Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

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.

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 …

Suppressing Cultural Sensitivity: The Role Of Whiteness In Instructors' Course Content And Pedagogical Practices, Laura C. Prividera

Basic Communication Course Annual

Research indicates that students of color often experience marginalization in their academic pursuits at predominantly white institutions. This study utilized critical whiteness studies to examine how communication teachers who instructed basic courses enacted cultural sensitivity in their course content and pedagogical practices. Fifteen faculty at seven academic institutions were interviewed about their teaching practices. Three recurring themes emerged in the data analysis: (a) culture and absence, (b) culture and the marginal, and (c) culture and conflict. These themes revealed how whiteness functioned implicitly to place cultural and diversity issues outside of my participants’ knowing and thus outside of their basic …

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editor's Page, Scott Titsworth

Basic Communication Course Annual

As my tenure as editor of the Basic Communication Course Annual comes to an end, I have a great deal of excitement about the future of communication education and basic course scholarship. Looking back on the three most recent volumes, the diversity of scholars and ideas is remarkable. Moreover, careful readings of articles found in these volumes will show that these scholars are using rigorous methods to ask and answer theoretically provocative and practically potent questions. Indeed, these volumes will add to the rich history of this journal and will also serve as a foundation from which to build as …

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Connected Classroom Climate And Communication Apprehension: Correlations And Implications Of The Basic Course, Robert E. Carlson, Karen Kangas Dwyer, Shereen G. Bingham, Ana M. Cruz, Marshall Prisbell, Dennis A. Fuss

Basic Communication Course Annual

Although scholars have recommended increasing relational variables in the classroom such as familiarity, acquaintance level, and collaboration to help students moderate communication apprehension (CA), few, if any, academic studies have investigated the relationship between CA and a supportive climate among students in the college classroom. Self-report data were collected from 523 undergraduate students from a Midwestern university who participated in a large curriculum assessment program using the Connected Classroom Climate Inventory (CCCI) and the PRCA-24. Results showed significant relationships between student perceptions of connected-classroom climate and CA levels throughout the course.

The First Year Experience (Fye) And The Basic Communication Course: Insights From Theory And Practice, David W. Worley, Debra A. Worley

Basic Communication Course Annual

Institutions of higher learning increasingly focus on the first year experience (FYE), given the twin needs of persistence and retention. In view of this renewed emphasis, this essay provides insights from theory and practice exploring how the basic oral communication course (BOCC) can adapt existing basic course content and pedagogy, as informed by the standards established by the National Communication Association, to more effectively address the FYE. Specifically, this essay summarizes FYE scholarly literature, reviews representative FYE textbooks, and discusses apparent connections between FYE, basic communication content, and the ways in which the BOCC can practically and naturally link to …

Speaking Assignment Options: Enhancing Student Involvement In The Learning Process, David E. Williams, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article reports on the use of speaking assignment options implemented at Texas Tech University. Students in the public speaking classes were given the option of delivering a manuscript speech or a reasoned response. The rationale for the assignment options is that students will be more motivated to perform an assignment that they have a choice in and seen more personal benefit in. The paper will address each assignment, how the speaking assignment options were implemented and some results from a survey administered to the students who completed the speaking assignment options exercise.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistants And Their Use Of Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors In The Basic Communication Course, Wesley T. Durham, Adam C. Jones

Basic Communication Course Annual

Over the past two decades, perhaps no instructional communication topic has been researched as thoroughly as teacher immediacy. However, one important area of the existing teacher immediacy literature that remains underdeveloped is how undergraduate teaching assistants enact immediacy behaviors, and how, if at all, students respond to these teaching assistants differently based on the enactment of these behaviors. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to gain a clearer understanding as to what, if any, immediacy behaviors are used by undergraduate teaching assistants in the basic communication course at a large Midwestern university. The researchers conducted 50 hours of observation …

Enacting A Pragmatist Educational Metaphysic Through Civic Engagement In The Basic Media Studies Course, Shawn T. Wahl, Chad Edwards

Basic Communication Course Annual

We argue that in order to help forward John Dewey’s vision of a pragmatist educational metaphysic, civic engagement through service learning in the basic media studies communication course is a possible plan of action. Specifically, we focus on basic media studies communication courses (e.g., introduction to media criticism, media and society, media and culture) and discuss ways to implement civic-oriented service learning activities for the purposes of fostering greater civic engagement. We draw on literature concerning media literacy and service learning that lead to a case study featuring application of Dewey’s philosophy to a media literacy project. This essay is …

Instructors, Students, Managers, And The Basic Organizational Communication Course: Are We All Working Together Or Working Apart?, M. Sean Limon, Philip J. Aust, Lance R. Lippert

