Jerry D. Feezel

Elements of Teacher Communication Competence.

This study employs a perceptual theory of competence to examine the relationships among student‐teachers’ communication skills, motivation, and knowledge in relation to perceived teaching effectiveness, communicator style and teacher credibility. The results indicate that communication skill instruments may be helpful in differentiating successful from non‐successful student teachers.

Assessing graduate assistant teacher communication concerns

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument measuring teacher communication concern as experienced by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Two‐hundred and thirty‐three GTAs enrolled in a preservice orientation program completed two scales: a revised, expanded version of the Teacher Communication Concern scale and a 28‐item Concerns Checklist. Results indicate that GTAs experience eight somewhat interrelated types of concern: self, task, impact, role conflict, teaching, area knowledge, procedural knowledge, and time management. Furthermore, GTA variables of expected duties, prior teaching experience, newness to area, foreign born, and age are likely to predict differential types of concerns.

Toward a confluent taxonomy of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities in communication

Theorists in education and communication have developed systematic categories of learning, but none have approached the coherent blending of thinking, feeling/valuing, and physical abilities called for by other critics. This paper presents a systematic attempt to organize learner activity hierarchically into the dimensions of mental, social, and physical involvement. Several research studies support the validity of the three dimensional Confluent Taxonomy for both teaching applications and further pedagogical research.

A qualified certainty: Verbal probability in arguments

This research examined the effects of nine probability qualifier terms upon respondents’ acceptance of the claims of arguments. Studies compared the responses of high school upperclassmen and college undergraduates to the qualifiers presented in arguments and presented by themselves. The results are discussed in relation to the analyses of Stephen Toulmin and other language philosophers and a general model of probability in argument. Some results for both sample groups were consistent with previous research, but the “no qualifier” results were contrary to previous analyses. The probability meanings associated with the qualifiers differed noticeably when presented outside of arguments.

Cross‐generational coping with interpersonal relationship loss

Losses of significant others impact upon communication patterns from college to old age. Questionnaires and interviews revealed differences across age groups in openness of talking about losses, stress ratings of losses, and how communication was used to cope with losses. Talking with friends proved to be important for coping with loss throughout the lifespan. Two opposing patterns of response to loss also emerged; some people related to others less while other people related more after a loss event. The findings are discussed in terms of self‐engagement, family relations, and self‐disclosure.

A Needs Assessment of Research in Communication Education.

Communication researchers were surveyed about the importance of 116 research questions and 24 general areas in communication education to identify future research needs for the discipline. Respondents indicated that priority should be placed on investigations of student and teacher communication competence, the effects of teacher communication on learning, and the development of communication skills in children.

Means‐to‐me: A word game without winning or losing

This article includes full details of a learning game that has been classroom tested for seven years by the author. It deals with the relationships between words and meanings.