Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Communication, Crisis, And Identity: Dialectical Tensions In Family Narratives About Hurricane Katrina, Laura Poole Rogers

Dissertations

In this study victims of Hurricane Katrina ordered their experiences with the crisis into meaningful themes which expressed their values, actions, inactions, occupations, needs and losses, and feelings. In interviews participants explained what happened, when it happened, how they responded, how they thought they should have responded, and how they handled situations surrounding the storm. Narratives about situations after the storm revealed descriptions of their and others' relationships in interactions with representatives of larger social units. The dialectical analysis revealed dialectical tensions that emphasized participants' dynamic and changing relationships and identities. Dialectical analysis of narratives about those relationships revealed dialectical …

International Terrorism:Role ,Responsibility And Operation Of Media Channles, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

"Terrorism" is a term that cannot be given a stable defintion. Or rather, it can, but to do so forstalls any attempt to examine the major feature of its relation to television in the contemporary world. As the central public arena for organising ways of picturing and talking about social and political life, TV plays a pivotal role in the contest between competing defintions, accounts and explanations of terrorism. Which term is used in any particular context is inextricably tied to judgemements about the legitimacy of the action in question and of the political system against which it is directed. …

Paul’S Contextualization Of The Gospel Before The Areopagus In Acts 17, Philip J. Luca

Senior Honors Theses

The following thesis is an analysis on Paul’s presentation of the gospel to the Areopagus as recorded in Acts 17:22-31. The reasons behind his drastic permutation of the kerygma will be scrutinized by studying the exposition of the main components of the speech in parallel with an analysis of his audience. The objective of the thesis is to investigate the Apostle’s consistency with the orthodox kerygma as well as his interaction with the Gentile listeners. In conclusion, consequences for a relevant gospel presentation today will be proposed in light of Paul’s homily to the Areopagite Council.

Ua3/9/5 Presentation To Joint Committee On Education, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Presentation by WKU president Gary Ransdell to the Kentucky Joint Committee on Education. Data regarding WKU enrollment, tuition, degrees awarded, student retention, graduation statistics, transfer students, Applied Research & Technology Program, Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM), SKy Teach, student financial aid, Finish WKU, Division of Extended Learning & Outreach (DELO), WKU Glasgow, WKU E-town/Radcliff/Ft. Knox, WKU Owensboro, Gatton Academy of Mathematics & Science and doctoral programs.

The President And The Press: The Framing Of George W. Bush’S Speech To The United Nations, Stephen D. Cooper, Jim Kuypers, Matt Althous

Communications Faculty Research

In this essay, we provide a brief overview of how frames work, discuss the relationship of frames to the news media, and perform a qualitatively based, comparative framing analysis of President Bush’s speech to the United Nations and the mainstream American press response that followed. Findings suggest that by the end of formal military operations in Afghanistan, the press was increasingly framing its reports in such a way that President Bush’s public statements were inaccurately transmitted to the public at large. Three key findings are advanced: one, the press depicted the Bush administration as an enemy of civil liberties; two, …

Ua3/9/5 Faculty & Staff Opening Convocation, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at fall convocation. He discusses achievements, budget cuts, strategic planning, tuition, construction and degree productivity.

Rhetoric With Humor: An Analysis Of Hispanic/Latino Comedians' Uses Of Humor, George Pacheco Jr.

Dissertations

Hispanic/Latino comedians' use of humor as argument is a rich environment to study. The relationship between the comedian (as the joke teller) and the audience (as the receivers of the joke) creates an environment where many topical boundaries fall, and the comedian is free to express him/herself without fear of persecution or ridicule. More specifically, this setting allows the comedian to use the platform as joke teller to communicate arguments to the audience through humor. Comedians who use humor rhetorically often communicate arguments about well-known stereotypes freely because audiences attend shows expecting to laugh.

Using Kenneth Burke's (1959) perspective by …

Comedy In Unfunny Times: News Parody And Carnival After 9/11, Paul Achter

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Comedy has a special role in helping societies manage crisis moments, and the U.S. media paid considerable attention to the proper role of comedy in public culture after the 9/11 tragedies. As has been well documented, many popular U.S. comic voices were paralyzed in trying to respond to 9/11 or disciplined by audiences when they did. Starting with these obstacles in mind, this essay analyzes early comic responses to 9/11, and particularly those of the print and online news parody The Onion, as an example of how “fake” news discourse could surmount the rhetorical chill that fell over public …

