A pilot study analyzed oral interpretation ballots collected at two college forensics tournaments to determine the average number and classifications of comments on the ballots. A total of 1,737 comments from 304 ballots of oral interpretation events (prose, poetry, program, duo, and dramatic) were analyzed. Results indicated a mean of 5.71…

A rules-based approach to the problems of debate (such as that proposed by the American Debate Association) will fail to provide a solution to debate's ills and may only increase the problems. Debate's current problems have to do with debate performance, e.g., speaking rate, poor quality evidence, and irrational arguments. A solution to these…

The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) strives to eliminate the perceived abuses of intercollegiate debate: machine gun delivery, the overemphasis of evidence cards, and the use of "squirrel cases" (cases so narrow that they ignore most of the resolution or are actually off the topic). CEDA philosophically and, at least to some…

Discusses the trend in academic debate on policy questions toward a wide acceptance of counterplans, encouraging combinations of proposals which appear at face value able to coexist but upon deeper analysis are incompatible. Argues in opposition to this trend by applying concepts from general systems theory to competition. (KEH)

Finds that students with participation experience in competitive debate differ from those prior to such experience in the level of argumentativeness (ARG) and verbal aggression (VA). Reveals that policy and nonpolicy formats of debate, and male and female participants, differ significantly in levels of ARG and VA. (SR)

Analyzes the actual substance and procedure of legal jurisdiction to argue that (1) the theory of subject matter jurisdiction is inappropriately applied to debate, and (2) the theory of personal jurisdiction implies recognition in debate practice of important procedural characteristics of the jurisdictional challenge. (SR)

Provides a three-part overview of Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA): a brief history of the origins and growth of CEDA, an introduction to current practices, and a summary of the strengths of CEDA debate theory and practice. Suggests that CEDA's strengths include student participation patterns, sensitivity to argumentative complexity,…

The rhetorical abuse of language by creationists is discussed. Suggestions for how to expose such abuses in a discussion or debate format are provided. (CW)

Presents 4 personal essays about the National Debate Tournament (NDT), written by individuals who have been connected with it over the years: "The NDT and Me" (Frank Cross); "Reflections on the NDT at 50" (David Zarefsky); "The NDT and Intercollegiate Debate" (Bill Balthrop); and "Fifty Years of the National…

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for using public speaking tasks in English language teaching (ELT) and to highlight some of their many advantages. For the purpose of this article, the author will focus on two types of these tasks: student presentations and debates. Student presentations may consist of either individual or…

The compatibility between the Humboldtian principles and the Bologna reform programme is essentially contested. The article traces debates on the Humboldtian university and the Bologna process and explores theoretical, methodological and normative aspects of these debates and the relations between the Bologna process and the Humboldtian ideals.…

Policy burdens of HEIs (higher education institutions) lead to the soft budget constraint (SBC) and the excessive loans of HEIs. Since information asymmetry and incentive are incompatible, policy burdens will result in the adverse selection of the president, and the excessive loans and low efficiency of HEIs. When HEIs are with policy burdens, the…

Recent policy in England has created a new status of "Early Years Professional", thus imposing professionalisation of the early years workforce. There has been an increase in policy focus on those working with young children, and such a focus raises questions about practitioners' own responses to the debate about their training,…

The question of whether or not truth exists is at the center of the rationalism versus postmodern debate. Noting the difficulty of defining truth, the author uses the principles of linguistics to show that semantic skewing has resulted in the concept of truth being encoded as a noun, while it is really an attribute (true). The introduction of a…

A speech instructor at Owensboro Community College (Kentucky) found that his switch from the CEDA (Cross Examination Debate Association) speech tournament to the NEDA (National Education Debate Association) speech tournament was beneficial for his students. After the Highland Community College (Kentucky) tournament in January of 1994, the…