Grading style refers to the regularities and variations in the judging habits of instructors. To test the contention that grading is a communication act and ought to be related to other communication variables like instructor responsiveness, a study examined data collected from 15 teaching assistants and 2 faculty members. In addition, it reviewed…

Since very little investigation has been made of stories told in organizations, a pilot study was designed to examine story types, values, and recurring themes in stories of a regional planning agency employing 21 staff members. In order to collect stories, tape recorded interviews were conducted with each staff member. Open-ended questions…

This paper outlines trends in organizational communication studies and proposes that organizational communication be studied through the interaction effects of the medium used in the communication (telephone, television, facsimile, or other media), the type of communication (persuasion, information flow, or negotiation), and the structure of the…

In order to assess the nature of conversations that students in an introductory film-appreciation class had after the showing of various films, this study used questionnaires to determine with whom students talked, the number of the conversations, their duration and subjects. It was found that both the content and the duration of discussions…

A study was conducted to see if there was a developmental progression in the type of persuasive appeals selected by children; that is, whether the appeals could be ordered in terms of the degree to which the children accommodated the views of others. The subjects, 211 kindergarten through twelfth grade students, selected one of four messages they…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 11 titles deal with the following topics: (1) transnational communication knowledge transfer and utilization, especially between the United States and Asian countries; (2) police personnel evaluation procedures as an aspect of…

Listening is a crucial element in the communication process. To date, however, research efforts have been unsuccessful in identifying the proper role that listening should play in the building of communication theory. To be a legitimate part of the communication process, listening must be placed in a conceptual framework similar to those found in…

A study explored similarities and differences among communication apprehensive (CA) and underprepared college students enrolled in speech classes in order to determine whether the two groups required different instructional activities. Subjects were freshmen through senior students enrolled in basic speech courses. Academic achievement was…

Modification of mother-child instructional interaction was examined in relation to specific tasks and the age of the child. Thirty-two mothers taught their 6- or 8-year-old children one of two laboratory classification tasks resembling a home or a school activity. The home task involved putting grocery items on shelves in a mock kitchen, and the…

In recognition of the importance of communication skills to all students, a communication skills program is being developed and implemented in the Lincoln, Nebraska, public school system. Since teaching itself is communication, an important goal of the program is to improve and enhance the communication effectiveness of teachers as well as…

A study analyzed the verbal interactions of married couples in high, moderate, and low marital satisfaction groups to determine whether (1) the interaction processes within the three satisfaction groups differed and (2) there were different communication patterns that characterized the interaction processes of the groups. Subjects were 34 young…

A study investigated the relationship between communication apprehension and two nonverbal variables--proxemic establishment and kinesic behavior--in an intercultural setting. Subjects were 30 high and 30 low apprehensive adults (15 white and 15 black in each category). The subjects were paired to create three groups: the first containing 10 dyads…

The two essays in this monograph are intended to clarify the main problems of research in graphic communication. The first essay summarizes research concerning the effective use of graphic devices in texts and other instructional materials. Following a brief discussion of the technical terminology of graphic communication, the essay reviews…

Two hundred forty-eight male and female subjects from United States, Mediterranean, Near East, and Far East cultures completed a touch avoidance measure in a study examining cultural differences in touching behavior. Factor analysis of the instrument yielded four factors: opposite sex, other-directed same sex, kissing, and self-directed same sex.…

To identify the communication activities and problems found in the world of work, the Communication Activity Questionnaire (CAQ) was developed and mailed to 500 recent graduates from professional and preprofessional colleges and departments of a midwestern university. The questionnaire requested the subjects to rate 17 communication activities in…