Describes a course called "Varieties of Speaking and Writing" at Anglia Polytechnic University; the course teaches language skills through study of extracts from literary and non-literary writing. Addresses fundamental pedagogical issues: how to improve undergraduate writing skills, how to train and assess speaking skills, and how to…

In order to study the relationship between self-esteem and communication anxiety, 1202 college students in a basic communication course completed scales developed to measure the two variables. To make sure that the variables were independent and that one was not a subset of the other, a factor analysis of all the items in each scale was performed.…

In 1922, Otto Jespersen hypothesized that women were more fluent (exhibited less hesitation in oral expression) than men because they had smaller and more central vocabularies, consisting of common words and combinations. Men's vocabularies were considered more extensive due to the inclusion of numerous novel, technical, and infrequently used…

Sixty college students were simultaneously audio- and video-taped to test the hypotheses that (1) the student who uses video tape for self-analysis in a basic speech skills course will show greater improvement in performing basic skills than will the student who uses audio tape for self-analysis; and (2) there will be a correlation among…

Students enrolled in a university educational psychology course were subjects in this study to determine the effects of preparation on the level of vagueness in lecturing. Subjects were provided either five or eleven minutes to prepare lecture notes on a given topic. Results showed preparation time, number of note words, and a test of topic…

Entering an "English Impromptu Speech Contest" intimidates many students who do not have a good command of the English language. Some choose to give up before the contest date while others stand speechless on the stage. This paper identifies a range of problems confronted by contestants from my college, the Yuanpei Institute of Science…

A study investigated whether there was a relationship between contestants' speaking position and their ranking and quality ratings by judges in forensics competitions. In addition, the study examined whether these relationships varied by type of event. Subjects were contestants from two- and four-year colleges in two tournaments held in…

The pamphlet focused first on questions concerned with the relative ability of deaf and hearing students to visually process words when presented letter by letter, and with relationships existing among deaf students between the ability to process words presented tachistoscopically, letter by letter, and the ability of the same student to process…

Tested the writing and speaking performance of students before and after the completion of one semester of rhetoric instruction. Confirmed that changes in students' writing and speaking skills can be reliably measured using the American College Testing Program's College Outcome Measures Project (COMP) Speaking and Writing Assessments. (PD)

Describes an algorithm that can be used for the construction of an oral presentation. The article suggests how nonnative English-speaking students can be taught to make their presentations more cohesive and to evaluate their cohesiveness with the help of video recordings. (21 references) (Author/CK)

Divided into two sections, this report describes research on the range and degree of assessment of students' communication skills in colleges and universities and includes the following findings: (1) of the 384 respondents from college speech communication departments, 45 reported using large-scale, uniform testing of students; (2) these…

Reports on two do-it-yourself treatment programs for dealing with stage fright. One program followed a systematic desensitization paradigm; the other was a handout listing 16 strategies for understanding stage fright. Higher ratings were given to the handout strategy. A list of the 16 strategies is included. (Author/RC)

Volunteers (n=55) who produce narrated tape recordings of textbooks for use by visually handicapped students were surveyed to determine their recording experience, equipment, guidance, and feedback. Eighty visually handicapped students who used the recordings in higher education were also surveyed concerning waiting time for books, listening…

A study of silent and filled pauses in second language speech analyzes (1) which types of pause are produced, (2) which are the functions of non-juncture pauses, (3) whether pauses co-occur with other hesitation phenomena, and (4) whether the occurrence of pauses is associated with second language proficiency. Subjects were 15 intermediate and…