A. Criper and D. Davies (1986) have suggested that English for Academic Purposes (EAP) tests for prospective higher education students should include a component designed to measure the ability to manipulate reader-writer relations in academic texts. This paper examines the nature and scope of such manipulation and draws some preliminary…

This report discusses the growth of videocassette recorder (VCR) technology and its use by Turkish audiences, and attempts to analyze both the socioeconomic background and video viewing habits of a target population. The first of two sections provides information on video technology and its use through a review of relevant literature, including a…

A study investigated whether political interest was a factor in differences in political knowledge between television and newspaper reliant individuals. Data were collected through 353 hour-long interviews with adults in a midwestern city. Subjects supplied information about their media use and preferences, political preferences, education level,…

A study examined the assumption that writing is a way to learn by examining the relative effects of writing and studying as learning aids. The study also explored the role of individual differences in an effort to identify features of the writing process that may influence what students learn through writing. The experiment used think-aloud…

While the use of informational graphics in newspapers is increasing, little is known regarding how well readers can understand them and how readers use them. A study investigated whether readers of newspapers read graphics before or after they read the headline/text, and whether people decide to read a graphic device for appearance-related or…

Part of a larger project to design a production curriculum and measure the impact of this production activity on children's writing, visual thinking, and problem solving skills, a project developed an effective but inexpensive video for use in teaching animation processes to students at the elementary school level. The project used "cutout" or…

General interest, scientific, and religious periodicals responded to the theory of evolution in 1925 with the same opinions but slanted their coverage to appeal to different readerships. "Scientific American" and "Current History" differed only stylistically in their coverage of the "Australopithecus africanus"…

Some preliminary ideas on narrative inquiry in educational studies and educational reform are presented. Illustrations from Bay Street School (drawn from a 9-year research project on personal knowledge and narrative) are included. Since whatever may be said about narrative as method follows from its character as phenomenon, the aspects of…

Intended for those interested in scientific research in journalism, the papers in this volume focus on conditions of journalism, journalism and reality, and methodology. The papers discuss the following topics: (1) research on the contents of newspapers and the working conditions for editorial staff; (2) the meanings and functions of audience in…

Most performer-writers accept the writing process simply as a means to an end: the shared performance event with a live audience. While writer-performers regard a script as more important than the performance, a solo performance is, however, a showcase of the artist's talent, and creating one's own text offers the performer artistic control. Some…

Prewriting, critical probe questions, and post-writing-recasting for plural audiences-(audience-relating) are three tactics that can be used in research paper instruction to help college students gain skill in "real world" writing and in critical assessment of issues and evidence. The prewriting tactics of freewriting, listing specifics,…

Prompted by the dichotomy in mass communication research between active audience and passive audience, this paper (1) establishes and analyzes the theoretical components of the concepts of "activity" and "active audience," (2) traces the intellectual origins of the concepts and their implicit ideological agenda, and (3)…

Through the employment of a uses and gratifications approach, a study examined the heterogeneity within a sample of black television viewers as revealed in their needs structures and their demographic characteristics. The purpose was to determine if differences in black audience needs could be associated with differences in television program…

One of the most memorable eulogies delivered in the United States Senate is the one by Senator Michael Mansfield for President John F. Kennedy. An analysis of his word choice reveals that he (1) forced the audience to participate in the creation of the message; (2) employed active, forceful descriptions; (3) focused on praiseworthy qualities of…

To improve techniques for measuring concepts related to audience perceptions of the reality of television programing, a study established three goals: (1) to reduce the number of items currently used to measure perceived superficiality, perceived plausibility, and the degree of personal utility; (2) to determine whether a single item measure of…