This study examines the impact of computer-mediated electronic messaging systems, an emerging communication technology, on human communication. A qualitative methodology was employed to obtain and examine naturally occurring on-line messages from the CompuServe Information Service. The communication behavior of users was examined in three different messaging modes. Specifically, verbal and nonverbal surrogates for nonverbal behaviors missing in on-line communication and the nature of conversations on-line were examined. The results clarify the pragmatics of computer-mediated communication when compared with the promise of the technology. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-03, Section: A, page: 0678. / Major Professor: Theodore Clevenger, Jr. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the intentional communicative behaviors of profoundly mentally retarded children. Ten 6 to 12 year old subjects, equally grouped according to age, participated in communication sampling with familiar and unfamiliar adults. Intentional communicative acts were collected using structured communication tasks and subject-initiated free-play. Acts were identified and coded according to communicative function, communicative means, discourse structure, and, when applicable, syllable shape. / Findings revealed communicative profiles characterized by a predominance of functions to regulate others' behavior and by gestural means. The majority of older subjects demonstrated more communicative acts per minute and a broader range of communicative functions than their younger counterparts. Initiated acts predominated as did vocalizations without consonants. Self-injurious and aversive behaviors were evident only in older subjects' samples. No substantial differences in subjects' communicative abilities were observed during sampling with familiar and unfamiliar adults. / The use of the communicative sampling and analysis procedures implemented in this investigation with profoundly mentally retarded persons is discussed. Some suggestions for how these procedures can be used to generate communicative profiles instrumental to intervention planning are offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3550. / Major Professor: Amy Miller Wetherby. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

Communication use among traditioned small groups in natural settings has been unexplored by many researchers, because of the difficulty in gaining access to the members. / The counterculture is one of those settings, and the motorcycle gang is one of those small groups. In order to assist in understanding the subculture more fully, this study utilized the Naturalistic method of inquiry in the form of an ethnography to explore and describe the use of communication by members of a motorcycle gang. The structure and processes of the group were described in detail. Printed documents, verbal and nonverbal communication were viewed with respect to the structure of the group outlined in the research. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-12, Section: A, page: 3551. / Major Professor: Charles Edward Wotring. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study develops a new tool, the Perception of Empowerment Instrument, to be used in assessing the level of perceived empowerment in individual organizational members. The importance, history, and development of the empowerment construct are examined, as is the relevance of the construct to the field of organizational communication. Previously identified dimensions of the construct and previously constructed measurement scales are discussed. A new instrument is constructed measuring empowerment dimensions of autonomy, responsibility, and participation. The instrument is refined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and is tested for internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability. The new instrument is then tested for content validity and concurrent criterion-related validity. Results of the instrument development and validation process are described, and directions for further refinement and research are suggested. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-11, Section: A, page: 4205. / Major Professor: Daniel Montgomery. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

This study applies Toulmin's model of argumentation to the analysis and teaching of the short story in English. The model, based on the judicial system where contentions must be proved before a verdict is rendered, provides a practical layout for the analysis of arguments and conclusions belonging to different fields of knowledge. / The work outlines the model and the interrelationship of its components--claim, data, warrant, backing, rebuttal, and qualifier--in the establishing of a conclusion. It also outlines the development of the short story in English during the last one hundred and fifty years as it sets its base for the application of the layout to sample stories. By analyzing stories from different periods and representative authors of the modern American and British short story, this study thus demonstrates the applicability of Toulmin's layout to the field of literature and, specifically to the genre of the short story. Conclusions--both implied by and inferred from the texts--are supported by evidence from the stories themselves, regardless of time period and the author's gender and nationality. / The use of the model allows readers and students alike to search for logical and rational explanations to their reactions and conclusions from the stories they read. It also helps them to formulate informed and rational questions that in turn help to clarify their doubts. As a result, readers of the short story can better understand, appreciate, and enjoy a story. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-02, Section: A, page: 0540. / Major Professor: Fred Standley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

This dissertation identifies communication competencies needed by Southern Baptist clergy. These competencies are compared with the status of speech education in Southern Baptist colleges and seminaries. This dissertation utilized a questionnaire created by a task force commissioned by the Speech Communication Association. The questionnaire was adapted for a survey of ministers in Georgia and a similar survey of teachers of communication in Southern Baptist higher education. The survey contained two major sections. One section listed seven communication activities. The second section listed fifty-three communication skills or competencies grouped into three areas: speaking skills, listening skills, and human relations skills. Ministers were asked to rate the importance of the skills on a Likert-type scale. Educators were asked to indicate whether each skill was required, recommended, or available at their respective institutions. / Three hundred and thirty ministers responded, constituting a return rate of over forty-two percent of the surveys mailed. Forty-six responses were received from Southern Baptist institutions representing a return rate of over eighty-eight percent of all fifty-two Southern Baptist institutions. / A majority of ministers considered all fifty-three skills at least "Necessary." Ministers ranked listening skills as the most important area, followed by human relations skills. The least important area was speaking skills. However, responses from educators indicated that at Southern Baptist institutions, speaking skills are emphasized the most, listening skills, second, and human relations skills least. According to these respondents, many listening and human relations skills that are considered necessary to ministers are not required, recommended or available at Southern Baptist institutions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3477. / Major Professor: Gregg Phifer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

