Explores the coordination, evolution, and expansion of the Communication in Instruction Master of Arts program taught throughout West Virginia. Describes the program--its development goals, course offerings and structure, and evaluation techniques used to assess its effectiveness. (SR)

Investigates reliability and validity of speech evaluation instruments used in public speaking classes. Finds that student speeches can be evaluated reliably and validly using any of a number of different evaluation forms that address the fundamental speech constructs of content and delivery. Finds that lack of extensive rater training and…

Finds that communication professionals, in the treatment of communication apprehension, hold the highest standards in terms of what they believe they should do in comparison to what they believe they would do when faced with particular ethical conflict situations. Finds the highest level of ethical response to informed consent issues as compared…

Investigates a possible source of grade-related conflict--the different perceptions students and teachers hold on what grades "mean." Finds stark differences between the two groups' perceptions of grades while underscoring the value of metaphor analysis as a tool for elucidating respondents' deeply felt central meanings. (SR)

Discusses, under four headings, some recent performance work occurring in many performance studies classrooms: storymaking, replication of life performance, performance art, and improvisations. Describes briefly some key critical concerns associated with these performance events and considers implications of doing such performances in the…

Identifies four roles explaining how able-bodied instructors communicate with physically disabled students: the avoider, the guardian, the rejector, and the nurturer. Describes and illustrates each role with events that happened in classrooms. Concludes that able-bodied instructors communicate differently with students with physical disabilities…

Describes the use of Spike Lee's film "Jungle Fever" in an introductory communication theory class. Demonstrates how the film can be used to help students understand four metatheoretical perspectives: laws, rules, systems, and critical approaches. Discusses when and how to use the film in class. (SR)

Discusses ways speech communication instructors can use the film "Thelma and Louise" in an upper-division rhetorical criticism class to illustrate three different critical approaches: pentadic, feminist, and ideological criticism. (SR)

Describes how the film "The Dream Team" can be used in a small group communication course as a visual case study, presenting clearly and in detail many of the most central group development processes, including cohesiveness, norms, roles, leadership, and group development. (SR)

Describes a four-tiered model of the intellectual structure of the human communication discipline: (1) the structural properties of messages; (2) individual, social, and cultural aspects of message activity; (3) interpersonal, small group, and public levels of message activity; and (4) message activity in recurrent social situations. (SR)

Shows that processing demand is an incomplete explanation of receiver apprehension because motivation (the desire to process a message) and the expectation that the receiver will have to reproduce some aspect of the message for inspection by others (evaluation) are also important factors in receiver apprehension. (SR)

Offers a brief history of the teaching of expository discourse. Defines explanatory speaking, identifying its relation to informative speech. Presents a pedagogy for explanatory speaking, built on the classical rhetorical tradition and contemporary research. Describes implications for teacher training, student study skills, and assessment of…

Finds, contrary to previous research on teacher nonverbal immediacy, that the variable has an inverted-U curvilinear relationship with cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning--in other words, moderately high teacher immediacy is more effective in helping students learn than either excessively high or low immediacy. (SR)

Finds that teacher immediacy scores were higher for African American college teachers than for Euro-American college teachers, but that the impact of perceived immediacy operated differently for the two groups. (SR)

Outlines four major characteristics of adolescent social-cognitive development. Discusses their affect on the adolescent's ability to understand communication concepts and to deal with the classroom audience and particular types of topics, assignments, or exercises. Draws implications for secondary speech curriculum. (JMF)