Differences may exist between the voice qualities of those who professionally use and train their voices and those who do not. The examination of fundamental frequency and frequency range m actresses and non-actresses is integral to determining voice quality differences in these populations. These differences, whether the result of frequent use or training of the voice, may exist relative to fatiguing conditions such as may be experienced by actresses in the course of their work. Fatigue has been shown to produce greater effects in normals than in performers, particularly in singers (Gelfer, Andrews, and Schmidt, 1991). Little research has been found comparing actresses to non-actresses in such an interaction effect. In order to determine whether a separate set of normative values should be sought for actresses, it is first necessary to determine whether significant differences exist between these populations in voice quality parameters. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether or not significant changes in fundamental frequency and frequency range occurred in non-actresses relative to actresses as a result of fatigue. The subjects for the study included ten actresses between the ages of 20 and 30 who had a minimum of one quarter of voice training and three years of acting experience and ten women of the same age group who had no voice training or experience in acting. Each subject passed a puretone audiometric screening, had a negative history of voice disorders, and had not smoked within the last year. These two groups were evaluated for: 1) fundamental frequency in prolonged productions of the vowel lal; 2) speaking fundamental frequency in connected speech; 3) frequency range in sung scales; and 4) frequency range in connected speech. Data was statistically analyzed using one way ANOV A tests with repeated measures. No significant interactions occurred between group and time, suggesting that non-actresses did not produce a greater shift than did actresses in fundamental frequency or frequency range as a result of fatigue. These results contradicted some findings and supported other findings of previous research based on similar samples.

The purpose of this study was to identify the preferred learning styles of Greek EFL students and teachers in Greece. The learning styles examined were visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group and individual. The study was conducted at a private English language school in Piraeus, Greece. Ninety-two Greek EFL students (33 male and 59 female) ranging in age from 13 to 22, and 11 Greek EFL teachers (3 male and 8 female) ranging in age from 22 to 52 constitute the sample. The study used the self-reporting learning style questionnaire that Reid (1987) developed to measure the preferred learning style preferences of ESL students in the U.S., and is a partial replication of Reid's study. The instrument was used to determine the major, minor and negligible preferred learning styles of Greek EFL students and teachers. Data from the learning style questionnaires were analyzed using paired t-tests, unpaired t-tests, single-factor and two-factor ANOVAs. Statistical analysis indicated kinesthetic learning as a major learning style for students, and visual, kinesthetic and tactile learning as major learning style preferences for teachers. No negligible learning styles were reported for either group. Students tended to prefer teacher-centered learning styles (visual, auditory and individual learning) slightly more than student-centered learning styles (kinesthetic, tactile and group learning). Furthermore, teachers tended to prefer student-centered learning styles slightly more than teacher-centered learning styles. Data from both groups (teachers and students) suggested interaction effects for age and gender. The results of this study raise questions concerning the reliability of Reid's instrument. Neither subject groups in this study, nor subjects in Hoffner's (1991) or Pia's (1989~ studies, identify negligible learning styles on the part of the subjects. This raises questions related to the reliability of Reid's instrument. It suggests that further study needs to be conducted in measuring learning style preferences in culture specific studies.

A common criticism of U.S. citizens today, whether as voters or students or workers, is that they are "lazy and apathetic". It is important to explore the validity of this criticism. This thesis begins with the premise that there are two prerequisites for citizenship in a democracy: (1) that citizens be willing to participate and (2) that citizens are able to participate. The purpose of this research is to examine a particular set of perspectives regarding social conditions which consistently impact the two aforementioned prerequisites. This examination addresses social conditions that undermine a person's ability to participate meaningfully and it addresses perspectives on alternative social conditions which support personal action. Included in this set of perspectives are relevant concepts and ideas derived from Socrates, John Locke, Karl Marx, Anthony Giddens, and Michael Lerner. These prominent thinkers provide likely, but not exclusive examples of how certain themes commonly emerge regarding social conditions and their relationship to communication. Each of these sources, in different ways and to different degrees, demonstrates how social conditions commonly encourage ideology that can undermine personal action. Additionally, each theorist indicates the need for dialogue and critical thinking to penetrate these social conditions and ideologies, thus providing the keys to encouraging personal action. Once established, the potential for dialogue and critical thinking is discussed with regard to several important social arenas and systems of American culture: mass media, education, the workplace, and government. The true test of whether or not Americans are willing to participate depends upon the nature and extent of their ability to participate. As the promotion of dialogue and critical thinking is necessary to assure the second, an exploration of these capacities is necessary to begin assessing the first.

