Oral Communication: A Curriculum Proposal for a Theological Seminary

At the time of this writing the author is a lecturer in the Department of Speech, Television, Radio, and Drama at Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana. In this capacity it is my pleasure to work with Dr. Alfred R. Edyvean who is head of this department. The schedule of classes is in the process of being revised by the administration. At the present time a student may enroll and attend classes two or four days a week. The basic courses are set up so that they include two hours of class study per week. This means that a student could receive his B. D. degree by a schedule that would require him to be present in class only two days out of each week. It has been decided that a three day schedule would be more advisable. Therefore, each basic course would require a student to be in class three hours per week. Naturally the courses of study will have to be revised to meet this schedule. The basic course in the Speech, Television, Radio, and Drama Department is divided into two sections. The first semester is Oral Interpretation, and the second semester is Oral Communication. This means that each student must take four hours of class work to complete this basic course. However, in the new schedule the basic course will be required on the basis of three hours of class work for one semester. This means that the outline and content of the basic course must be revised to meet this schedule. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to provide a curriculum of study in oral communication for this new schedule. In order to discover the best curriculum to be proposed, a decision was made to make a survey of the present trends of oral communication on the seminary level. A letter of inquiry was sent to fourteen seminaries throughout the United states to discover their particular curriculum for the basic course in oral communication. The purpose of this was to can.- pare that offered by Christian Theological Seminary with the other seminaries to discover however could improve our curriculum. Eleven seminaries responded and their response is included in Chapter One. Chapter Two is devoted to an analysis of these responses. In order to analyze themes objectively as possible a study is included as to the nature of speech, or oral communication. Then, in Chapter Three a curriculum is proposed. My first acknowledgment must be given to Dr. Alfred R. Edyvean. His guidance for this work is deeply appreciated. Acknowledgment also must be given to the eleven seminaries which responded to the letter of inquiry which they received concerning this study

Validity of the alcohol purchase task with United States military personnel.

Alcohol use is common among military personnel. However, alcohol use and problems are challenging to measure because military personnel do not have similar levels of confidentiality as civilians and can face sanctions for reporting illegal behavior (e.g., underage drinking) or for drinking during prohibited times (e.g., during basic training). The current study aimed to determine if the use of the alcohol purchase task (APT), which has previously been associated with alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in civilian populations, is a valid measure of alcohol-related risk in the military when asking about alcohol consumption is less feasible. Participants were 26,231 Air Force airmen who completed surveys including questions about sensation seeking, alcohol expectancies, perception of peer drinking, intent to drink, and family history of alcohol misuse, which are known predictors of alcohol use, and the APT, from which demand indices of intensity and Omax were derived. Individuals who were single, male, White, and had a high school diploma/GED had higher intensity and Omax scores, and non-Hispanic individuals had higher intensity scores. Age was negatively correlated with intensity and Omax. Regressions were used to determine if intensity and Omax were associated with known predictors of alcohol use and risk. Intensity and Omax showed significant but small associations with all included predictors of alcohol consumption and alcohol risk. Effect sizes were larger for individuals ages 21+ compared to individuals under 21. Thus, this study provides initial support for the validity of the APT as an index of alcohol-related risk among military personnel. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved