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TITLE Language, Speech, and Communicaticn Skills Training:Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations Published in"Dissertation Abstracts International," Januarythrough June 1978 (Vol. 38 Nos. 7 through 12).

INSTITUTION. ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and CommunicationSkills, Urbana, Ill.

PUB DATE 78NOTE 16p.

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$1.67 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Academic. Achievement; Annotated Bibliographies; Child

Language; *Communication Skills; CommunicativeCompetence (Languages); Cultural Differences;Curriculum Development; *Dcctoral Theses; ElementarySecondary Education; Fantasy; Higher Education;*Language Development; *Language Research; *LanguageSkills; Parent Role; Preschocl Children; PublicSpeaking; *Speech Skills; Standard Spoken Usage

IDENTIFIERS *Communication Research; Oral Language

ABSTRACTThis collection of abstracts is part of a continuing

series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 21titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following:communications curricula for technical educaticn programs; therecorded oral communication of business students; interactionsbetween parents and speech-language pathologists in public schools;predictors of public speaking,ibility and academic success; thesocial, semantic, and syntactic features of child language; speechcommunication curriculum of the future; teaching standard. English tofour- and five-year-old black children; structured language programsfor culturally different children; production of bound morphemes andstem terminal phonemes by preschool children; the effects ofcommunication skills on academic success and job Performance;teaching haptics in basic speech; interpersonal ccmmunication skillstraining; the effects Of speech training on state patrolmen; atypewriting manual for teaching standard English; communicationskills for academic achievement groups; subject matter in thebusiness communication course; the fantasy play and verbal fluency oflearning disabled children; rhetor- linguistics for manager-leaderdevelopment; and junior college speech programs. (MAI)

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Language, Speech, and Communication Skills Training;,'

Abstracts of Doctoral Dissertations Published in DissertationAbstracts International, January through June 197$ (Vol. 38Nos. 7 through 12)

Compiled by the Staff of,

The ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Cowllunication Skills

"PERMISSION TO REPRO UCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN RANTED BY

TO THE EDUC TIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATIOT; CENTER (ERIC) ANDUSERS OF TIE ERIC SYSTEM:*

The dissertation titles contained here are publishedwith permission of the University Microfilms International,publishers of Dissertation Abstracts International(copyright 61978 by University Microfilms International),and may not be reproduced without their prior permission.

This bibliography has been compiled as part of a continuing series designedto make information on relevant dissertations available to users of the ERICsystem. Monthly issues of Dissertation Abstracts_International are reviewedin order to compile abstracts of dissertations on related topics, which thusbecome accessible in searches of the ERIC data base. Ordering information forthe dissertations themselves is included at the end of the bibliography.

Abstracts of the following dissertations are included in this collection:

Davis, Everett Eugene

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE NATUREAND RELEVANCE OF. THE COMMUNICATIONSCURRICULA FOR SELECTED TECHNICALEDUCATION PROGRAMS IN THE PACIFICNORTHWEST

Tillenberg, Carol Kay

AUDIO-RESPONSE ENHANCED ORALCOMMUNICATION OF BUSINESS STUDENTS

Guydon, Audrey SessOm

ATTITUDES TOWARD PARENTAL INVOLVEMENTAND PROFESSIONAL INTERACTIONS OFSPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS INPUBLIC SCHOOLS

Hayes, Daniel Truman

NONLNTELLECTIVE PREDICTORSpFPUBLIC SPEAKING ABILITY AND ACADEMICSUCCESS IN A BASIC COLLEGEtLEVEL,SPEECH COMMUNICATION. COURSE

Hendrickson, Jo Mary

TRAINING AND GENERALIZATION OF,SOCIAL, SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTICFEATURES OF CHILD LANGUAGE

Hollis, Phoebe Inzer Proctor

SPEECH COMMUNICATION CURRICULUM OF THEFUTURE: A DELPHI PROFILE.

Jeffers, Anarea Taylor.

TEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH TO FOURAND FIVE YEAR OLD BLACK CHILDREN:IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCEON TESTS OF ABILITY AND ACHIEVEMENT

Logan, Richard Lanham

THE EFFECTS OF STRUCTURED LANGUAGEPROGRAMS ON LINGUISTIC SKILLS OFCULTURALLY DIFFERENT CHILDREN

Lybolt, John Tracy

PRODUCTION OF/-s/2/-z/d-t/, AND /-d/AS BOUND MORPHEMES AND AS STEM TERMINALPEONEMES BY GROUPS OF NORMALLYDEVELOPING, ARTICULATION IMPAIRED, ANDSYNTACTICALLY DELAYED PRESCHOOLCHILDREN.

McGrath, John James, Jr.

EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS ONACADEMIC SUCCESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

-Roach, Carol Ashburn

TEACHING HAPTICS IN THE BASIC SPEECHCOURSE:. A STUDY OF MEANS AND EFFECTS

Scales-Smith, Freda SuEllen

THE EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONSKILLS TRAINING UPON STITZENTS AND TEACHERSIN A SCHOOL OF NURSING

Spears, Margaret Celeste

THE EFFECT OF A SPEECH COURSE ONCOURTROOM TESTIMONY OF GEORGIA STATEPATROL TRAINEES

Stanciel, Lennie Donald

SPEECH-COMP: ENGLISH COMPOSITION INTHE INTRODUCTORY SPEECH CLASS

Suri, Mary Lu

DEVELOPMENT OF A TYPEWRITING MANUAL FORTEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH GRAMMAR TOCOMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS WHOSEWRITING SHOWS EVIDENCE OF LINGUISTICINTERFERENCE FROM NONSTANDARD DIALECTS(VOLUMES I AND II)

Tarpey, Elizabeth Anne

THE - EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION SKILLSTRAINING ON COLLEGE STUDENTS INACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT GROUPS

Tilley, Gwendolyn Lynam

A COMPARISON OF THE IMPORTANCEOF THE SUBJECT MATTER IN THEBUSINESS COMMUNICATION COURSEAS PERCEIVED BY,JUNIOR ANDCOMMUNITY COLLEGE TEACHERSAND ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARIES

Vance, Rosemary. Casey

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATIONOF SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALSFOR USE IN TEACHING SELECTEDBUSINESS VOCABULARY TERMS

Vincent, Gerald Owen

SOME EFFECTS OF FANTASY PLAY ONTHE VERBAL FLUENCY OF LEARNINGDISABLED CHILDREN AS INDICATEDBY THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTIONTEST

Ward, Barbara Taylor

LEADERSHIP AND LANGUAGE: RHETOR-LINGUISTICS FOR MANAGER-LEADERDEVELOPMENT (VOLUMES I AND II)

Wilkerson, Thomas Alec

AN INVESTIGATION OF SPEECHEDUCATION PROGRAMS IN GEORGIAJUNIOR COLLEGES AND A SUGGESTEDIDEAL PROGRAM

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE N;TURE AND RELEVANCEOF THE COMMUNICATIONS CURRICULA FOR SELECTEDTECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN THE PACIFICNORTHWEST

DAVIS. Everett Eugene. Ed.D.-Ur live' Sity of NIor.:ana. 1977

Directors: John J. Hunt and Robert L. Anderson

The specific focus of this research was directed towarddetermining.: (1) the nature of the communication skills in-cluded in the curricula offered to t.,...zhnical education programs- -Electronics. Data Processing. Forestry, and Mid- management--available in post-secondary. institutions in Idaho, Montana,Oreg,on. and Washington: and (2) the relevance of those corn-rnunkarion skills to job success as viewedlby technicians andtheir employers.

Twenty -three post-secondary institutions. eight employersand eight :echnicians participated in the study. Datawere col-lected via an institutional inventory questionnaire, a communi-cation skills checklist anJ focused interviews. Five major re-search questions and twelve sub - questions were utilized tocollect, analyze and report data focusing on the two purposesof 'the study.

Conclusions and implications: (1) Research findings indicatethe communication skills checklist could be used by curriculumspecialists and adniit.i;tintc. rs in develcping. (valuating and.'Orrevising curricula in post-secondary technician programs.(2) Three of the four major communication areas (reading,listening, and speaking) found concurrence among participatinginstitutions. ernp:oyers and technicians to the point that skillsidentified could he used as a basis for a core communicationcurricula. (3) Validation of the identified core curriculashouldbe undertaken at the local level. (4) Communication skills iden-tified AS essential or desirable by employers and technicians.but not offen.N.1 by participating institutions. generally had noretif.nshij.: to defined i;.)b functipns for a particular technology.

