Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Fighting The Formula: Adherence To Unspoken Rules Limit The Value Of Individual Events, Eric Mishne

Communication Faculty Publications

Forensics is one of the most valuable activities in which college students can be involved. However, the strict adherence to formula and unspoken rules diminishes the educational benefits. This article explores an extensive body of literature highlighting the concerns of formulaic practices in collegiate forensics. The author asserts that authenticity, genuine learning, transferability of skills, innovation, and high quality speaking are the biggest victims of stringent adherence to the forensic formula. Specific recommendations for competitors, judges, coaches, and organizing bodies are given, suggesting that there are alternatives which can mitigate growing concerns.

Enacting Compassion: Enactment And The Theory Of Image Restoration In Monica Lewinsky's Ted Talk, "The Price Of Shame", Eric Mishne

Communication Faculty Publications

Cyberbullying is an ever-growing concern, and its effects are not escaping the public eye. Monica Lewinsky spoke at TED Vancouver in 2015 about the effects of cyberbullying and suggested a change in the cultural attitude online toward one of compassion. This paper argues that components of William Benoit’s Theory of Image Restoration (TIR) are relevant to understanding Lewinsky’s speech, but principles of enactment (Daughton, 1989) are more salient to her message and achievement of her mission. In light of the complexity of Lewinsky’s story, the author explores an expansion of TIR labeled image renovation that adds variance to the function …

"Just Look At Her!": Sporting Bodies As Athletic Resistance And The Limits Of Sport Norms In The Case Of Caster Semenya, Shane Miller

Communication Faculty Publications

Using the American sport media’s treatment of South African runner Caster Semenya, this article explores how in the course of defending Caster Semenya the American sport media presented a rigorous challenge to traditional conceptions of sex and gender. Yet these rhetorical efforts to deconstruct sex and gender binaries were undermined by the specific ways in which Semenya’s dual performances—athletic and gender—were visually depicted. A close reading and analysis of US sports media coverage of Caster Semenya provide an opportunity to explore the ways in which the norms of sport may foster progressive treatment of athletes whose genders do not fit …

Making Oral Communication A Successful Part Of The Common Core, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

Adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) represents the first time that oral communication has been included in the curriculum requirements for K–12 education in many states. If done well, this change will provide important benefits to students. However, effective implementation will require collaboration among policymakers, educators, and experts in oral communication.

As educators work to strengthen primary and secondary education in the United States, many agree that schools need educational standards that are grounded in today’s needs and shared across states. The CCSS have emerged as a potential solution, and the majority of states have adopted these standards. …

Consistency And Change: The (R)Evolution Of The Basic Communication Course, Joesph M. Valenzano, Samuel P. Wallace, Sherwyn P. Morreale

Communication Faculty Publications

The basic communication course, with its roots in classical Greece and Rome, is frequently a required course in general education. The course often serves as our “front porch,” welcoming new students to the Communication discipline. This essay first outlines early traditions in oral communication instruction and their influence on future iterations of the course. In addition, because fundamental changes in higher education in more modern times affected emphases and delivery of the course, we focus on the relationship between general education and the basic course and the significant curricular changes to the course during the latter part of the 20th …

The Risks And Rewards Of Serving As A Department Chair, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

Serving as chair is a significant point in the career of any faculty member who inhabits the office. It is a position with high highs and low lows, significant stressors and some perks, the chance to have a positive impact on a program, and the near certainty that at some point you will generate disagreement with almost everyone in the department. The department chair is a boundary position between the university administration and the faculty; a chair inhabits both worlds, but resides fully in neither. Chairs are charged with numerous responsibilities and often lack full authority needed to accomplish their …

The Speaker's Primer, Joesph M. Valenzano Iii, Stephen W. Braden, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post

Communication Faculty Publications

This book addresses the nuts and bolts of crafting and delivering different types of presentations, but unlike other public speaking handbooks, it builds on those principles and offers guidance on speaking in particular professional arenas. Throughout the book, the authors provide sidebars about the importance and application of public speaking principles specific to business, healthcare, education, politics, and the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

— Description from publisher's website

The Rhetoric Of ‘Military Readiness’: Public Discourse, Whales And Navy Sonar, Terence Check

