Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

Front Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Title Page

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Contents And Abstracts

Basic Communication Course Annual

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The Internal Marginalization Of Basic Course Scholarship, Cheri J. Simonds, Stephen K. Hunt

Basic Communication Course Annual

There is an adage in the field of communication education that states, the difference between knowing and teaching is communication (Hurt, Scott, & McCroskey, 1978). That is, a teacher can be an expert in his or her field, but if he or she cannot communicate that knowledge in a way that students understand, learning is not achieved.

This statement highlights the central role of communication in the teaching and learning process. As communication education scholars and Basic Course Directors, we conduct research in the domains of communication pedagogy (i.e., research questions that address the best methods of teaching communication) and …

Strengthening The Introductory Communication Course: An Opportunity Through Better Alignment With Today’S Needs, Jon A. Hess

Basic Communication Course Annual

More than a century after its inception in contemporary form, the discipline of Communication has encountered a tremendous opportunity—the chance to become an “essential discipline” in the academy, one like Math or English, which universities consider indispensable to the work they do. And yet, as a discipline, we have not sufficiently moved toward taking advantage of that opportunity. While such a move will require action in curriculum, scholarship, and service, one of the highest-impact areas in establishing the necessity of Communication is the introductory course.

In order to understand the opportunity that lies before us, we have to understand how …

Nontraditional Students, Multilingual Learners, And University Type: The Vital Missing Comparisons In Our Basic Course Research, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post, Brenda L. Macarthur

Basic Communication Course Annual

After the G.I. Bill was passed in 1944, the United States saw a massive expansion of higher education. The subsequent economic growth, expanding middle class, and support of public education meant that more Americans had access to college education than ever before (Bok, 2006).

In the decades that followed, a typical or “traditional” college student was a person who entered a four-year university at the age of eighteen immediately after completing high school, attended full time, considered their education a full-time responsibility, had no dependents, was employed part time or not at all, and graduated in four years (Center for …

Beyond 'Basic': Opportunities For Relevance, Deanna L. Fassett

Basic Communication Course Annual

Recently one of my colleagues asked me if I could foresee a time when I would give up supervising teaching associates; she said it in a kindly way, but with a cringe and a shrug, as if to suggest that I was sacrificing my efforts on something beneath me…a departmental service. I’ve been coordinating our introductory public speaking course and supervising TAs for fourteen years now, and I still get this question.

Each time, I explain that giving up those responsibilities would be like asking someone to uproot their research passion from, say, performance studies to instructional communication, from any …

Basic Course Strength Through Clear Learning Outcomes And Assessment, W. Bradford Mello

Basic Communication Course Annual

Former NCA President Richard West, writing in Spectra during his presidential year, lamented that the basic course in communication lacked national cohesion, especially compared to other disciplines like psychology, political science, or sociology (West, 2012). Some, including myself, may quibble with the comparison to other disciplines, arguing that History 101, Political Science 101 or Sociology 101 do not necessarily look the same at all institutions around the nation.

However, West’s call for examination of the basic course was a welcome one:

• I believe it is time for our organization to undertake a thoughtful examination of the basic course and ascertain …

A Digital Divide? Assessing Self-Perceived Communication Competency In An Online And Face-To-Face Basic Public Speaking Course, Joshua N. Westwick, Karla M. Hunter, Laurie L. Haleta

Basic Communication Course Annual

Previous research has documented an inverse relationship between speaking anxiety and self-perceived communication competence (SPCC). However, a recent assessment case study of an online basic public speaking course revealed that while the course decreased students’ speaking anxiety, it failed to increase their SPCC. Prompted by this surprising discrepancy and bolstered by continuing calls for increased exploration of educational quality of online public speaking courses, the current study compared SPCC between online (n = 147) and face-to-face (F2F) (n = 544) delivery of the large, standardized, multi-section basic public speaking course at our institution. Pretest scores of students’ overall SPCC were …

Assessing The Effects Of A Public Speaking Course On Native And Non-Native English Speakers, Tara Suwinvattichaiporn, Melissa A. Broeckelman-Post

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study tested whether there is a difference in the benefits of a traditional public speaking course for Native English Speakers (NES) and Non-Native English xii Speakers (NNES). The study assessed changes in Communication Apprehension (CA), Self-Perceived Communication Competence (SPCC), and Willingness to Communicate (WTC) before and after participants took the traditional public speaking course.

The findings indicate that NES and NNES had equal benefits and growth in these self-report measures and suggest that we should further investigate which public speaking course structure is most beneficial for NNES.

