Nonverbal behaviors as part of the communication process in interpersonal relationships has recently become of interest to therapists. Usual investigations of nonverbal behavior have involved observations and ratings of the subjects' behaviors in interview and conventional treatment situations. The author's interest is in: (1) teaching people…

In preparing urban teachers to become effective classroom communicators, urban speech teachers should involve their students in interpersonal communication within an intergroup context whenever possible. Students must be taught to become sensitive to word choice, aware of the importance of verbal and nonverbal codes, and more empathic. To…

The major purposes of this study were: (1) to determine whether deviant articulation interferes with communication, (2) to determine whether deviant articulation is negatively evaluated, and (3) to determine whether clinicians and laymen differ significantly in their response to deviant articulation. Four groups were formed by randomly assigning…

Communication is not only cross-cultural but interdisciplinary--in fact, even supradisciplinary. The problem of effective communication lies in coordinating various cognitive structures and in overcoming the lack of knowledge about an individual's perceptual mechanization. In this volume, some twenty-five contributors and discussants from five…

Because information flow is considered essential to an organization and because decision makers are dependent upon accurate information, the distortion of messages as they move upward in an organization has become a central concern of many organizational communication researchers. The purposes of this paper are to critically review the various…

A sample of 54 subjects, representing four levels of management in a chain of retail stores, participated in an experimental study of the effects of channel of communication (face-to-face, telephone, and written) and anonymity on satisfaction with, and distortion of, upward communication. Results indicated that the channel used led to significant…

Personnel representatives were shown one of four videotaped job interviews in which the verbal content of the 16-minute interview was identical, but the interviewee's nonverbal behavior was manipulated. Nonverbal behavior was found to have a significant effect on almost every rating made by subjects in this study. (Author)

Cites over 75 examples of errors in usage which were made by newswriters for the "Washington Post," suggesting that they indicate the social dimensions of language decay. (DD)

Reports on an examination of confusion, conflicts, and actual errors in accounts of six events in four major Canadian newspapers. (GW)

Describes a simulated press conference designed to help students in a news writing class learn how to obtain factual information from an evasive interviewee. (GW)

Effective meetings require three simultaneous operations: task activity (working on the agenda), maintenance (keeping the group in good working order), and team building (strengthening group's capacity to face future issues successfully). Discusses twelve reasons for group dysfunction during meetings. (EM)

This study was designed to analyze the extent to which different observers coded examples of communication positiveness in couple interactions. Husband's communication positiveness, wife's communication positiveness, and relationship adjustment were the multiple targets of observation. The data were collected from 27 couples who sought marital…

The article discusses some practical considerations in the use of Blissymbols--a system of visual symbols for those who cannot communicate with speech--with multiply handicapped children. (Author/DLS)

New and better mailing practices in the University of Houston's mailroom have saved money and improved service. (Author/MLF)

Describes techniques used to help technical writing students eliminate jargon, verbosity, syntactical intricacy, and overuse of the passive voice from their writing. (GW)