Examines American public discourse about civil rights in national magazines from 1939-1959, indicating three stages in the controversy: (1) a positive recharacterization of blacks, (2) an inclusion of blacks under the nation's ideographs, and (3) a final contest between segregationist and integrationist rhetorics. Discusses the potential for…

First (L1) and second language (L2) composing studies have documented similarities between skilled and unskilled native L1 writers and L2 writers. To date, there have been very few investigations on how bilingual writers attend to audience when composing in two languages. This study reports how four bilingual writers attended to audience in…

Examines the efficacy of alcohol education programs. This study (N=83) found that recency of exposure to alcohol education classes and discussion of alcohol advertising in those classes predicts adolescent cognitive resistance (counterarguing) to persuasive alcohol advertising for months or even years. Suggests greater attention to critical…

Describes an undergraduate psychology class that required the students to either write an essay (counterattitudinal advocacy) or read an essay supporting a scientifically acceptable position contrary to one of their beliefs. Maintains that counterattitudinal advocacy is more effective for overcoming beginning students' erroneous beliefs about…

Nine campus public relations professionals offer solutions and strategies to address three campus communication dilemmas: (1) display of a controversial student photograph; (2) a state budget scare; and (3) a rape on campus. (MSE)

Discusses fu, a flowery form of rhetorical writing developed in China during the Han Dynasty. Provides historical background and criticisms of the genre. Emphasizes the feminine principle of fu rhetoric with its resort to pleasure, ornamentation, and flattery. Argues that what is considered love poetry was actually political allegory. (DK)

Experiments with active and cooperative learning techniques designed to develop critical thinking and writing skills in large introductory level sociology courses. Finds debate and essay writing effectively modify students' opinions on social issues and help students develop these skills. Notes ethical issues involved in teaching critical…

Written communication scholarship has shown that successful social change requires discursive stability. This study was designed to investigate how this stability is created. Critical discourse analysis of 30 corporate university articles investigated claims authors made about the expansion of market-based values into contexts of organizational…

Business and professional writing courses offer ideal contexts for incorporating service learning into the academic classroom. The focus of such courses on rhetorical analysis and language as social action provide a sound theoretical and practical ground for the application of writing and speaking skills to solve problems and effect change. In…

Educating students to understand overt, subtle, and erroneous claims made by partisan advertisers is no small feat. Often students are passive consumers who need to learn how to become critical listeners, viewers, readers, and producers of all types of media. Because of this, media literacy--the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce…

This study analyzed audio recordings of authentic business negotiations carried out by native speakers of English in British companies. Analysis focuses on the roles of buyer and seller, with special emphasis on the inherent power differential caused by the reality of the business transaction and the pragmatics of the business relationship. In…

This paper draws on recent research in English classrooms on media education, offers new evidence on the forms of media education currently taught by English teachers, and attempts to connect the current English-language curriculum debate with more general concerns about values and religion in the curriculum. The project involved 11 secondary…

Defining propaganda as "efforts by special interests to win over the public covertly by infiltrating messages into various channels of public expression ordinarily viewed as politically neutral," this book argues that propaganda has become pervasive in American life. Pointing out that the 1990s society is inundated with propaganda from…

This guide is intended for use in a course in on-the-job communication that was developed as a component of a workplace literacy program for persons employed in the manufacturing and service industries. The course is structured so that, upon its completion, students will be able to accomplish the following: identify different personality types and…

Effective leaders are decision makers, strategic planners, calculated risk-takers, and highly skilled negotiators. Interestingly, the critical skill of negotiating is not one that most women naturally demonstrate. Because the majority of women in the workplace do not negotiate, they often do not advance as quickly as they should, nor do their…