The contemporary research suggests that some children who present with early language delays as toddlers outgrow their delays while others continue to develop long-term language difficulties. Several studies over the years have focused on factors that might aid in predicting the outcome of late talkers. This current study emphasized exploring gender as a possible predictive factor. The purpose of this study was to determine if significant differences exist in the rate of growth in language skills, as indexed by scores on the Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) procedure (Lee, 1974) of boys versus girls who are late to start talking as toddlers. The research hypothesis was that boys who present as LT toddlers would score significantly higher than LT girls at each age level tested. The DSS is a norm-referenced instrument that assesses age-appropriate morphological development and syntax. The LT subjects used were part of the Portland Language Development Project, a longitudinal study. Spontaneous speech samples were collected, transcribed, and analyzed using the DSS procedure once each year from the time they were approximately 3 years of age, until the age of 7. Late talking children in this present study were grouped by gender. A Chi Square test was used to determine if the proportion of males scoring above the 10th percentile on the DSS was significantly different than the proportion of females scoring above the 10th percentile at each age. Results from this analysis indicated that at the age of 3 years, more boys than girls scored above the 10th percentile on the DSS. There were no significant differences found at the ages of 4, 5, 6, and 7. At-test was used to compare average DSS scores between the two genders for each year of the study. This test revealed a significant difference between the LT girls' and LT boys' scores at the age of 3 years. No significant differences were found for the subsequent years. However, difference between boys' and girls' scores at age 7 approached significance, with boys again scoring higher.

Linguistic diversification within our public schools has demanded professional responsibility from speech-language pathologists (SLPs) serving nonstandard English speaking students. Understanding and recognizing normal cultural linguistic differences is the responsibility of the SLP. This study focused on the relationship of three speech features to intelligibility ratings of 10 preschool aged Black English speakers as assigned by 4 licensed standard English speaking SLPs with varying experience. The SLPs also rated the perceived effect of these speech features (i.e., articulation, speaking rate, and resonance) on intelligibility. Using the Pearson product-moment correlation, ratings were correlated and found to demonstrate an association between intelligibility ratings and all three speech features assessed. To determine which speech feature affected intelligibility the most, a linear association using a stepwise regression was applied to all listeners' ratings. For 3 of the 4 listeners, the strongest association between intelligibility and articulation. Ratings of the 4th listener, the listener with the most experience(> 3 years) demonstrated the strong association between intelligibility and resonance. The listener with _the least amount of experience tended to assign higher severity ratings to ratings for intelligibility, rate, and resonance than did the other listeners. Findings from this study demonstrate a need for more studies within the area of Black English as well as further investigative studies to assess listeners' perception of dialectical differences based on the experience within linguistically different or similar communities. Various measures of intelligibility of Black English speakers should also be explored for more accurate assessment tools for this population. Clinical implications focus on the SLP's responsibility to be experienced and knowledgeable of the linguistic community they are serving.

The narrative, just like any lectured or monologue information which is shared, does not depend to any great extent on context. Therefore, ability to encode and decode the information to be presented verbally is required, that is, in order for the speaker to be able to verbalize what he or she wants to say while taking into consideration the listener's needs. This indicates that production of strong narratives depends on higher level language skills, and so children's narratives provide a sensitive means of assessing children's language development. The purpose of this study was to compare the narrative ability of children at second grade age, using a wordless picture book, with differing rates of language development. Subjects were assigned to three diagnostic groups, (normal, history of expressive language delay, and chronic expressive language delay) based on their original diagnoses at 20 - 34 months (normal or late-talker) and their Developmental Sentence Score (Lee, 1974) at second grade age. During the second grade assessment, each subject was audiotaped producing a spontaneous narrative using a wordless picture book. These narratives were scored on eight measures: Mean Length of Utterance per T-Unit, TypeToken Ratio, Narration Length in T-Units, Information, Average Sentence Length, Lexical Diversity, Cohesion, and Narrative Stage. Results of the ANOVA and the Duncan Test multiple comparison procedures revealed significant differences among the groups on only one variable - Mean Length of Utterance per T-Unit. Children in the normal language group and the history of expressive language delay group performed significantly better than the group of children with chronic expressive language delay. No significant differences were found between the normal language group and the history of expressive language delay subjects.

