This volume of an annual collection of essays presents seven essays relating to instruction in the basic communication course. The essays are: "Gerald M. Phillips' Devotion to Basic Communication Skills" (Julia T. Wood); "The Basic Course in Organizational Communication: A National Survey" (Donald Treadwell and Ronald L. Applbaum); "Improving Oral…

This volume of an annual collection presents nine essays relating to instruction in the basic communication course. The essays are: "Three Metaphors for the Competencies Acquired in the Public Speaking Class" (Michael Osborn); "Perceptions of Basic Communication Texts: Factors in Student Learning and Textbook Adoption…

Formal and informal assessment of interdisciplinary courses in learning communities indicate that communicating across disciplines is a problem that can diminish the effectiveness of these courses. A new discipline called the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI) has been used for 27 years at Maharishi University of Management (Iowa) to…

Found that increases in cognitive complexity and construct system abstractness significantly related to the use of (1) a greater number of persuasive strategies; (2) more listener-adaptive persuasive strategies; and (3) formation of more complex and abstract impressions of interaction partners. (PD)

Results of this hypothetical courtroom investigation revealed that the sex of the witness was related to evaluations of his/her credibility and attractiveness when using hedges and intensifiers. Emphasizes importance of language style in forming impressions of witnesses and defendants; discusses results in terms of their implications for sex…

Suggests that the verbal score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test is not an adequate criterion for assigning students to remedial communication instruction. Concludes that the communication skills deficit model demonstrates the capacity for consistent measurement of communication skills if evaluators are trained to use the same decision-making…

Describes the Electronic Networks for Interaction (ENFI) Project undertaken at Gallaudet University, a university for the deaf. Explains that the project sought to give students an opportunity to use written English in ways that hearing people routinely used spoken English. Identifies both writing successes and instructor objections to the…

Analyzes a collaborative activity, both as a traditional classroom event and as a collaborative event. Finds that, even when the activity is explicitly collaborative and students are experienced collaborators, patterns of traditional classroom discourse dominate their communicative choices. (MG)

Compares volunteers' and paid employees' attitudes toward their jobs and supervisors. Finds that volunteers are higher in intrinsic motivation and are more satisfied with their supervisors' decision-making. Suggests that supervisors of volunteers should use participative decision-making tactics and employ compliance-gaining behavior strategies…

Tests the effects (in a large field study) of family communication environment and parental mediation of television content on third, sixth, and ninth graders' (1) perceptions of the realism of television content and its similarity to real life; and (2) their identification with television characters. Finds that the parent directly mediates…

Examines rhetorical processes which convert experience into social forms of community. Compares Robert Scott's notion of rhetoric as dynamic with the rhetorical concept of "spectacle." Explores "the dynamic spectacle" as a rhetorical document of community building. Examines Black America's reaction to the spectacle of Liberty…

Examines combinations of the following variables and their influence on student attitudes and intentions toward affective and behavioral learning: (1) teacher sex; (2) teacher sex-role orientation; and (3) teacher use of power strategies. (SR)

Maintains that social and political values embedded within health care delivery systems influence what is studied in health communication, and how results are used. Examines political and social functions of communication in health care delivery systems. Describes the consequences of those functions on a six-year investigation of epilepsy in the…

Studied the effect of content knowledge on learners' participation in interactions between nonnative speakers. Measures of participation included amount of talk, conversational fillers, back channels, topic moves, clarification questions, and confirmation and comprehension checks. Findings support the relationship between knowledge and…

Examined discourse of bereaved individuals using computer-based text analyses. Compared discourse structure of low-distress bereaved individuals, high-distress bereaved subjects, and a single bereaved individual. Meaningful differences between the distress groups and the single individual indicate possible quantitative and qualitative means for…