Explores specification and design procedures, functions, and issues in the development of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs). Topics discussed include learning objectives; the target audience; types of training materials; format; software and hardware specifications; and individual ITS modules, including administrative, user profile, database,…

Examines the natural language descriptions employed by American high school adolescents in talking about the kinds of communication events they experience in everyday life. Finds that adolescents describe communication events through use of setting, participant, speech act, and purpose marker terms. Differentiates nine basic clusters of…

Describes the writing theories of Lev Vygotsky, and how they are borne out by modern research. Asserts the Vygotsky's ideas show why cooperative learning strategies such as peer response groups fit into the beginning stages of the composing process. Discusses Vygotsky's zone of proximal development. (PRA)

Explores video viewing and the emerging home entertainment culture, focusing on the attitudes of the audience toward the medium and how well the medium meets audience expectations. Finds these attitudes significant in predicting types of videocassette recording use. (SR)

Responds to an article in a prior issue of this journal. Argues that "South Park" is a deconstruction of the reality of American constructions of media, fame, and pop culture, and that more adolescents than adults understand that "South Park" is about the adult world of media. Includes a response by the author of the earlier article. (SR)

Defines historical research in music education by specifically evaluating the history and usage of each of the four words: (1) music; (2) historical; (3) education; and (4) research. Finds that the good of historical research in music education is both intrinsic and extrinsic because it benefits the researchers and their audiences. (CMK)

Uses a theoretic model of attention to messages to guide a series of laboratory/field experiments involving mass media, classroom instruction, and health interventions. Draws on individual differences in need for novelty as a basis for identifying target audiences likely to engage in health-risk behaviors and as a guide for designing messages…

Describes guidelines used in a unit devoted to legal issues in a business communication class. Teaches students how to avoid legal liability in their writing by choosing words carefully, avoiding words with negative connotations, preferring language with positive or neutral connotations, drawing conclusions carefully, writing with precision, and…

Presents of set of questions developed for use as heuristics when students decide whether and how to develop a Web page for a client. Notes that these questions help students design a communication strategy considering audience, purpose, and informational content before they design the Web site. (SR)

Describes a successful approach used by the author in "Composition and Literature" courses which teaches students to write in a relaxed manner about material unnatural to them (literary texts). Describes focusing on communicating to a generally ignorant reader who is knowledgeable about the work. Argues that papers became clearer as the semester…

Analyzes the ways three postcolonial feminists open up the workings of representation such that participants are no longer disposed in the classical tradition but are rather "beside themselves." Analyzes changes in concepts of ethos and audience under the historical conditions of postcoloniality. Attends to the ways teachers and students…

Discusses the 1996 edition of Montreal's Coups de Theatre. Questions whether festival productions should be juried, what criteria should be used, and how to compare new creations against established productions. Describes various festival productions, a total of 19 productions from 6 countries. Discusses what these plays say to young people. (CR)

States that a video introducing a company to various audiences is a common genre of promotional material in Finland. Applies theories of both advertising and semiotics to analyze the first minute of a video produced for a Finnish company that manufactures log buildings and wraps its image around a concept of leisure. (PA)

Examines audience-centered writing strategies in two early sewing machine manuals. Considers the difference between non-sexist and gender-neutral writing. Concludes that avoiding sexism in technical writing may sometimes be impossible. (PA)

Examines the process of review as a method of formative evaluation of texts. Bases the description on three empirical studies of professional writing practices including the goals of review, the actors involved in the process, the moments in the text production process that review is taking place, and the procedures followed. (SG)