A study examined the relative effectiveness and synergistic effect of two treatments for reducing speech anxiety--Self-Statement Modification (SSM), a therapy focused on modification of cognitive behavior; and Modified Desensitization (MD), a therapy focused on physiological variables, utilizing relaxation training, group hierarchy construction,…

By using public speaking skills, typical classroom problem areas can be reduced or eliminated. During the first five minutes of class, instructors can orient their audience by reviewing information from the previous class, or gain attention with an interesting story, quote, or humorous incident related to the subject matter. To avoid wasting the…

This teacher's guide is designed to show how Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) can be used as a primary source in the secondary education classroom to teach citizenship education for concept and skill development. Subject areas that C-SPAN can supplement are global education, government, public speaking, economics education, law…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 31 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the rhetoric of confrontation in Northern Ireland; (2) rhetorical arguments in public health regulations; (3) epideictic discourse in the founding of the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the credibility of the sources of public information during the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant crisis; (2) the anticorporation rhetoric of New York reformer Samuel Seabury; (3)…

The ways in which workshops and seminars can be used to promote the participation and advancement of women and minorities in the field of educational research are described, based on the activities of Project Growth, sponsored by The University of Alabama's Institute of Higher Education Research and Services (IHERS). The program has served…

Culture is a powerful force that may affect the reception and acceptance of communication. To determine if culture has an effect on perceived speaker effectiveness, students in one introductory speech communication class in a Florida university and a variety of courses in a university in the Bahamas, were given an 80-item questionnaire that was…

Helping young executives develop oral communication skills is an important task of business schools. A course that requires informal, timed, extemporaneous talks as well as extended formal presentations allows students the opportunity to be evaluated by their peers and by faculty members as they grow in their ability to communicate. Formal…

Criterion-referenced tests developed for four programs in the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL) Kindergarten Curriculum are presented. Tests were developed to meet the following criteria: (1) they must accurately and thoroughly reflect the objectives and learning activities of the program, (2) when appropriate, they must be designed to allow…

In order to test the internal evaluative processes and not merely the final reactions of an audience to a speaker, 97 Caucasian college students expressed their attitudes toward Malcolm X while listening to a 25-minute tape-recorded speech by him. Eight 30-second silent intervals at natural pauses in the speech gave the students time to respond…

This annotated bibliography lists and discusses 28 books on forensics, debate, argumentation, discussion, and public speaking. The books cover various topics in oral communication for secondary and college level study. (CH)

Communication researchers would like to know if the quality of a speaker's voice is a reliable indicator of an effective communicator and if voice quality can reveal information about the speaker's intelligence, leadership ability, and personality type. Experimental studies involving over 400 undergraduates at the University of Nebraska sought to…

THE RELATIONSHIP OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' SPEECH FRIGHT TO THEIR SPEECH ABILITY, SPEECH ATTITUDES, AND SPEECH READINESS WAS STUDIED. SURVEYS WERE CONDUCTED AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA WERE COLLECTED ON SPEECH FRIGHT LEVELS AND SPEECH ABILITY OF 1,166 STUDENTS IN SELECTED ELEMENTARY GRADES. ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS TOWARD SPEECH FRIGHT WERE ALSO…

Textbooks designed to serve the needs of non-native speakers of English are needed in the field of English for science and technology public communication. Suitably modified language textbooks using the Aristotelian approach to oral presentations are readily available. However, for professional speaking practice, discipline-specific texts are…

Describes a Rationale-Emotive-Therapy (RET) approach as a classroom method for reducing students' communication apprehension. Compares RET with two other classroom methods (desensitization and communication skills training) and concludes that all three methods work equally well. (PD)