The study assessed the use of Blissymbols in the spoken and signed language development of 10 school-aged (mean age 11.5 years) children with developmental dysphasia of whom four also were mildly retarded. The students' expressive abilities in signed and spoken words were initially assessed before the Bliss teaching began, and then again after 1…

The integration of the undergraduate communication curriculum is a growing national challenge. Mergers of curriculum programs from different subdisciplines have occurred over time because of economic pressures and erroneous judgments about student and university needs. Student interest in the social sciences has declined, and communication…

A study examined what type of communication behaviors best friends use when they talk about their relationship (meta-relate), or discuss the nature of talk within the friendship (meta-talk). Questionnaire data collected from middle-aged adults and young college students indicated that the respondents discussed their friendships more than their…

Basic similarities in the communication industry of 75 years ago and that of today suggest that much will not change in communication in the next 75 years. Future thinkers such as J. Naisbitt and A. Toffler, however, believe that major economic and technological changes will place a high priority on effective communication. Information, Toffler…

Expert systems are computer programs that solve selected problems by modelling domain-specific behaviors of human experts. These computer programs typically consist of an input/output system that feeds data into the computer and retrieves advice, an inference system using the reasoning and heuristic processes of human experts, and a knowledge…

An examination of audience analysis factors in representative communication textbooks indicates that current pedagogical applications are broadly categorized into demographic and dispositional properties. The adaptation of constructivist theory to audience analysis can give speech students reasons why the speaker-audience relationship is as it is.…

A study was designed to develop an empathy training program for health professionals that would (1) improve selected predictive, behavioral, and achieved empathetic communication skills for a sample group of registered nurses; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the training program in attaining its stated goals; and (3) develop a program that could…

Through personal reminiscences, the author chronicles his involvement with the Speech Communication Association and the Central States Speech Association beginning with his attendance at the twentieth annual convention of the National Association of Teachers of Speech in 1933. The author concludes with a recollection and summation of five problems…

A collection of nine articles, this yearbook focuses on freedom of speech and censorship. The topics covered include (1) judicial invention in First Amendment governmental regulation cases, (2) the impact of the Moral Majority on book censorship; (3) Justice William Brennan's championship of the First Amendment, (4) the legal tactics that public…

The purpose of teacher feedback in the speech classroom is to inform the speaker of the audience's reaction to the speech, to make suggestions for improvement on future speeches, and to motivate the speaker to speak again or to enjoy speaking. To provide appropriate criticism, teachers need to understand the nature and the relative merits of…

Analysis of speech communication studies reveals a number of themes in the arts. A central concern in studies dealing with oral interpretation is what should be the focus in the oral interpretive act. The shifting priorities parallel the shift in emphases occurring in speech communication as a whole: performer/delivery; text/message;…

A description of a college course entitled "The Loving Relationship," this report first explains course structure and requirements, textbooks used, and instructional goals. After offering assumptions underlying the course's development, including the ideas that loving is an act of will, that communication is essential to love, and that personal…

A study investigated the relationship between students' communication apprehension levels and their attitudes toward the use of video recording in a basic speech course. A communication apprehension measure and a questionnaire on perceptions of videotape use in class were completed by 230 undergraduate basic speech students. The findings…

In order to determine whether organizational communication (OC) had matured as an academic field, a study examined the course structure, course content, and teaching practices of a variety of OC courses. A 19-item questionnaire was sent to 762 OC professionals, 73 of whom indicated that they actually taught OC courses. Results showed that the…

The expression of modal meanings presents a difficulty even for advanced speakers of a foreign language and it has been shown that beginning and intermediate learners produce few modal auxiliaries. To investigate the phenomenon, a functional/semantic framework was used to determine what forms these students use to convey a particular meaning. The…