Reviews psycholinguistic theories on the relationship between structure and function in language production. Criticizes the theory that sentence structures are reducible to the general forces of cognition that drive interpretation and communication. Argues that syntactic structures are necessary elements in an explanation of language use. (FMW)

Critiques the sexism institutionalized in basic speech communication courses and argues a gender balanced approach to curriculum revision. Presents examples drawn from a curriculum project as a case study in program revision to illustrate the application in a particular context and to suggest the impact of such a project for its participants. (KEH)

Recommends Margaret Houlihan as a one-character case study illustrating the evolution of female characters on primetime television as well as the change and social status of women in America. Argues that the changes in the Houlihan character reflect an archetypal model of an evolving feminist consciousness. (KEH)

Reports on the effort by the National Teacher Examination to set standards in the field of speech communication. Describes the way in which the examination is put together and discusses some of the strengths and weaknesses of such a method. (KEH)

Describes what one school is doing in its theater faculty to seize the opportunity of "owning" an assessment program. (KEH)

Effects of self-monitoring on generalization and maintenance of conversational skills (asking directed and nondirected questions and answering directed questions) of two mentally retarded women was examined. Following addition of self-monitoring to training programs, skills were maintained for six months including the untrained behavior of…

Tests three rival measurement models of a common measure of trait communication apprehension, the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24). Finds that the second-order factor model better fits the data in terms of conceptual implications, psychometric properties, and empirical evidence than the linear, unidimensional model or the…

Analyzes the relationship of Saddleback Community College's structure to functions and outcomes in the context of current changes in structure at the state level. (KEH)

Discusses problems minority and female faculty face achieving tenure in terms of demands on their time, expectations of administrators, and topics they choose to research. (KEH)

Refutes the reanalysis of a phonologically disordered child's use of fricatives as developed by Fey (1989) within a relational framework. Evidence in the form of nonsystematic correspondence between the child's substitution patterns and the target sound system is used to further establish accuracy of the original independent generative analysis…

Surveys regional communication association members to assess perceptions of the Southern States Communication Association, and three other regional communication associations. Finds a consistent stereotype both within and outside the associations' membership, a view of the associations as rhetoric-research oriented, dominated by a few individuals,…

Ten infants aged 8-12 months were studied to determine whether they would spontaneously imitate the average fundamental frequency or fundamental frequency contour of their speaking partners. Acoustic analyses failed to reveal any tendency by the infants to adjust vocal pitch, amplitude, or duration in home or laboratory settings. (Author/JDD)

Argues that literacy needs to include speaking and listening skills. Outlines the Washington State Core Competency Project that identified three levels--communication codes, oral message evaluation, and basic speech--and developed ways to teach these competencies to adult learners. (SK)

Examines stories about organizations to view how conversants define their organizations' character and their own roles within the organizations. Finds that stories exhibit two kinds of conversational markers (action and constraint markers), and that their sequential juxtaposition is an effective thematic device for analyzing conversational…

Three autistic boys, aged 6-7, observed videotaped conversations consisting of 2 people discussing toys. Subsequent assessment of the boys using untrained topics of conversation, new stimuli, new persons, and other settings indicated that the children learned through video modeling, generalized their conversational skills, and maintained…