A total of 79 college students participated in an investigation designed to clarify the function of conversational closings. Multidimensional scaling was used to derive a three-dimensional representation of the semantic meaning conveyed by 20 frequently used conversational closings. Regression analyses of the scaling solution suggested that the…

Reliability data suggest that, although there are many problems, it is feasible to systematically evaluate a student's analytic and persuasive competence in free oral argumentation. The first part of the paper describes the contexts within which the evaluation project took place. Specifically discussed are the five areas of analysis on which the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 18 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: some effects of nonstandard English in counseling; the status of speech instruction in Iowa high schools; communications analyses of a university and a public…