In the exchange round, either instructors change classrooms for a round of speeches in order to offer students a new critic or else the student goes to a new classroom on the day he or she is scheduled to speak, thus facing a new audience and instructor-critic. The present study attempts to validate the exchange round as a transfer of training…

This book defines initial objectives, gives post-meeting critiques, and points out steps and decisions necessary to make a success of every type of meeting ranging from small committees to large extravaganzas. It instructs on how to plan programs, incorporate audiovisual aids, deal with hotels, and make schedules work. Include d are the five basic…

This research project examined the relationship between measures of speaker effectiveness obtained from rating scales and those obtained from objective comprehension tests of speech content. Two studies were used in order to provide independently derived results which could be compared. In the first study, 49 undergraduate public-speaking students…

This study investigated the effects of Expected Audience Response (EAR) and Perceived Audience Response (PAR) on speaker attitudes, tested the predictability of cognitive balance theory in a communication feedback setting, and provided a comprehensive review of the experimental literature on feedback. Speakers were given an expectation of the…

Comparative rhetoric studies the mode of public address among a specified group of people and the theories and values governing their public address in specific cultural contexts. Two ways to consider the subject of values in comparative rhetoric involve values as norms and values as appeals. Values assumed to be held by the audience are the bases…

Several writers have criticized the traditional structure of the forensics programs--on college and high school levels--as perpetuating a "reality gap" between contest debate and actual public communication. There are methods, however, whereby high school directors can help to bridge this gap and can present a more interesting and enriching…

A systematic desensitization therapy program to reduce anxiety in speakers has been developed and implemented at Michigan State University for those students in basic speech courses who have been identified by "The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension" (PRCA) as having severe speech anxiety and thus being in need of Systematic…

This study investigated the relative effectiveness of a political speech of refutation using humor and one which did not use humor. Three speeches were tape-recorded and played before 328 college freshmen students: the first was a speech of advocacy, the second was a speech of refutation, and the third was the same as the second, but humor was…

Designed to serve as a practical introduction to the functions of the broadcast media and as a guide to adjustment to demands imposed by the media on speakers, this book attempts to deal with special problems of the ordinary citizen in preparation for broadcast talks. A first part focuses on the media--changing patterns of communication,…

The use of behavioral objectives is challenged on three bases: feasibility, utility, and advisability. Behavioral objectives, however, are useful in teaching speech communication. They allow the teacher to start to pinpoint the items the student needs to practice in order to improve. If students are trained to decide which behaviors they wish to…

A sample of 352 students in a college public speaking course participated in a study of the relationship of speech anxiety to public speaking experience, sex, and academic ability. Analysis of results indicated that previous public speaking experience was related to reduced levels of speech anxiety. Neither sex nor academic ability was related to…

Describes a teacher-to-student feedback system consisting of a television typewriter which allows for spontaneous and direct transmission of teacher comments to students during their speech performance. (MH)

Describes the visual image approach as an alternative method of public speaking instruction based on the principle that meaning is associated with the object that meaning represents. Presents a rationale, objectives, procedures and results of implementation of this approach. (MH)

Reminiscences by a speech teacher of her encounters with persons who influenced her life and her selection of a discipline to study. Also recounts her experiences teaching speech courses at Northwestern University. (NKA)

Provides an overview of recent research on problem solving in speech communication. Discusses relevant documents under three categories: (1) conceptual developments, (2) social and affective correlates, and (3) potential teaching methods. (NKA)