..(5) a:'::i.ritQszrators should ronsider using a studyt. dete.?rn:ne Veal needs or instructional

relehner-7,r tc, re)ii,77tt i stiidfor local purposes.N-o, 77 .22.774. 1'33 pages.

AUDIO-RESPONSE ENHANCED ORAL COMMUNICATIONOF BUSINESS STUDENTS

FILLENBERG. Carol "r:ty, Ph.D.Colorado State University, 1977

This research project .was designed to determine if audio-response is a useful teaching tool in high school business andOffice education classes for improving students' "oral communi-cation skill" and "conf idence in oral participation in class" andfor decreasing 'superiority and intolerance" and "shyness."

Twenty students in :t.;careers-in-business class served asthe experimental'group;\which, used audio-response. A typingclass of 22 students not using audio-response served as thecontrol group. Both of these vocational classes were one-semester, entry-level biisiness and nffice education classes_

Students in the 'experiniental group orally communicated atthe same time or separately by talking into individual dictation-transcription machines. Their responses were recorded andplayed back by the stucithits and instructor for immediate feed-back comparison to prF.ious responses, and monitoring.'

Ordinarily, only one student in a class speaks at a time: 'v.bereas,audioresponse.allows all students to speak and re-cord their responses-at once. Such rigorous exchange of oralresponses promotes extensive additional oral communicationpractice and participation in class. Any changes in the variableSmeasured in tliis study were effected through a casual involve-ment of aud:o-response, since. the main thrust of the class wasdirected toward vocational knowledge and skills.

Evz-.1uation instruments were administered io the exderi-mental and control groups by a pretest and posttest. Correlated` -tests were used to analyze the pretest ::id posttest data of each.group on "oral communication skill" and related variables.

The following ::ere major findings aid ccr.clw;lonstI. "0.-al com.-.:unication skill' of high school business and officeeducation students. as measured :3y the oral communication in-strument. was below the established expocted level. 2: Using

r ;:din -rN ponce :en 4F-minute ?Liss :-.essions Clid rot signifi-cantly ituprixe -oral comm.uniatin kill. This skill includedenirtt, ef std :7. Stu-Lienr "coni:clencr orml part:cip.ition class' wan increasedsip:if:can:1y bN using audio-response in bu:iness.cLisses. Stu-dents with greater initial "oral cor.mtunication skill" gainedsignifici,nz"einfidenc,, in oral participation in class.- In con-trast, students with less initial skill did not gain -confidence inoral participation in class.". 4. Students' "shyness" anc "su-periority and iii:oltrance" were nut affected Ly casual use ofaudio-response in the business and office education class.

Order No. 77-2&305. 108 pages.

ATTITUDES TOWARD PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT ANDPROFESSIONAL INTERACTIONS OF SPEECH-LANGUAGEPATHOLOGISTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Order No. 7805939

GUYDON, Audrey Sessom, Ph.D. Iowa State University, 197?.139pp. Supervisors: Ron Powers, Ray Bryan

The purpose of this study was to collect information fromspeech-language pathologists practicing in Iowa public schoolsas a basis for describing the involvement of parents in pub-lic school language, speech and hearing programs. The studyalso proposed to determine the relationship of parental in-

-, volvement to selected demographic data (personal. social andprofessional) and characteristics of the current practice en-virO'nment (employment setting) of pathologists.

The questionnaire was organized into four sections: demo-graphic data,--current practice environment information, opin-ions about parents-as perceived by pathologists and patholo-gists' attitudes towarcL the extent to which parents shouldbe involved in their child's-therapy program. The researchinstrument was pretested in a pilot study which resulted insome modifications in working a:id-format.

Factors related to pathologists' opinions about parentswere: 1) age. 2) subject preparation and supervised prac-ticum experience, 3) caseload, 4) weekly responsibilities,5) types orparental contact, and 6) method used to determinethe effectiveness of a child's therapy program. .

Factors related to pathologists' attitudes toward the extent,to which parents should be involved in the tour phases (identi-fication, assessment, therapy, and final evaluation before

dismissal front therapy) of :heir child's therapy prugrant were:1) sex, 2) age, 3) years of paid experience as a patholo-gist, 4) subject- preparation ilt pa rent in erviev.-ing/cuunseling,5) composition of caseload, 6) weekly responsibilities, and7) methods used to determine the effectiveness of a child'stherapy program.

Factors related to pathoti.rgists' attitudes toward the ectentto which parents shJuld be involved in the therapy phase of thechild's communication program were: 1) age, 2) marital sta-tus, 3) presence or absence uf children in the home, 41 sub:7ject preparation in organization and management of a therapyprogram, 5) weekly respoisibilities, 6) types of parental con-tact, and 71 methods used to determine the effectiveness of achild's therapy program.

The data indicated that participating pathologists do haveparental involvement in existing progra.ns. However, the va-lidity of the stated involvement was not completely determinedbecause limited resources restricted data collection to re-sponses from pathologists. Responses from the parents couldprovide additional information for a more operational interac-tion between parents and pathologists.

NONDITELLECTIVE PREDICTORS OF PUBLIC SPEAK-ING ABILITY AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS DI A BASICCOLLEGE-LEVEL SPEECH COMMUNICATION COURSE

Order No. 7803719

HAYES, Daniel Truman, Ph.D. University of NIissouri -Columbia, 1977. 135pp. Supervisor: Dr, James Gibson

Speech communication researchers, in investigations thathave involved the prediction of academic performance of col-lege students in the aasic speech communication course, havetraditionally focused upon two measures of academic perfor-mance-- public speaking ability and course grade. Accordingly,nonintellective as well as intellective variables have been thesubjects of investigations designed to identify valid predictorsof public speaking ability and academic success in the intro-ductory speech communication course. The purpose of thisinvestigation was to identify nonintellective factors that con-tribute to public speaking ability and academic success of col-lege students in a basic college-level speech course.

A review of relevant literature suggested that three non-intellective factors were related most closely to speaking abil-ity and academic success in the basic course--speech experi-ence, speech anxiety.. and the discrepancy between academicaspirations and performance. An investigation was thereforedesigned to answer the research question: To what extent dothese three nonintellective factors, either individually or incombination, contribute to a student's public speaking abilityupon entering a basic college-level speech communicationcourse and the student's subsequent academic success as mea-sured by course grade?

Two-hundred 'and twelve students in the Introduction toSpeech Communication course at the University of lissouri -Columbia served as subjects of the investigation. Operation-ally, the amount of a student's speech experience was deter-mined on the basis of subject completion of the revised KnowerSpe.eeh Experience Inventory, speech anxiety :vas measuredthrough the McCroskey Personal Report of-Public SpeakingApprehension, and aspiration-performance discrepancy wasdetermined on the basis of the Worell aspiration measures.Criterion variables included course grades received by sub-.jects and ratings of subject speaking proficiency as providedby eight instructor-raters. Raters utilized a public speakingrating form designed by Becker that included eleven criteriafor the evaluation of a speech. Multiple regression analysis

Nrcsemployed in order to evaluate the contributions of the pre-tors to ratings of speaking ability and academic success as

naeaStu-ed by grades.

Results of the study suggested that the three predictor vari-ables contributed significantly to ratings of public speakingability. Subjects rated as "good" public speakers typically re-vealed higher levels of speech communication experience, lowerpublic speaking anxiety levels, and consistency among academic.aspirations and previous academic performance. 'Peor"speak-ers, conversely. displayed limited amounts of speech experi-enee, high amounts of speech anxiety, and discrepancy between

academic aspirations and previous performance. The vari-ables of sex, age, and year in college did not correlate signifi-cantly with public speaking ability ratings.

Results also indicated that the three nonintellective vari-ables contributed significantly to the prediction of subjectgrades in the basic speech communication course. The bestpredictor of high grades was consistency among academic as-pirations and previous academic performance. Students whoreceived high grades in the course also indicated higher levelsof speaking experience and lower speech anxiety levels thandid poor students. Females, moreover, received higher gradesin the basic speech course than did males.

