Continuing a tradition dating back to 1968, this tenth study in a longitudinal series of surveys of the basic communication course has two goals: (1) to provide descriptive information about the basic course contemporarily and over time; and (2) to propose a framework for interpreting the impact of the extraordinary national and international…

Public speaking is a highly important skill for a graduate to achieve, and despite many students reporting high public speaking anxiety, this is rarely addressed in current undergraduate degree courses. The following paper evaluates the effectiveness of a course aimed at reducing students' levels of public speaking anxiety via a relatively simple…

How can we merge the science of politics and the practice of politics into a single course? In a 16-week, upper division course on state politics, I address the need to develop students' social scientific skills and practical skills through journal article analysis (JAA) teams and public policy project (PPP) teams. I use a within-subjects, pretest…

The Honors Speech course at Florida A&M University, which is a special section of the Public Speaking course, is designed to develop appreciation of and skills in the preparation, delivery, and criticism of speeches. The honors course is different from the regular course in (1) the smaller enrollment in the course; (2) the topics of the…

Describes a public address curriculum based upon a different way of conceptualizing public address. (Author)

This syllabus provides the rules, requirements, assignments, and sample materials that were used for a college course in public speaking. The materials to be found in the syllabus include grade requirements, individual course assignments, sample speech outlines, and discussions of the various types of speeches covered in the course (eulogy,…

A program was developed at the University of Puget Sound (Washington) to meet the needs of students "at-risk" for poor academic performance or attrition because of inadequate pre-college preparation. Advising sections (small--15 or 20 students--sections of regularly-offered courses, whose instructor serves as the student's academic…

Views a speech as behaviorally influential and reflective of both the speaker and the audience, and provides a content description of an American public address course. (MH)

Advanced Communication for Group Presentation is a public speaking course offered for deaf students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). The objective of the course is that upon completion, a student will demonstrate competence and confidence in presenting factual information, responding to questions, and expressing feelings…

The four modules described in this course syllabus are designed to present general concepts, principles, and skills of human communication to undergraduate students. Since students enrolled in the course can vary considerably in their professional, intellectual/academic, and personal needs, the self-inventory approach is used in the four modules…

In this article, the author describes how she changed her process for the oral presentation, which involved looking at its placement in the course, the pace, and the preparation. By moving the team oral presentation earlier in the course, the author hoped to solve two problems. One problem was the increased stress both students and the author…

To provide special instruction for students who report fear and avoidance of communication, a reticence program was instituted at Pennsylvania State University. Since the school has a general speech requirement that nearly all students have to meet in order to graduate, students are given an opportunity to enroll in this special section if they…

This paper outlines a senior seminar, or "capstone" course, in computer science developed at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg. It was intended that the senior seminar should differ in classroom format from other courses in the major. Course requirements include timed oral presentations, reading of science fiction in which…

A laboratory approach to instruction is employed in the basic speech communication course at a southern university. Approximately one-third of the semester is spent on public speaking and performance assignments, while the remainder of the course focuses on interpersonal communication. During the oral performance part of the course, half of the…

People spend about three-fourths of their waking hours engaged in some form of communication and about half of this time speaking and listening. In spite of this, communication generally is ineffective. There are many reasons for improving one's communication skills, the most important being employability. For example, a survey of personnel…