Educators stress the importance of listening and attempt to train students to listen more efficiently. Researchers have investigated variables which influence listening and the effectiveness of listening training. The results of their research do not demonstrate clearly that listening efficiency can be improved by instruction, or that listening is separable from other cognitive skills. Other research suggests that listening to a lecture may consist of listening for details and listening to make inferences, two behaviors which are similar to the lower levels of cognitive processing suggested by an established educational taxonomy. / A review of the field of listening research suggests that listening is an ill-defined construct, with marginal validity. This study sought to find evidence of a distinguishable lecture-listening ability and to ask whether this ability contains component skills similar to the taxonomic levels of knowledge and comprehension. / Sixty-one college students listened to three lectures which differed somewhat in content, length, and number of points covered but were similar in other respects. The tests asked both knowledge and comprehension level questions. / It was predicted that test scores would correlate positively at a higher level ((GREATERTHEQ) .6) than cognitive measures generally correlate with each other, suggesting an underlying lecture-listening skill. It was also predicted that test items would cluster in a factor analysis by taxonomic level. / The obtained correlations among the tests were only (.2 to .3) and thus failed to provide evidence of listening as cognitive skill. However, the low test reliability and the violation of two assumptions of parametric statistics dictate that interpretation of these results must be tentative. The factor analysis results (first test only) were not clearly interpretable because of the small sample size. However, these results do suggest that lecture-listening behavior may be influenced more by the specific topics within a lecture rather than the type of cognitive processing required. / Recommendations for further study included replication using the video-tapes made during this study, the development of tests with greater reliability, and further investigation of the influence of the factors of length, message density and topic--heretofore unidentified as factors influencing listening behavior. / This study does not provide a clear answer to whether a lecture-listening ability exists nor whether components of lecture-listening behavior are similar to cognitive taxonomic levels. The results do cast doubt on the existence of such a listening ability. These results also suggest that listening behavior may be related to topics rather than taxonomic level. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2827. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

The diversity of languages, cultures, creeds, and competing religions during the Church's rise to power contributed to the use of a visual form of communication to instruct, inspire, and solidify the Christian faith by reinforcing the spoken word. During the millennium between the fifth and fifteenth centuries this visual communication evolved into a highly complex pictorial system, promulgated by the artist to provide instruction in the teachings of the Church. By the fifteenth century this pictorial system known to the modern world as iconography attained a high degree of sophistication evidenced by its use in the Merode Altarpiece. / The purpose of this study therefore is (1) to identify those historical events influencing the evolution and use of the pictorial communication system employed by the artist to communicate the religious teachings of the Medieval Church; and (2) to suggest that an examination of this historical education by means of visual images might be of interest to teachers presently involved in the teaching of visual literacy. / The pictorial symbolism used by the Christians in the first three centuries became the visual communication system of the Church in the fourth century, promulgated by the artist according to a set of rules prescribed by the Church fathers and sanctioned by the Emperor. / Following the Iconoclastic controversy, the bishops in the council of 787 restored the veneration but not the worship of the icons ". . .as a legitimate expression of Christian piety and faith." More significantly for the Western Church fathers, the council sanctioned the use of the pictorial communication system as a teaching tool and placed the system under Church control. "It is for painters to execute; it is for the clergy to ordain the subjects and govern the procedure." / By combining the Platonic concept of the human soul with the Aristotelian treatment of the mnemonic token, the Church could teach those Christian concepts such as the Last Judgment, Paradise, the Resurrection, and the divinity of Christ by the pictorial symbol. Thus, the visual communication system became the useful tool with which the Latin Church reorganized western Europe. / St. Augustine refined Origen's systematic outline of theological doctrine into the educational philosophy of the Middle Ages by allegorical interpretation of the scriptures. This method allowed for the inclusion into the visual communication system of those pictorial symbols already familiar to the various tribes of conquerors by adapting new meanings. / It became a visual language to be used by western artists and poets alike for the next thousand years. It is the only known visual communication system that can be traced from its inception in the fourth century to its culmination in the fifteenth century. / The Merode Altarpiece, created at the beginning of the Rennaissance, stands as the epitome of the visual communication system of the Medieval Church. From its early beginnings in the catacombs of Rome, when the unknown artist first extended the invitation to step inside the representation of Jonah and the Whale, to the Merode of the fifteenth century in which the medieval viewer experienced the Beautific Vision, the pictorial communication system of the Medieval Church was the only common language uniting these "people of God." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 2829. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

