Highlights twelve common mistakes made in college and university publications and information dissemination, with examples, and offers specific techniques for creating more interesting and persuasive communications. Discussion refers to fund-raising letters, publication headlines and headings, photo captions, use of attributions, use of jargon,…

Focuses on differences in back channelling, repair, repetition, pausing, and private speech among Japanese and American study participants, based on sales negotiations. Findings indicate that differences in the deployment of such features as back channelling and pausing can result in pragma-linguistic breakdown, which is linked to culturally…

Briefly discusses some of the recent developments in the on-going controversy concerning pornography and the arts. Argues that much of the mainstream press coverage merely sensationalizes incidents (e.g., "Time" magazine's cover story on cyberporn and the furor over Calvin Klein advertisements) and encourages polarized opinions. (MJP)

Argues that "information structure management" is an important and problematic part of the competence sought by nonnative speakers, particularly for goal-related discourse types where clarity and argumentative power play a role. Simulated negotiation material is used to demonstrate how certain nonnative structures hamper the…

Contends second language literature yields little empirical evidence of a relationship between the features associated with first language voice and quality of academic writing. Writing samples requiring learners to argue in favor of or against an aspect of Canada's immigration policy were elicited from 63 students in a writing-intensive…

Describes the 12-week long collaborative learning project used in a persuasion and propaganda course. Explains that the students worked in groups on a persuasive campaign to change a target population. States that the student projects were persuasive. (CMK)

Presents the pro and con viewpoints about the school voucher system in: "A Case for Including Religiously Affiliated Schools in Publicly Funded Voucher Systems" (Teresa Stanton Collett) and "The Inclusion of Religious Schools in Public Voucher Systems is Unconstitutional" (Caren Dubnoff). (CMK)

Makes suggestions for persuading publicity-shy faculty that talking to reporters can be useful to their research and the institution. Arguments include that their participation may result in increased funding, new constituents, productive collaboration, impact on public policy/public opinion, benefit to the profession, and more control by the…

Discusses how students of both sexes in a third-grade class used popular culture to scaffold their stories--they (1) aimed at audience reaction, often using argument and shock; (2) incorporated their favorite writers and curricular topics into their pieces; and (3) by year's end, merged the talents of both genders into a higher form of literacy.…

Describes how improving mathematical arguments improves classroom discourse through a classroom activity. (YDS)

Asserts that new technologies have advantages and drawbacks for society. Believes that the way to improve education is not through the use of technology, but to adopt an inspiring narrative as a goal of education. (CMK)

In a management class role-playing activity, students adopt the roles of parents, government representatives, and health providers in a scenario about child immunization. The objective is to develop critical understanding of the creation, management, and dissemination of information on decision making. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Criticizes methodological tendencies of economics and sociological researchers who do not ask "how large is large?" Reliance on statistical significance and existence theorems shows the limits of formalistic rather than humanistic research approaches. Argues that serious scholars develop whole arguments and understand the rhetoric of…

Describes a method for helping students evaluate ethical issues in a systematic way, based on Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Recommends the case-study approach for creating social constructs in which students face ethical dilemmas, and outlines a case-study ethics unit using Kohlberg's model. (MM)

Studies the development of a political ideology that draws on the resources of myth. Analyzes how Pat Robertson's concepts of apocalyptic fulfillment provided an ideological basis for his 1988 presidential campaign, but resulted in significant rhetorical problems. Finds that the transformation in Robertson's apocalyptic vision stemmed from his…