Points out that writing errors of journalism students can result from faulty thought patterns involving thinking in sentence fragments, personifying objects, using bureaucratic abstractions, and condensing complex ideas; examines ways of dealing with bureaucratic coding and compressed sentences. (Conclusion of a two-part article.) (GT)

Examines the types of comprehension problems that students experience in classrooms and the tactics they use to resolve those problems. Reports meaningful distinctions among classroom comprehension problems, and finds that the tactics used vary systematically in relation to the situation (class size and instructional format) and the type of…

Focusing on educational settings, this paper examines receiver apprehension (anxiety associated with the decoding, interpreting, and/or adjusting psychologically to messages sent by others). The first section, in a review of the literature, discusses the theoretical basis for receiver apprehension. A summary of educational consequences is…

Readers are "dumb" because they are not privy to the mind and intentions of the writer; and the failure of the unsuccessful writer is a failure to forecast what it is going to be like to be a dumb reader of the document. Sample sentences from students' writing illustrate the following types of writing problems, which force the reader to examine…

Questions raised by the misinterpretations evidenced in the final examination essays of a freshman English class should lead teachers to a new understanding of how the phrasing of writing assignments influences what students write. Some of the questions included: (1) How detailed must an assignment be to communicate its goals? (2) What type of…

Points out that writing errors of journalism students can result from faulty thought patterns involving thinking in sentence fragments, personifying objects, using bureaucratic abstractions, and condensing complex ideas; examines ways of dealing with sentence fragments and personification. (First of a two-part article.) (GT)

Describes a study that measured students' comprehension of a selection of library terms. Protocol analyses were used to examine the reasoning processes employed by subjects. The results show that patrons misunderstand library terms approximately half of the time, and a continuum of solutions is offered. (16 references) (Author/CLB)

Suggests that storytelling is the communicational practice used by jurors to organize information, transmit intragroup understanding and guide judgments. Explores the storytelling process for answers to questions about justice. (MH)

Discusses a study designed to specify the interpersonal communication related determinants of anomia within a close friendship context. (MH)

Maintains that communicative competence is the primary way of teaching about and learning to live in a multicultural society. Asserts that multiculturalism confronts errors of educational theory and illustrates how life's struggle is always a struggle for freedom and to assume responsibility. (CFR)

Most of the mechanical and content errors in the sentences written by journalism students can be attributed to four faulty patterns that can be traced to errors in the thinking process: fragmented sentence parts, personification, bureaucratic coding ("officialese"), and compressed sentences. While acceptable in spoken communication where…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The seven titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effects of a seven-hour communication training program on participant utilization of six components of communication style; (2) communication skills and cognitive processes in…

Minority cultures develop homogeneous customs, language, and thought patterns that affect the writing of individuals from these cultures. Once a student moves outside this homogeneous environment--for example, from an ethnic ghetto to white, middle class classrooms--ideas that seem to the writer to relate clearly to one another do not seem logical…

This discussion of language traces the relations between language, thought, and culture and illustrates the importance of language, of the English language in particular, in world developments. Suggestions are made for teaching the mother tongue. Teaching English in England is discussed as is teaching Welsh and English in Wales and French in…