In addition to the findings described above, three conclu-sions were reached on the basis of the results: (1) Publicspeaking ability, though admittedly a complex variable, canbe measured with some precision and more research shouldbe devoted to its measurement. (2) Knowledge of the roleof the nonintellective predictor variables studied in-the in-vestigation adds to an understanding of why students succeedin basic college-level speech communication courses, and(3) Speech teacher utilization of the predictor instruments em-ployed in the investigation can enhance the speech communi-cation instructional process.

TRAINING AND GENERALIZATION OF SOCIAL. SEMANTICAND SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF CifIr.D LANGUAGE

Order No. 71'31619

HENDRICE.FON, Mar.,., Ph.D. George Peabody College forTeachers. 1977, 13 1',p. Major Professor: Richard E. Shores

The preser.t study v :as designed to investioate the effect ofa combined cievt!lopinemtal psycnolirq..^uistir, co7nitive-semantic,and behavioral language training procedure on the acquisitionsyntax (subject-action verb- 6ject sentences) and its general-ization to the natural environment. Generalization study in-cluded investigation of: (a) rate of action labeling utterancesand (b) rate of oral lan :hoge emitted during seia! interaction.

A single subject multiple baseline cles:::a usiii.c within-sub-ieci.: repticatior. was 4.:.:11)1,,y0(1. Three young delayedchildren traiaeclto rnit sentence:: with "subject-actionverb- ,object" structurn r., describe -agent- action ;.-!iject actedunon" ,!vents durini-, individual :raining sessions. A peer. usingan irt.r;ec.t know:, to the child. cier.toristratect coranton action.L.arn;unze of the stibjenr-lc:ioa :'orb -'t act rovrn ....inch describedthis event was I u,,c1Ied for thrr child. The results demonstratedthe effetivone.4.; of the training :it rateg'..' in teaching youi.4.; Ian-

delayej behaviorally disordered chihiren a sjs,eific lin-:utstic structure. Roth tne syntactic and sersanticfeatures ',f

Tramcr! ces;,onstiti nirpear to have generalized to the natural.environment. Following the onset fntraining the :-.;:tijets. be-havior dttriti free play vas observed to change in several re-spects. The sni,jects: (a) exhibited more subject -act on verb-object sentences, (b) increasini:ly used verbal hinguage to labelaction events in the environment. and emitzeclmere verbal behavior: durini; social interaction.

Results were discussed in relationship to :he propositionthat the study uf language learning and langua!:e. training mustbe extendi-.d to include variables in addition In the yraminaticalcomponents of lanunge. ar:tument for systematic investi-gation of the establishimmt. and gtneralizat ion of the multiplicityof variables related to early In:iglu-y.0 (e.g.. its grammar. se-mantic content and social :unction(s)) was presented.

SPEF.CH .CONLVIUNICATION CLRRICL'LL'M OF THEFUTURE.: A DELPHI PROFILE Order No, '7731151

HOLLIS, Phoebe inzer Proctor. Ed.D. Tegms Tech University,1977. 176pp. Chairman: Dr. Dayton Y. Roberts

This descriptive study was an investigation of issues ex-isting within the discipline of Speech Communication and theirimplications for the Speech Communication curriculum. Theissues are exemplified by divergent opinions of experts withinthe field relating to the goals of the.discipline as reflected inthe curriculum. When left unconfronted, these issues mayleave the discipline unprepared for the future. The principalpurpose of the study was to reach a consensus of attitudes fromthe highest administrative officers of the Speech Communica-tion, areas pertaining-to future curriculum goals of the disci-pline. Also. the study identified the major research orientationof these officers and explored the relationship between theiden-tified orientation and the focus of the future Speech Communi-cation curriculum.

The Delphi Technique, which is a method of attaining con-sensus from a large number of anonymous participants, wasemployed in this investigation. This technique is suited to fu--tures forecasting since it allowed the respondents to indicatethe opinion, probability, arid desirability of the elements ofSpeech Communication curriculum of the future. The firstround of questionnaires was sent to 996 Speech Communica-tion administrative officers in four-year public and privateinstitutions listed in the 1975-76 Speech Communication. Di-rectory. A second round of questionnaires was Sent to 313 ofthese same administrative officers.

Each Delphi study requires the development of a specificinstrument or series cA instruments to elicit responses to ques-tions for which consensus is sought. The instruments designedfor this study underwent a sequence of three developmentalsteps. The final questionnaire sent to the identified respon-dents included synthesized items from a selected panel ofjudges and from the professional literature.

The data obtained in this research provide a basis for fore-casting the future curriculum of the Speech Communication dis-cipline and the possible directions of the discipline. Therespondents indicated consensus on 22 of.the 24 Delphi Staye-ments and judged specific skill development, such as decisionmaking, problem solving, adjusting to societal change. and com-munication skills for prospective teachers, as desirable andnecessary. They viewed many of the methodological and tech-nological directions as being adverse, including self -pared con-tent, use of educational technology, and modular scheduling.The respondems indicated as untie-grable any direction tvmerge with other professional groups and preferred to remainwithin iie organizational structure of Arts and Sciences. Theywould !-ot ch,ese to Iinut :he discipline by eliminating it as an

academic major or to effect any extensive changes in hour requirenients or reassiegiment of course levels. They agreed toexpanding the undergraduate opportunities in research and pro-tiding a curriculum based upon empirical research conclusions.They indicated as desirable the blending of behavioral and rhe-torical research techniques. Those participating in the projectemphasized a need for interdisciplinary study and clearly de-fined curriculum objectives; however, they did not see the cur-riculum organized around skills for specific vocational prepa-ration.

If one projects the results of this study into a Speech Com-munication curriculum.of the future, a number of identifiableelements emerge. The Speech Communication discipline willbe an independent field of study that will be represented by di-verse specialization. It will be a discipline reflecting a divi-sion in research approaches, the scientific as opposed to thehumanistic. No major reconciliation of the two orientations islikely before 1920, and this division may actually lead to theseparation of the pure speech subjects and the social scienceoriented subjects. This Delphi forecast suggests that thelarger the school, the more scientifically-oriented courseswill be offered, and the smaller the school, the more tradi-tionally-oriented courses will be offered. No major differ-ences in the curriculum are indicated between public and pri-vate institutions given comparable size and program level_There still exist unresolved issues relating to job opportuni-4,ies.and making Speech az-eq.-lire ment of all baccalaureate de-grees.

TEACHING STANDARD ENCiL1SH TO FOUR 4ND FIVE YEAROLD BLACK CHILDREN: IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE ON TESTS OF ABILITY AND ACHIEVEMENT

Order No. 7800644

JEFFERS, Andrea Taylor, Ph.D. The Catholic University ofAmerica, 1977. 166pp.

The use of standardized tests for diagnoses and placementinto special classes is a widespread phenomenon in today'sschools. However, observations and empirical. studies indicatethat minority individuals, especially Blacks, typically score atleast one standard deviation below the mean On these measures.Reasons cited for Blacks' poor perforMance include geneticinferiority and environmental deprivation. There is increasingevidence, however, that many tests used for categorizationpurposes are linguistically biased. Black, inner city, lowin-come dwellers typically spealg Vernacular Black English (VBE)which contains significantly different features from the StandardEnglish (SE) appearing in the school's curricula and evalua-tional tools.

The purpose of this study was to determine if teaching SEto VBE dominant inner city children affects their test perfor-mance. It was hypothesized that instructed children would per-form significantly higher on tests measuring SE performance,language comprehension, and general ability. Instructed chiledren were also predicted to prefer SE versus VBE. Hypoth-eses were tested at the p <.05 level of significance.

Subjects included fifty-three four and five year old Blackpreschoolers representing three inner city day ':are centers inWashington, D.C. Subjects were randomly selected and as-signed to instructed and non-instructed groups within their re-spective Centers.

SE counterparts of socially diagnostic phonological andgrammatical features were selected for inclusion in the SE in-structional program. The lessons followed language activitiesbased gn theorized processes for control of graminar, i.e.. dis-crimination, imitation, comprehension, and production. A bi-dialectal teaching approach was adopted where Sig featureswere presented as "merely another way of verbaliziair. Theinstructional period lasted ten weeks. Three graduate studentsserved as instructors.

