Communication Commons^™

Creating Sites For Connection In The Classroom: Dialogism As A Pedagogy For Active Learning, Melissa A. Broeckelman

Basic Communication Course Annual

Public speaking pedagogy should be based in communication theory, but as a whole, our discipline has failed to integrate theory and praxis in the classroom. Dialogism is a good starting point for developing the­ory-based pedagogical strategies and is further supported by Vygotsky’s zones of proximal development, Dewey and Bruner’s call for experience-based learning, and research on collaborative learning. Here, I propose four specific strategies for incorporating dialogism into the pedagogy of public speaking courses: (a) use detailed grading rubrics to create a shared meaning of expectations before, during, and after the speech-building process, (b) give instructor feedback on outlines prior …

Learning Communities In The Basic Communication Course: Exploring Students’ Perception Of Power And Use Of Compliance-Gaining Strategies, Natalie J. Kussart, Stephen K. Hunt, Cheri J. Simonds

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study compared students’ use of behavior alteration techniques (BATs) and power based upon whether they were enrolled in learning community or traditional sections of the basic communication course being taught by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). The results of the present study reveal no differences between learning community and regularly enrolled students’ perceptions of power. However, learning community students reported using more prosocial, antisocial, and neutral compliance-gaining strategies compared to traditionally enrolled students. Overall, this study addresses the utility of incorporating learning communities into the pedagogy of the basic communication course and devotes special attention to the training needs of …

The Influence Of Diaphragmatic Breathing To Reduce Situational Anxiety For Basic Course Students, Marlina Marie Howe, Karen Kangas Dwyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Researchers in physiology and health fields have reported a significant impact from using diaphragmatic breathing (DB) to help individuals reduce anxiety. However, few communication researchers have explored the use of this simple DB technique to help basic course students reduce communication apprehension (CA). Thus, this investigation explored the use of diaphragmatic breathing (DB) in helping students moderate CA. Respondents completed McCroskey’s (1982) Personal Reports of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) after each of four formal classroom speeches. Results indicated the experimental group using DB reported a significant decrease in state anxiety from speech the first two …

Presentation Skills: An Assessment Of University And Career-Related Presentations, Lesa A. Stern, Melissa Hailer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Two studies were conducted to assess the frequency and types of presentations students encounter across the curriculum and whether these presentations parallel those they will encounter in their chosen career. The first study was a content analysis of sixty portfolios (containing a total number of 1360 courses) to find evidence of presentation assignments across the curriculum. Results indicate students encounter one or two classroom-presentation learning experiences per year during their time at the university, and most of these presentations were group and informative oriented. The second study was a survey of faculty to assess the types of presentations required in …

Book Review: 'The Basic Communication Course Online: Scholarship And Application', Paul J. Siddens Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

Citation information for the book reviewed:

• Goodnight, L. J., & Wallace, S. P. (2005). The Basic Communication Course Online: Scholarship and Application. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 96 pp.

“The debate over whether the basic communication course should be taught online is over. Despite our reservations, we have … successfully created and taught the basic course as distance learning.”

This first sentence in co-editor Lisa Goodnight’s preface to this source book succinctly summarizes its theme: We are past the point of debating the issue of teaching the basic course online. It is now time to ensure that we engage in this process …

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Index Of Titles And Authors, Volumes 1-18

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Submission Guidelines

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Turn-Taking And The Local Management Of Conversation In A Highly Simultaneous Computer-Mediated Communication System, Jeffrey F. Anderson, Fred K. Beard, Joseph B. Walther

Faculty Articles

Ongoing inquiry in communication technology research includes the questions of whether and how users adapt communication to the relatively restricted codes provided by text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC). This study proposes that adaptations may be affected by the level of simultaneity in messaging that CMC systems afford users. This suggestion is examined through an analysis of the particular conversational management strategies afforded by a fully synchronous computer-mediated communication system in which message transmission is keystroke-by-keystroke. Conversation analyses performed on the transcript of a three-person online conversation suggest several conclusions: Despite the novelty of the system, the CMC users appropriated and adapted …

Blogging: Rants, Raves, And Random Thoughts, Linda Jones

The Christian Librarian

Unless you have been asleep or just born in the past three years, you will have found many library articles touting the growth and value of the weblog.1 You may also have attended one of the many technology/library conferences, such as Computers in Libraries, and even an ACL Conference and gone to a presentation on blogs. You will have heard that you must blog, and in conjunction use RSS – whatever that is – if you wish to communicate more effectively with your patrons, your staff, or anyone else.2 Hopping on the blogging bandwagon can “save” your institution, make you …

Managing Up: Subtle But Effective Communication With The “Powers That Be”, Lindsay L. Van Sicklen

The Christian Librarian

There are plenty of resources on managing employees but only in recent years has there been an emphasis on managing those to whom we report. The article entitled “Social Styles and the Art of Managing Up” by John R. Darling published in the Journal of Academic Librarianship in 1987 was the springboard for a lively discussion that included seven library directors and eight individuals from a variety of positions.

