From primary grades, students are exposed to both standardized and classroom tests. While teacher-made classroom tests may contain multiple choice, constructed response, or essay items, standardized tests, on the other hand, primarily rely on the multiple-choice format. Standardized tests are easy and inexpensive to administer and score, amenable…

As administrators work through contextual persuasion to affect people, activities coordination hinges to some extent on the quality of a leader's argumentation skills. Policy administration is a process of arguing explanations. Six categories vital for administrators to cover to deter critics while putting forward policy are: relevant information,…

This practicum addressed the problem of seventh grade compensatory education students' not having adequate instruction, opportunity, or experience to prepare for success in any level of eighth grade English. Overall goals for the practicum were to give instruction in public speaking, to provide opportunities for students to engage in public…

An analysis of the content and a critique of the significance of President Jimmy Carter's 1977 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, show that technical weaknesses such as poor organization, inconsistent style, and overbreadth limited its intended effect. Carter had hoped that this speech would dispel confusion over some of his…

A study examined the effects of controlling situational factors (i.e., instructional interventions) on reducing state anxiety level of low and high public speaking apprehensives. Subjects were 306 undergraduates enrolled in the basic public speaking course at a midwestern university during the 1988-1989 academic year. Situational factors tested…

Intended for use by speech and communication scholars, this paper uses the extensive body of research on communication apprehension as the basis for a discussion of three conventional approaches toward the treatment of excessive communication apprehension: systematic desensitization, social skills development, and cognitive modification/rational…

An experiment in which students in an introductory accounting class took turns acting as teacher by giving presentations on accounting problems before the class produced mixed results. The majority of students benefited from the public speaking experience and a few may have learned the subject matter better as a result of it. In the study all…

A study was conducted to determine if communication apprehensive students enrolled in a basic speech communication course preferred specific instructional methods and perceived these methods as beneficial in reducing public speaking anxiety. During four consecutive semesters, 620 undergraduate students completed the Personal Report of…

Intended for young debators, this booklet lists the main events of a debate contest for Japanese college students. The booklet contains transcripts and articles from the debate in which the proposition that the Japanese government should significantly strengthen its policies to protect the Japanese people from foreign nations was debated. The…

The 18 essays in this journal issue provide insight into the theory, issues and practice of forensics. They consider the following topics: an agenda for forensics education; problems of forensics in the United States today; improvement of debate practice and teaching; rhetorical dimensions of argumentation; use of speeches as an instructional…

Mastery learning is a systematic approach to instruction in which students are required to attain specified levels of competence. This paper provides a rationale for using mastery learning in the introductory public speaking course and clarifies the differences between traditional and mastery learning approaches by contrasting their assumptions…

Communication is a key tool that health care professionals must use to identify the salient variables causing health complaints, to create strategies for health care treatments, and to elicit cooperation from health care colleagues and clients in the delivery of health care services. Communication specialists can help by applying speech…

Part of a larger investigation of the rhetorical character of the presidencies of Harry Truman through Jimmy Carter, this report concentrates on the presidents' linguistic styles and their semantic choices. The first half of the report discusses the background of the study and the development of a computerized language analysis…

This index to journals in communication studies published through 1979 is divided into three sections. The first section lists the major articles appearing in 14 journals: (1) "The Quarterly Journal of Speech," (2) "Communication Monographs," (3) "Communication Education," (4) "Southern Speech Communication…

In an era in which the credibility of public schools is falling with the general public, community forensics performances by students have the potential for cultivating public awareness of the effectiveness of the schools. Forensics is intrinsically related to basic speaking and listening skills, and since there is great potential for…