The standardized tests used for pre and posttesting werethe Screening Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language(STACL) and the Slossen Intelligence Test (SIT). Two re-searcher-developed measures were utilind o assess SE per-formance and dialect preference.

Analysis of covariance and analysis o variance were themajor statistical procedures used. Re fired homogeneity ofregression assumptions were met foricovariarice analyses.`Centers' was designated as a blocking variable in all analyses.Results indicated that instructed cups' performance was sig-nificantly higher than controls on/all. objective measures withthe exception of the Slossen. There was no significant groupdifference regarding dialect preference.

It was concluded that SE instruction enhances performanceon standardized tests measuring language ability but does notinfluence preference for SE dialect. Conclusions involvingeffects of instruction on the Slossen were deferred due to testadministration requirements and item characteristics whichcomplicated analyses and obscured interpretations. respec-tively. Limitations of the study and recommendations for fur-ther research are presented.

THE .EFFECTS OF STRUCTURED LANGUAGE PROGRAMSON LLNGUISTIC SKILLS OF CULTURALLY DIFFERENTCHILDREN

LOGAN., Richard Lanham. Ph.D.Gebigia State University - School of Education, 1977

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the influence oftwo structured language programs as supplements to a school

. system kindergarten program on selected language perfor-mances of culturally different kindergarten children. One ofthe training programs was a school system designed kinder-garten curriculum. another program was the MWM Programfor Developing Language Abilities (MWM). and the third wasThe Goal Program: Language Development (GOAL).

Methods and Procedures

Seventy-nine culturally different 5 year old children par-ticipated in the study. The Minskoff. Wiseman. Minskoff Pro-gram for Developing Language Abilities group consisted of26 children. with 18 boys and 8 girls. The GOAL Program:Language Development group consisted of 24 children, with12 boys and 12 girls. The control group consisted of 29 chil-dren with 15 boys and 14 girls. These children were selectedon criteria set up by the Bibb County Board of Education forTitle I Kindergartens which included age. location in a disad-vantaged area, and scores on the language and mathematicssubtests of Test of Basic Experiences (TOBE).

After being given the pretests of Test of Basic Experiences(TOBE). Screening Test of Auditory Comprehension of Lan-guage (STACL). and three subtests of the Illinois Test of Psy-cholinguistic Abilities (ITPA): Auditory Reception (AR). Ver-bal Expression (VE). and Gra:nmatic Closure (GC), the childrenhad a four months exposure to the three conditions. Posttestscores on the same pretest measures were collected for the79 children in the study.

Results

An analysis of covariance was used with the pretest scoresused as the covariates. In cases where a significant F valuewas obtained. Scheffe's S- method of a t test was employed todetermine specific differen,:es. Results indicate there weresignificant differences between the groups in terms of psycho-linguistic training and general linguistic ability. The resultsof the analyses are as follows: (1) The GOAL training pro-gram produced greater improvement in basic language f7on-cep9 as measured by the TOBE than the MWM and c ontrolgroups.. ..(2) The three intervention programs showed approxi-..,mately.equal effects on auditory comprehension of languagestructure as measured by the STACL. (3) The 1VIWIv1 trainingprogram produced greater improvement ir,auditory receptionas measured by the AR subtest of the ITPA over the GOALand control group. (4) The MWM training program indicatedgreater improvement in grammatic and switactic inflectionsas measured by the GC subtest of the Li ?A over both theGOAL and control groups. (5) The G0'4,1. training programand the MWM program produced improvements inverbal expression as measured by the Verbal Expression sub-test of the ITPA over the control group; however, the twoprograms showed no sigr.ificant differences between each other.

Conclusion

After culturally different kindergarten children are ex-posed to structured language programs the results indicatethat the MWM ano GOAL training programs used as a sup-plementary program selectively affect positively the develop-ment of psycholinguistic skills and are shown to be more effec-tive than a kirdergarten zurriculurn used alone.

Order No. 77-29.396, 103 pages.

PRODUCTION OF /-s/, /-z/, /-t/, AND /-d/ AS BOUNDMORPHEMES AND AS STEM TERMINAL PHONEMES BYGROUPS OF NORMALLY DEVELOPING, ARTICULATIONIMPAIRED, AND SYNTACTICALLY DELAYED. PRESCHOOLCHILDREN Order No. 7805300

LYBOLT, John Tracy, Ph.D. Northwestern University, 1977.238pp.

This research focused upon productive differences in nor-mal-speaking, articulation impaired, and syntactically delayedchildren's articulation of speech sounds in morphological and_nonmorphological contexts. The speech soundS /-s/. /-z I./-t/, and /-d/ occur as phonologically conditioned granarna.-tical morphemes and as uninflected nonmorphological phonemes.The distribution of these morphological and nonmorphologicaltokens allowed a comparison of the articulatory patterns ofchildren differing in speech and language abilities as they pro-duced /-s/, /-z/, /4/, and /-d/ in these contexts.

The speech sounds were elicited in plural, possessive, thirdperson present tense, and regular past tense forms, and asword terminal phonemes. Each- ype of speech sound re-sponse was elicited in word repetition-sentence repetition-conversation tasks, vowel following-consonant following-utter-ance terminal contexts, and in cluster-noncluster contexts.Correct, substitution, omitted, and distorted response typeswere recorded and the subphonemic features altered by thechildren were noted. Computer analyses of the data employeduniNariate and multivariate procedures.

Children in each group were more likely to omit, substi-tute, or distort the speech sound in morphological than in non-morphological contexts. The children in each group providedfewest correct and most omitted responses when attemptingmorphological speech sounds. All evidenced a pattern in whicha speech sound produced correctly in nonmorphological con-texts was omitted or substituted in morphological contexts.A speech sound substituted in.a nonmorphological context wouldbe omitted, or a speech sound differing in more subphonemiccomponent features than the original substitution would be sup-plied. All groups shared similar patterns of speech Sound pro-duction when not giving the full adult form, simplifying syl-lables, devoicing word final speech sounds, substituting agrammatical inflection while producing that speech sound cor-rectly as an uninflected phoneme, reducing consonant clusters,and responding similarly in each elicitation context. Most cor-rect responses were obtained in the word repetition task, andleast in the sentence repetition task. No significant differenceswere obtained when the grammatical inflections and unin-flec .rd speech sounds were elicited in an utterance terminalposition when compared with embedded positions. Wher- em-bedded, tokens were producer! correctly and omitted least oftenwhen a consonant followed the speech sound. This was in con-trast to recent literiture which indicated that the best contextshould have been with a vowel following the token. Each groupof children, even those with the greatest impairments of oralsyntax and articulation gave evidence of an appropriate orderof emergence of the grammatical morphemes for plurality,possession, past tonse, and third perspr. ;:rt.sent tense.'

The findings of the investigation suggested that phonolog-ical complexity was a factor affecting children's production of/-s/, /-z/, /4/, or /-d/ as grammatical allomorphs. Theallomorphs which were phonologically conditioned were pro-duced less adequately than corresponding uninflected speechsounds by all children with emerging phonological skills. All .children appeared to have greater difficulty prodticing wordswith complex syllabic shapes when the syllable contained agiarnmatical morpheme than when the syllable included a non-morphological speech sound.

EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION SKILLS ON ACADEMICSUCCESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE Order No. 7805206

McGRATH, John James, Jr., Ed.D. Wayne State University,1977. 81pp. Supervisor: Sigurd Ftislov

In technical education competencies in the technical compo-nents are usually necessary for initial job placement, but ver-bal and written skills are also thought to be important for con-tinued success and upgrading for the technician. The extent towhich grade point,averages in communication skill courses arerelated to academic success and job performance was the topicof this study.

Technology graduates from-Monroe County Community Col-lege for the years 1970-1975 were used as a data base. Thepopulation consisted of approximately 94 graduates who electedto take two or niore communication skill\courses but did notcomplete a baccalaureate degree prograth. An original ques-tionnaire was used.to obtain data on commiinication skill usageandsalary received on-the-job. A mail-Ka proCedure was usedwhich yielded a 68rZ rate of return.

