Examines the origin of the term "attitude," and how its meaning has changed over the centuries. Discusses theoretical definitions of the term by I. A. Richards and by Kenneth Burke. Discusses its role in the learning process, and how an explicit attention to attitude in the language-arts classroom might help students become better readers and…

Instead of emphasizing forms and types, teachers of communication should emphasize the kinds of actions that verbal communications are--both for those who make them and for those who receive them. Because, in verbal communication, language becomes a vehicle by which we exert "force" on another, language arts studies ought to begin with the study…