Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

Teaching The Honors Public Speaking Course, Karla Kay Jensen, David E. Williams

Basic Communication Course Annual

The honors student comes to the public speaking class with a unique set of needs and learning preferences which require alterations to the traditional course. This article explores a variety of honors course formats, honors students’ characteristics and learning preferences, and some ideas for restructuring the typical public speaking course to best accommodate honors students. As such, this article can serve as an initial step toward creating a new honors course or restructuring an existing course. The suggested formats and content changes can create added challenge and participatory experience to improve honors education.

Commentary: The Research Foundation For Instruction In The Beginning Public Speaking Course, Lawrence W. Hugenberg, Barbara S. Moyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

The history of public speaking instruction is rooted in classical rhetorical theories. There is a lack of recent communication research findings cited in textbooks to support instruction in the beginning public speaking course. This research examined five leading public speaking texts in the hopes of finding contemporary communication research findings to support the advice given to students. This survey reveals little research being cited in beginning public speaking texts. The authors conclude with a discussion of reasons why research is not cited and offer communication scholars a challenge to conduct research to support pedagogical claims.

Author Identifications

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 10

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (174 pages, 6.4 MB)

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Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Basic Communication Texts: Factors In Student Learning And Textbook Adoption Decisions, Donald D. Yoder, Robert A. Davilla

Basic Communication Course Annual

The purpose of this study is to assess existing pedagogical assumptions about basic communication course textbook features. Two separate surveys were administered to students (N= 1,379) and instructors (N= 118) in basic communication courses at 15 colleges and universities.

The findings of the study are twofold. First, students and teachers differ in their perceptions of usefulness of textbook pedagogical features. Second, students perceive basic course texts to be less difficult and less theoretical though more interesting, enjoyable, relevant, and practical than other introductory course texts. When making publication and text selection decisions, the findings help authors and teachers better choose …

Editorial Policy

Basic Communication Course Annual

The Editor and the Basic Course Commission invite submissions to the considered for publication in the Basic Communication Course Annual. The Annual is distributed nationally to scholars and educators interested in the basic communication course. Articles are accepted for review throughout the year for publication consideration. Manuscripts exploring significant issues for the basic course, research in the basic course, instructional practices, graduate assistant training, classroom teaching tips, or the status, role, and future of the basic communication course are invited. It is incumbent on contributors to establish a position on how the work they seek to have published advances knowledge …

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

Editors and manuscript reviewers for Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 9 (1997)

Contents

Basic Communication Course Annual

Table of contents and abstracts for all articles in the volume

Three Metaphors For The Competencies Acquired In The Public Speaking Class, Michael Osborn

Basic Communication Course Annual

The many skills taught in the basic public speaking class come together in three fundamental metaphors. The first of these, the speaker as builder, suggests we need to shape our surroundings through the spoken word. The second, the speaker as weaver, includes the arts of shaping symbols into the fabric of a speech, and of designing evidence and proofs into the tapestry of argument. The third, the speaker as climber, emphasizes overcoming interference. Barriers of fear, indifference, suspicion, and cultural variation recede as speakers and listeners learn to climb them.

Written Feedback In The Basic Course: What Instructors Provide And What Students Deem Helpful, Karla Kay Jensen, Elizabeth R. Lamoureux

Basic Communication Course Annual

Although the issue of speech evaluation has been a mainstay in our discipline, an updated discussion of written feedback merits our attention. To revisit this topic, this two-part content analysis first reveals the type of written feedback instructors offer students in basic public speaking classes.

Building on these findings, the second part focuses on student perceptions of the helpfulness of the written feedback. The findings are collectively discussed and their implications for written evaluations of students' oral performances are considered. Any instructor who has labored over written critiques, wondering whether students actually read and/or use the comments can value from …

Culture Shock In The Basic Communication Course: A Case Study Of Malaysian Students, Eunkyong Lee Yook

Basic Communication Course Annual

Malaysian students compose a large student group coming to the U.S. for higher education. Despite these numbers, however, there has been little attention given to their culture shock in the classroom. The present study investigates the concerns of Malaysian students in the basic communication course. Through interviews with Malaysian students, this study concludes that Malaysian students perceive having three major problems in presenting speeches in basic communication courses.

The first problem is the language barrier. Another is that certain nonverbal behaviors such as gesturing and talking in a loud tone are seen as disrespectful in their culture. Third, they have …

The Em-Powter-Ing Of America: Using Info-Mercials To Teach Persuasion And Popular Discourse In The Basic Communication Course, Daniel W. Heaton

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article describes how a critique of Susan Powter's "Stop the Insanity!" info-mercial provides educators with an effective, class-tested, and fun assignment to be included in the persuasion section of a basic communication course. This assignment provides students with an excellent example of a message from popular discourse that follows Monroe's Motivated Sequence. It also facilitates discussion of several key issues related to persuasion in general. Additionally, because this activity uses a popular discourse text, students enhance their critical thinking skills and become more critical consumers of messages they receive through popular discourse.