As examples of female 'Bildungsromane,' the novels by Lucia Miguel Pereira, Raquel de Queiroz, Clarice Lispector and Lygia Fagundes Telles studied here present elements that characterize the classical male model. Nevertheless, these four Brazilian novels depart from the classical definition of the genre in some important respects, in ways similar to those observed in female 'Bildungsromane' from other cultures. One such difference concerns the purpose of the protagonist's 'Bildung': while the male character searches for a vocation and a philosophy of life, the female hero struggles for self-realization. The denouement also shows disparities: the sense of social and self-integration the male protagonist accomplishes at the end of the narrative is seemingly not possible in the female 'Bildungsroman.' In Miguel Pereira's Amanhecer (1938) and Queiroz's As Tres Marias (1939) both forms of integration--social and personal--are frustrated and the narratives end with the characters' defeat. However, in Lispector's Perto do Coracao Selvagem (1944) and Fagundes Telles' Ciranda de Pedra (1954) the protagonists renounce any possibility of social integration in order to pursue their self-realization. These could be called 'successful female Bildungsromane,' for the end of the narrative signals the promise of new perspectives and accomplishments for the characters These 'Bildungsromane' raise questions of relevance for Brazilian women, such as women's right to education, work as a means of self-realization and independence, the affirmation of female sexuality and the institution of marriage. Read within the context of the Brazilian feminist movement and of the socio-political events that took place in Brazil in the first half of this century, these four novels constitute valuable documents for the understanding of women's situation in Brazil in the 30's, 40's and 50's / acase@tulane.edu

The Children of the King's Revels, although a failure in Jacobean commercial theater, represents a legitimate entry into both commerce and theater. Begun probably in 1607, the company evolved through a series of syndicates, changing and adding shareholders as events forced increased investment instead of offering a return on monies already invested. By 1609, when the King's Revels dissolved, at least eight men had joined the attempt to profit from a new boys' company, acting in a district new to theater and bearing the name of a still new monarch. The reasons for the company's failure are complex, a combination of plague bills, royal anger, and weak plays. However, the venture at Whitefriars shows an awareness of conditions in commercial theater of the time. In addition, the attempt reveals the specific ambitions of the various shareholders, many of whom hoped the King's Revels would further artistic as well as monetary aims. Despite its failure, then, the King's Revels reflects the milieu in which the company hoped to compete The seven extant plays in the repertory of the King's Revels show an attempt to compete not just with the Queen's Revels, the rival boys' company, but also with the men's companies. To that end, the plays offer the satire associated with the boys' tradition, although they direct that satire more towards the monstrous than towards the everyday. Furthermore, several plays borrow heavily from situations more common to plays of the public theaters and attempt to incorporate those situations into drama appropriate to the social setting of private theaters Although the King's Revels failed, the company attempted to offer a repertory and management that later companies would find profitable and to establish a playhouse in a district that eventually would be more than hospitable to theater. In some respects, then, the King's Revels was ahead of its time. However, it also joined too late the tradition of boys' companies. The venture at Whitefriars therefore indicates not just the failure of one company, but also the eventual demise of a tradition / acase@tulane.edu

Information seeking and exposure patterns have long been major issues in communication literature. In line with these concerns, a correlational study was conducted examining the predictive utility of an elaborated Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) as it focused on students' expectation to seek sexually related preventive health information. Elaboration included merging elements of the Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers, 1975) and Instrumental Utilities and Information Seeking (Atkin, 1972) in the model. Elaboration also included adding critical psychosocial components to enhance the models' predictive utility. Components of this extended model were examined to determine their contributions to understanding sexually related preventive health information seeking processes among students. Results from this study generally support the use of an elaborated Theory of Reasoned Action as an effective tool for explaining and predicting sexually related health information seeking practices among young adults. Indications are that psychosocial antecedents to those practices are students' normative beliefs, direct behavioral experiences, and behavioral norms. / This study, however, failed to support the use of Rogers' (1975) Protective Motivation Theory as a basis for developing a domain of behavioral beliefs to be used in the elaborated expectancy-value model. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0663. / Major Professor: Gary R. Heald. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

Several studies have linked the acquisition of a second or foreign language to creativity. The purpose of this study was to investigate creativity in relation to "adaptivals". "Adaptivals" are defined as native language and cultural transfer units used by speakers of English as a second language (ESL) or dialect (ESD) in developing communicative competence in the target language (standard English). "Adaptivals" were developed for this research as a way to examine processing between oral and written language. / The first hypothesis stated that "adaptivals" reflect the utilization of convergent and divergent problem solving strategies associated with creative development in the process of forming the oral or written product. Although the "adaptival" was not found to be reflective of creative processing, it was reliable in terms of assessing native linguistic and cultural elements which are evident in the ESL and ESD acquisition process. / The second hypothesis investigated the relationship between oral and written language. If oral language is used effectively in teaching writing, it can serve in the capacity of clarifying and checking language in the process of developing the written product. A significant relationship was found between scores on oral and written tasks. Scores on oral tasks were consistently higher than the scores on the written tasks, indicating that oral language serves as an important step in the writing process. / In testing the third hypothesis on the relationship of creativity to second language acquisition, comparisons were made among the two primary linguistic groups (monolingual-bidialectals and bilinguals), and among the four bilingual subgroups (Chinese, Hispanic, French, and Arabic). The results indicated that acquisition of a second language correlates significantly with creative development. A between group comparison of subgroups on cultural influence on creative behavior was significant in three creativity subcategories: imagination, interests, and creative arts. This supported the hypothesis posited by E. P. Torrance that culture influences creative behavior. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: A, page: 3100. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.