Intended for use by instructors of upper division speech courses, this paper describes a questioning and answering technique for teaching argumentation. The first section of the paper discusses the concept of argumentative exchange, which is defined as an episode between two or more individuals wherein one or more feel that differences of belief…

Teaching a unit on effective briefing techniques early in a basic speech class can develop in the student a sense of time consciousness, verbal conciseness, objectivity, appreciation for documentation, and logical organization. Briefing in this sense is a type of informative speech in which selected and compressed information is presented to one's…

Widespread attention to the concept of teacher burnout along with theories and prescriptions for dealing with "midlife crises" have implications for the tenured higher education faculty in communication education. To avert such problems college administrative staff can promote faculty development through (1) a systematic approach to long-term…

This study sought to determine the extent of the Navy's problem with recruits who have deficiencies in the verbal English comprehension skills necessary to complete recruit training. English language comprehension skills, particularly verbal comprehension, of a cross-section of new recruits were assessed at three training centers--Orlando, Great…

A survey was conducted of students participating in the 1982 Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) tournament to uncover the reasons why they were competing in CEDA, whether they had ever participated in the National Debate Tournament (NDT), and which style of debate they preferred. Of the 133 respondents, 83 males and 50 females, 42%…

This number of a journal devoted to ideas for teachers of English as a second language (ESL) contains the following articles: (1) "Using Authentic Discourse in Teaching the Conditional" by Helen Hoyt Schmidt, (2) "Better Communication through Summarizations" by John Battaglia, (3) "A Look at Discourse Analysis" by…

Research has established that classroom verbal interaction typically involves turn taking cycles described as "teacher solicits,""pupil responds," and "teacher reacts." A study examined the question/answer cycles occurring within 36 videotaped language arts lessons conducted by six elementary school teachers and made inferences regarding what…

Nonverbal displays of status are often employed in argumentative interactions for the purpose of securing an advantage over an opposing speaker. These displays can be conceptualized as "implicit ad hominem fallacies" because, like all ad hominem arguments, they shift the focus of attention away from the substantive issues in dispute to…

The extensive use of improvisational techniques in rehearsals for chamber theatre productions develops for the performer a strong engagement with the text. The director can channel the movement and gestures that emerge from these techniques into the production itself, with results that more effectively convey the literature than traditional…

To examine the nature of sex differences in children's speech during play, 10 boys and 10 girls in kindergarten were videotaped continuously during 10 minute dyadic play sessions involving non-sex-typed toys. Each child participated twice -- once with a same-sex peer and once with an opposite-sex peer. The videotapes were coded according to whom…

The speech communication department at California State University, Northridge, offers a course entitled, "Rhetoric of Women," that combines a traditional rhetorical criticism approach with recent women's studies research. The course is organized topically, moving from the general to a more specific examination of variables that operate in the…

Narrative observations were made of kindergarten through fourth grade students' challenges of their peers' inappropriate behavior and of the responses made to the challenges. Approximately 90 hours of observation in 10 classrooms yielded 728 occasions in which an interchange began with one child challenging another. Three types of responses to…