Reports on a survey of mass communication department administrators (Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication members). Finds that journalism and mass communication faculty are under pressure to conduct and publish research and that traditional academic research and publication are preferred in evaluating faculty members for…

Investigates 14-year-old students' ability to recognize argumentation without having systematic instruction; and whether the identification of argumentation is an independent skill. Finds that after a 20-minute explanation, a large proportion of 14-year-olds could not identify simple argumentation. Concludes that identifying argumentation is a…

Supports the use of issue advertising. Argues that speech communication scholars can facilitate the responsible and effective use of issue ads. Reviews critics and proponents of issue advertising. Develops a rationale to guide the practice of issue advertising. Examines issue advertising in the current pro-nuclear campaign. (MS)

Investigates the relationships between the dimensions and components of intercultural communication competence. Finds significant and positive correlations between and among measures of personal attributes, communication skills, psychological adaptation, and cultural awareness. (MS)

Examines whether there is a positive relationship between public relations (PR) practitioners recommending socially responsible actions and PR practitioners participating in policy decisions. Finds a significantly positive relationship. Suggests that there is a link between public relations credibility and public relations responsibility. (MS)

Describes an experiment designed to determine the reaction of employment interviewers to local lexical and syntactic errors in business and technical writing of non-native speakers of English. Reports that these judges find local syntactic errors more serious than local lexical errors. (MM)

Investigates conversational characteristics (discourse features, illocutionary force and style parameters) of mothers of two-year-old twins and mothers of two-year-old singletons with older siblings. Finds significant differences in conversational characteristics, and between twins' and singletons' language scores on measures of language…

Compares three television networks' treatments of "A New Beginning" (a Reagan campaign film shown at the 1984 Republican National Convention) and examines the effects on viewers of one network's critical preview of the film. Assesses the uses and limitations of rhetorical criticism in television coverage of political campaigns. (SR)

Examines developing mentor relationships and the association between mentor relationships and individual-organizational relationships. Indicates that many turning points occur later than proposed in broad-phase models of mentor relationship development. Finds that mentor relationships should not be assumed to benefit organizations. (SR)

Analyzes the television advertising of the two female candidates for Nebraska governor in 1986 to examine identity-building strategies in the campaign. Finds that gender perceptions were a factor even in this "genderless" election, and each candidate's political identity was constructed through the interaction of gender characteristics…

Examines the effects of message and program sensation value, sensation seeking, and drug use on visual attention to televised antidrug public service announcements among 18- to 22-year-olds. Indicates that program sensation value and sensation seeking are important factors in televised drug abuse prevention messages. (HB)

Conveys the power of children's questions and highlights the process of questioning in a whole-language classroom. Suggests that the role of questions in the classroom talk demonstrated to the teacher the connections and relationships between discourse content and discourse structure. (RS)

Examined the possibility that auditory stimuli with properties of adult-to-infant speech are more detectable in a noisy ambient environment than ones that resemble adult-to-adult speech. Findings suggests that properties that characterize adult-to-infant speech may compensate for young infants' low-frequency deficits and therefore facilitate the…

Describes a procedure for evaluating public relations campaigns called the control construct evaluation procedure. Describes its use in measuring two countywide information campaigns in a large metropolitan area. Notes that it is easy to design, can be conducted inexpensively with few resources, and is understood and accepted by management. (SR)

Describes a major reorganization and revision of policies and procedures manuals for Federal Express ground operations employees, occurring as a result of a field study and subsequent usability testing. Finds that usability increased substantially, users were satisfied with the quality of the new manuals, and Federal Express experienced…