Joseph Priestley, in his "A Course of Lectures on Oratory and Criticism," developed a psychological theory of style. The "Course" covers three main topics: traditional rhetorical arts of invention, arrangement, and style. Borrowing from the ideas of David Hartley, the association psychologist; Joseph Addison, the aesthetician;…

Teaching the basic course in speech communication can be challenging in many ways. A class debate revitalizes the course, while offering an excellent means for evaluating learning at the end of a semester course. Proficient use of interpersonal skills is necessary to organize group members and control group discussion; sufficient knowledge of…

A theory explaining the essential nature of comedy is explored in this paper. The first part of the paper posits the theory that comedy is a relatively harmless divergence from an expected norm or outcome, and discusses the following elements of the theory: (1) the divergence from reality, (2) the notion of expectation that includes the entire…

Developed as a result of the growing interest in public speaking in business and other professional sectors, this annotated bibliography contains recent citations of public speaking and related subjects in the popular press. The citations are drawn from trade journals, magazines, and books in print, rather than from scholarly or academic works.…

Intended for a largely European audience, this paper offers an overview of current definitions and goals of instructional communication and communication education teaching and research in the United States. The first major section of the paper looks at recent advances in instructional communication studies, concentrating on field research,…

A small college's communication arts curriculum, designed for students either going on to graduate school or interested in meeting more immediate vocational needs, is described in this paper. The following components of the curriculum are discussed: (1) use of field experience courses, (2) use of on-campus "practicum" courses and extra-curricular…

The keeping of journals by students in the basic speech course is the focus of this paper, which is divided into three parts. Part 1 examines the benefits of journal use to students and teachers and points out that three types of learning can thus be encouraged: the development of thinking skills, personal growth, and content learning. It also…

By exploring the relationship between competition theory and forensic speech contests, three benefits can be clearly identified: (1) students learn communication theory, (2) students who most accurately follow what is taught are awarded, and (3) students modify speeches by studying judges' comments, imitating winners, and utilizing selective…

To assess the attitudes of Alabama public school speech-language pathologists toward various aspects of their employment, an attitudes assessment instrument was completed by 272 practicing public school clinicians. The first section of the instrument contained items pertaining to the respondents' years of experience, tenure status, and degree…

Because a review of literature revealed that no valid instrument for measuring a person's willingness to communicate existed, a willingness to communicate (WTC) instrument was developed. The basis of this construct is the assumption that willingness to communicate is a personality-based, trait-like predisposition which is fairly consistent across…

Intended primarily for use by Unicef colleagues working in program communication and training, this handbook gives a general overview of the "building blocks" needed for putting together the communication component of a development program. To do this, the handbook uses as an illustrative example the development of a communication…

Noting that the concept of convention as a rule procedure in a formal analysis of interpersonal communication applies to the mass communication practice known as the "convention" or annual professional meeting of an academic discipline, this paper illustrates the ideological consequence of this eidetic connection. The paper characterizes…

Developmental studies have primarily focused on what takes place within the confines of a given interpersonal system (first order development). What has been neglected is second order development, the interpersonal communication that alters the system itself. From this particular developmental perspective, a model can be used that illustrates and…

To obtain feedback regarding listening instruction at the universities, colleges, and junior colleges in the state of Texas, this study surveyed 100 schools listed in the 1982 Speech Communication Directory. Department chairpersons of each school received a listening checklist and, as a follow-up procedure, registrars of the schools were sent a…

Extensive longitudinal data were gathered on a child's entry into the symbolically mediated modal world by examining changes in the semantics and pragmatics of her uses of modal auxiliary verbs. The data are 53 transcripts of natural conversations between a girl, Nina, and her mother recorded periodically from her 23rd month to her 39th month. The…