The data in the study were analyzed by using the PearsonProduct-Moment Correlation Coefficient and the t-test for hy-pothesis of relationships involving the correlation coefficient.

No attempt was made to determine factors other than aca-demic grades and communication skill usage on the part of thegraduates. Other factors may exist, but they were not consid-ered within the scope of this .study.

The study results are asfellows: 11) A significant relation-ship existed between grades in communication skills and overallgrade averages for technology students, but the predictive valuefor individuals should be approached with caution. (2) Therewas no significant relationship established between grades in atechnology major and communication skills. (3) The use ofcommunication skills on-the-job showed no significant relation-ship to the communication skill grade point average obtained inthe academic program. (4) A significant relationship was estab-lished between communication skill grades and salary' receivedon-the-job although the correlation was negative. (5) A signifi-cant relationship, although again negative, was established forsalary received oe-the-job and the teehnc.ogy graduates overallgrade point average. (6) No significant relationship existed be-tween grades in the technology majors and salary received on-the-job. (7) For the sample 8rc of the technology graduateswere working in specific jobs for which they were trained.(8) Graduates in this study working in managerial positionsearned the highest salaries, used communication skills to ahigh degree on- the-job, and possessed the highest grade pointaverage in communication skill courses.

TEACHING HAPTICS IN THE BASIC SPEECH COURSE:A STUDY OF MEANS AND EFFECTS

ROACH. Carol Ashburn. Ph.D.North Texas State University. 1977

The problem of this study was the investigation of the de-sirability of teaching haptics in the basic speech classroom.the rhetorical means and strategies to be used. and the designused to describe these means.

The purposes of this study were (a) to develop a philosoph-ical rationale for the need to teach haptics in the basic speechcourse. (tat to develop instructional methods and strategies asa means of teaching haptics. (c) to assess the success for themeans in terms of behavioral change. and (d) to examine therelationship between variables important in experiencing othershaptically in an experimental design.

The curriculum unit on haptics designed for this study in-cluded printed and media materials. The printed materialsconsisted of the instructor's lesson plans. cognitive and affec-tive learning objectives. and a reader's theatre script. Themedia materials included a black-and-white slide presentation

with a voice script and a color slide presentation with a music.4.ape.

The participants in this study were sixty-four students whowere enrolled in fotir sections of Basic Speech COmmunicationat the University of Alabama in Huntsville, during the academicyear 1976-1977. There were thirty-two students in the.ex-perimental group and thirty-two students in the control group.The treatment for the experimental group was, presented inten hours of classroom time during the sixth week of an eleven-week term and consisted of the curriculum unit on haptics de-signed for this study. The control group was involved in onlythe regular expository-types of activities used in the multipleapproach to the basic speech course. All four sections of thecourse had the same instructor.

Pre-test and post-test data were collected from the Funda-mental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior Scale(FIRO-B). the Semantic Differential for Touch, the TouchAwareness Inventory, and the Cognitive Mapping Instrument.

Ten hypotheses were tested in this study. The first fourhypotheses stated that there would be significant differencesbetween the post-test scores of the experimental and controlgroups. It was hypothesized that the,experimental group wouldmake significant gains as measured by the four instruments.The fifth hypothesis stated that there would be a significantrelationship between scores on the Semantic Differential forTouch and the Tcuch Awareness InVentory. The sixth throughthe tenth hypothesis dealt with relationships between variableson the Touch Awareness Inventory. The statistical methodsused were the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, the Pearson-Product Moment Correlation, correlation analysis. and re-gression analysis. The minimum .05 level of significance wasprescribed as necessary to reject the null hypotheses.

The results of the statistical analyses revealed that thedifferences between the experimental and control groups on thefour instruments were not statistically significant. No signifi-cant relationship was found between scores on the two instru-ments. Only two of the hypotheses dealing with the variableson the Tcuch Awareness Inventory proved significant.

Findings derived from personal observations indicated thatthe experimental group became aware of their own strengthsand weaknesses in non-verbal communication. It was also evi--dent that factors in addition to increased scores should be con-sidered in research concerning the teaching of haptics in thebasic speech course.

In view of these findings, it was recommended that furtherresearch be conducted to discover new means of teachinghaptics and new methodology developed to measure its effectson interpersonal communication.

Order No. 77-29.573. 211 pages.

THE EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIONSKILLS TRAINING UPON STUDENTS AND TEACHERS INA SCHOOL OF NURSING Order No. 7803278

SCALES-SMITH, Freda SuEllen, Ph.D. Purdue University,1977. 254pp. Major Professor: Kathryn W. Linden

An interpersonal communication skills training programfor teachers and students was conducted for one-half of thesophomore class and faculty at The Indiana University Schoolof Nursing. The training program consisted of an interpersonalcommunication skills workshop held during the afternoon ofthe first day of classes for the participating teachers ana stu-dents. For the rest of the semester, 15-minute interpersonalskill communication exercises were held each week. The work-shop and seminar exercises involved the skills of self-disclo-sure, paraphrasing, I-Message and behavior feedback. Thepurpose of the training program was to improve teacher-stu-dent communication. The other one-half of the class and itsfaculty did not participate in the training program and con-stituted the control group.

To test the effectiveness of the interpersonal skills train-ing program, the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory(BLRI) and a 15-item cognitive achievement quiz were com-pleted by both experimental and control teachers and studentsat the end of the semester-long training period. The dependentvariables were the four scales of the BLRI--Level of Regard,Empathy, Unconditionality of Regard and Congruence--and the15-item cognitive achievement quiz.

It was predicted that the trained group (both teachers andstudents) would have higher and more congruent BLRI ratingsand quiz scores than would the control group (teachers andstudents). One-way analyses of variance were used to testeach of the seven hypotheses. The independent variable in-volved two groups: experimental, or trained group and controlgroup. Each group contained two subgroups: teachers and stu-dents. The experimental trained group was composed of fiveteachers and 63 students: five teachers and 71 students com-prised the control group.

The significant findings were: 1) Trained students ratedthemselves significantly higher on the Level of Regard scalethan did control students. 2) Trained students achieved sig-nificantly higher scores on the achievement ^uiz than did thecontrol students. 3) Trained students rate .neir instructorssignificantly higher on the Congruence s- .e than did the con-trol students. 4) Control students' self-. -:ings were less con-gruent when compared with their instructors' composite stu-dent group ratings on Unconditionality of Regard than were theself-ratings of trained students compared with their instruc-tors' ratings of these students. 5) Quiz scores of control in-structors and students were less congruent than were those of -

instructors and students in the interpersonal skills trainingprogram.

Evaluations derived from the experimental teachers andstudents regarding the interpersonal communication skillstraining program indicated that the 1) workshop and seminarexercises werE cornplf!zientary and 2) both were needed inorder for the tr.::.ning program to be effective. Although theskills practiced in the experimental training program werereported to he very similar to the interpersonal skills learnedand practiCed in other aspects of their curriculum, experimen-tal teachers and students experienced a closeness and opennesswith each other that they considered unique to the program.Consequently, it is recommended that, once a training programis instituted, it should be continued throughout the total nursingprogram. With an interpersonal communication training pro-gram instituted within an entire nursing program, perhaps theresults of studies indicating hostile, rigid and unapproachablecommunications between nursing instructors and studentswould be refuted.

THE EFFECT OF A SPEECH COURSE ON COURTROOMTESTIMONY OF GEORGIA STATE PATROL TRAINEES

Order No. 7804954

;PEARS, Margaret Celeste, Ph.D. Georgia State University -;chool of Education, 1977. 160pp.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a coursespeech aids State Troopers when testifying in court cases

evolving traffic accidents.

Methods and Procedures

The population was the forty-two Georgia State Trooperrainees at the Georgia Police Academy on Confederate Avenuen Atlanta, Georgia who were members of the 1976-1977 train-ng groups. All Trooper trainees are required to take oneourse for college credit. They elect either a speech courser a psychology course. The sample consisted of two groups

1A

of trainees who elected to take a speech course and one groupof trainees who elected to take a psychology course in lieu ofa speech course.