The Use Of Simulation In The Beginning Public Speaking Classroom: Let's Make It Realistic, Relevant And Motivating, John J. Miller

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article offers the instructional method, the simulation, as an alternative public speaking assignment in the beginning public speaking course. The three phases of simulation, play, debriefing, and journal writing, are described. Simulations should be realistic and relate to student goals, interests, or career aspirations. As a result, the assignment has two benefits. Simulation creates a clear rhetorical situations which aids students in the topic selection process. Further, its relevancy to the student increases the motivation to learn the art of public speaking.

Computer-Mediated Learning Environments: Theory And Research Into Practice, Chris R. Rasch

Basic Communication Course Annual

Information technology is furnishing modes of accessing and manipulating knowledge which are radically different from those offered by the traditional curriculum. Teaching effectiveness in the basic course is likely to depend increasingly on understanding the nature, function, benefits and potential costs of computer-mediated communication. The purposes of this article are to: (1) review theory and research illuminating the potential benefits and costs of computer-mediated instruction, (2) suggest some starting points for implementing computer-mediated instruction, and (3) identify factors which are likely to influence the effectiveness of teaching in computer-mediated environments.

Two Heads Are Better Than One? Setting Realizable Goals In The Basic Course, Glen Williams

Basic Communication Course Annual

Establishing goals is central to the success of the basic course. The degree to which those goals are realized depends, in large measure, upon the manner in which they are established and reviewed. This article assists course directors and instructional staff by examining the process of defining objectiveness, a process which encompasses goals, mission, and vision and which benefits from widespread, active involvement. This article presents sample objectives for consideration, and it notes the conditions under which the process of defining objectives thrives or is threatened.

A Commentary: The Basic Communication Course, General Education And Assessment, Lawrence W. Hugenberg, Barbara S. Moyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

The importance of developing student communication skills in a general education program is a focal point of each college and university accrediting agency in the United States. However, course directors and faculty frequently find themselves at the center of a controversy when trying to include a basic communication course in skill development in a general education program. This article develops a case for the inclusion of a basic communication course in a general education program.

Author Information

Basic Communication Course Annual

Biographical information about those who contributed scholarly content to this issue.

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 9

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full Issue (182 pages, 10.27 KB)

Accounts And Self Image: A Pilot Study, Jarrett Bourne

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Communication by Jarrett Bourne on April 23, 1996.

The Differential Impact Of A Basic Public Speaking Course On Perceived Communication Competencies In Class, Work, And Social Contexts, Michael W. Kramer, J. S. Hinton

Basic Communication Course Annual

Communication departments generally choose between a public speaking and a hybrid course of their basic course. Previous research has shown that students' perceptions of their communication competencies increase after completing a hybrid course (Ford & Wolvin, 1992, 1993). After noting similarities between public speaking and hybrid courses, this study examines students' perceptions of their competencies after completing a public a speaking course.

Results indicated that students' perceptions of their competencies changed significantly in class, work, and social contacts in such areas as public speaking, interpersonal and group communication, interviewing, listening, and self-confidence. The largest gains were in perceptions of their …

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Contents

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

[En]Visioning Success: The Anatomy And Functions Of Vision In The Basic Course, Glen Williams

Basic Communication Course Annual

The success of the basic course depends largely upon a vision that values the course and its place in the undergraduate curriculum, emphasizes the necessity of ongoing training and development of teaching assistants and other instructors, and that values the scholarship that will enhance those efforts as well as improve instruction.

Facilitated by a participative style of leadership, the vision and the process of visioning helps to forge group consciousness and dedication, and it helps to clarify tasks, enabling peak performance. The vision also acquaints outsiders with the course and its goals in a manner likely to foster appreciation and …

Students Who Stutter And The Basic Course: Attitudes And Communication Strategies For The College Classroom, Bryan B. Whaley, Aimée Langlois

Basic Communication Course Annual

Individuals who stutter are erroneously perceived by those who do not as having undesirable personality traits. As a result, those who stutter are discriminated against in social situations, in the workplace and, of special concern here, college classrooms. However, the college experience for those who stutter can be enhanced when they are provided with a communication atmosphere that meets their needs. This essay, therefore, argues the necessity for communication instructors to have a basic understanding of stuttering, and provides strategies for meeting the classroom communicative needs of students who stutter.

Rethinking The Role Of Theory In The Basic Course: Taking A 'Practical' Approach To Communication Education, Shawn Spano

Basic Communication Course Annual

This essay advances a particular form of communication theory, known as "practical theory," and illustrates how it can be integrated into the basic course. A practical approach to theory involves the "rational reconstruction of practices" such that the events studied and the principles used to study those events co-evolve through the act of theorizing and the actual performance of communication. The essay examines some of the obstacles prohibiting the use of practical theory and provides a model and extended example for illustrating how the practical approach can be used in the basic communication course.