A study tested those theories upon which instruction and curriculum in speech and public communication are based. The study investigated the relationship of mode of delivery on ratings of individual speech characteristics as well as the relationship of these perceptions of effectiveness in a public communication setting. Twenty-four videotapes of…

Recognizing the need for systematic teaching material on oral communication, this program offers a six-week oral communication curriculum for students in grades six through nine. Based on the recognition that oral communication is a process influenced by variables such as context (setting, audience, situation, topic, cultural norms) and function…

Many speech communication educators and researchers look upon Dale Carnegie's public speaking course with derision for its methods as well as its motives. A comparison of Carnegie's course with university courses in speech communication reveals a number of differences between the two, which in part explains this attitude. Carnegie began his course…

Designed to give directors and teachers of the basic communication course new ideas, increased enthusiasm, and an easier work load, this course segment is in three major parts. Part 1 discusses course administration, including direction, design, and administration. Chapters in part one are: (1) Economics of the College Basic Communication Course;…

Recognizing that too often, African American students in communication courses are confronted with communication principles which to them seem inappropriate, unrealistic, and simply false, this paper analyzes the conceptual foundation of the public speaking course and suggests how it might be made more relevant for African American students. The…

Too often African American students in communication courses are confronted with communication principles which to them seem inappropriate, unrealistic, and simply false. Current conceptualizations of organizational communication suggest that the organization consists of one culture (often depicted as predominantly white and predominantly male).…

This guide, intended to assist school districts as they implement classroom activities and assessment procedures related to student learning objectives (for all grades) in the language arts areas of speaking and listening, reflects what students should know and be able to do in language arts as a consequence of their schooling. The guide is in…

A study examined the power of communication apprehension, person perception, network connectedness, and course satisfaction to predict learning outcomes in a college communication course. Subjects, 81 students from a multisection course, completed a variety of self-report instruments measuring their communication apprehension levels; perceptions…

To address the issue of how effectively speech communication instructors can be trained to develop longitudinal, "value-added" skills in their students one must first ask if they "should" be trained for such a task. One advantage is that it might be strategic for communication programs to initiate value-added testing so faculty…

Within the structure of a senior and graduate level course, students in the Ohio University school of interpersonal communication collaborate with community groups in the creation of campaigns promoting issue-awareness, political candidates, fund raising events, and citizen action. The course objectives include teaching students to understand the…

The goal of test design is to devise an instrument that will provide a stable and accurate assessment of student ability in some area. One means of reaching this goal is through the use of latent trait models, which determine the relationship between the unobservable trait or ability and the observable test performance. Three common latent trait…

Stressing the importance of incorporating speech skills throughout the curriculum, the articles in this journal provide ideas for developing speaking skills in all subjects and at all levels. The titles of the articles and their authors include the following: (1) "Speaking Skills: A Few Tips from an Old Timer" (Geoffrey R. Butler); (2)…

Designed to provide direction and guidance for secondary classroom teachers in planning classroom instruction in speech, this guide is organized into four groupings ("strands"): thinking, writing, listening, and speaking. Each page, in chart form and headed by a statement of goal ("terminal objective"), shows instructional…

Intended for use by college basic speech communication course directors and teachers, the course described in this paper is based on the model of communication competency developed by R. R. Allen and K. L. Brown. The first section of the paper presented a brief discussion of the model, which defines a competent communicator as one who is capable…

There are two philosophies concerning how teachers might best facilitate their students' acquisition of communication competence. The first, a skills-oriented philosophy, adopts a building-block approach to the acquisition of communication competence. Organizationally, a public speaking course might start with a unit on analyzing audience and…