Current research in early language development suggests that children who were diagnosed during preschool with expressive language delay would demonstrate difficulties during elementary school years (Scarborough and Dobrich, 1990). This purpose of the present study was to qualitatively describe the outcome of children with a history of early language delay and differing levels of expressive performance (ELD and HELD), as reported by the parents. A questionnaire was developed to determine the children's current age and grade level, past and present reading ability and reading interests, best and worst academic subject, special services and diagnosed disability, speech and language concerns, friendships concerns, and behavioral and motor issues. The study used Developmental Sentence Scoring (Lee, 197 4), which determined which children continued to function below the normal range at second grade. Once identified, these children were placed into two groups indicating early language delay (ELD) and history of early language delay (HELD). The data was collected from parent interviews and placed into tables for analysis. Case vignettes were developed for each ELD and HELD subject. The suggested trends from the study include: Differences in reading material, literacy related play activities, number of friends, and similar special services received in school.

Using typologies by Benoit (1995), Seeger (2006), and Heath (2006) this study argues that when an organization encounters multiple complications (e.g., perceived guilt, magnitude of harm, nature of the victims, etc.) compounding a crisis situation, that the organization’s best course of action is to employ atonement rhetoric. Second, this study also argues for the inclusion of a new best practice in crisis communication, which highlights the importance of organizations to recognize the impact visual evidence, especially video footage, has on complicating crisis response while also increasing demand for an appropriate and timely response. To do this the study uses the above typologies as well as Koesten and Rowland (2004) to carry out a rhetorical analysis of the NFL’s response to the Ray Rice crisis. This study finds that the NFL’s crisis response through the first three phases, though using nearly all of Benoit’s (1995) strategies, fails to meet all of Seeger’s (2006) and Heath’s (2006) best practices. It is only through meeting the requirements for atonement set out by Koesten and Rowland (2004) that the NFL meets the recommended best practices and achieves resolution from this crisis.

Intelligible speech is a primary component for successful communication. However, the speech of children with disordered phonologies is often unintelligible. Therefore, when assessing the speech intelligibility of children in order to determine whether they qualify for intervention services, speech-language pathologists need reliable evaluation tools. The focus of this investigation was the measurement of speech intelligibility. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two methods for measuring speech intelligibility. The first, identification method, involves the listener transcribing a speech sample from which the percentage of words understood is calculated. The second, scaling procedure, involves the listener estimating the percentage of words understood from a continuous speech sample. The secondary purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of the scaling method as measured by ear estimation compared to the identification method as measured through orthographic transcription for each of three groups of children with: (a) the most intelligibility, (b) average intelligibility, and ( c) least intelligibility. Four unsophisticated listeners rated the speech intelligibility of 48 speakers aged 4:0 to 5:6 who comprised three groups with varying levels of phonological proficiency. The listeners who were unfamiliar with the speakers, but familiar with the topic, rated the children's continuous speech samples using ear estimation. The data collected were then compared with intelligibility ratings as measured in a previous study (Gordon-Brannan, 1994) via orthographic transcription. The two methods of measuring speech intelligibility examined in this study were found to be positively correlated (r = .86). However, the t-test analysis revealed significant differences between the two measures for the most and least intelligible groups, indicating discrepancies between the two methods when measuring the speech intelligibility of some children. Additional statistical analysis revealed poor intrajudge reliability which should be considered when interpreting the results presented. It does appear, however, that when measuring speech intelligibility, using ear estimation, is reflective of the orthographic transcription measure, although the actual estimated percentages of intelligibility appear to differ from the percentages derived from orthographic transcription.

Language is the way in which individuals are able to express ideas, feelings, needs, expectations, and form relationships with others in their surrounding environment. A disruption in language development may negatively impact a child's social development. Research shows that children with language delays or disorders tend to have increased social and behavioral difficulties (Cantwell & Baker, 1977; Caulfield, Fischel, DeBaryshe, & Whitehurst, 1989). However, research has not examined temperament differences in young children with language delays or disorders. The question this study sought to answer was: Is there a significant difference in the dimensions of temperament between children with a history of slow expressive language development and their peers with normal language development? The subjects in this study ranged in age from 64 to 74 months. They included 33 children with a history of slow expressive language development (SELD) and 27 children with normal language development. The temperamental characteristics of each of the subjects was assessed by ratings provided by their parents, utilizing the Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas, Chess, & Korn, 1977), a questionnaire to assess the way a child behaves during everyday situations. The question was analyzed by calculating the means and standard deviations for the nine temperament dimensions for· the two groups. To determine if there were significant differences among the two groups, two tailed t-tests were computed at the .05 level of significance. The Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas et al., 1977) showed the children with a history of slow expressive language development to have significantly different scores in the dimensions of approach-withdrawal and intensity of reaction than the subjects with normal language development at 5 years of age.