This report provides suggestions on how a language arts mass media and visual 1iteracy skills assessment program might be structured to ensure that school districts meet the Common Curriculum Goals of the public elementary and secondary schools in Oregon. This report includes: (1) a list of Common Curriculum Goals that relate to mass media and…

To identify the descriptors most frequently associated with four popular television talk show hosts and to isolate the fundamental dimensions of the images of those talk show hosts, a study surveyed 209 students from Memphis State University and the University of Arkansas (Little Rock) about their impressions of Johnny Carson, David Letterman,…

Advancement of students' abilities to cope with the demands of exposition and argument is noted when they are encouraged to accept mixed diction within a framework of activities that interrelate thinking, speaking, reading, writing, and listening, in the context of the immediate audience of class and teacher. Research indicates that when a weak…

The two chief approaches to teaching argumentation and invention over the centuries have been first presenting a formal, abstract system, such as logic or topic, then emphasizing audience analysis. Sometimes these have been seen as alternatives, and sometimes as complements. Cursory attention is often paid to the ideal of investigating audience…

On July 8, 9 and 10, 1981 the National Institute of Education (NIE) sponsored a "hearing" on minimum competency testing (MCT). The hearing, which was to clarify issues related to MCT, was modeled after adversarial and judicial evaluation approaches. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory was responsible for the overall evaluation…

This study focused on specific needs and interests of three minority groups (Blacks, Hispanics, and the elderly) as television audiences. The study was based on a survey of American television audiences, conducted by Ronald Frank and Marshall Greenberg for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to determine directions for television program…

Although psychological studies of the mass media have been dominated by cognitivist and psychodynamic concepts, a study of the mass media using a behavior analysis method may be used to analyze the content of the mass media. By applying that analysis to fictional teacher-learner interactions an interpretation of those relationships can be made and…

The debate over the role of the press in the Third World has largely ignored questions of public perception of media roles and performance. To investigate whether an audience perceives the fundamental difference between development journalism (where the state has significant involvement in news decisions) and a free press, and whether that…

By using microcomputers, functional learning environments can be created in which reading and writing are arranged for communicative purposes and used as electronic workbooks for basic skills instruction. However, the "Computer Chronicles Newswire Network" goes a step further by giving students a goal for writing: to share their ideas…

This report summarizes information found in a survey of the literature on radio as an educational medium which covered the published literature from many areas of the world. Comments on the literature reviewed are provided throughout the text, which is organized under seven major headings: (1) Radio, Mass Medium; (2) Radio, the Medium (broadening…

A study examined attitude change for viewers of "Amerika," an ABC television miniseries about the takeover of the United States by Soviet forces. Subjects, 267 undergraduates in communication courses at Memphis State University, completed a pretest a week prior to the airing of "Amerika" and a posttest a week after. The…

Four television stations were studied and potential audiences surveyed in Los Angeles, California, to explore the extent of ethnic television, determine how its content reflects community influence, and examine viewers' attitudes toward ethnic television broadcasting. Fourteen ethnic oroups were represented in ethnic television during the…

Typically, research concerning media presentations of women has involved six types of analysis: (1) content analysis (what is said), (2) cultural and social analysis (why it is said), (3) control or gatekeeper analysis (by whom it is said), (4) audience analysis (to whom it is said), (5) media analysis (in which channel), and (6) effects analysis…

Mass communication researchers have largely ignored the role of audio media and popular music in the lives of children, yet the available evidence shows that children do listen. Extant studies yield a consistent developmental portrait of childrens' listening frequency, but there is a notable lack of programatic research over the past decade, one…

A random sample of 138 adults was assigned to view one version of a news program in their homes to compare recall of news given by a television newscaster with recall of that provided by a frequently used form of videotex. Both the standard newscast and the cable newspaper gave the viewer no opportunity to select information. News stories were…