Threatening Bodies Resisting Containment: Enemy Combatants, War Protestors And Same-Sex Couples, Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo, Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

The U.S.-launched "War on Terror" has been a major driving force in political discourses during the last few years, including presidential discourse. Since September 11, 2001, presidential rhetoric has systematically entangled international efforts, such as "the War on Terror" and the War in Iraq, with domestic issues, such as same-sex marriages and civil unions. In so doing, international and domestic threats have been effectively merged into one, and in the process, specific bodies have been constructed as "terrorist" agents in need of strict containment (for example, enemy combatant bodies, war protestor bodies, and the bodies of same-sex couples). This paper …

Language, Racism, And Ethnicity, Thomas Paul Bonfiglio

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

While ethnic prejudices can be expressed in and through language, they are not, however, intrinsically linguistic in nature. They are, instead, supralinguistic concepts that become disguised as linguistic ones and imported into the theater of language. The pathways that facilitate this importation have been made by the repeated interconnections between the concept of language and the concept of race. In other words, language in the service of racism and ethnocentrism cannot occur without conceptualizing language and race in similar ways. Accordingly, the identification of language with race is not possible without the genetic misprisions that create the myth of race …

Individual Moral Development And Ethical Climate: The Influence Of Person-Organization Fit On Job Attitudes, Maureen L. Ambrose, Anke Arnaud, Marshall Schminke

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

This research examines how the fit between employees’ moral development and the ethical work climate of their organization affects employee attitudes. Person–organization fit was assessed by matching individuals’ level of cognitive moral development with the ethical climate of their organization. The influence of P–O fit on employee attitudes was assessed using a sample of 304 individuals from 73 organizations. In general, the findings support our predictions that fit between personal and organizational ethics is related to higher levels of commitment and job satisfaction and lower levels of turnover intent. Ethical P–O fit was related to higher levels of affective commitment …

0761: Marvin L. Stone Papers, 1924-2000, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Personal papers of Marvin L. Stone. Marshall Alumnus, past editor of U.S. News and World Report, Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency during the Reagan Administration. He was founding president and chairman of the non-profit International Media Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C, an organization that promoted free press in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. After the IMF, he spent a year in Europe on a Knight Foundation journalism fellowship, and then retired in 1996[?].

To view materials from this collection that are digitized and available online, search the Marvin L. Stone Collection, 1924-2000 here.

The Black Church And Political Mobilization Of African Americans, Misty Noel Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates the political and social activities of black church congregations within a southern community by assessing the effectiveness of three churches in mobilizing their congregations and serving as channels for political communication. The study pays particular attention to the differences between affiliations within the black church, the influence of religious leaders on political involvement, attitudes regarding political involvement and political influences outside of the church. The thesis begins by placing the black church in its historical context —as a giver of spiritual and community orientation as well as a social and political mobilization agent. Using survey results from …

News Narratives And Television News Editing, Keren Esther Henderson

LSU Master's Theses

This study seeks to understand how and why television news editors impose meanings onto news packages through montage editing. Through a qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews, this study will advance the notably few past narrative editing studies by investigating the norms and routines of television news editors. While other researchers recognize the significance of studying montage editing in television news, this is the first study to clarify the relationship between montage techniques and the creation of television news narratives.

Public Relations And Political Controversy: A Case Study Of The Assembly Of Turkish American Associations' Public Relations Campaign Regarding The Ottoman Empire's Deportation Of The Armenians, Tamar Grace Meguerditchian

LSU Master's Theses

An organization will almost always use persuasive communication tactics to influence public opinion. Persuasive communication tactics can be either pubic relations or propaganda. The definitions of both public relations and propaganda, as well as a study of the relevant models, reveals that neither practice heavily stresses the importance of social responsibility. Using the importance of social responsibility in honest persuasive communication tactics, this qualitative case study of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations’ (ATAA) determined that the efforts of the ATAA’s persuasive communication efforts are in line with the methods of propaganda, as stated in the operational definition of propaganda …

Clear And Present Danger: Brandenburg Test After September 11, 2001, James Connor Best

LSU Master's Theses

In a post-September 11, 2001 America and in light of the very real threat posed by radical Islamic terrorist, the courts must rethink the line between protected speech and incitement to violence. The Brandenburg test, which was previously understood to be the modern test to distinguish protected from unprotected advocacy, should be questioned. By examining the development of the Court's First Amendment doctrine leading up to Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), I establish that Brandenburg is ill fitted to be applied to advocacy of terrorism. In Brandenburg, the Court actually conflated two previously distinct speech tests-Judge Learned Hand's incitement test and …

The Failure Of Louisiana Campaign Finance Law: A Case Study Of Brnext And The 2004 Mayoral Election, Casey Elizabeth Rayborn

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study in how weak campaign finance laws and government oversight can undermine democracy in a local election. It does so by demonstrating how Louisiana campaign finance law enabled one wealthy businessman to play a major role in a mayoral election under the auspices of an issue-based political action committee. Through the examination of the Louisiana PAC BRNext, its financial activities, and its relationships, this study suggests that BRNext and its founder Lane Grigsby were able to violate the spirit of the law in each of these areas. BRNext was able to take advantage of the …

Uncomfortable Performances: Discovering A Subversive Scenario For Rape Discourse, Annamaria Ruffino

LSU Master's Theses

Current trends in representations of rape show a new fascination with a rape scenario, a fascination that puts a normative slant on discourse surrounding rape. Normalizing the rape scenario carries various consequences for women; the first and foremost is that it turns the experience of rape into an entertainment commodity, thus causing women’s voices to be appropriated into dominant discourses and the capitalist project. One possible way to circumvent this normalization is to look toward feminist performance strategies in order to subvert this rape scenario and the discourses surrounding it from within. In this thesis, I explore ways to accomplish …

Gulf Coast Journalists And Hurricane Katrina: Mounting Challenges To The Work Routine, Shearon Roberts

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore through sourcing and framing the changes Gulf Coast journalists made in their news reporting as a result of directly experiencing Hurricane Katrina. Data for this study was obtained through the archives of The New Orleans Times-Picayune and through the Nexis/Lexis database. Many Gulf-Coast journalists lost their homes and were affected by the storm in various degrees with one case of a reported suicide attempt. The daily newspapers of the cities of New Orleans, La. and Biloxi, Miss., received Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service for ceaseless and tireless reporting of the disaster. This …

The Effects Of Psychological Factors On Media Usage: An Examination Of Immigrants' Media Use Patterns, Motives And Acculturation In The United States, Suping Zhang

LSU Master's Theses

Earlier studies have provided evidence for the importance of mass media in the acculturation process of immigrants. The current study intends to further investigate acculturation by exploring the influential factors in immigrants’ mass communication activities. A survey has been conducted among 208 participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the Baton Rouge area. Having examined the mass media and Internet consumption of the respondents, this study finds that psychological factors, not demographic backgrounds, are the primary influential variables in predicting immigrants’ media use patterns. According to this study, respondents’ stronger adaptive personality and acculturation motivation would lead to more consumption of …

The Portrayal Of Science In Children's Television, Tristi Bercegeay Charpentier

LSU Master's Theses

Scholars argue that a scientifically literate public is a requirement for a democracy. Children are watching television more today than ever before, and studies have shown that children learn academically educational content from television. The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broadcasters to provide educational and informational content for children. This study qualitatively evaluated a sample of 38 children's television programs to obtain a description of the scientific content contained in children's television. The study yielded a large quantity of scientific content, yet the quality of the content left much to be desired. Based on the findings of this study, …

Does Verbal Communication Impairment Affect Quality Of Life In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients?, Jason Michael Duff

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-perceived QOL in ALS patients. Literature will be presented on the incidence, prevalence, prognosis, diagnosis and management of ALS, QOL studies for ALS, the role of the multidisciplinary team, the impairments and dysfunction that ALS patients experience, communication issues, and the development of ALS specific instruments to measure QOL. The "bulbar dysfunction" that ALS patients experience in salivation management, speech, and swallowing were examined in detail. The objectives of this research study were to investigate the following hypotheses: 1. QOL will differ among ALS patients with varying levels of speech, swallowing, …

Blogging The Other: Representations Of The Australian Islamic Diaspora, Judith Elund

Theses : Honours

Recent events have seen an increased focus on Islam and Muslims throughout the world. In Western nations, this focus has often turned into fear and the demonisation of an 'other' that is regularly misunderstood and misrepresented, further exacerbating tensions between the West and Islam. International terrorist activities, such as the London bombings of July 7, 2005 have seen an increase in fear of Muslims and of potential terrorism on our shores, ensuring Muslim issues have become a major focus in Australian news. Taking 7/7 as an example, this paper supplements recent studies in exploring how Australian news media position Muslims …

Working Selves, Working Gendered Contexts [Review Of The Book Negotiating Gendered Identities At Work: Place, Space And Time], Craig Rich

Communication Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Rhetorical Counterinsurgency: The Fbi And The American Indian Movement, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2007, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Joseph H. and John M. Trimbach published a tell-all book to expose the crimes of American Indian Movement (AIM) and dispel contemporary myths about Bureau conspiracies against Indian activists. The book provides an insiders’ account of the agents’ participation in the investigation of AIM and attempts to correct what they characterize as popular revisionist history accusing the FBI of gross injustices against Indian Country. The agents argue that as far as AIM is concerned, in the halls of academia, “There is a market for blurring the historical lines between fact and fiction” (2007, …

Narrative As Communication Activism: Research Relationships In Social Justice Projects, Elizabeth A. Curry, Deborah Cunningham Walker

Library Presentations & Publications

When they talk about CASA or the project, Deb and Elizabeth use the words “we, our, or us,” not “them or they.”
Deb and Elizabeth are part of CASA because they understand us. They get it.
Lots of people study domestic violence, but they were the first researchers interested in us, the workers. We felt validated because university researchers thought what we did was important, and they asked us to help them understand our work.
They didn’t lecture us; they listened to us.

These are some of the staff’s observations about our participation in the University Community Initiative Project (UCI), …