Extends the study of communication apprehension (CA) impact in the instructional environment through examination of high, low, and moderate CA levels relative to various performance situations in a basic communication course. Results indicate significant differences in achievement indices between the three CA groups. (JMF)

Reports on the development and measurement of a course to improve the communicative performance of tax enforcement officers. Includes an account of a unique content-analytic system for measuring communicative performance in situations considered flexibly formulaic transactions with objectives and prescribed strategies. (JMF)

Discusses "language-in-use" as an index of rhetorical efficacy, suggesting that the substance and form of verbal reactions to discourse may reflect the degree of audience internalization. Concludes that language-in-use assists the critic in determining whether changes in thinking and behavior are occasioned by words or actions, or both. (JMF)

Investigates why young children become redundant and informative speakers after listening to nonredundant and informative speakers. The authors conclude that children confuse the length of a message with information. (Author/DB)

Presents a conceptual and operational definition of one cognitive dimension of communicative competence--interaction involvement--based on Goffman's model of face-to-face society. Reports two studies to support the validity of the definition. Outlines the implications for future research on communicative competence as well as instructional…

Outlines ideas for teaching an introductory course in propaganda, including an historical perspective and review of the etymology of the word and an examination of those characteristics that separate propaganda from other communication arts. (JMF)

Describes results of surveys of secondary school speech curricula, teacher preparation, and experience in 15 states. Major focus of speech programs continues to be public speaking; theater continues to be the most frequent extracurricular offering. (PD)

Proposes that communication strategies describe the learners' pattern of using what they know as they try to communicate with speakers of the largest language, and that communication strategies have an interactional function. Specific criteria are suggested for defining the notion of communication strategy as distinguished from learning and…

Discusses three experiments which investigated the role of convention and context in understanding indirect requests. Experiments 1 and 2 showed the wide variety of conventions used and how context determines conventionality. Experiment 3 showed how conventional requests take less time to process than nonconventional ones. (Author/PJM)

Tests the hypothesis that Latinate words are preferred to Anglo-Saxon words in formal instructions or tasks that vary in formality. Three experiments were done, each implementing varying degrees of formality. Situations that call out Latinate words must be unequivocally formal. (Author/PJM)

Lists 157 significant titles relevant to speech literature of the South for the year 1977 in the following areas: public address--bibliography, history and culture, and practitioners; theater--history, bibliography, and criticism; speech education; and mass communication--educational/instructional, history/bibliography, programming/criticism,…

Presents and tests the verbal-plan approach as a basis for predicting verbal behavior. (Defines verbal plan as "what an individual intends to say in a specific situation or a general situation.") (PD)

Outlines some problems common to actors and teachers in generating appropriately expressive speaking voices. Basic skills discussed include loudness without tension, clarity of articulation, use of intonation, and manipulation of rate. (JMF)

Finds that there are specific target behaviors for public speaking that can be acquired with instruction. Evaluates the three main components of the Fawcett and Miller public speaking package, a fourth component, and assesses the generality of trained public speaking behaviors over time, across settings, and across behaviors. (JMF)

Describes a nontraditional program at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, which offers a number of communication courses in an off-campus setting in neighborhood shopping centers. Highlights some specific concerns such as use of library facilities and materials and use of textbooks. (JMF)