Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Improving Interviewing And Conversational Skills Using "Speed Interviewing", Colleen Arendt

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

A great deal of research focuses on the importance of effective interviewing skills across professions and interpersonal settings. This activity, based on “speed dating,” is designed to improve students’ interviewing skills. Specifically, the activity develops listening and probing skills by having students conduct mini interviews without preparation. The lack of preparation forces students to rely only on their listening and probing skills instead of an interview protocol. To increase difficulty, the questions can be tailored to employment or internship interviews to help the interviewees prepare while their partners practice listening and asking probing questions. This activity can also be modified …

"I Don't Always Look At Memes, But When I Do, It's For A Class": Using Memes To Demonstrate Language Rules, Jocelyn M. Degroot, Hannah Coy

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity uses Internet memes to demonstrate the pervasiveness of language rules and culture’s effect on language in online culture. Numerous introductory communication courses include a discussion on verbal communication that focuses on language rules and the effects of culture on verbal communication. The most relevant language rules for memes are the regulative rules that guide action and how we use language (Cronen, Pearce, & Harris, 1979). In this exercise, students analyze and evaluate language rules present in popular online memes. The students identify the language rule utilized in each of a pre-chosen set of Internet memes and generate at …

The Public Sphere As Site Of Emancipation And Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique Of Digital Communication, David Ingram, Asaf Bar-Tura

David Ingram

Habermas claims that an inclusive public sphere is the only deliberative forum for generating public opinion that satisfies the epistemic and normative conditions underlying legitimate decision-making. He adds that digital technologies and other mass media need not undermine – but can extend – rational deliberation when properly instituted. This paper draws from social epistemology and technology studies to demonstrate the epistemic and normative limitations of this extension. We argue that current online communication structures fall short of satisfying the required epistemic and normative conditions. Furthermore, the extent to which Internet-based communications contribute to legitimate democratic opinion and will formation depends …

Girls Are Us: A Collection Of Oral Histories From The Jmu Community, Anne M. Sherman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

On a campus where women make up a majority of the student population, it is especially important that female voices are heard and given a platform on which they can control their own narrative. I wanted to give those female-identifying voices that platform. I conducted a series of interviews to examine how college-aged female-identifying students feel about their identity and how they construct that identity within the climate of the JMU community. I was particularly interested in the intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual preference, and ability. I asked each person to share their stories of times when they …

Sexuality & Perspective, Emma Tabei, Emily Ellison, Tyrell J. Osborn, Ileana Garnand

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Whitney Pisani

Papers Presented:

"Siren's Song of Sapiosexuality" by Emma Tabei

Abstract: Gender and male and female communications is discussed just as much if not more than politics currently. As we get more and more interested in understanding communication between genders, perhaps we need to look at where we came from instead of guessing what will happen next. Homer's, "Odyssey," specifically the "Siren's Song," pits male and female gender roles and perspectives against each other resulting in an untraditional look at modern female and male communications far ahead of Homer’s time; departing from the stereotypical gender looking glass. …

Call For Manuscripts, Joseph P. Mazer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Submissions are invited for publication consideration in Volume 30 of the Basic Communication Course Annual (2018). Managed by the Basic Course Division of the National Communication Association and published by the University of Dayton, the Annual publishes the best scholarship available on topics related to the basic course and is distributed nationally to scholars and educators interested in the basic communication course. Each article will be published online and indexed on the journal’s website.

All manuscripts submitted to the Annual will undergo blind peer review. Two or three members of the editorial board read and review each manuscript. The …

Centering Information Literacy (As) Skills And Civic Engagement In The Basic Communication Course: An Integrated Course Library Collaboration, Liliana Herakova, Jennifer Bonnet, Mark Congdon Jr.

Basic Communication Course Annual

In an era of proliferating “fake news” stories (Fisher, Cox, & Herman, 2016; Mikkelson, 2016; Rutenberg, 2016; Tavernise, 2016), and a “post-truth” political climate (Higgins, 2016; Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), the need to pair public communication and civil discourse with information literacy instruction is more important than ever. A recent study by researchers at Stanford University revealed an alarming trend among students from middle school to college: while students at various stages of their formative education may have a facility with social media use and Internet navigation, they are easily deceived when asked to determine if the information they have read …

Embracing Social Media In The Basic Communication Course: Recommendations For The Digital Age, Soo-Kwang Oh, Jennifer S. Owlett

Basic Communication Course Annual

For communication scholars, the “bread and butter” (Dance, 2002), or “front porch” (Beebe, 2013), of the discipline is the basic course. The basic course is “that communication course either required or recommended for a significant number of undergraduates; that course which the department has, or would recommend as a requirement for all or most undergraduates” (Morreale, Hanna, Berko, & Gibson, 1999, p. 3). Most departments provide either a public speaking or hybrid course as their basic course (Valenzano, Wallace, & Morreale, 2014). Part of maintaining this “porch” is understanding what adaptations are needed. The basic communication course has undergone several …

Universal Adaptation: The Need To Enhance Accessibility In The Basic Course, Michael G. Strawser, Brandi N. Frisby, Renee Kaufmann

