This research project explores the communication opportunities for individuals in a community-based transition program in the Bay Area. The study focuses on the opportunities that are made available by a program that is founded on neurodiversity and trauma-informed principles. The research questions examined how a neurodiverse framework allows for…

To examine why public relations agency-client relationships frequently break down, a study investigated the sources of conflict between 25 southern California public relations agencies and their clients by having 30 agent/client pairs complete questionnaires. Of the 25 agencies, 12 agreed to participate; the 30 pairs were obtained because some…

Interviewed managers of companies communicating between Hong Kong and California and found they employed seven basic methods: telex, letter, telephone, visit, courier, computer, and telegram. Revealed advantages and disadvantages of each method and recommended a number of safeguards against their misuse. (PD)

Noting that children of alcoholic parents come from home settings similar to those identified as potential sources of communication apprehension, a study compared communication apprehension scores of adult children of alcoholics (ACoA) with those of non-ACoAs. Subjects, 85 men and 109 women, were drawn from a local church, undergraduate and…

A study explored the impact on junior high school females of "don't smoke" public service announcements (PSAs) created by two groups of high school females. The study extended the research on relevance and persuasion by utilizing intimate issues, and by exploring the potential for increasing message relevance by using persuasive messages…

A study of 178 secondary school teachers in the California was motivated by the passage of the Ryan Act of 1970, which eliminated the high school speech credential and subsumed it under the English umbrella. The result has been that the speech communication subject matter is expected to be integrated into the English courses in the state. The 1987…

Grounded in a communication theory that assumes that the form of communication affects the content of the knowledge that a teacher conveys to his or her students, a study attempted to determine how violence is treated in the classroom. The site for the study was Darbin Elementary School, in a suburb of San Francisco. The method was observation,…

This paper suggests that language training should be founded on an initial student familiarization with the dimensions of intercultural communication. Using as exemplars problems encountered by Japanese familiar with English but unfamiliar with communication theory, the paper argues that while limited linguistic competency may make it difficult…

A study of investigated perceptions of gay/lesbian undergraduates regarding their sense of marginalization or alienation in the college classroom. Two research questions were posed: (1) What, according to gay/lesbian students, are the characteristics of classroom environments that create feelings of marginalization? and (2) What, according to…

A study was conducted to investigate ministers' interpersonal communicative skills from the viewpoint of their parishioners and to compare the perceptions of restoration tradition ministers (Churches of Christ) with those of other denominations. A 28-item survey investigating a variety of interpersonal communicative skills unique to ministers…

A study analyzed the extent to which writing teachers in conferencing situations employ the communication techniques used by professional helping agents. A metatheory of communication techniques developed by Allen Ivey and associates which attempts to combine and synthesize the relevant psychotherapeutic and counseling techniques in the profession…

The four studies presented show how expertise, from the cultural-historical theory of activity, is constructed interactively in everyday problem situations. They also demonstrate that purely situational analyses of discourse are insufficient as attempts to explain expertise. The four studies are presented as individual chapters: (1) Expertise as…

Before there can be an understanding of politics, policy, and action in education, there must be an understanding of the value systems of policymakers. Policymakers, in their talk, in their choices of symbols and metaphors, in their choices of strategies for dealing with conflict, reveal their own needs, their role orientations, their group…

A study examined whether dramatization exercises generated more interpretive and evaluative thought among students regarding theme and characterization within a short story than traditional methods of answering questions or writing an essay regarding the story. Subjects, 35 junior English students at a suburban southern California high school,…

This study examined the effects of family communication environment and parental mediation of television content on third-, sixth-, and ninth-graders' perceptions of realism and similarity of television content and identification with television characters. Subjects, 627 northern California students and 486 of their parents, responded to episodes…