited a strong degree…

One of a series of letters to parents of children with developmental apraxia of speech, this letter discusses the characteristics of the disorder including having been a "quiet" baby, slow and late development of speech skills, problems sequencing sounds and syllables correctly, and problems in correct "voicing". An appended…

A methodological study of 33 2-year-olds shows that child speech occurs at about the same level in different settings (the familiar home vs. the unfamiliar laboratory), but that children speak more and in more differentiated ways with different people (mother vs. stranger). (Author/VWL)

Describes an upper level rhetorical theory course for Scientific and Technical Communication majors (developed and taught by the author) that is grounded in Aristotle's "On Rhetoric" and in his understanding that effective communication is a systematic "tekhne"/art. Describes how the course uses Aristotle's work as a…

Four experiments examined children's interpretations of lexical and vocal cues to speaker affect and the developmental trajectory of their interpretations of discrepancy. Findings indicate that the affective interpretations of 7- to 10-year-olds reflected a weighted- averaging strategy favoring the affect conveyed lexically. Both 4- and…

Investigates the productivity of communication programs by ranking doctoral institutions (1) globally, based on top award winning National Communication Association and International Communication Association conference papers, and (2) according to selected specialties in communication studies. Argues that these results can be used in conjunction…

Finds that self-reported loneliness was not related to depression or social anxiety for either young or older adults, and was not related to young or older adults' social skill as measured by partner attention. Indicates that social anxiety, however, was related to social skill during intergenerational conversations. (SR)