Explores effects of instructional practices on classroom communication apprehension (CCA) in Nigerian classrooms. Finds similarities and marked differences between American and Nigerian students' preferences for instructional practices as intervention strategies for CCA, specifically significant differences between low and high CCAs in preferred…

Finds that the societal factor has the strongest impact on journalists' views about media roles, the organizational factor has a significant but weak impact, and individual factor has virtually no impact. Contrasts two competing models within the societal factor (political determinism vs. cultural determinism) and provides clear-cut evidence in…

Libraries are affected by discontinuous change caused by the type and rapidity of technological innovations. By examining the theories of structuration, diffusion of innovation, and contingency, change in libraries can be better understood, thus easing its adoption and assimilation. There is a need to reconceptualize libraries. (Author)

Calls for carefully executed research that explores the impact of instructional practices on learning outcomes. Discusses considerations relevant to selecting the outcome measures (including types of outcomes, longitudinal effects, and "real world" impact). Urges caution in designing such research to ensure its internal validity and external…

Illustrates how law functions to affect social policy by examining legal efforts to define issue of admission to school or exclusion from school of children infected with AIDS virus. Examines definitions of the problem and potential solutions presented in legal media. Describes role of legal media for legal community, which has ability to effect…

Examines the feasibility of measuring self-perceived, communication-related characteristics of college teachers. Finds that four factors appear to compose this construct: extroversion, character, competence, and composure. (MG)

Outlines a theoretical framework of ethics, power, and communication in the workplace, which provides a backdrop for viewing ethical decisions. Explains that business managers are often caught in a dilemma between job pressures and personal ethical codes. Proposes communication as a means of fostering more ethical organizational behavior. (SG)

Examines the persuasive message behaviors of truthful and deceptive communicators. Finds significant differences in the types of persuasive messages generated: truthful persuaders compose messages involving positive and negative sanctions; deceptive persuaders compose messages based on rationale or explanation. (KEH)

Investigates the diffusion of information about the space shuttle Challenger explosion by comparing loglinear models of the diffusion process. Finds that the most parsimonious model with adequate goodness of fit was a linear one in which a person's location affected how the information was heard, which in turn affected when the information was…

Assesses the need for good writing skills in large accounting firms that operate in an increasingly competitive environment with new imperatives of client service and business development. Analyzes specific kinds of writing by professional accountants, and examines how firms encourage good writing through training, hiring, and evaluation…

Examines the rhetorical function of the modern American jeremiad as a means to restore social harmony in a time of crisis. Analyzes Robert F. Kennedy's response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Reveals the strengths and limitations of the jeremiad as a response to social crisis. (SR)

Examines the qualities and frequency of episodes of concurrent metalinguistic and ideational thinking reported verbally by second-language learners while they composed. Finds frequencies of thinking episodes is significantly related to learners' writing expertise in their mother tongue. Argues for integrating the notion of comprehensible output…

Argues that an understanding of professional and popular science writers' goals provides a basis for both explaining and evaluating their language use. Suggests that charges normally made against both types of writing deflect attention from the obstacles writers face and the ways in which they use language to overcome these obstacles. (KEH)

Assesses the level of job satisfaction among public relations practitioners. Finds that autonomy, variety of tasks, and upward mobility results in satisfaction. Identifies as causes of dissatisfaction small budgets, dead-end jobs, dull work, low prestige, unsupportive bosses, low pay, lack of input into the decision process, and sexism. (KEH)

Examines the managerial perspectives and skills that public relations practitioners identified as essential to the managerial role, the extent to which those perspectives and skills are present or lacking in practitioners who make the shift from technician to manager, and which areas deserve special attention in the public relations classroom. (MS)