Working effectively in groups is essential for college graduates (Hart Research Associates, 2013). University and college administrators have responded to this need by increasing the number of group communication courses by 25% (Bertelsen & Goodboy, 2009). However, it is the quality of course instruction that determines how well prepared…

This paper presents an innovative teaching technique, the utilization of a popular sitcom to teach an introductory economics course. Using clips from the television show "Seinfeld," instructors can present the oft-perceived difficult, yet basic, economic concepts in an amenable manner, which also enables the achieving of higher levels of…

This article describes the authors' use of three game shows--"Survivor," "The Biggest Loser," and "Deal or No Deal?"--to determine to what degree students engaged in mathematical thinking: specializing, conjecturing, generalizing, and convincing (Burton, 1984). Student responses to the task of creating winning strategies to these shows were…

This article reports on an action-research study which examined the impact of a radio program as a strategy to develop the speaking skills of a mixed course at a private institution in Colombia. Hence, data were collected from 18 students through tests, surveys, field notes, and interviews. The results indicate that there is an important…

Portrayals of fathers in the mass media influence parents' views of the importance of fathers to the well-being of children and of fathers' competence as parents. Awareness of how these portrayals influence parents is crucial to the effectiveness of professionals as they seek to improve child well-being through their work with parents,…

The present study was designed to explore the role of Rebousi et al's primary 6th grade history school book in evaluating the experience of a nation but also to examine the causes behind the reactions of political parties, historians and the wider public. History books and politics have very deep roots that reflect on old responsibilities,…

This book brings together current thinking on informal language learning and the findings of over 30 years of research on captions (same language subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) to present a new model of language learning from captioned viewing and a future roadmap for research and practice in this field. Language learners may have…

"Blackadder for real" is how the British journalist and broadcaster, Ian Hislop, characterised "The Wipers Time", the newspaper published on the front line by members of the 12th Battalion Sherwood, and recently brought to a new audience in Hislop's BBC dramatisation. Mary Brown and Carolyn Massey were immediately struck by the…

Azerbaijani and Turkish are two closely-related languages from Oguz branch of Turkic languages, which are said to be mutually intelligible. Regarding this background, we designed an experiment within the framework of receptive multilingualism to investigate the role of linguistic factors in intelligibility of the Turkish language to Iranian…

Previous research has pointed to the potential of entertainment media as a source of informal sex education for young people. New social media may offer additional potential in this respect. In this paper, we consider the pedagogical possibilities and limitations of online fan forums, via a case study of the forums of the controversial British…

Having completed a degree in theology and philosophy, Robert Jackson writes that he really did not know which career he wanted to pursue. He eventually opted to do a one-year postgraduate teacher training course, but was not sure that he wanted to be a teacher or that he would be effective in that role. The moment of truth was being sent into…

This article investigates pathways between the exposure to an entertainment-education (E-E) television drama called "Three Rivers" and positive discussion of organ donation among viewers of the drama in the United States. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using an online advertising for a period of one week. Survey participants…

A desired outcome of teaching intercultural communication is cultivating an understanding and awareness of different cultural values while attempting to increase intercultural communication competence within our students. Goals of teaching intercultural communication include assisting students in recognizing, accepting, and appreciating cultural…

Two popular media forms are examined--the documentary film "Waiting for 'Superman'" and the HBO television series, "The Wire"--that present distinct, and at times conflicting, depictions of how to address educational inequity. Qualitative media content analysis was used to analyze the two media documents and to situate them…

This article examines how undergraduate instructors of pre-service educators can address complex issues of sexuality and sexual orientation within the classroom. First, we explain our own backgrounds and positionalities to provide a context for our ensuing ideas and discussions. Second, by reviewing the literature on homophobic bullying, we…