Academic, Professional, Technical, Trade, Research Books & Journals
americanpress@flash.net • 617-247-0022 • 60 State Street #700 • Boston, MA 02109
BCCA Contents & Abstracts, Volume 23, 2011
Editor David Worley
ISBN 978-0-89641-497-6E-mail americanpress@flash.net to order PDFs of any article.
Hazel, Michael, Colleen McMahon, Nancy Schmidt — Immediate Feedback: A Means of Reducing Distracting Filler Words during Public Speeche — Given the mixed effects reported in feedback intervention research, the present studies examined an immediate feedback intervention aimed at reducing distracting filler words during public speeches in a classroom setting as well as how the intervention impacted state/trait anxiety and self-perceived communication competence. (1-28)
Lawton, Bessie Lee, Mary Braz —A Grade-Norming Exercise to Increase Consistency and Perceived Consistency in Grading among Public Speaking Instructors— This study reports the results of a grade-norming training exercise in a mid-Atlantic university. The study’s goals were to improve consistency in grading among Public Speaking instructors, and to see whether self-report normative perception behavior and self-efficacy also improved. Four training sessions on speech evaluation were conducted with a group of instructors over the course of one semester. A control group was asked to evaluate speeches independently at the same time period, but its members did not have any training. (29-60)
LeBlanc, Karisten, Lori Vela, Marian L. Houser — Improving the Basic Communication Course: Assessing the Core Components — This study seeks to examine the effective means of assessing whether goals and objectives set within a basic communication course are met. The study outlines specific techniques used to evaluate learning outcomes to ensure that the course retains its relevance and general education status. A pretest-posttest design is utilized to determine whether students’ scores on cognitive, behavioral, and affective assessment instruments im¬prove from the beginning to the end of the semester. (61-92)
Meyer, Kevin R, Stephen K Hunt — Rethinking Evaluation Strategies for Student Participation — Basic communication course instructors encourage student participation in the classroom by employing a variety of strategies, including graded participation. The present study examined the methods that basic course instructors use to facilitate and assess student participation in the classroom through focus groups interviews exploring how students perceive graded participation in the basic course. (96-126)
Hennings, Jennifer M. — Tales of Teaching: Exploring the Dialectical Tensions of the GTA Experience — In universities across the United States, an increasing number of departments are turning to graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) to teach introductory courses. As GTAs assume a larger percentage of university teaching responsibilities, it becomes even more important to understand the tensions and challenges that GTAs face. The majority of research on GTAs focuses on the perceptions of students and GTA supervisors, and few researchers have talked directly to GTAs. This research fills that gap by studying the GTA experience from the GTA perspective. (127-171)
Kinnick, Katherine N. Emily Holler, Marla Bell — Assessing the Impact of Learning Communities as an Alaternative Delivery Model for the Public Speaking Cours — This study provides empirical evidence of the impact of learning communities on outcomes for public speaking students, including grades, speaking anxiety, and student and instructor perceptions. Subjects (n = 236, half of whom took the course in freshman learning communities and half in traditional sections) perceived the learning community as the preferable environment for public speaking, and students with greater speaking anxiety were more likely to self-select into learning communities. Perception, however, was not reality: Participation in a learning community made no measurable difference in terms of course outcomes of grades or decline in speaking anxiety. (172-219)
Broeckelman-Post, Melissa A., B. Scott Titsworth, LeAnn M. Brazeal — The Effects of using Peer Workshops on Speech Quality, Public Speaking Anxiety, and Classroom Climate — This field experiment answered the call to explore alternative pedagogies in communication by testing the use of structured peer workshops in public speaking courses. Peer workshops use systematic and structured peer feedback to assist students in improving their speeches. While strong theoretical reasons for using workshops have been advanced, and evidence from other disciplines suggest that they are effective, no re¬search has specifically examined their use in public speaking. (220-247)
Sidelinger, Robert J. Scott A. Myers, Audra L. McMullen — Students' Communication Predispositions: An Examination of Classroom Connectedness in Public Speaking Courses— The connected classroom climate centers on supportive student-to-student communication in the classroom, and may provide students enrolled in public speaking courses with a safe and comfortable haven to present speeches. This study examined student connectedness in public speaking courses and it’s affect on students’ (N = 368) communication abilities. (248-278)
