A study of 25 male college students (14 Native Americans, 11 Anglo Americans) assessed the role of culturally-differing communications behavior in the dropout rate of Native American students (while the students want an education, they also wish to retain their cultural identity, and equate class participation with assimilation into non-Indian…

The techniques, procedures, and principal findings of 15 different experiments in a research program on interactive communication are summarized in this paper. Among the principal findings reported are that: problems are solved faster in communication modes that have a voice channel than in those that do not have a voice channel, modes of…

How-to books can help gifted students learn the methodologies used by practicing professionals in a variety of fields. This article contains information about choosing, locating, and using how-to books, including an annotated bibliography of exemplary books in science, social science, research methodology, communication modes, and inventing and…

A study identified some implicit concepts, knowledge, and skills that a seemingly standard adult literacy and numeracy "lesson" contains. Conversation analysis was used to show instances of how adult numeracy is embedded in adult language and literacy. The "conversation" was a transcript from an adult literacy class for…

This paper investigates the potential relationship of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to gesture and second language learning. It is asserted that the ZPD is both a tool and a result, not a tool for result; it is both product and process at the same time. The process of learning a new language/culture in the case of a person who is…

The author of an article (EC 614 674) on the interaction between mothers and their young children with language impairments reflects on how the topic became of interest to her and what was learned during the course of the study. The need to teach parents to use intervention strategies is emphasized. (CR)

Intended to provide practical information pertaining to methods and techniques for speech elicitation and production, the monograph offers specific methods and techniques to elicit spontaneous speech in bilingual students. Chapter 1, "Traditional Methodologies for Language Production and Recording," presents an overview of studies using…

Three different bilingual, bicultural curriculum, preschool models encouraged children to use three different interaction strategies, but the models had no lasting effects on the children's first grade interactions, according to a year's observation of the communication experiences of 42 Mexican American children of varying English language…

Noting that humans are educated more by than about the mass media, this paper argues that modern society has produced an informal (mediated) ethics curriculum which may be more powerful than the formal (institutionally educational) curriculum developed by academics and administrators. It first examines the informal curriculum, listing statistics…

The development and implementation of a program to facilitate communication and improve working relationships between elementary school staff members is described. Methodology involved observation of inservice faculty training sessions and a participant survey. The program was based on three components: a series of faculty inservice workshops,…

Defining speed listening as a technique allowing the listener to consciously determine the appropriate presentation rate for prerecorded materials consistent with personal objectives rather than with those of the original speaker, this paper reviews studies that support the use of speed reading in instructional settings. The paper examines…

A study examined the impact of a simulated aging experience on nursing staff perceptions of job satisfaction and job performance. It was hypothesized that nurses and nurse aides who participated in the simulated aging experience would be more satisfied with their jobs and would receive fewer complaints from residents than those who did not…

To examine the developmental process of communication competence and the resulting relationship between competence and college success, a longitudinal study of college students was undertaken. In this study, pertinent background factors and measures of communication skills were collected on the same population over the course of a student's…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the relational nature of humor, (2) pragmatism and transaction, (3) within-channel redundancy versus between-channel redundancy in instructional material and its association with…

Affective communication behavior is central to the teaching-learning process. A review of literature reveals that the affective domain has been viewed primarily as a teacher property rather than as an interactive variable in the process of student learning. However, there is a need for research that explores how affective behavior is negotiated…