Basic Communication Course Annual

Three studies were conducted to determine the extent of overlap between basic organizational communication textbook content (1990-2002), student perceptions of basic organizational communication knowledge and skills important for the workplace, and managerial expectations of communication knowledge and skills for graduates. Overall, findings indicate overlap on assigning importance to group/team communication, leadership, verbal communication, and conflict management; however, there were differences on a range of topics addressed in the basic organizational communication course deemed essential for job success. Implications of the studies’ findings indicate that organizational communication textbooks could emphasize more “soft skills” such as interpersonal relationships, listening, dealing with conflict, …

Re-Focusing The Basic Public Speaking Course: Changing To An Epideictic Framework To Create Community, Janis L. King

Basic Communication Course Annual

This article will first look at five speeches given by various Nobel Prize winners to determine if speakers were asked to prepare and deliver something other than the traditional speech. Secondly, a review of Megan Smith’s legislator’s speeches, which were delivered in public and received media coverage, will be conducted. Lastly, this essay will suggest the reason for the new expectations and provide a new framework for public speaking courses.

The Basic Course As Social Change, Mark Leeman, Arvind Singhal

Basic Communication Course Annual

Working as an agent of social change calls for perseverance and determination. In our work as, and with, change agents all over the world we have seen many well-meaning people working to serve populations that are often hopeless about the future, demoralized, and/or seeking quick solutions that may not address the real issues or causes of problems. At our university we often see similar characteristics in students enrolled in the basic course. That population can be similarly hopeless about the future (at least in the course), de-motivated, and dreaming of escape through the attainment of a passing grade via the …

Revising Pedagogical Strategies In Large Enrollment General Education Courses, Deborah Craig

Basic Communication Course Annual

The goal of this paper is to describe and present initial findings of a pilot research project conducted spring semester 2005 and funded through a fellowship from the Academic Development Center at the author’s university. The pilot project focuses on the pedagogical strategy of speaking themes and how the use of themes can facilitate the goals of the AACU, address student intellectual development and increase motivation through student autonomy. This paper identifies a problem, briefly reviews communication education literature, presents a theoretical perspective from which to view the problem, presents initial findings, and discusses implications of theory application and initial …

The Use Of Professional Seminars To Prepare Future Faculty For Teaching Basic Communication Courses, Lynn M. Harter, Elizabeth Graham, Stephanie Norander, Daniel E. Rossi-Keen

Basic Communication Course Annual

We focus in this essay on three substantive accomplishments of professional seminars that merit attention because of their ramifications for how we teach and learn in basic communication courses: (1) accomplishing teaching, research, and service as inter-related scholarly acts, (2) interlacing stories of our discipline with stories of learners’ lives, and (3) providing institutionalized support for teaching and learning. Additionally, we offer example reading lists and assignment sheets (see Appendices A, B, and C) in hopes that such resources might prove useful for other graduate programs committed to holistic preparation for students entering the academy.

Case Study Of A Basic Course: Using Assessment To Legitimize Innovation, Marlene M. Preston, Rachel Holloway

Basic Communication Course Annual

As public higher education enters an era of increasing demand, shrinking resources, increased competition, and restructuring (Hebel, Schmidt, & Selingo, 2002; Schmidt, 2002), many colleges and universities will turn to measures of productivity and quality to decide what new efforts will be funded and what efforts will be discontinued. Because change will be necessary for public universities to thrive (Yudof, 2002), basic courses may be increasingly called upon to prove their efficacy and/or shift their focus to meet new demands.

The following case study describes the five-year process through which a two-semester first-year communication sequence was accepted into the general …

Kenneth Burke, The Basic Communication Course, And Applied Scholarship, Scott Titsworth, Ben Bates, Pam Kenniston

Basic Communication Course Annual

The Journal of Applied Communication Research published a forum of position papers in 2000 (Volume 28, Issue 2) that sought to define “applied communication research.” Collectively, the authors called for scholarship that embodies a reflexive relationship between theory and practice (O’Hair, 2000; Keyton, 2000, Cissna, 2000; Eadie, 2000; Frey, 2000; Seibold, 2000; Wood, 2000). In this essay, we call for applied scholarship that focuses on how we talk, perform, and theorize the basic communication course. Drawing from the works of Kenneth Burke (e.g., 1931/1968; 1935; 1937/1984; 1941/ 1967; 1945/1969; 1954/1984), we focus specifically on the salience of discourses of and …

Author Biographies

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Index Of Titles And Authors, Volumes 1-17

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.

Synthesizing The First 15 Years Of The Basic Communication Course Annual: What Research Tells Us About Effective Pedagogy, Stephen K. Hunt, David R. Novak, Julie L. Semlak, Kevin R. Meyer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Despite the popularity of the both the basic course in communication and the Basic Communication Course Annual, questions still remain about the empirical support for the ways in which we teach the basic course. This essay categorizes and synthesizes 61 empirical studies published from 1989 to 2004 in the Basic Communication Course Annual. The studies are classified into five categories: teaching strategies, teacher and student characteristics, status of the basic course, analyses of texts for the basic course, and assessment of the basic course. Several salient themes are developed and suggestions for future research are advanced.