Abstract
This article documents an instructional experiment designed to integrate foundational oral communication skills into a required first year composition sequence at Michigan Technological University. The initiative emerged from institutional constraints that prevented speech courses from counting toward graduation and from growing recognition that technological students need competence in oral communication as well as writing. The article details the collaborative planning between an English instructor and a speech teacher who sought to embed oral communication concepts within the third quarter of the composition curriculum, using a media centered unit as the organizing structure. The analysis describes the Dorm English program as an ideal setting because its stable cohort model fostered familiarity and reduced performance anxiety. It outlines preparatory oral activities introduced during the first two quarters and presents the assignment design for the culminating media group projects that required both written and oral components. The article evaluates student performance, the use of audiovisual resources, and the effects of video based feedback. It concludes that the integrated approach strengthened students’ speaking abilities, increased confidence, and demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating basic speech instruction into composition courses despite institutional and staffing limitations.
Recommended Citation
Goldstein, Richard M. and Nelson, Charles W.
(1985)
"Thinking Out Loud: Teaching the Other Half of the Communication Course,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 54, Article 20.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol54/iss1/20
