This paper presents six original in-class activities for audience analysis and adaptation before, during, and after a speech presentation in a basic public speaking course. The activities in the paper combine audience information surveys, demographic traits, situational traits, adaptation strategies, adjustment to audience feedback, and self…

Senate Bill 363 is designed to protect American children from the harm caused by viewing violence on television. The bill amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require that violent video programming be limited to broadcast after the hours when children are reasonably likely to comprise a substantial portion of the audience, unless it is…

Shows that audience recall of AIDS public service announcements (PSAs) is related to message appeal types, cultural identity, and gender. Finds that strong emotional appeals are better remembered than rational ones; U.S. viewers recalled more than international participants; and college women recalled more than college men in general, and…

Suggests ways to increase creativity in individuals and in team members who are involved with developing video productions. Topics discussed include freedom of expression; setting goals and objectives; visualization; laser video discs; instant cameras; the function of evaluation; and the impact of technological developments on audience…

Describes a flexible format for a literature unit which avoids the problems associated with a structure which is too rigid or allows too much latitude for students. Notes that the students produce some excellent thinking and writing. (MG)

Shares the attempts of one teacher to structure a program that allows students to learn and grow as a community of readers and writers through the use of a response-centered curriculum. (MG)

Describes a study of urban television viewers in India that examined television as an educational medium for promoting health and nutrition information. Data are reported on audience characteristics, viewing patterns and times, special audience programs, health and nutrition programs, format preferences, and audience reaction. (EAM)

Presents media literacy research of eighth-grade students to determine the level of recognizing and understanding visual and nonvisual codes that make up motion-picture stories. Study focused on rhetoric of the film medium: trust, confidence and belief in films among children is very high; if this trust coincides with ignorance of media codes,…

A qualitative research methods course, offered for faculty at an Israeli school of education, was a significant "cultural event" promoting inclusion of qualitative methods in a strongly positivist setting. A profound change in faculty attitudes was eased by administrative support and by participants' ability to find entry points to ideas…

Over the past few years, the author has often been invited to speak to various audiences on topics related to the development of English-language proficiency. The audience response and the kinds of questions asked led her to share the framework that she has adopted, some visual representations that illustrate the key concepts embedded in the…

This study examined native English speakers' reactions to nonnative primary stress in English discourse. I measured North American undergraduate students' processing, comprehension, and evaluations of three versions of an international teaching assistant's speech: with primary stress correctly placed, incorrectly placed, or missing entirely.…

This article addresses social movement framing, generally, and within contemporary animal rights movements specifically by conducting focus group analyses of a non-activist population. This contrasts with previous studies of recruitment that have examined the conversion process retroactively, culling data from those already involved in a cause. By…

Papers by graduate students, and occasionally papers from their mentors which establish a context for the student papers, are organized into four sections. Section 1, "Observation," includes two papers, "Observation Children at a Puppet Theater Performance" (Grace Johnson), and "Manipulations: Clay Construction" (Kim Spradling). Section 2,…

Noting that several current communication theories suggest that the media have a "persuasive" effect on American society, a study compared the effects of two media (the electronic medium of television and the spoken medium of the homily) and whether these media have different effects on their audience's perceptions of reality. A national phone…

A study explored how teenage audiences interpreted brochures intended to discourage them from taking drugs, and more broadly, how readers respond to the visual and verbal messages presented through brochures that aim to inform and persuade. Over 100 brochures and handouts from national and local drug prevention agencies were collected. A subset of…