Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Upward Compliance-Gaining Strategies: U.S.A. And Japan, Miyoko Fuse

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated cultural differences, U.S.A. and Japan, in the selection of compliance-gaining strategies by lower status people as differentiated from a group leader in a short-term, task-oriented relationship. The subjects for this study consisted of 114 (59 male and 55 female) U.S. college students and 165 (65 male and 100 female) Japanese college students. All subjects lived in Oregon.

After the subjects read the hypothetical scenario which involved changing a task for a classroom project, a 21 item questionnaire was administered. The questions were taken from Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson's (1980) study, and a six-point scale was used. The …

Comparative Scores Of Hearing-Impaired And Normally Hearing Children Given The Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test, Barbara Ann Mccomb

Dissertations and Theses

It is important that educators use adequate assessment procedures when placing hearing-impaired children in mainstreamed settings. Receptive vocabulary tests are part of the standardized test battery and can provide educators with valuable information. Although there has been a receptive vocabulary test recently developed for use with hearing-impaired children (CPVT), the most commonly used test with this population is the PPVT-R, which is standardized on normally hearing children. In order to further explore the difference between the receptive vocabulary of hearing-impaired and normally hearing children, a test standardized on hearing-impaired should be used.

The purpose of the present study was to …

Expressive Communication And Socialization Skills Of Five-Year Olds With Slow Expressive Language Development, Nicole Anne Midford

Dissertations and Theses

Beginning at birth, a child's receptive and expressive language skills are developing in stages. Likewise, the child's socialization skills are progressing in stages. However, it does not seem that communication and socialization are developing independently of each other. Rather, it seems that their development is interrelated. Children learn to speak in a social context, and social situations are necessary for the development of a variety of language structures. On the same note, in order for those language structures to develop normally, it is necessary for the child to participate in different social situations.

Social interactionists have theorized for some time …

Correlations Between The School Situations Questionnaire-Revised And Speech And Language Disorders, Geraldine Teresa Comerford

Dissertations and Theses

Many children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders also present with speech and language disorders. Children with attention deficits, in particular, have shown a much higher incidence of speech and language disorders than does the general population.

Traditionally, school speech-language pathologists have been responsible for conducting mass screenings to determine which children should be further evaluated for speech and language disorders. An increasing number of school districts are relying on teacher referrals to determine which children require speech-language evaluations. It was hypothesized that if teachers were able to identify children with attention deficits, these children may be appropriate for referral to …

The Assimilation And Integration Processes: A Study Of The Commitment Patterns During Students' Entry Into College, Suzanne M. Pastori

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the heuristic value of applying the organizational model of Jablin, Putnam, Roberts, and Porter (1987), who studied newcoming employees assimilating into an organization, to the study of newcoming students integrating into an educational institution.

Three hundred and fifty-five college students were surveyed. I used an adapted version of Mowday, Porter, and Steer's (1982) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire.

Two hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis One states: The higher the level of expressed commitment the more likely it is that the student will express the intention to remain. Hypothesis Two states: Within Terms One, Two, and Three, the higher the level …

Cultural Bias In The Assessment Of Phonological Processes In Conjunction With The App-R, Sharon Elise Soliday

Dissertations and Theses

Normal phonological development is characterized by phonological processes in preschool children. These processes are sound error patterns, in relation to the adult target, that are expected within the speech of normally developing children. As children grow older, they "outgrow" these developmental errors.

Within the black English dialect, speakers may use a combination of these processes and not be considered phonologically impaired within their linguistic community.

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare phonological process usage in the speech of lower socioeconomic black and white preschoolers.

The APP-R in conjunction with the CAPP was administered to two groups …

The Concepts Of Capitalism And Democracy In Implied Power Relations: Fractionation Philosophy And Theory, Randy Baker

Dissertations and Theses

This research proposes that it is possible to meaningfully examine the differences between subjects' perceptions of concepts at two different levels of analysis. The central theory, called "fractionation", is derived from structuration theory. The theory suggests that there is an important and particular difference between subjects' perceptions of key concepts at the value (abstract) level, as differentiated from the policy (action) level. The key concepts provided here are capitalism and democracy. Three major stages of data gathering and analysis were conducted. The first stage, carried out in several phases, surveyed 337 college students to gather words commonly associated with two …

Sentence Discrimination In Noise And Self-Assessed Hearing Difficulty, Dianna W. Brainerd

