This oral language program, designed for children ages 3 to 5, is divided into 11 sections covering the themes of self and senses; family, home, and friends; teddy bears; school and community; colors; food; animals; clothes; summer fun; holidays; and vehicles. Numerous cutouts are provided to prepare for the activities in this book, and each…

Guidelines for citing sources in forensic competition are needed for use by students, as well as by coaches and judges. The first step toward developing standardized guidelines could be an adaptation of the Modern Language Association's American Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which provides clear-cut definitions of plagiarism,…

Speech communication can make a difference in the teaching of English Language Arts and in improving basic teacher communication skills. A wealth of research indicates that instruction in speaking is not only important in itself but also highly influential in the development of other language arts competencies. Preparation in both English and…

Forensics educators should explore the implications of feminism for debate pedagogy and practice. First, the inclusion of feminist perspectives is directly related to the pedagogical goals of solving the problem of women's participation in debate and of accomplishing the task of enabling debate coaches and student debaters to become competent,…

A panel of instructors in the Speech Communication program at the University of South Dakota presented five papers containing the findings from an extensive analysis of their introductory course, the Fundamentals of Speech. The purpose of the analysis was to determine the result of adapting the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) to specific…

One of the thorniest problems facing teachers of public address and other speech performance courses concerns students' reticence in classroom criticism and discussion of fellow students' performance. Many teachers believe that discussing the speeches in class provides valuable feedback to the speaker and helps foster critical thinking skills in…

The seven articles in this journal issue focus on the relationship between theory and practice in human communication. Topics discussed in the articles are (1) a speech theory of human communication, (2) first principles for an "act" based theory of communication, (3) the uses of a theory of communication, (4) communication pragmatism,…

Assuming that different programs for communication apprehensive/avoidant students attract different types of students according to their needs and apprehension types, a study examined the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and general people orientations, as measured by the Personal Record of Communication Apprehension-24…

Noting that research and theory building in the area of listening have evolved from a variety of disciplines, this paper examines the contributions to listening theory made by humanistic psychology. The paper first offers an overview of humanistic psychology, examining some of the basic assumptions and postulates that serve as a foundation for…

Since the American Forensic Association has sanctioned recording individual events competition, it might be in the interest of competition to combine oral interpretation and radio/television broadcast competition into simultaneous competition. Voice development is a goal shared by oral interpretation and broadcasting, so oral interpretation…

Evaluations of basic speech courses should be undertaken to benefit the students. Traditional evaluations in education typically do not assess the education of students, and departmental reviews seldom focus on how well students' needs are being met by specific courses. Evaluations should identify the skills and knowledge students need, and…

The bargaining simulation unit is a useful educational tool in the introductory organizational communication course. It provides students with the opportunity to apply concepts such as communication, authority, and decision making already taught in the course, and teaches responsibility in analyzing, enacting, and discussing the bargaining case.…

Since the concept of "communication competence" is a relatively recent development in the field of speech communication, there is as yet no universal agreement as to its definition and constitution. However, it seems that the purpose of the study of communication competence is to inform classroom instruction. The efforts to define and understand…

Research indicates that about 40% of the population fear public speaking. There is a wide variety of possible causes for this unwillingness to communicate: a lack of skills, social introversion, alienation, lack of fluency in English, and communication apprehension. Despite the fact that evidence indicates everyone may have some difficulty with…

In order to explore the rhetorical components of instruction at the undergraduate level and determine whether differences and similarities exist among the discourse fields represented by instructors in the kind of talk which they regard as desirable in their classroom, formal interviews were conducted with teaching faculty representing l5…