Data collection involved the administration of pre-tests andpost-tests to experimental and control groups. The tests werecomposed of the trainees' viewing a film regarding a trafficaccident, an attor.iey's questioning relative to the accident, andobservers' evaluating the trainees on their courtroom compe-tency in testifying. The sixteen variables of courtroona,com-petency examined were categorized into the areas of content,vocal elements, style, and bodily activity.

The data were statistically treated utilizing the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results

1. No significant difference at the .05 level was found be-tween Trooper trainees who elected to take psychology andthose who elected to take speech in any of the sixteen vari-ables observed prior to the experiment. 2. The test scores oftrainees who elected to take psychology instead of speech werenot significantly different at the .05 level after Trooper train-ing than before in any of the sixteen observed variables duringccurtroom testimony. 3. The test scores of trainees whoelected to take speech irstead of psychology were not signifi-cantly different at the .05 level after Trooper training than be-fore in any of the sixteen observed variables during courtroomtestimony. 4. Taking this Speech course instead of the psy-chology course during Trooper training did not significantlyimprove the trainees' performance at the .05 level on any ofthe sixteen observed variables during courtroom testimony.5. The experience of giving courtroom testimony and being eval-uated on courtroom testimony did not at the .05 level signifi-cantly influence fifteen of the sixteen observed variables of thespeech group of Trooper trainees.

Conclusions

1. Analysis of the data led to the general conclusion thatthis speech course did not improve Georgia State Trooper court-room competen63 when testifying in traffic accident cases.2. There was no significant relationship between this Trooperspeech training and the courtroom competency in testifyingvariables of accuracy of information, pre-. ision of vocabulary,standard usage, organization of ideas, articulation, vocal' va-riety, pitch, loudness, rate of speaking, confidence, credibility,enthusiasm, conversational quality, eye contact, posture andgestures_ 3. Courtroom testimony performance in cases in-volving traffic accidents remained relatively constant for Geor-gia State Trooper trainees who did not elect to take this speechcourse. .

SPEECH-COMP: ENGLISH COMPOSITION IN THE INTRO-.DUCTORY SPEECH CLASS Order No. 7804626

STANCIEL, Lennie Donald, A.D. The University of Michigan,1977. 124pp. Chairman: Walter H. Clark

The purpose of this dissertation project has been to incor-perate the teaching concepts of 'English in Every Classroom"and discipline reinforcement to the introductory speech coursein an urban community college setting.

Our first concern was to assess and determine the natureof the student attending the community college, as to hisca-ciemic competence, verbal and oral skills.

Our second concern was to provide a theoretical frameworkfor incorporating English in the introductory speech class atthe community level.

Thirdly. we set out to design a course model which inte-grated speech and English composition.

Fourthly, we appliedthe course model at an urban com-munity college and measured its effectiveness on'the writingand speaking skills of students.

DEVI- ?MENT OF A TYPEWRITING MANUAL FORTEACki.::G STANDARD ENGLISH. GRAMMAR TO COMM1J-Nrry COLLEGE STUDENTS WHOSE WRITING SHOWSEVIDENCE OF LINGUISTIC INTERFERENCE FROM NON -STANDARD DIALECTS. (VOLUMES I AND II)

Order No. 7808493

SURI, Mary Lu, Ed.D. New York University, 1977. 385pp.Chairman: Professor Karen.R. Gillespie

The purpose of this study was to develop a typewriting drillbook to facilitate the learning of patterns of standard Englishgrammar for community college students whose writing showsevidence of linguistic 'interference from nonstandard dialects.

A list of grarnm'atical interference points between standardEnglish and some prevalent nonstandz -d dials cts was compiledfrom linguistic research, primarily in the area of Black En-glish Vernacular. A test based upon the interference pointswas developed, validated, and administered to a group of 259inner-city community college freshmen. The answers of the175 students,-regardless of race, who were native speakers ofEnglish were analyzed. The twelve grammatical features thatreceived the most nonstandard dialect responses on the testserved as the basis for the chapters of the typewriting drillbook.

After a review of literature pertaining to the teaching offoreign languages and the teaching of English as a second lan-guage or a second dialect, three criteria were established fortypewriting drills designed to teach patterns of standard Englishgrammar: (1) The materials should be based upon the assump-tion that nonstandard dialects are different from, not inferiorto, standard English. (2) Each grammatical pattern should betaught through a variety of drills similar to those used forteaching foreign languages and English as a second language.(3) The standard English grammatical features being taughtshould be specifically compared with the corresponding non-standard grammatical features.

Using the above criteria, a typewriting drill book was writ-ten that appears in Volume II of the study. Each chapter of thedrill book included repetition, recall, substitution, completion,transformation, editing, guided writing, and composition exer-cises, and also a comparison of the standard and the nonstan-dard grammatical features concentrated on in that chapter.

The content validity of the typewriting drill book was aft-

firined by a panel of experts who compared the drills with thecriteria that had been established. The panel included three au-thors in the field of teaching standard English as a second dialectand two community college professors experienced inteachingspeech and writing to foreign students and to students speakingnonstandard dialects of English.

Two panels of students, a Standard English panel and a Non-standard Dialect panel, tried the prepared materials, which wererevised where necessary to insure that both the typewriting and

e grammatical aspects of the drills could be understood bycommunity college students.

Recommendations were offered for experiments that wouldfurther evaluate the materials developed for this study.

THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS TRAININGON COLLEGE. STUDENTS EN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTGROUPS Order No. 7800520

TARPEY. Elizaoeth Anne. Ph.D. Saint Louis University. 1977.210pp.

Purpost of the Stu.-',y

It was the purp. s, of this investigation to examine the ef-fects of corn-nunicati,ns skills training' on the acadernie achieve-ment of students participating in a study skills course whencompared with students reeeivir..; no communications skillstraining in a study skills course.

Hypotheses

Hypotheses relating to the effects of communications skillstraining on academic achievement and to the effects of partici-pation in a study skills course on academic acilievernent, studyhabits and attitudes and locus of .control were formulated andtested. Criterion measures were end-of-term grade pointaverage. SSHA scores and scores On a locus of control instru-ment.

ProceduresThe subjects for this investigation were SI undergraduate

college students. Sixty students registered for one of four sec-tions of a study skills course and 31 students who requested ad-mission but were der.ied were placed in a wait group. Randomassignment of two groups to receive communications skillstraining and two to receive no communications skills training(basic study skills) was made.

Group leaders were trained and randomly assigned to com-munications skills or basic study skills groups. The groupsmet two hours per week for a period of ten weeks. The com-munications skills group participated in a pre-class communi-cations skills laboratory. A structured model for use in college'achievement groups (Hoopes. 1969) was revised and used in allgroups. Students in the communications groups were encour-aged and reinforced for the use of communication behaviorslearned in the pre-class laboratory. Those in the basic studyskills group did not receive communications skills training andwere not reinforced for the use of such behaviors.

Analysis

Pre and post comparisons of grade point averages weremade using an analysis of variance to determine differencesacross groups on this criterion measure. Related t tests wereused to analyze differences in pre and post scores on the SSHAand the locus of control instrument.

12

ResultsThe end-of-term grade point averages of the communica-

tions skills groups and the basic study skills groups were sig-nificantly higher than the wait-no-counseling group end-of-term grade point ave:age. No significant differences werefound in grade point averages between the communicati=onsskills and the basic study skills groups. Post scores on theSA. SH and SO scales of the SSHA were significantly higherwhen compared with the pre scores. Pre and pust compari-sons on the locus of control instrument indicated no significant

differences.

ConclusionsIt appears that a structured group experience does have a

positive effect on academic achievement and that students canchange their scholastic status from academic probation to asuccessful academic status by participating in a group experi-ence which focuses on study skills training. Students study be-

haviors and attitudes can be positively and significantly changed.There appears to be no superiority of treatment with regard to

training in communications skills versus no training in communications skills in academic achievement groups.

A COMPARISON OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECTMATTER IN THE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION COURSE ASPERCEIVED BY JUNIOR AND COMMUNITY COLLEGETEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARIES

Order No. 7809172

TILLEY, Gwendolyn Lynam, Ed.D. University of HOuston, 1977.220pp.

Purpose

The pr.-pose of this study was to determine the differencesin perceptions between:a select group of business communica-tion teachers and a select group of administrative secretariesregarding the importance of subject matter topics currentlyincluded in the basic business communication course in theJunior college.