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the CID Everyday sentences, with competing cafeteria noise, as a measure of the real life receptive communication difficulty experienced by subjects with hearing loss limited to frequencies above 2000 Hz. In order to establish normative data the speech discrimination test w~s given to 38 normal hearing subjects (aged 19-46). Second, the discrimination test was given to 12 hearing impaired subjects (29-64), who also completed a self-assessment questionnaire, the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA). The results were analyzed to determine: (a) if there was a significant difference between the …

A Survey Of Aural Rehabilitation Services Provided To Hearing Impaired Clients In The Private Sector, Alison Metcalf

Dissertations and Theses

While the approaches for providing aural rehabilitation to the hearing impaired are well documented, no research and only a few articles addressed the comprehensive application of these approaches in the private sector. Therefore, a survey of audiologists was conducted to determine how extensively the approaches are being utilized in this setting and what, if any, unmet client needs may exist. Sixty certified, dispensing audiologists who work in the private sector and reside in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming participated in the study. Participants were identified from membership lists provided by the five states' Speech-Language and Hearing Associations. A questionnaire …

An Intercultural Analysis Of Differences In Appropriateness Ratings Of Facial Expressions Between Japanese And American Subjects, Patricia Jean Peschka-Daskalos

Dissertations and Theses

In 1971 Paul Ekman posited his Neuro-Cultural Theory of Emotion which stated that expressions of emotion are universal but controlled by cultural display rules. This thesis tests the Neuro-Cultural Theory by having subjects from two cultures, Japan and the United States, judge the perceived appropriateness facial expressions in social situations. Preliminary procedures resulted in a set of scenarios in which socially appropriate responses were deemed to be either "Happy", "Angry" or "Surprised". Data in the experimental phase of the study were collected using a questionnaire format. Through the use of a 5-point Likert scale, each subject rated the appropriateness of …

Cross-Cultural Training Of Chinese Managers And Workers By U.S. Companies: A Comparative Cultural Analysis Of The Problems Reported By U.S. Trainers, Linda Vick

Dissertations and Theses

As Western business increases in China and China acquires more technology from the West, the need to effectively train the Chinese workforce becomes more important. Identifying and understanding the perceived problems that Western corporate trainers encounter when they train Chinese may lead to more effective and efficient training programs. This study examines the experiences of trainers, working for American companies, who have designed and implemented training programs for Chinese from the People's Republic of China. The purpose of the study is to identify perceived problems the trainers encounter and to determine whether differences between Chinese and American cultures may account …

Communication And Gender: Interviews With Blue-Collar Women, Jeri Lynn Sofka

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the interactions between women and men who work in highly-skilled blue-collar trades. The aim of this research is to describe women's perceptions and responses to their on-the-job communicative interactions with male co-workers, supervisors and union officials.

Small focus groups were conducted to produce rich narrative data that was audio recorded for later use by the researcher. The researcher met with the four subjects for three sessions. The interviews lasted three hours each. The researcher also conducted follow-up interviews by phone to clarify subjects' responses. The subjects were provided with an interview schedule of questions prior to the …

From The Middle East To The United States: Stressors And Coping Strategies Of Members Of A Sacred Culture Living In A Secular Culture, Angela Taha

Dissertations and Theses

The values and beliefs involved in Islam maintain that religion is embedded in everyday life. Students from countries which subscribe to the tenets of Islam may have a difficult time adjusting to the secular society of the U.S. This study is concerned with the interrelationships among events perceived as stressful, the ways of coping with stress that are reported as most often used, and the reported level of satisfaction with living in the U.S. for the Muslim Arab international students in this study.

A four page survey questionnaire was used as the instrument. The questionnaire was filled out by 102 …

Occurrence Of Phonological Processes Within Two Pragmatic Categories In Normal And Speech-Delayed Children, Betsy Ann Bergman

Dissertations and Theses

Research into the eventual suppression of phonological processes among children has centered on the influence of phonetic context and semantic-syntactic factors. Researchers have described various factors that would account for the variability found in normal and speech-delayed children's use of phonological processes. Researchers have found associations between phonological process use and language form and content, although there is a paucity of information pertaining the effect of language use on phonological performances. This study examined the phonological process use within two pragmatic functions-assertiveand responsive utterances-used by 15 normally developing and 15 speech-delayed 3-year-olds. These groups were matched for age, sex, and …

Certain Phonological Skills In Late Talkers, Catherine Marie Ryan-Laszlo

Dissertations and Theses

While there is general agreement among researchers in the field of language and learning disabilities upon the language hypothesis for reading failure, little research has been explored concerning the relationship between the phonological production skills of preschool children and the same children's prereading abilities in kindergarten.