The Unaware, Accurate, And Overly Critical: Video Technology Use Of Improving Public Speaking Competency, Luke Lefebvre, Leah E. Lefebvre, Mike Allen

Basic Communication Course Annual

Students often hold overly favorable views of their public speaking skills. In this study, students set goals prior to speaking, and then assess the presentation via video replay. Although some basic courses use video, the technology is not standard practice nor consistently utilized to aid student skill development for speechmaking.

Differences between students’ self-estimated and earned grades students were categorized into five estimator groupings. Study 1 (N = 102) results indicated video self-evaluation positively influenced student ability for predictive goal-setting, improved accuracy for assessing speech quality, and diminished overestimation from the informative to persuasive speech.

To further explore the findings …

Assessment Of Student Learning Gains In Oral Competency, Lynn O. Cooper, Rebecca Sietman

Basic Communication Course Annual

The basic course in communication has a well-established record of enhancing oral competency, which plays a primary role in personal, academic, and professional success. However, there is limited empirical support to substantiate that the ways we teach this course are responsible for these gains. A 24-item Likert- like scale instrument developed from the eight Competent Speaker categories (Morreale, Moore, Taylor, Surges-Tatum, & Hulbert-Johnson, 1990; Morreale, Moore, Surges-Tatum, & Webster, 2007; SCA, 1993) has been reliably used for the past decade in campus pre- and post-assessments.

In Study One, measures of 2485 students taking the basic course over the past six …

Back Cover

Basic Communication Course Annual

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Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 28

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (222 pages, 8.5 MB)

An Alternative Approach To The Singer's Breath: Method And Workshop, Bradley S. Williard

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This research endeavors to stretch the boundaries of vocal training, a field defined by its century-old techniques and teachings, to include the cultivation of a relationship with the breath, body, and Self. The paper reviews the contributions of Ilse Middendorf and Carl Stough’s work with the breath and body and outlines a new method, Unlock Your Breath (UYB) – Performance Breathwork, which integrates the greatest strengths of those methods. UYB Performance Breathwork teaches the singer’s breath as a way towards deeper embodiment of Self (mind-body-voice relationship), while creating a stronger breath-body-voice connection with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. This …

White Paper On Mentoring Research And Best Practices, Elina Erzikova, Diana Martinelli

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Sponsored by the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations, this white paper draws upon mentorship research literature and summarizes 12 key insights and eight best practices gleaned from that work. Key insights include: mentoring as a bi-directional and multiple relationship process, mentors as co-learners, long-term benefits for protégés, mentorship’s long-term value, the roles of involvement and similarity, the power of both formal and informal mentorship, mentorship as leadership development, and the promise of e-mentoring. The paper also includes sections on mentoring college students and ways to evaluate mentoring programs.

What Makes A Man?: An Alpha Male’S Fight For Masculinity Against The Media’S Muscular Ideals, Julie A. Yockey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Previous studies have focused heavily on media effects on women however growing trends in male ideals are finding that men are no longer static observers. The media constructs the ideal male body as lean, strong and muscular and men exposed to these idealized images may experience body dissatisfaction. Therefore, this project explores the effects of media ideals on men and the possible relationship between the media depictions of the muscular ideals and masculinity. Current research analysis shows that exposure to media ideals not only causes body dissatisfaction among men; trying to achieve the perfect body may result in unhealthy behaviors. …

Provider Recommendation Of Hpv Vaccination: Bridging The Intention-Behavior Gap, Erica Landis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study, guided by preproduction formative research principles, employed in-depth interviews and a brief survey with pediatric healthcare providers (N=15) to investigate the consistency between behavioral intention to strongly recommend the HPV vaccine, and implementation of the actual behavior. Specifically, the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction (IMBP) was used as a framework to examine the impact of skills and environmental constraints on that behavioral intention-behavioral performance relationship. Results suggest providers intend to strongly recommend the HPV vaccine at a high level, but actually recommend the vaccine with a slightly lesser frequency. A thematic analysis of interview transcripts yielded a …

Communication: How Do Females With Rett Syndrome Perform This Activity And What Factors Influence Performance?, Anna Urbanowicz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily caused by mutations in the X-linked methyl-Cp2G-binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene. The disorder affects approximately 1 in 9000 females and is usually associated with language, physical and intellectual impairments, each of which contributes to difficulties with communication. In Rett syndrome, eye gaze is considered a common form of communication and conventional methods, such as talking and gestures, less common. Females appear to use these forms of communication to serve a number of functions including choice making, requesting, social convention, bringing attention to themselves, and to reject, comment and answer. However, the literature …