The author reports a study conducted to explore the role of mass media in creating source commitment, which he defines as a type of public commitment to content of a message produced under conditions in which a person encodes a message for others. The major hypothesis predicted that greater commitment would be produced within persons who encoded…

The essays collected here fall into five categories: responsibilities and ethics in speech communication, communication foundations and practice, creativity in speech communication, informative and persuasive speaking, and communication settings. These essays do not explain how to speak in public but rather deal with the purposes of speech, as…

This special issue opens with an article by Franklyn S. Haiman, "The Fighting Word Doctrine: From Chaplinsky to Brown," in which he reviews the problem of the use of "fighting words" in public situations. He discusses this type of communication as one that borders individual and collective rights, and provides background information on significant…

This book consists of the four papers presented at the July 1970 symposium, sponsored by the Department of Speech and Drama at the University of Kansas, which focused on the social and political influences of television. Titles and authors are: "The New Man-Made Environment," by Lee S. Dreyfus; "TV: The Medium Medium." by Cleveland Armory;…

The underlying premise in this collection of readings is that persuasion exists in all communications. When people interact, persuasion is one of the catalysts--the communicator seeks to alter the probabilities of the receiver's responses in ways the communicator can predict and in ways that permit the communicator to reap rewards from his…

A useful legal writing course can be offered by any English instructor who understands the elements of persuasive prose. (JH)

Writing parodies of advertising slogans can sensitize students to the emotional appeals of those slogans.

We should train our students to apply the tools of literary analysis to political language.

Some features of "persuasion dialogue" are examined, and suggestions are offered for ways in which persuasion might be used as a topic in the language class to stimulate the use of realistic language through appropriate role playing. Three dialogues are presented that illustrate different kinds of persuasion. (SW)

The author examines two myths that are popular in the United States: 1) public policy proposals of the last few decades have been attempts to make real the promises held out by the American Dream of equal opportunity for all citizens, and 2) that public policy is formulated for the happy child-centered, nuclear family. (Author/RK)

Focuses on the sources and character of West Indian public oratory, its style and efflorescence, giving special attention to the leading positions of Barbados and Jamaica. Despite the primary concern for public performance, much examination of more private traditions of discourse and the social realities that were their foundation, became the…

This report presents an experimental study in which changes in marijuana attitudes and smoking intentions were attempted using the formal communication approach. Several "currently useful generalizations" derived from past research and the present study are suggested. (Author)

This research examines the question of variability in scholastic achievement and focuses in particular on the language factors argument concerning the relationship between reading competency and the multiple subject-matter outcomes of schooling. (Author/RK)

This is the first of a two-part article on the controversy over hand-held calculators in the classroom. Considers the pros and cons of the issue, attempts to differentiate between the facts and assumptions about the problem, and identifies the important questions for research. (Editor)