One hundred undergraduate students at a large southern university were the subjects of a study to determine whether the persuasion process encompasses two mutually exclusive strategies--systematic or heuristic processing of information--or whether the two processes are, in fact, independent. Subjects participated in groups of about l5 and were…

Pope John Paul's visit to the United States in 1987 provided many opportunities for the analysis of papal rhetoric. The Pope's address to black Catholics in America may be of particular interest to those focusing on the study of intercultural or interracial communication. This address did not garner as much media attention as did some of the…

A study of the discourse of Ga'dang, a Philippine language, focuses on normative discourse and persuasion, especially the ways in which the former is used to accomplish the latter. The first five chapters outline the theoretical framework of the study, placing normative and persuasive discourse in a philosophical context and relating them to the…

The educational benefits of debate suggest several reasons for funding debate programs on college campuses. First, debate training improves communication skills (analysis, delivery, and organization) and helps students in other communication situations. Second, debate promotes depth of educational experience by exposing students to important…

Research is in progress on oral interactive discourse, that is, discourse produced by several participants working in collaboration. The intent of the research is to investigate how the discourse is organized at several different levels of structure (acts, sequences of acts, interactive structure, propositional content, and formal realizations).…

Although for the 15 years preceding his election as President of the United States Ronald Reagan muted his anti-Soviet rhetoric in order to achieve political power, since his election he has returned to anti-Sovietism in an effort to redirect American foreign policy against the Soviets. At the same time, however, he employs a rhetorical strategy…

Current issues being addressed by argumentation theorists can be identified by examining their writings in The Journal of the American Forensic Association (JAFA). Traditionally, argument has been seen as an utterance or act, from a philosophy based logical "product" perspective. Many current theorists, however, see argument as a process…

At Ball State (Indiana) University, the moot court format's replication of real-world advocacy has been found far more conducive to teaching ethics and values than debate because it provides internal monitoring devices and instantaneous feedback. Of course, the main purpose of the moot court is to polish communication skills. Still, even with this…

The Committee on International Discussion and Debate (CIDD) and its contributions toward establishing a tradition of international team appearances in public debates are discussed in this paper. A brief history of the origin and development of the exchange debates is given. Highlights of Scott Noble's report to the Speech Communication Association…

A study was conducted to determine if the Japanese use logic and argument in different ways than do Westerners. The study analyzed sample rebuttal speeches (in English) of 14 Japanese debaters using the Toulmin model of argument. In addition, it made comparisons with a sample of speeches made by 5 American high school debaters. Audiotapes of the…

Only about 9% of the eligible American population actually donates blood, and the rate of donors who fail to give a second time is very high. Since many people who view blood-giving as a humanitarian act also see it as an unpleasant experience, persuasive appeals that promote a sense of moral obligation may be ineffectual in prompting donations. A…

A quick reading of Franklyn Haiman's writings on ethics and free speech would suggest many disparities in his early conception of the ethical communicator and in his conception of free speech and the activity it allows in a democracy. In the material on ethics, Haiman addresses the ideal of how people ought to communicate with others in an ethical…

A number of college students in forensic debate may be deterred from debating broad topics due to a lack of appropriate cognitive development and a perception of unacceptable certainty. These students have failed to develop formal thinking patterns because they lack reinforcing experiences in reasoning at that level. A sequenced pattern of…

The functional writing model is a method by which students learn to devise and organize a written argument. Salient features of functional writing include the organizing idea (a component that logically unifies a paragraph or sequence of paragraphs), the reader's frame of reference, forecasting (prediction of the sequence by which the organizing…

"Freedom's Journal," the first newspaper published by blacks in the United States, originated in 1827 and lasted for two years. This article examines the form and content of the journal and considers some of the previous research on it. The article states that the journal contained the first report of a lynching that was published in the United…