This lesson plan contains poetry-related activities that aim to help students read and interpret English poetry, and write their own poems. The activities are introduced in each of the following parts: talking about poetry, understanding poetic devices, interpreting poems, using poetry for language acquisition, writing original poems, performing…

Noting that breaking off romantic relationships can be traumatic even when the end is welcome, this paper describes the strategies and stages of relationship termination and suggests ways for instructors of oral interpretation and/or interpersonal communication classes to illustrate such relational decay. The first section deals with relationship…

The novel "The Women's Room," by Marilyn French, deserves an audience both because of the timely feminist issues it addresses and because of its formal experimentation with points of view. An interpretive theatre version of the story was performed twice in 1982-83, using a script adapted from the novel, and a modified chamber theatre…

From the beginning, readers theatre performances generally have been held in academic or theatrical settings and have relied heavily on literary scripts. Now, readers theatre performers are finding a wider range of audiences and materials for their use. Among these special audiences are elementary and secondary schools, schools for the physically…

The four articles in this journal explore various aspects of empathy and its application to oral interpretation of literature. The first article examines the concept of empathy, discusses measures of it, and includes an "accurate empathy exercise" and an empathy scale. The second article discusses the way in which the writings of Dylan…

Describes a reading hour series that focused on Appalachian folk literature, American Indian literature, Oriental and Eskimo literature. The series was planned and executed by an interpretation group to enrich studies of intercultural communication. (MH)

The five papers that constitute this issue of the "Journal of the Arizona Communication and Theatre Association" represent interest in a direction for interpretation studies which has proved rewarding for traditional students as well as for people outside typical classroom settings. With literature firmly at the center, many teachers and scholars…

The teacher can stimulate an appreciation of poetry in his students by selecting, reading aloud, and discussing only those poems to which he himself responds strongly. He can also develop students' enjoyment of poetry by encouraging them to bring in their own poetic discoveries and by alerting them to the many possible interpretations of a poem.…

There is valid criticism that contest debate practices constitute both a reality gap between contest debate and actual public communication, and a closed feedback loop among coaches, judges, and debaters. However, remedial and preventive action is possible if forensics directors are highly motivated to work within a broad program of communication…

"The Hope Chest," a short story by Jean Stafford, offers a challenge to the oral interpreter of literature because it demands that the performer demonstrate its complex narrative levels. There are five distinct facets in the personality of the central character, Miss Bellamy: a lonely, fearful old lady; a shrewd, hospitable mistress of…

This volume of the Michigan Speech Association curriculum guide presents a seven-unit course in oral interpretation as the technique of communicating the contents of a printed page with such skill as to "create in the listeners the illusion that an experience is being enacted in their imaginations." Each unit is outlined in terms of…

Seven suggestions are made in response to the question, "What kind of speech communication research can one do in the area of First Amendment rights?": (1) that rhetoricians reexamine loyalty-oath cases and examine lines of argument, reasoning, and language of the attorneys and judges; (2) that experts in language and style lead research…

Discusses the advantages of teaching students the language of public performance, focusing on drama but providing implications for the reading of poetry as well as for public speaking. (RL)

Techniques for alleviating language students' fears of listening to themselves and making themselves heard and understood, using reading aloud, are presented and illustrated. (MSE)