Describes a Rationale-Emotive-Therapy (RET) approach as a classroom method for reducing students' communication apprehension. Compares RET with two other classroom methods (desensitization and communication skills training) and concludes that all three methods work equally well. (PD)

Surveyed adult students in a basic speech communication course to assess their communication needs as a basis for establishing a communication curriculum. Found that listening was rated the most important career and social communication skill, with motivating, telephoning, conversing, briefing, relating, and resolving conflicts ranking high. (PD)

Reports the results of stage two of a three-stage project designed to develop, through field testing, a model for determining the norms of general adult communication behavior. Discusses implications of this study, including those for planners of communication instruction. (PD)

Presents a sampling of ERIC documents on mass media, grouped under the following headings: (1) Theory and Research; (2) Instruction, K-12; (3) Instruction, PostSecondary; and (4) Newer Horizons. (PD)

Highlights differences between cause-effect and interactive research models that are used to explain television's effects on children. Proposes a schema theory of comprehension and learning that (1) acknowledges the child's prior knowledge, (2) considers television viewing as active communication, and (3) emphasizes critical and literate viewing…

Describes a feedback method for teaching interviewing skills that requires dual evaluation of a student's performance by both the student interviewer and the interviewee. Illustrates benefits of this method with an analysis of 139 paired assessments of students' information-gathering skills in a "career interview" assignment. (PD)

Discusses assignments in discourse analysis and students' recurring methodological errors. (PD)

Examined 55 speech communication textbooks published since 1980 and found few that consider the issue of sexism in language. Explores reasons for this neglect, focusing on one area of change: masculine generics. (PD)

Discusses the nature and sources of test bias in measuring communication skills. Recommends structured performance assessment to reduce bias, contending that performance tests, if carefully administered, can be valid, unbiased methods of assessing communication skills. (PD)

Presents six generalizations on using humor in public speaking. (PD)

Presents six impromptu speaking exercises suitable for developing a variety of speaking skills. (PD)

Presents a brief background of arbitration advocacy, a procedural outline for conducting a mock labor arbitration hearing, and a case study for classroom use. (PD)

Describes a four-course series in organizational communication and the competencies the series develops. (PD)

Noting that one's intellectual experiences presage one's later political commitments, this address explores the political commitments students make when they decide to major in communication studies. (PD)

Describes documents in the ERIC system on (1) theory about forensics, (2) the coach as teacher, (3) views from other disciplines. (PD)