This study examined two aspects of phonological skill (a) the relationship of early phonological production errors and later success on phonological awareness and general prereading skill, and (b) determining if prereading deficits in a group of children with a history of language delay reside specifically in the phonological awareness items or the prereading score …

An Analysis Of Conceptual Metaphor In Marital Conflict, Anne Elizabeth Burgermeister-Seger

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates metaphoric structure revealed during discussions about conflict, and poses the general question: What conceptual metaphors do married individuals use to structure their marital conflict? Theoretical issues of metaphor analysis and general issues of conflict management are reviewed, providing a background for the study's approach to data collection and analysis. Eight married individuals were interviewed. Interviews were tape recorded. The interview schedule was structured around issues of topic, setting, process, response, and communication of typical, as well as a most recent, marital conflict. More specific probing followed respondents' comments. Using techniques of interpretive analysis, transcripts from the interviews …

Language And Memory Development In The Three And Four Year Old, Caroline Prater Moffatt

Dissertations and Theses

Although there is agreement in the literature that memory is required for language, there is disagreement as to whether certain memory abilities are prerequisite for language. There has been a significant amount of research in the field of memory development as it relates to language; however, little research has been done in the area of memory and language development in the preschool aged child.

This study examined two aspects of auditory memory and language development in the preschool child: (a) the auditory memory abilities of delayed language children versus normal language children, and (b) determining if there is a relationship …

Speaker Preferences Of Listening Behaviors That Lead To Perceived Listening : A Pre-Condition Of Perceived Understanding, Christine M. Carpenter

Dissertations and Theses

When attempting to communicate with another person, the success or failure that a communicator perceives, he or she interprets as understanding or misunderstanding. Research has shown that "perceived understanding" or the "feeling of being understood" is important in self-concept development. However, for some time researchers have focused on the listener's needs and the speaker's needs have been given less attention. Yet, the listener's role in meeting the speaker's needs, particularly in providing feedback to the speaker, is of utmost importance if the speaker is to have the "feeling of being understood." This research examined the concept of the "feeling of …

A Comparison Of Developmental Sentence Score Patterns In Three Groups Of Preschool Children, Michelle Lynn Riback

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have successfully labeled specific patterns of expressive language development as it appears in children developing language normally. Little research has identified particular patterns of expressive language in children who display expressive language disorders or delays. Longitudinal studies of expressively language impaired children indicate that linguistic, educational and social impairments exist long after the language impairment was first identified (Aram, Eckelman and Nation, 1984; Aram and Nation, 1980; Fundudis, Kolvin and Garside, 1979; Stark, Berstein, Condino, Bender, Tallal and Catts, 1984). If patterns of delayed or disordered language development are researched and possibly labeled in the early stages of language …

A Comparative Media Study Of How Aids-Related News Is Reported In Mainstream And Alternative Presses, Robert Eugene Schlick

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the reporting of AIDS-related news in both mainstream and alternative newspapers. This research suggests that mainstream newspapers, such as the New York Times, frame news stories in certain ways. Specifically, this study suggests that news about AIDS will be framed in ways which trivialize and/or marginalize those most affected by AIDS. The thesis also posits that the mainstream press will frame AIDS-related news in ways which support their own interests. Additionally, this research suggests that alternative presses, such as the Advocate, will frame their reporting of AIDS-related news in ways which support their interests.

The mainstream newspaper …

Communication Issues In The Management Of A Multicultural Workforce, Deborah Margaret Sipe

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine communication issues which are most frequently identified as the concerns of U.S. managers who work with culturally and ethnically diverse workforces, and skills which are identified as useful in dealing with those issues. This thesis used a qualitative method of data collection. Information was generated through a review of literature in the fields of communication, management, and organizational behavior to determine frequently occurring themes concerning intercultural communication issues in the workplace. Following the review, three case study interviews were conducted with managers in the Portland metropolitan area to determine what they perceive …

1989 Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement And U.S. News Media, Jie Sun