This investigation explored the rhetoric antecedent to the women's liberation movement in the United States chronologically between 1776-1850. The focus was on the nature and uses of the rhetoric during the early women's emancipation efforts. These were the elements of rhetorical analysis: (a) primary sources; (b) analysis of the sources; (c) analysis of supporting arguments used by the rhetors; (d) topics and themes of the rhetors; and (e) response to the rhetors. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries women were locked into certain roles in American society by political, economic, religious, and social customs. / Abigail Adams is the first rhetor assessed. Her letters to her friends and her husband, beginning in 1776, served as primary sources. Another pioneer for women's rights is Mary Wollstonecraft. Her Vindication expressed ideas that are as important today as in the eighteenth century. Among the early advocates of women's rights are Frances Wright and the Grimke sisters, Angelina and Sarah. Principal sources are Wrights's Course of Popular Lectures, Sarah's Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and Angelina's Letters to Catherine E. Beecher, in Reply to an Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism. / Later advocates included Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott. Fuller's Women in the Nineteenth Century, Stanton's "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions," and Mott's Discourse on Woman zero in on the grievances of women whose aspirations are blocks. The last two spokespersons analyzed were males: William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator, and Douglass's The North Star opposed slavery and advocated women's rights. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4198. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This study looked at women's internal experience of graduate school. In particular, it focused on the experience of women returning full-time to graduate school after an extended time-out for careers and/or family. The questions examined were: (1) how do returning women "name and frame" their experience? (2) what, if any, is the relationship between the way the women "name and frame" their experience and their response to it? and, (3) what role does the researcher-as-interviewer play in the construction of the data? / Data were collected through a series of three ethnographic interviews with 12 returning women, ranging in age from 28 to 50. Two of the twelve women were single, two were widowed, seven were divorced and one was divorced and remarried. Eight of the women had children. / Analysis of the data showed that returning women, as a group, "named and framed" their experience in terms of change. Some women wanted to change self-image or self-concept while others wanted to acquire a new set of skills or credentials. Individually, the women "named and framed" their experiences in terms of an internalized "meaning-making map" acquired in the family of origin but modified through adult experiences. This "map" told them who they were and what kind of a life they could have. It gave their "talk" and behavior a consistency that could be recognized; it could make life easier or harder. A woman who felt she must "prove" herself, for example, found graduate school more difficult than a woman who wanted to "work smart." / The researcher-as-interviewer influenced the construction of data through her presence as well as through the kinds of questions she asked. The women understood and gave meaning to their experiences through the process of explaining them to the interviewer. The insights gained through this process of "shared talk" influenced future action and decisions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-03, Section: A, page: 0681. / Major Professor: Theodore Clevenger, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 30-11, Section: A, page: 5103. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1969.

Communication breakdowns are common in organizations and especially problematic for managers. Active study of these problems is reported by the popular press as well as by schools of business, psychology, education, and communication. To date, however, research has focussed on the macro perspective--communication networks and climates--and problems continue at the micro level, between individuals. Needed was (1) an understanding of the role and definition of interpersonal communication in management, and (2) better methods for improving managers' communication skills. / Interdisciplinary research suggested that the enduring, traditional view of management functions--plan, organize, direct and control--has hindered understanding. Newer research showed that managers rarely perform these functions, but spend most time in frenetic information gathering through interpersonal communication. Indeed, communication skills were shown to be consistently more important to management success than traditional skills. / An operational definition for interpersonal communication competence and a unifying theoretical foundation were established. The disappointing results of current communication skills training were discussed. Newer methods with encouraging results were reviewed, derived from Social Learning Theory. Videodisc technology was shown to be instructionally effective in conjunction with these newer methods. / An instructional Pilot Program was developed to apply literature review conclusions. It included a Pretraining Activity presented via interactive videodisc and a Seminar presented by an instructor. Subjects were split into control and treatment groups, and the Interpersonal Communication Competence (ICC) of both were evaluated before and after the Pilot Program. Only the treatment group experienced the training activities. / Overall, the Pilot Program successfully enabled the volunteer group to master training objectives. Ongoing self-improvement was fostered. Positive attitudes were documented and evaluation procedures and instruments proved effective. However, there were no significant differences between the groups' ICC scores from pretest to posttest. Post hoc analyses of the ICC instrument found it flawed and unacceptable for this type of research. Recommendations were made for extension of the current research and for ongoing study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3548. / Major Professor: Theodore Clevenger, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-06, Section: A, page: 2986. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 35-07, Section: A, page: 4727. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1974.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 35-09, Section: A, page: 6270. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1974.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-06, Section: A, page: 3264. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.