Noting that introductory public speaking and performance studies classes are often met with great anxiety and trepidation, this paper describes and categorizes the necessary student and audience behaviors at three levels of involvement: 1) pre-performance, 2) post-performance, and 3) audience participation. Teachers can show students how to apply…

The poet is a person who wishes to communicate and his audience is people willing to respond to someone else's experiences. The classroom should provide the setting for such interaction. (Author)

Examines the phenomenon of the cult film and the characteristics of the audiences of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Suggests that the preparation, waiting, and finally the active participation in the viewing of the film itself appear to be part of a group ritual which characterizes the cult film as an event. (JMF)

Examines differences among groups of listeners to political talk radio using data from a survey of adults in San Diego, California, from the perspective of Grunig's situational involvement model. Among more active audience members, limited motivational data suggest that political talk radio served a mix of needs, including seeking political…

Compares two advertising assignments to demonstrate how different approaches to audience radically affect students' critical understanding of popular media texts. Argues that "audience" needs to be present in writing assignments as a cultural experience rather than a merely static rhetorical category. (TB)

Explores audience awareness of writing instructors as they compose for incoming freshmen and for a faculty committee. Finds that writers analyze the faculty audience less frequently than the freshmen audience, but they evaluate their text and writing goals more frequently when addressing the faculty. (MG)

Presents results of a six-week research project in a creative writing class that focused on developing audience sensitivity among students. Describes three units combining social, rhetorical, and informational perspectives. Concludes that a sequential approach seems to increase audience sensitivity among students. (KEH)

Suggests that few references to the important issues of audience awareness exist in news writing textbooks and that technical writing literature can fill this gap. Identifies two main aspects of audience awareness, three key reasons why it should be taught to journalists, and gives audience types. Provides classroom exercises. (MS)

Observes that research has shown a curvilinear relationship between education and media effects, with media having the greatest effect on people with moderate levels of education. Examines the effects of public service messages about recycling, and finds that the messages actually have greater impact on people with higher levels of education. (DSK)

Considers what people like about college radio web sites and why people use them. Provides a starting point for examining the reasons people use college radio sites. Concludes that most audiences' uses of college radio sites are entertainment oriented, however, there is an indication that people use media-based Web sites for the social integration…

Report on the British organization, the Children's Film Foundation. (CH)

Violence at sporting events is a self-feeding stimulus, not a useful cathartic for natural aggression; in the final analysis, it should be realized that athletic contests are games, not struggles for survival. (MM)

By locating meaning exclusively in the reader in his theory of literary criticism, Stanley Fish denies the possibility of change. (DD)

Compares the views of Burke and Langer, emphasizing their agreement that the potential of dramatic works to elicit desired responses from audiences lies in the element of formal expressiveness, which in effect defines ideal audiences. (MS)

A critical analysis and rejection of Stanley Fish's reader-oriented theory of criticism. (DD)