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores three aspects of the relationship between U.S. news media and the Chinese pro-democracy movement in 1989. These three aspects are: How much attention did u.s. newspapers give to the Chinese pro-democracy movement in 1989? How did u.s. newspapers portray the power struggle in the Chinese government during the time when the Chinese pro-democracy movement took place? Has there been any change in the image of China during and after the Chinese pro-democracy movement in 1989? Research data are drawn from the following three U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Content analysis …

A Comparison Of Two Kindergarten Screening Instruments In One Population, Therese Marie Westrup

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare thirty-two childrens' performances on the Daberon-2 Screening for School Readiness and the Early Screening Inventory, as well as determine whether there was a correlation between the tests. This study responded to the needs of the local Portland, Oregon area schools, some of which use these tests, to investigate the tests, and explore the possibility of using the shorter ESI over the longer Daberon. The reasoning behind the goal of the study was to determine that if the two tests showed a strong, positive correlation and identified the same children as needing further …

Defusing A Rhetorical Situation Through Apologia: Ronald Reagan And The Iran-Contra Affair, Roxane Yvonne Sutherland

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the manner in which Ronald Reagan responded to the Tower Commission Report concerning his involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. It explores the following questions: 1) What were the factors leading to a rhetorical situation as defined by the media and which required Ronald Reagan to provide a public response of self-defense; 2) what strategies of apologia did Reagan employ; and 3) how did the media and the White House characterize the outcome of Reagan's speech?

Data for analysis were drawn from nationally recognized newspapers that shaped public perception of the Iran-Contra Affair: The Washington Post, The …

The Concept Of Self-Disclosure In Initial Interaction Between Strangers In Japan, Hizuru Sugita

Dissertations and Theses

The study of self-disclosure has been developed and elaborated mainly in the United States, and only a few studies have directly examined self-disclosure in the Japanese cultural context. This study was designed to extend the study of self-disclosure to Japanese culture, and using the concept of ingroup and outgroup relationships, examine the relationship between the level of self-disclosure and perceived social attraction in initial interaction between Japanese strangers. Based on the literature on self-disclosure and features of Japanese culture and communication, two hypotheses were constructed:

H1: For the ingroup members, the high discloser will be perceived to be more socially …

John Chrysostom, On The Statues: A Study In Crisis Rhetoric, Douglas B. Radke

Dissertations and Theses

The name of John Chrysostom has historically been held in high esteem by the Christian Church. John was born, circa A.O. 350, in the Syrian city of Antioch. His rhetorical career led him to the apex of religious power as bishop of Constantinople. As a result of his verbal harangues of the political and religious leaders, he was sent into exile, where he died in A.O. 407. During his life time he was recognized both for his eloquence and his controversial style. Since the fifth century he has been remembered by the epitaph "Chrysostom," a tribute to his oratorical abilities, …

The Grammatic Closure Subtest Of The Itpa As A Screening Device, Cathy Newquist

Dissertations and Theses

Identification and selection of a speech-language caseload in the school setting can be a challenging task. The initial stages of caseload selection are usually in the form of a screening procedure. Although speech-language information is gathered at that time, information about its relationship to each student's academic status is usually not obtained. Such information would be useful in a setting that requires the provision of special education services to be justified from a basis of academic need.

The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities' (ITPA) Grammatic Closure subtest has been correlated to academic and intellectual measures through various studies. …

A Comparative Study Of Three Language Sampling Methods Using Developmental Sentence Scoring, Cheryl Diane Dong

Dissertations and Theses

The present study sought to determine the effect different stimulus material has on the language elicited from children. Its purpose was to determine whether a significant difference existed among language samples elicited three different ways when analyzed using DSS. Eighteen children between the ages of 3.6 and 5.6 years were chosen to participate in the study. All of the children had normal bearing. normal receptive vocabulary skills and no demonstrated or suspected physical or social delays. Three language samples. each elicited by either toys. pictures. or stories. were obtained from each child. For each sample. a corpus of 50 utterances …

Attitudes Of Otolaryngologists Towards Speech Pathologists Working With Voice Disordered Clients, Judith Patricia-Bader Cross

Dissertations and Theses

This study was designed to collect information about the working relationship of otolaryngologists with speech pathologists who provide service to voice disordered clients.

Perceptual Correspondence In The Superior-Subordinate Work Dyad, Lora Lee Sager

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the present investigation was to provide a clearer understanding of how various levels of perceptual correspondence are associated with one another and with performance appraisal. Specifically, the present study focused on the variable of accuracy in an attempt to discover its relative importance to performance appraisal. Also of interest was the relationship between accuracy and agreement.