Basic Communication Course Annual

It is well-documented that the basic course is the front porch of the communication discipline (Beebe, 2013). Regularly part of general education, the basic course introduces students who may never experience another communication course to communication-based content. Because of the prominence of the basic course in general education, the scope of participating students is vast in terms of motivation and ability. This varied population may present several challenges for basic course instructors. One oft-forgotten issue, or an afterthought in course design, is the development and implementation of accessible basic course delivery and materials for students with disabilities. We believe it …

Adapting The Basic Communication Course For A Globally And Technologically Mediated 21st-Century Context, Michael G. Strawser, Janet K. Mccormick

Basic Communication Course Annual

The global marketplace is ripe for a reiteration (or a reminder) of the characteristics of an effective international communicator. Thankfully, the basic course, the “front porch” of the communication discipline (Beebe, 2013), may serve as a catalyst for pinpointed transcultural communication skills training. As communication knowledge and skills training increases in domestic and global importance (Morreale, Myers, Backlund, & Simonds, 2016), it is imperative that the basic communication course adapts to meet the demands of an international job market for communication practitioners. As such, this forum piece will address desirable international professional communication behavior and position a revised basic course …

Capitalizing On The Inevitable: Adapting To Mobile Technology In The Basic Communication Course, Brandi N. Frisby

Basic Communication Course Annual

It is undeniable that college classrooms have evolved. Students are reliant on, and connected to, friends, family, and endless amounts of information through convenient, affordable, and mobile technology (Kuznekoff & Tisworth, 2013). Although Wei and Leung (1999) reported students found classrooms to be the least acceptable public place for cell phone use, this has not deterred the classroom from becoming “deeply saturated” by mobile devices (Kuznekoff, Munz, & Titsworth, 2015, p. 344). Instructors report technology challenges their “beliefs about the nature of learning and their role in the classroom” (Fairchild, Meiners, & Violette, 2016, p. 99). Despite student and faculty …

Basic Course Forum: Section Introduction

Basic Communication Course Annual

The Basic Course Forum is designed to invite scholars and basic course practitioners to propose and debate specific key questions of concern related to the basic course. The 2016 topic is “Adaptation.” Submissions address how the basic course has in the past adapted to changing demands or in the future can adapt thusly. In crafting the essays, authors were asked to focus on one demand or constraint that either has, does, or likely will influence the delivery and/or content of the basic course. They were asked to explain the constraint, how it is tied to the basic course, and what …

A Blended Basic Course Examination Of Communication Apprehension And Self-Efficacy: A Comparative Analysis, Michael G. Strawser, Amy. L. Housley Gaffney, Allyson Devito, Sarah E. Kercsmar, Michael Pennell

Basic Communication Course Annual

Students desire rich subject-matter and relevant pedagogy despite rising tuition costs, greater demands for flexibility, and unique learning preferences (Allen & Seaman, 2014; Donnelly, Rizvi, & Summers, 2013; Reed & Sork, 2009; Moore, 2007). As higher education modalities have evolved a careful examination of these newer approaches is necessary. This study is a comparative assessment of communication apprehension and self-efficacy of students in traditional (face-to-face) and blended (face-to-face and online instructional components) basic course modalities. Parallel sections of a basic communication course are assessed and results indicated no significant differences between the two groups with minor exceptions.

Basic Communication Course Students’ Perceptions Of The Purpose And Their Role In The Peer Feedback Process, Angela M. Hosek, Stevie Munz, Keith C. Bistodeau, Zamzam Jama, Andrew Frisbie, Sonia Rains Ivancic

Basic Communication Course Annual

Students enrolled in the basic communication course often engage in peer feedback workshops to enhance presentational speaking competence. As such, peer feedback workshops in the basic communication course provide an opportunity for students to provide and receive feedback on speech form, structure, and delivery (Broeckelman-Post & Hosek, 2014). The present study qualitatively examined data from 110 students enrolled in a basic communication course to determine their perceptions of the peer feedback process and what role(s), if any, they believed they had in the peer feedback process. Our thematic analysis revealed that students’ perceive peer feedback as a form of agency, …

The Impact Of Public Speaking And Hybrid Introductory Communication Courses On Student Perceptions Of Homophily And Classroom Climate, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Brenda L. Macarthur

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study examines whether public speaking and hybrid introductory communication courses contribute to whether students feel connected to one another as a result of taking the course. Results indicate that students develop stronger perceptions of homophily and connected classroom climate over time, and this growth is slightly larger in public speaking courses than in hybrid introductory communication courses. Attendance impacted the levels of perceived homophily and connected classroom climate at the end of the course. However, perceived homophily did not predict academic performance in either course, and perceptions of classroom connectedness only predicted the academic performance of students in the …

Research Articles: Section Introduction

Basic Communication Course Annual

The Basic Communication Course Annual publishes the best scholarship available on topics related to the basic course and is distributed nationally to scholars and educators interested in the basic communication course. Each article is indexed in its entirety in the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), an authoritative database of educational literature and resources. Essential for education researchers of all kinds, it features journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index.

Manuscripts published in the Basic Communication Course Annual are not restricted to any particular methodology or approach. They address issues that are significant …

Editor's Page, Joseph M. Valenzano Iii

Basic Communication Course Annual

The editor, Joseph Valenzano III, provides a summary on the content of Volume 29 and reflects on his term of service as editor of the Basic Communication Course Annual.

Front Cover, Title Page, Contents, Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.