Hypothesis

. The following null hypothesis was tested for significance atthe .01 level: No significant difference exists in the importanceof 37 subject matter topics included in the business communica-tion course as perceived by teachers of business communicationat the junior and community College level and as perceived byadministrative secretaries who actually perform writing tasksin the execution of their responsibilities.

Procedures

A review of professional literature and the ten most widelyused business communicati*textbooks served as a basis fordevelcping the research instrument. A list of 37 subject mattertopics in the basic business communication course was devel-oped. In addition to this perception statements section of theinstrument, certain professional and educational informationquestions were designed to gather general information about thetwo groups of research subjects in the study.

Data were collected from 147 junior college business com-munication teachers who were members of the American Busi-ness Communication Association and from 188 administrativesecretaries in the Houston, Texas, area. A factor analysiswas undertaken for the purpose of establishing the validity ofthe seven categories in which the 37 topics had been grouped.The extraction of factors revealed two additional factors whichhad not been hypothesized by the researcher.

Using t-tests for independent samples, the data were ana-lyzed to determine whether or not significant differences existedat the .01 level between the mean degree of importance placedon each topic by business communication teachers and admin-istrative secretaries.

Conclusions

Of 37 subject matter topics included in the research ques-tionnaire, administrative secretaries perceived 21 topics asbeing significantly more important than did junior college bus-iness communication teachers. Those topics were: The roleand importance of communication in the businc..a organization;Barriers and malfunctions of communication; Grammar andusage, sentence construction: Spelling, capitalization, and worddivision skills; Expressing numbers in business writing; Proof-reading and proofreader's marks; Attractive letter layout, letterform- Telegrams, minutes, news releases; Form and purposeof interoffice memorandum; Collecting_primary data throughvarious methods: Finding and using secondary sources of busi-ness information; Organizing and outlining data for reports;Analyzing and objectively interpreting data; Graphic presenta-tion of data in reports: Dictating effective business letters,machine dictation; Expanding vocabulary, using the dictionari;Speaking to an audience, leading conferences and meetings; In-terpersonal or small group oral communication; Barriers to

effective listening; Applying principles of good speaking andlistening in interviewing, and Nonverbal message cues, i.e.,gestures, posture, voice inflection, facial expression.

Of 37 subject matter topics, junior college business com-munication teachers perceived three topics as being signifi-cantly more important than did administrative secretaries.Those topics were: Good news and bad news letters; Claimand adjustment letters; and Application letters, personal rec-ord sheets.

Of 37 subject matter topics, no significant differences werefound to exist between the mean perceptions of business com-munication teachers and administrative secretaries for 13 sub-ject matter topics. Those topics were: Conversational style,writing to the reader; Completeness and coherence through or-ganization and word choice; Clarity and coherence throughorganization and word choice; Directness and positivity, useof active voice- Human relations and psychological effects ofcommunication; Honesty, empathy, and reliability in commu-nication; Sentence, paragraph, and letter length, beginningsand endings; Inquiries, answers to inquiries; Direct requests,persuasive requests; Collection letters, collection series; Let-ters that build goodwill; Sales letters, persuasive techniques;and Documentation, footnotes_, and bibliography.

Implications

Teachers should re-evaluate the emphasis currently placedon the 37 subject matter topics to determine whether greateror less emphasis should be placed on each topic. This re-evaluatioreis necessitated by the secretaries' differing percep-tions of communication content relevant to practical employ-ment functions.

Because busizi.;ss communication students at the two-yearcollege level do ra,1: cyclically obtain bachelor's degrees, theneed for teaching sebject matter that is relevant to their im-mediate eraployrnen. is urgent.

Business comma:cation teachers, authors of communicationtextbooks, and textbook publishers have not sought to base thesubject matter emphasized in the junior college business com-munication eotuse on the immediate needs of students who takethe course for preparation for employment.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF SELF-INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR USE IN TEACHINGSELECTED BUSINESS VOCABULARY TERMS

Order No. 7807849

VANCE, Rosemary Casey, Ed.D. North Texas State University,1977. 186pp.

The problem of this study was twofold: the development.ofself-instructional materials to be used in teaching business'vocabulary to college students and the evaluation of these ma-terials.

The purposes of the study were to develop sell-instructionalmaterials for teaching selected business terms to college stu-dents, to determine the effect of using these materials as com-pared to the effect of using a lecture-notebook teaching tech-nique for instruction in businese vocabulary and to no instructionin business vocabulary, and to compare the effect of using thelecture-notebook.teaching technique to no instruction in businessvocabulary.

Self-instructional materials were developed for words on alist of approximately 400 high-importance business terms.These materials were pilot tested during the Fall, 1976.

During the Spring, 1977, the materials were tested undercontrolled experimental conditions. Ten business communica-tions classes, with a total of 202 students, participated in thisten-week experiment. The classes were divided into threegroups. Two g-cup' studied business vocahu'a7: the th'rd.group, serving as a control, was given no instruction in busi-ness vocabulary. '

Three classes, with a total of 72 students, completed theself-instructional materials. Three classes, with a total of 71students, studied business vocabulary by a lecture-notebooktechnique. Four classes, with a total of 59 students, were as.signed to the control group.

A test, given to all groups as a pretest and posttest, wasdeveloped from the list of high-importance business terms.This 68-point test was validated by seven judges selected fromnational leaders in various business teaching areas. The testhas a reliability of .81.

Analysis of covariance and the Tukey multiple.7comparisonprocedure for unequal groups were used to test for significantvariation between adjusted means. The .05 level of significancewas accepted as sufficient to reject the null hypotheses. Setsof scores on the pretest served as covariates, and sets of scoreson the posttest .sere the dependent variables.

Tests comparing adjusted means of the three total groups,comparing the upper 40 per cent of the groups, and comparingthe lower 40 per cent of the groups showed that both experi-mental groups had significantly higher adjusted group meanson the posttest than did the control group. Comparisons be-tween the adjusted mean scores of the two total experimentalgroups and betwegi the adjusted means of the lower 40 per centof the experimental groups revealed that students using the self-instructional materials had significantly higher adjusted meanscores than did the lecture-notebook students. No significantdifference was found between adjusted mean scores of the upper40 per cent of the experimental groups.

Four conclusions were drawn from the statistical findingsfrom this experiment. (1) Specific instruction in business vo-cabulary by either of the two teaching approaches used in thisexperiment is more effective in increasing the business vocab-ulary of college business communications students than no in-struction. (2) When total groups including all levels of businessvocabulary knowledge are considered, the self-instructionalmaterials are more effective than the lecture-notebook tech-nique. (3) For students with a high initial knowledge of businessvocabulary, one of these techniques is not more effective thanthe other. (4) The self-instructional materials used in thisstudy are particularly effective for teaching business vocabu-lary to students who have a low initial knowledge of businessvocabulary.

SOME EFFECTS OF FANTASY PLAY ON THE VERBALFLUENCY OF LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN AS IN-DICATED BY THE THEMATIC. APPERCEPTION TEST

Order No. 7731169

VINCENT. Gerald Owen. Ed.D. Texas Tech University.'1977.212pp. Chairman: Dr. Bruce D. Mattson

The principal purpose of this study was to investigate theeffects of imaginative play on the verbal communication skillsof learning disabled pupils. Two specific objectives of thestudy were defined. the first objective being to measure theeffects of play activities on the student's verbal fluency. Thesecond objective was to study the effects of plan on imaginativeverbal responses. Activities commonly associated with playtherapy ..sere selected as experimental treatment. Thetreatment program was designed to stimulate the children'sfantasies. Accurdingly;play activities were structured aroundimaginative themes and content.

A review of recent research indicated that make-believeplay has been utilized successfully to enhance children's verbalskills. Heretofore, the majority of research reporting the re-sults of imaginative play has concentrated primarily on threegroups of children - -the very young, the hyperactive, and theculturally disadvantaged. It has been observed that manylearning disabled students share a number of dysfunctionaloral characteristics with those.children studied previously.The present researcher postulated, therefore, that if studentswith learning disorders were taught to play imaginatively, theiroral communications skills might improve.

