A study examined the beliefs and attitudes of students, coaches, and judges on the use of manuscripts at the college level in oral interpretation events (prose, drama, program oral interpretation, dramatic duo, and poetry). Survey data were collected from students, coach-judges, and hired judges participating in a Midwestern forensics tournament…

A metacritical judging model for contest oral interpretation that evaluates the performer's critical decisions is designed to meet three criteria: (1) it attempts to incorporate the advances of oral interpretation scholars outside the forensics community with the activity at forensics tournaments, (2) it recognizes that forensics competition is…

A study was conducted to elicit the responses of five college students to their involvement with a single poem over a period of three weeks to determine if such involvement led to a greater appreciation and understanding of the poem. Each student began with a silent reading of the poem, moved to a study of it based only on silent readings, then…

An artistic verbal performance is something more than words, yet most critical commentary on this genre focuses on the word, on the linguistic level. A methodology for making performance-centered texts is described based on the performance of "Stagolee," a story that originated from Julius Lester's book, "Black Folktales." A…

This survey of publications in speech and theatre interpretation briefly discusses current trends in the various publishing formats. An annotated bibliography is included, citing recent books, dissertations, and periodicals. Also included are tabulations of 1978 and 1979 speech and theatre publications interpretation activities offered at Speech…

This study concluded that judges' critical responses to interpretation performances reflect a view of interpretation as primarily a performing art rather than a communicative act or literature study. (PD)

Studies indicated that a single experience of retelling a story after listening produced a small improvement in kindergarten children's comprehension and that this effect could be increased by frequent practice and guidance in retelling. Appended are a story reading and retelling guidesheet for students and directions for guiding retellings for…

Attempts to show in detail how the human literary activity called literary interpretation consists of personal selection and use of communal tools. (CRH)

Results of this study suggest that regular oral interpretation course work had no effect on student's measured perspective-taking abilities, but an oral interpretation course specifically designed to increase these skills had the predicated effect. (PD)

Contends that inconsistent judging often leaves contestants more confused than educated. Analyzes the effects of training and experience on judges' agreement in oral interpretation contests. (PD)

Presents results of a survey of practices employed in critical judgments of performed texts in oral interpretation. Outlines preferred types of evaluation forms, criteria for evaluation, and what students find most helpful in the evaluation of performance. (JMF)

A study investigated the national status of graduate degree programs in Performance Studies in 1990. Of the 37 institutions offering master's of doctoral degrees in oral interpretation who were sent surveys, 22 (59%) responded. Results indicated (1) the loss of graduate programs was problematic; (2) some scholars had difficulty with securing…

Describes an experiment confirming the prediction that readers exposed to an explanation of the dramatistic approach to oral interpretation form more detailed and complex initial impressions of the literature than do persons not exposed. Whether this exposure produces better oral performances, however, is a question that should be further…

Communication models suggest that oral interpretation is a communicative process, that this process may be represented by specification of implicit and explicit content and structure, and that the models themselves are useful. This paper examines these assumptions through a comparative analysis of communication models employed by oral…

A study was designed to see how judge experience and training sessions influenced interjudge agreement during high school speech contests. Three groups of six judges each viewed a videotape of five poetry readings, gave the performers ratings and rankings, engaged in 30-minute group training sessions, viewed a second videotape of five poetry…