Academe's values of "deferred gratification" and "work hard now to prepare for the future" are replaced in the world of work by such values as the "future is now" and "immediate results." The outside world, not the textbooks, has provided educational experiences for the nontraditional student. The nature of the world of work, the arena where…

To help reduce sexism in children's theatre productions, directors should make a conscious effort to eliminate negative patterns from scripts. They should give attention to the roles of the characters, since female characters are often relegated to the roles of waiting for a male, a supportive parent or sister, or a passive admirer of a male.…

Empathy has been defined, operationalized, and assessed in many different ways. A study was conducted to determine whether selected empathy measures actually measured a similar construct when they were applied in interpersonal communication settings. The five measures chosen for analysis were those typically used by researchers to assess…

The willingness of interactants to disclose information about themselves in relationships from which they wish to disengage was compared with their willingness to self-disclose in relationships they wish to maintain. The subjects, 102 college students, were randomly assigned to one of four hypothetical scenarios: one in which the respondent wished…

While rhetorical theory has long been concerned with the epistemological foundations of rhetorical abilities, the full potential of the structuralist perspective is far from realized. The study of speech acts and inventive processes discloses the underlying logic of linguistic performance. A speech act is conceptualized in terms of the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether, when both listener and speaker are unknown to one another, listeners of each sex do or do not tend to differentially evaluate presentations by speakers according to sex; results were then compared to those of earlier studies in which the women being judged were hypothetical authors. A group of…

This study examined the effects of message valence, familiarity, and communicator sex on the perceptual distortion of height. Additionally, the relationships of self-esteem and independence of judgment to perceptual distortion were studied. A group of 139 volunteers from a basic communication course were randomly assigned to one of the eight…

This document consists of tabulations of the responses from teachers and principals in 225 junior and senior high schools in Minnesota to questions related to speech and theater programs. Questions directed to principals asked for information about school size; grade levels served; support for speech and theater courses from students, faculty, and…

The value of H. Myklebust's Picture Story Language Test (PSLT) was examined in a study of differences in written expression between 85 learning disabled (LD) and 125 nonlearning disabled elementary grade children and characteristics of oral expression of the LD students. Using the PSLT, written and oral language samples were obtained from the…

To dramatize the human resource potential of persons over 65 years old and of the disabled, oral interpretation presentations using oral histories were developed. These presentations were designed to lead to a stimulating exchange of ideas concerning the potential contribution to daily life of the elderly and of the disabled, and to pose questions…

Intended as a resource for students in their study of the issues and arguments pertinent to the 1979-80 National High School Debate Resolution, "What should be the future direction of the foreign policy of the United States?," this publication is organized into five units. The units are: definitions, including the problem area and the…

The report presents an evaluation of the Utah State School for the Deaf. It is argued that the two programs provided by the school (Total Communication and Oral Communication) are not equally available to each student and that placement of students is not based on professional diagnosis of student needs. Evidence is presented that indicates that…

An investigation was undertaken to assess the relationship of the independent variables of perceived homophily to the dependent variables of uncertainty reduction, feeling good, and safety. In addition, the relationship of uncertainty reduction, feeling good, and safety was assessed to the dependent variables of self-disclosure. The sample…

An investigation was undertaken to further the conceptual and operational nature of interpersonal solidarity. Specifically, the investigation considered additional criterial attributes of solidarity to those previously studied by L. R. Wheeless. The sample consisted of 162 adults drawn from elementary and secondary school teachers, college…

This paper discusses the need for college speech communication courses for and about women involved in elective politics. It lists and describes guidelines that should be the bases for such courses and then suggests units that should be taught. The units suggested include an overview of women's participation in American political life, what the…