Asserts that African American slaves used their spirituals to provide themselves with a rhetorical self-definition that served to refute limiting definitions pressed on them by whites. Suggests that, as a form of slave resistance to psychological oppression, spirituals were used to limit the slaves' value to owners while enabling the slaves to…

Offers a processual (sic) approach suited to the complex nature of organizational commitment during times of radical change. Emphasizes commitment as communication processes that are integrally tied to the creation of organizational cultures, involve identification via symbolic processes, and encompass various degrees of linkages between…

Examines ways in which two very different political actors, George Bush and Bill Clinton, attempted to construct a new foreign policy consensus by blending the rhetorical forms of the Cold War with other foreign policy metaphors. Argues that these hybrids have not proven persuasive as justifications for American actions in foreign policy. (SR)

Examines the impact of perceived parental deception regarding impending divorce on subsequent communication satisfaction with parents and self-esteem. Finds that respondents (131 students from 200 intact families) who felt deceived reported lower levels of communication satisfaction than those who had not felt deceived, and that self-esteem was…

Argues that communication as an academic discipline is at a critical point in its evolution, and the western region is poised to play a most influential role during the next few years. Challenges members of the Western States Communication Association to resist potential institutional assaults by leading the communication discipline in a…

States that interpersonal deception theory frames deception as a communication activity within interactive contexts. Describes an experiment testing several suspicion-related hypotheses pairing participants for interviews during which interviewees lied or told the truth, and interviewers were induced to be more or less suspicious. Finds that when…

Describes a longitudinal study of positive first-order efficiency effects of video teleconferencing technology. Finds in which ways video teleconferencing is equal or superior to face-to-face meetings, and in which ways it is less effective. Points out that in video teleconferencing, it is more common to have a more negative impression of the…

States that in a series of two studies, research identified situations in which superiors and subordinates felt the need to maintain their relationships; delineated communication tactics and strategies that were consciously enacted to maintain relationships; and investigated how superiors and subordinates in different kinds of relationship…

Examines by meta-analysis the effect that exposure to pornography produces on aggressive behavior under laboratory conditions considering a variety of possible moderating conditions. Demonstrates a homogeneous set of results showing that pictorial nudity reduces subsequent violent behavior, but that depictions of nonviolent sexual behavior and…

States that in an attempt to better understand the attributes of the "average" viewer, an analysis of data characterizing television nonviewers and extreme viewers was performed. Identifies a set of demographic variables as the strongest predictor of nonviewers and the combination of family-related and lifestyle/social activity-related variables…

Distinguishes between two meanings of literacy that have been conflated: the ability to read and write, and the broader concept of being educated. Presents three arguments: literacy is not social; literacy is not political; and the comprehension part of literacy is a relative matter, while the ability to decode is not. (RS)

Outlines a strategy for resolving disputes between the whole language and phonics camps in reading instruction. Reviews research on the role of context in word recognition, the process of reading acquisition, and analytic versus holistic approaches to reading acquisition. Suggests that the way is clear for whole language advocates to reconstitute…

Discusses four clear contributions of cognitive research that deserve special attention: (1) skilled readers read words rather than skip them; (2) less skilled readers do rely on context; (3) skilled readers use phonology in reading; and (4) children learn to read successfully by learning how their writing system works. (RS)

Distinguishes four phases in the development of sight word reading: prealphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, and consolidated alphabetic. Suggests that this system represents the regularities that underlie the written forms of English words that all learners must internalize to build a fully functioning sight vocabulary. (RS)

Discusses research that supports the view that early phonological awareness affects children's ability to exploit the alphabetic system, and so to develop a sublexical route from print to sound to meaning. Discusses implications for teachers. (RS)