David W. Worley

Instructional Communication Competence: Lessons Learned from Award-Winning Teachers

Responding to calls for more holistic views on instructional communication, this study used interpretive methods to examine award-winning instructors communicative practices to assess and to refine a definition of instructional communication competence. After observing and interviewing recipients of the Central States Communication Association Outstanding New Teacher Award, we describe how these award-winning teachers (a) understand the ebb and flow of the classroom, (b) use a wide repertoire of communication skills, (c) create relationships with students, and (d) effectively manage their classroom climates.

The Basic Communication Course at Two- and Four-Year U.S. Colleges and Universities: Study VIII—The 40th Anniversary

This eighth in a series of surveys of the basic communication course, begun in 1968, has as its purpose to gather longitudinal and descriptive data on the nature of the course. The latest study differs from past studies in that some of the results are presented comparatively for two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Samples for both populations were randomly selected from the NCA list of 1,295 communication programs resulting in a total of 208 respondents, 165 from four-year schools and 43 from two-year schools. The survey instrument from 2006 was revised and expanded and the study now reports, discusses, and interprets data based on (a) course orientation, interpersonal or hybrid, and demographics; (b) course enrollment and delivery methods; (c) method of course direction; (d) course administration, instruction, and training; (e) assessment and standardization across sections; (f) grading; (g) instructional content and enhancement; and (h) media, technology, and distance education. In addition to discussing results of the present study, observations about the longitudinal results since 1968, and reflections about the basic course in light of broader socioeducational trends and instructional communication research and theory, are provided.

Goading the discipline towards unity: Teaching communication in an internet environment—a policy research analysis

This essay proposes a set of policy strategies and procedures for responding in a collective, comprehensive, and coherent way to the increasing demands to create online communication courses and curricula. Twelve specific policies focusing on inter‐department cooperation and standards, faculty development, assessment and feedback systems, and future research projects are outlined to achieve this objective. This essay specifically proceeds by first identifying the basic features (of a policy research analysis as a method for analyzing a social issue linked to technology, applies this method to the basic course taught in a web‐based learning environment, and then isolates and identifies twelve policy areas and propositions for dealing with a web page version of the basic course in ways that foster discipline‐wide cooperation, the shared use of resources, and a pooling of pedagogical insights relevant when responding to the technological changes embedded in the web page version of the basic course.

College Students with Learning Disabilities (SWLD) and Their Responses to Teacher Power

The negotiation of classroom power continues to engage scholars given its considerable impact upon pedagogical practice in the college/university classroom. As Sprague (1994) points out, the issues surrounding classroom power are complex and important because they impact the life of the classroom for both students and teachers. The complexity and importance of this topic become even more profound when we include additional variables such as learning disabilities. Prior research has focused on how students with learning disabilities (SWLD) perceive competent and incompetent communication (see Cornett-DeVito & Worley, 2005); these perceptions are likely, in large part, related to how teachers of SWLD negotiate power. While extant literature reports many challenges in communication between college instructors and students (see Worley, 2000), and while persons with disabilities have been traditionally perceived as citizens with less power and in need of protection, research has yet to consider the specific issue of classroom power and SWLD. This article offers a first step in consideration of this important issue by providing a review of power in the classroom literature, a theoretic orientation for conceptualizing this research, as well as a phenomenological investigation of student perceptions of teacher power.

Where Cognitive Psychology and Rhetoric Meet

Gardner, most noted for his work as a cognitive psychologist and particularly renowned for his theory of multiple intelligences, has written an important book for the discipline of communication, even though some may mistakenly believe that this book, like so many of his others, is focused on education. Although, as one would expect, Gardner applies a cognitive psychological lens to his review of persuasion or what he terms changing minds, the links between his work and the study of rhetoric, although not explicit, are, nevertheless, implicit. Gardner notes that “rhetoric is a principal vehicle for changing minds” that in its best form encompasses “tight logic, draws on relevant research, and resonates with an audience” (p. 16). Throughout the book by both precept and example Gardner reiterates the importance of linguistic skill, credibility, and reasoning as he articulates the process for changing minds or persuading ourselves and others. In this review, I summarize the content of the book and then briefly discuss how this book links with rhetorical principles.

Blending Rhetorical and Social Science Orientations

From its first edition, An Introduction to Rhetorical Communication: A Western Rhetorical Perspective, according to its author, James C. McCroskey, has sought to “draw on both classical Western rhetorical theory and contemporary social science research to provide a coherent introduction to the study of rhetorical communication” (pp. xv–xvi). In short, this book aims to synthesize historical and contemporary communication perspectives in order to assist readers in understanding and applying research insights to the practice of rhetorical communication or what is often typically termed the public speaking context. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1, which consists of the first three chapters, provides a historical and theoretical frame for the text. Chapter 1 reviews the classical historical tradition beginning with antiquity and moving subsequently through important eras to the present. In Chapter 2 the author details contemporary explications and models of human communication with a focus on the nature, goals, and characteristics of the rhetorical communication process. Specifically, McCroskey discusses the differences among the Shannon-Weaver, Rhetorical, and Interpersonal models of communication in order to address ultimately the uniqueness of the rhetorical communication context, as well as common misunderstandings about the process of human communication. Drawing on his considerable prior work in communication apprehension (CA), McCroskey dedicates Chapter 3 to a discussion of stage fright, the perennial problem facing rhetorical communicators, and provides the latest thinking regarding this common phenomenon by integrating insights from a “communibiological approach” (xvi). The author treats the problem of CA as “normal” (p. 39) in order to emphasize its frequency among many people, while at the same time encouraging the reader to recognize that CA is a problem that can be