Considered in this report are some of the problems experienced by secondary teachers of communication as they seek to be responsive to new challenges in teaching. Following an introduction on the relationship between the speech curricula of high schools and colleges, the report includes essays on "Determining Secondary Education Communication…

Describes Purdue University's two oral proficiency interviews that are a prerequisite to student teaching in a foreign language. Focuses on the procedures and content of the interviews for students of German. A three-member committee has the student read one page of materials and then asks the student questions. (SED)

Empathic listening is central to almost all human communication processes. "Feeling with" another is the heart of empathic listening: it includes a cognitive understanding of what the other is communicating plus a sensitivity to their state of emotion. One possible approach to utilize in the teaching of empathic listening is to begin a…

A review of literature in the speech communication field from 1978 to 1983 reveals developments emerging in the area of forensics, while a review of the contributions to theories of debate analysis reveals advances in both policy systems theory and in hypothesis testing. Although much of the research is directed toward forensics educators, it is…

Issues regarding the development of student's speaking skills and English as a second language (ESL) techniques designed to improve the teaching of conversation are described. Ten true and false assumptions about the teaching of conversation are considered: (1) everyone enjoys talking and participating in class discussion; (2) discussion topics in…

The longitudinal study compared the speech of two children (beginning at age 3) with cleft palate and inadequate velopharyngeal closure in an attempt to identify the patterns of production observed prior to surgery and the course and rate of change in production following surgery. Subjects' speech samples were evaluated prior to pharyngeal flap…

This study evaluated whether slight decrements in hearing sensitivity are associated with other communicative deficits. Data from the 38,497 students included in the National Speech and Hearing Survey (NSHS) were used to partition students into three categories of hearing sensitivity, and the prevalence of other communicative problems was computed…

In 1984 the Human Biology program at Stanford University launched a writing across-the-curriculum project with a year-long writing-intensive introductory class. The immediate objectives were to (1) develop students' writing fluency by demanding more writing, (2) improve the quality of all student writing by increasing attention to the writing…

Research has shown that communication apprehension (CA) has an impact on academic achievement over and beyond intelligence, type of performance-oriented class, language proficiency, and amount of verbal activity. A study explored the idea that this relationship is context-based by examining the impact of CA in the generalized contexts of small…

Different conceptions of literacy and its relationship with oral communication are examined, and a new approach that separates literacy and orality rather than representing them on a continuum is criticized. The methodological and theoretical assumptions underlying the work of proponents of the new approach are questioned, including: (1) a narrow…

Aware of the societal problems stemming from a lack of communication skills, the American public is pressing for instruction in speaking and listening in the schools. This response is reflected in the speaking and listening competency recommendations in many national reform reports. Such reports include "A Nation at Risk" by the National…

Successful speech should rest not on prepared notes and outlines but on genuine oral discourse based on "data" fed into the "software" in the computer which already exists within each person. Writing cannot speak for itself, nor can it continually adjust itself to accommodate diverse response. Moreover, no matter how skillfully…

A study compared the results of administration of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) oral proficiency interview and those of two laboratory-administered Modern Language Association tests, one in the listening mode and one in the speaking mode. The comparative study was undertaken to…

Five children, aged 7-10 years, exhibiting Developmental Verbal Apraxia (DVA) were evaluated to determine the presence of word-retrieval problems. DVA is a symptom cluster including at least some of 21 potential symptoms, such as delayed speech development and severe articulation disorder. The Boston Naming Test (a picture confrontation naming…

Student congress is a speech activity in which students act as a legislative assembly, write and debate bills, and learn parliamentary procedure. It allows the teacher to make points about advocacy, ethics in persuasion, contemporary issues, and the workings of a democracy at the same time that students develop a feeling of control and mastery,…