This study sought to understand how South African Sotho and Zulu children learn and communicate at home. Data were collected from 80 homes of 5-year-olds through observation and supplemented by audiotaped sessions. The analysis sought to identify the social rules and constraints governing the amount, style, and content of the information…

An examination of the ritual of "sharing time" in a first-grade classroom in the United States shows how it reaffirms the ideal model of a "Good Communicator," develops a concept of personhood as "Self-as-Autonomous-Person," and establishes respect for "Authority." Through the development of these three "sacred objects," sharing time functions as…

Significant progress has been made to enhance the oral English proficiency of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs), with the greatest strides being made in the linguistic aspects but little attention being paid to cultural communication and pedagogical dimensions. A survey of ITAs in the chemistry, mathematics, and physics departments at…

A study was conducted to apply and test a model of privacy regulation and disclosure of risky, private information such as sexual abuse. Eight sexually abused children and adolescents, each of whom had initiated disclosure, were interviewed about the disclosure process. A two-part interview was constructed based on the findings in the literature…

A preliminary study investigating the perceptions of intergroup relations in the bargaining process supports Kenneth Burke's concepts of order and mystery. Questionnaires, interviews, and direct observations of teachers' and school boards' teams involved in contract negotiations show that people closest to the bargaining saw more order in the…

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…

A study operationalized and measured the construct of communicator motivation, defined as an affective tendency to approach and become involved in communication, as part of an effort to clarify the concept and to begin validation of a new scale to measure it. The study addressed two specific motives: concern for promoting self and concern for…

A study proposed a predictive model to explain self-disclosure to parents based on biological sex of subject and perceived psychological sex typing of the parent. It was hypothesized that: (1) the linear combination of biological sex type of subject and subjects perception of mother (psychological scores) would significantly predict…

The need for an analytical approach to the study of phatic, metalingual, and metacommunicative functions in asymmetrical communicative situations (between native speakers and language learners) is discussed. The study presents theoretical frameworks for gambits and repairs, the linguistic phenomena that primarily serve those functions, and…

A study investigated how oral discourse affects the communicative process of teaching and learning and how that process influences and is influenced by the goals and expectations of college instructors and college students. Three college classes were observed for one semester. Data were collected in the form of field notes, cassette tapes of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with the following topics: (1) speaker turns between staff and foreign clients at an employment agency; (2) the communication of norms in an effective organization; (3) industrial strategies and the…

Drawing from recent research, this paper focuses on communication games and activities that can be used to teach speaking and listening skills ("referential communication skills"). Following a brief review of the research, the paper offers a set of eight criteria for evaluating curriculum materials intended to teach speaking and listening, and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effects of a seven-hour communication training program on participant utilization of six components of communication style; (2) communication skills and cognitive processes in…

A study by James E. Grunig and his students at the University of Maryland tested a refined version of Grunig's situational theory of communication behavior (1968) by surveying the attitudes of the public regarding Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). In preparation for the study, 20 years of research conducted by Grunig and his students was…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 10 titles deal with the following topics: (1) how speech acts in advertisements relate to the purpose of selling merchandise; (2) the use and evaluation of accounts in problematic episodes; (3) rhetoric as a way of knowing; (4)…