X Is A Journey: Embodied Simulation In Metaphor Interpretation, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay compares simulation-based accounts of metaphor processing recently proposed by Gibbs (2006a) and Ritchie (2006), using examples of metaphors based on the metaphor vehicle "journey" from four different texts. From analysis of these different examples, it is concluded that simulation may come into play at different levels, depending on the metaphor and the context in which it is used. Further, it is suggested that the imaginative simulation of the object or action named by a metaphor vehicle, proposed by Gibbs, incorporates a partial subset of detail-level perceptual simulators. This leads to the proposal that the two models describe cognitive …

La Parole Au Féminin : La Narratrice De Cette Fille-Là De Maïssa Bey, Ana Soler

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

In Maïssa Bey’s novel, Cette fille-là, the character of Malika serves as a narrative plea for change. Since her childhood, Malika has strived to create an inward, personal imaginary for herself, as a defence mechanism against a hostile environment. In the workhouse, she adopts the role of storyteller for all those companions of hers, excluded as she is, from society. As the receptor of confidential information, she delights in verbally re-enacting their intimate stories, sprinkling them with accounts of her own experiences. By thus establishing Marika’s voice as a “link-route” to the novel’s subjacent vocal polyphony, the character is presented …

Creating Destiny: Crafting A Historical Tale Based Upon The Life Of Emmeline B. Wells., Rishi Allen Richardson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the process and procedures employed by storytellers to craft an oral historical narrative. Contemporary storytellers are working toward a transferable methodology and this work is an effort toward that end. Using the various procedures described by nearly 20 storytellers, a single process is assembled. The methodology is then tested, checking for transferability.

The case study used to test the methodology is based on the life of Emmeline B. Wells, the fifth Relief Society President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wells was born in Massachusetts and emigrated to the west in 1848. She edited …

The Rhetorical Strategies Of Pregnancy Support Centers Including The Visual Rhetoric Of Fetal Ultrasound Technology, Raymond Kyle Jones

Dissertations

This study examined the rhetorical strategies, including verbal and visual rhetoric, of pregnancy support centers that provide clients with fetal ultrasounds to persuade those who may be considering abortion as a means of resolving their unplanned pregnancy to carry to term. Qualitative data were gathered from 12 interviews of directors and ultrasound personnel from 7 states as well as from television advertisements and printed material. Eighteen research questions investigating the rhetorical transactions between centers and clients were answered. Rhetorical analyses were performed on the verbal and visual messages used in client interactions.

The grounded theory approach of inquiry resulted in …

Comparing The Quality Of Language Samples Obtained Under Three Sampling Conditions From Children With Hearing Impairment, Katie E. Stilwell

Masters Theses

Objective: To determine if there was an optimal language sampling context for children with hearing impairment; specifically, if any well-documented method of obtaining a language sample was superior to the others in describing the areas of language that are known to serve as a foundation for later literacy development.

Participants: Nine children with hearing impairment who used oral language as their primary mode of communication from the University of Tennessee Child Hearing Services clinic were selected to participate in the study. All were from Caucasian families who spoke English as their primary language and with the exception of hearing impairment, …

Instructional Proxemics: Creating A Place For Space In Instructional Communication Discourse, John Mcarthur

All Dissertations

Changes in strategies of teaching and learning, changes in students, and changes in technology have necessitated contemporary changes in spaces of learning. Grounded in the general model of instructional communication (McCroskey, Valencic, & Richmond, 2004), this study proposes Instructional Proxemics as a conceptual framework for assessing the instructional environment through a blending of instructional communication and information/user-experience design. In a field-experiment involving five instructors teaching 15 sections of Public Speaking, students (n = 234) were invited to respond to a survey assessing measures of student learning, teacher behaviors, classroom practices, and classroom perceptions.
Results of this study indicate that learning …

A Primary Human Challenge, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

We may ask why, at both the individual and collective levels, it has seemed so difficult for us to choose to evolve our human games with Joy. There is no one answer for such a question, for each of us has the gift of free will. I will suggest, however, that built into our human games is what I call a primary human challenge. That primary human challenge is a dynamic tension, flowing from our creative urge for the freedom “to be” who we really are in our current physical form, and simultaneously to embrace our responsibility for our Being-ness.

“Let Us March Against The Fires Of Heaven:” Tamburlaine, Marlowe And Atheism, Nathaniel Beal

Speech & Drama Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Ua3/9/5 Student Rally At The Capitol, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at student rally against budget cuts in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Ua3/9/5 Improving The Education Attainment Of Kentuckians At All Levels, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Presentation by WKU president Gary Ransdell at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Summit.

Ua3/9/5 Kentucky Teacher Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony, Wku President's Office

WKU Archives Records

Speech delivered by WKU president Gary Ransdell at the 2008 Kentucky Teacher Hall of Fame induction ceremony honoring Jan Lanham, Patrice McCrary and Shelia Miller.