Communication Faculty Publications

On November 12, 2008, the Supreme Court decided a significant case involving the use of mid-frequency active sonar in the waters off the coast of Southern California. In the decision, Winter v. NRDC, the High Court ruled that the Navy‘s need to conduct military training using active sonar outweighed the interests of environmentalists, who had contended that sonar results in devastating effects on marine mammals. This paper examines the public and legal discourse related to the case, arguing that the Navy invoked an ideograph of that valorized military technology and expertise at the expense of the natural environment. The paper …

His Final Homily: Pope John Paul Ii's Death As An Affirmation Of His Life's Message, Joesph M. Valenzano

Communication Faculty Publications

Every Sunday morning, a member of the Roman Catholic clergy addresses his flock after a reading from one of the Gospels. These homilies ordinarily last between 10 and 20 minutes and allow the priest an opportunity to interpret the Gospel message from that day's reading, as well as discuss how that message relates to contemporary events and issues.

During the final two months of his life, Pope John Paul II provided a longer, more powerful symbolic homily to the world. The message summarized his positions on freedom, suffering, and the dignity of human life.

Stroke Caregiving: Two Sides To The Story, Teresa Thompson

Communication Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Turning Points In Relationships With Disliked Co-Workers, Jon A. Hess, Becky Lynn Omdahl, Janie M. Harden Fritz

Communication Faculty Publications

Although most people begin their employment with the education and on-the-job training to handle the tasks their jobs entail, few long-term employees boast that they feel competent in dealing with all the difficult people they encounter in the workplace. Unpleasant coworkers range from annoying nuisances to major sources of job frustration and career roadblocks. Given that periodic preoccupation with unlovable coworkers is nearly a universal feature of organizational life, it is not surprising that such relationships are given due attention in the media and popular press (e.g., Bramson, 1989; Topchik, 2000). What is surprising is how little scholarly attention has …

A Twins Study Of Communicative Adaptability: Heritability Of Individual Differences, Michael J. Beatty, Lenora A. Marshall, Jill E. Rudd

Communication Faculty Publications

Recently, a model of communication theory and research has appeared in the literature within which stable individual differences in communication behavior represent individual differences in activation thresholds of neurobiological systems. The neurobiological systems thought to underly communication traits and behavior are assumed to be primarily due to genetic inheritance. As such, the model assigns a limited role to adaptability in social situations, instead positing communication adaptability as an inherited trait. In the present study, heritability estimates for the dimensions of communicative adaptability were derived from correlations based on identical and fraternal twins' responses to a multidimensional communicative adaptability measure. Results …

Dealing With Co-Workers We Don't Like, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

When we take a job with a company, we instantly develop a large network of new acquaintances. The relationships we have with co-workers are called “nonvoluntary relationships” because as long as we hold a job with that organization, we have no choice but to interact with the other people who work there.

As long as we like our co-workers, the nonvoluntary nature of these relationships is unremarkable, but for most of us it is inevitable that we won’t like a few of those people. This can cause a difficult situation. Relationships with co-workers we don’t like are stressful. The stronger …

An Empirical Test Of A Communibiological Model Of Trait Verbal Aggressiveness, Kristin M. Valencic, Michael J. Beatty, Jill E. Rudd, Jean A. Dobos, Alan D. Heisel

Communication Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to test Beatty and McCroskey's communibiological model of trait verbal aggressiveness. In general, this model views trait verbal aggressiveness as an expression of temperament; specifically, that trait verbal aggressiveness represents low thresholds for the fight or flight (FFS) neurobiological system. This model further contends that behavioral inhibition circuitry (BIS) moderates FFS activation by tempering aggressive impulses, otherwise FFS activation would manifest itself in the form of physical rather than verbal attacks. Beatty and McCroskey (1997) propose that low thresholds for stimulating the behavioral activation system (BAS) should be related to trait verbal aggressiveness to …

'Wait — Something’S Missing!': The Status Of Ethics In Basic Public Speaking Texts, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

The basic course is important to the welfare of the speech communication discipline. According to Seiler and McGukin (1989), the basic course is the mainstay of the discipline. Gibson, Hanna, and Leichty (1990) surveyed 423 institutions of higher education nationwide and found that at 92% of the schools’ enrollment in the basic course was increasing or holding steady (this is up from the figure of 88% reported in 1985). In a survey of college graduates, Pearson, Nelson, and Sorenson (1981) found that 93% believed that the basic speech course should be required for all students. Because of its popularity and …