The need for this study was reasoned on the basis that exist-ing methods for remediating the verbal communication deficitsof learning disabled children have generally been ineffective.As the literature indicated, little attention has been paid tothis particular handicap. Rather, oral expressive problemseither have not been recognized as specific handicaps. or havebeen remediated in a global. indirect fashion. The results ofthis study, it was anticipated, could possibly provide im-portant information concerning the feasibility of developing.direct oral language-based intervention strategies for thesestudents.

The subjects for this research study were sixty-two stu-dents enrolled in theAbilene, Texas, Independent School Dis-trict. All students had been identified as learning disabled andplaced in special education programs. Their ages ranged fromeight to eleven. The stratified- random assignment method,counterbalanced to provide equal age-sex cells. was utilizedto identify experimental and control subjects.

The research design provided for pre- and posttesting of'all subjects. Care was taken, however, that only those stu-dents whose parents had given written consent were includedin the study. Following the pretesting period, only those stu-dents assigned to the Experimental Group were administeredthe experimental treatment- -e.g., eight consecutive weeks ofstructured imaginative piny. 'cr., hour per week. Pre- andposttests were administered by educational diagnosticians whowere provided previous special training in ndrainistering theThematic Apperception Test (TAT). Imaginative play activitieswere taught by school ph-ychologists and special cdu,ntion con-sulting teachers followingsprehminnry training. All testingand play was conducted inthe schools.

T,.vo instruments were utilized in pre- and postt,sting asthe criterion measures for the study'. Both tests were designedto evaluate the subject's verbal responses to the TAT cards.The Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) :vas intended to assess quanti-tative changes occurring in the parts of speech spoken. whilethe Tr:insect:donee Index (TT) was utiliz.ed to asses~ changeswhich reflected verbalized fantasy projections.

Among the variables studied were the changes occurring inthe usage f)f common speech parts, and in the expression ofimaginative thoughts. In order to determine whether therewere significant differences occurring before and after the ex-perimental period, and between the Experimental rnd ControlGroups, the data from these tests were analyzed statisticallywith correlated t-tests :Ind the multiple classification annlySesof covariance. Pretest results were used as the covariate.There was n significant difference in the Experimental Group'sTT scores on the posttest. There were. hoy:ever. no significantdifferences in verbal fluency between the Experimental andControl Croups.

LEADERSHIP AND LANGUAGE: RHETOR-LINGUISTICS FORMANAGER-LEADER DEVELOPMENT. (VOLUMES I AND II)

Order No. 7806846

WARD, Barbara Taylor, Ph.D. Texas A&1%1 University, 1977.701pp. Chairman: Dr. Harry P. Kroitor

Leadership and its development are examined in terms oftheir integral language features. These language features areidentified as an essential key to more efficient leadershiptraining. As an interdisciplinary undertaking, this work ana-lyzes problems in leadership and leadership development fromthe point of view of modern linguistics as well as classical andcontemporary rhetoric. Both disciplines are rich sources ofinsights into those problems, yielding highly pertinent researchdat.a that have not heretofore appeared in the management andleadership training literature. Along with relevant researchfindings from some other disciplines, this material has beenorganized as support for a comprehensive theory of rhetor-linguistics for human development.

As one application of that general theory, Rhetor-Linguistics(R-L) is explained as a practical language-based approach fordevising the aL curate training meth)ds urgently needed for me teffective leadership development for military and civilian ca-reers and organizations. The crucial aspect of that need is thepressure on individuals and organizations to be more productive.Consequently, R-L is dedicated to serving the productivity ofleadership. However, R-L also takes into account the personalgrowth that is essential to a manager-loader's long-term effec-tiveness. In addition, R-L emphasizes personality developmentand skills acquisition, rather than personality conversion.

Because of the interdisciplinary character of R-L, PartOne provides two kinds of orientation. For the reader who isunfamiliar with. linguistics and rhetoric, a concise backgroundexplanation of those disciplines offers a practical introductionto their respective approacheS to the study of language use.Throughout the work, whenever technical terms are unavoidablethey are defined. An orientation is also provided for the readerwho is unfamiliar with the current problems and issues of man-agement that concern the need for more effective leadership.

These problems and issues are surveyed in some detail inPart Two in relation to the need for R-L. The controversysurrounding the use of participative leadership style is alsoexplained. In addition, the development of leader empathy andflexibilitj in manager-leaders is established as a primary goalof R-L. The need for R-L is accented by a review of presentleadership training methods. That those methods have beengenerally inadequate and unreliable appears to he the consensusopinion of management experts. It becomes very clear thatthere is a need for systematic training techniques that will help

manager-leaders develop their repertoire of the leadershipstyles they may require.

Drawing from the literature of linguisticS and other behav-ioral sciences, Part Three discusses the theories, the empir-ical studies, and the background information most relevant toR-L. This material includes an explanation of the sociolin-guistic aspects of leadership and the psycholinguistic constraintsthat are major barriers to leadership development. The meansfor overcoming those barriers by formal R-L training are iden-tified as specific language style-practice techniques. Thesedevelopmental techniques promote the learner's acquisition ofadditional intuitive linguistic rules that comprise his generativecommunicative competence. This basic intuitive competenceenables him to perform particular language style-choices inhis communication events.

Part Four reviews the classical tradition of rhetorical edu-cation. That tradition is explained as a successful system ofleadership training and as a source of pedagogical precedentsfor R-L. The historical evidence in Part Four further revealslanguage style-practice techniques to be a valid methodologicalbasis for the R -L approach to manager-leader development.

Part Five summarizes this evidence in a review of the majorfeatures of R-L. In addition, a general syllabus for a basic

R-L course is presented, followed by a concluding chapter onthe subject of evaluation for leadership training programs.

AN DIVESTIGATION OF SPEECH EDUCATION PROGRAMSIN GEORGIA JUNIOR COLLEGES AND A SUGGESTEDIDEAL PROGRAM Order No. 7806052

WILiCERSON, Thomas Alec, Ed.D. University of Georgia,1977. 116pp. Supervisor: Roy C. O'Donnell

This dissertation had two principal functions. The first ofthose was to ascertain the status of speech education programsoffered by the twenty-six junior colleges in the state of Geor-gia. Twenty-two of the twenty-six institutions participated inthe status survey. Speech education programs carrying asso-ciate degree credit are firmly entrenched in the junior collegesof Georgia. More than five thousand students were enrolled insuch programs in the 1976-77 school year. All but six of thejunior colleges offered a major in either speech or speech anddrama. Only one of the twenty-six schools offered no speechsources in its curriculum. There is widespread support forthe speech education programs by both administrators and stu-dents alike.

Fifty percent of the speech faculties held no graduate de-gree in speech, and 42.5% of the total of forty speech facultymembers were employed on a part-time basis for the 1976-77school year. Nine speech faculty members held membershipsin professional speech communication organizations. None ofthe speech faculty members carried out any speech-orientedresearch during the 1976-77 school year. .

Forms of program support were also investigated in thestatus survey. Only nine (40.9%) of the twenty-two respon-dents indicated access to a speech and hearing clinic for re-ferral and corrections purposes. Four institutions (18.2%),hadbudgetary support for extra-curricular speech activities. Theaverage annual budget for those schools was $162.50.

The four junior colleges offering components to serve vo-cational-technical education students did have courses to meetthe speech education needs of such students. At the same time,none of the twenty-six Georgia junior colleges had a system.-atic program of speech-education for its continuing education

.students.The second principal function of the dissertation was to

offer a suggested ideal program of speech education for Geor-gia's junior colleges. That model includeS courses for the'transfer, career, vocational- technical, and continuing educa-tion student clienteles. The model also recommends formsand levels of program support in terms of funding for extra-curricular activities, types of audio-visual equipment, and ac-cess to speech and hearing clinics for referral purposes.Finally, the suggested model includes an ideal graduate cur-riculum to train future junior college speech communicationteachers. Under the requirements of that curriculum, the pro-spective junior college speech communication instructor wouldhave a total of fifty graduate hours. Those hours would in-clude a ten quarter-credit-hour junior college teaching internship, an introductory course to the history and philosophy ofthe junior college, a methods course in speech research meth-odology, and an introduction course to speech pathology andcorrection. The other twenty-five hours includes courses ina traditional speech communication graduate curriculum.

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