Capitalizing On Affect: Viagra (In)Action, Kristin A. Swenson

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Recent cultural criticisms of Viagra’s advertisements and promotional materials have argued that rhetorical constructions of Viagra users reestablish a hegemonic masculinity premised on heterosexual standards of traditional gender norms (Baglia, 2005; Bordo, 2000; Loe, 2004). Cultural critics have also noted that Viagra’s promotional materials allow “for alternative readings by potential users who do not fall into the category of the ‘traditional/ideal’ Viagra user” including women and homosexual men (Mamo & Fishman, 2001, p. 14). What most criticisms fail to take into account is that Viagra, like other lifestyle drugs, does not only reestablish cultural constructs of the contemporary gendered body …

Gloria Steinem, "Testimony Before Senate Hearings On The Equal Rights Amendment" (6 May 1970), Jill M. Weber

Communication Studies Faculty Scholarship

In her testimony before the Senate ERA hearings, Gloria Steinem refuted sex‐based myths about women and championed the ERA. Situating the ERA within the larger civil rights movement, Steinem called on Congress to acknowledge women's oppression as a serious political issue. She also worked to make women's rights issues more appealing to a mainstream audience by talking about the ERA's benefits for men and women and by emphasizing the democratic principles it embodied.

Race And Resistance In The Communication Classroom, Paul Fotsch

Basic Communication Course Annual

Teaching diversity is no longer segregated to ethnic studies departments or to intercultural communication courses. Consequently, many students have become resistant to the idea of spending time--"yet again"--on the issue of race. Communication scholars have described a kind of resistance found frequently in the basic communication classroom and likewise proposed various responses to this resistance. Through a review of the literature and drawing on my ten years of experience teaching diversity in the university, this essay assesses these responses. One source of white student discomfort comes from the increasing visibility of whiteness, so two strategies used to address this discomfort …

Submission Guidelines

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Redesigning Public Speaking: A Case Study In The Use Of Instructional Design To Create The Interchange Model, Marlene M. Preston, J. Matt Giglio, Kristin N. English

Basic Communication Course Annual

This case study describes the redesign of Public Speaking at a Research I institution. An instructional analysis revealed strengths of and concerns about the existing model--large lecture with small lab sections. Criteria for a new model emerged from that analysis, all of which hinged on an overarching goal: The course should incorporate learning theory and disciplinary theory and should result in student learning, student skill development, and enhanced satisfaction among stakeholders. The Interchange Model, which included some online delivery, was developed to meet identified needs and was fleshed out with course materials and semester plans. The model was piloted and …

Assessing Classroom Management Training For Basic Course Instructors, Kevin R. Meyer, Stephen K. Hunt, Mark E. Comadena, Cheri J. Simonds, Brent K. Simonds, John R. Baldwin

Basic Communication Course Annual

Extant research demonstrates that graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) experience student misbehaviors in the classroom and that basic course administrators should be proactive in preparing GTAs for classroom management issues (Meyer et al., 2007). Following the recommendation for the development of classroom management training (CMT) by Meyer et al. (2007), the present study sought to assess the implementation of CMT. Specifically, a group of GTAs completed the same survey instrument twice following the completion of CMT, once early in the semester and again at the end of the semester.

Results of the present study indicate that GTA reports of student misbehavior …

Pedagogy Of Relevance: A Critical Communication Pedagogy Agenda For The 'Basic' Course, Deanna L. Fassett, John T. Warren

Basic Communication Course Annual

In this article, we envision how a critical communication pedagogy approach might lend narrative coherence, intellectual rigor, and a focused agenda to the introductory course. Such a paradigm shift is not only consistent with the trajectory of work in our discipline, but it will likely result in ourselves and others assigning more value and respect to our work with the introductory course. Specifically, we advocate four changes with respect to the introductory course: Challenge “teacher-proof” textbooks and curricula, engage diversity, embrace pedagogy as teaching and research, and recover and reinvigorate communication education research.

Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Biological Sex, Previous Experience, And Preparation Time On Classroom Public Speaking Grades, Judy C. Pearson, Jeffrey T. Child

Basic Communication Course Annual

How does biological sex affect public speaking grades? Students completed journal entries over the course of the semester. Hierarchical multiple regression incrementally examined competency measures (previous experience and overall preparation time) then biological sex on public speaking grade averages. Competency measures predicted higher speech grade averages, but women still earned higher speech grades even after the effects of competency had been removed. Among the explanations offered are that women may be more competent than men, a combination of competence and compliance explains women’s higher grades, or public speaking classrooms perpetuate a female competency bias.

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.