Appendix and Supplementary Exercises
Anyone who has ever taught a course in speech communication realizes that there is often a major gap between the theory and the application of that theory. This appendix includes some supplementary exercises which may be used to help bridge the above-mentioned gap. For maximum benefit, however, the behaviors stimulated by these exercises should be discussed to show their relationship to the conceptual material presented in this text and to class lectures. It is important to keep in mind that the exercises are a means of increasing student learning and are not an end in themselves.
Two-Person Role-Play Exercises
1. Student-Professor Conference
Jane: You are a college sophomore in Dr. Patterson's speech communication class. You are dissatisfied with a grade for one of your class projects and are trying to persuade Dr. Patterson to give you a higher grade.
Dr. Patterson: You have had ten students come to your office to complain about their low grades. Jane has been an uninterested student all semester long. Now she enters your office.
2. Parent-Son Episode
Parent: You have been looking for a lost article of your son's clothing and you find some pornographic pictures in one of the drawers of his dresser.
Seventeen- You have just been out with some friends and you find your parent in Year-Old your room.
Son:
3. Employer-Applicant Interview
Employer: You are looking for a man or woman to hire as a summer salesperson in your
department store. You are primarily looking for someone who can relate to your college
Applicant: You are a twenty-year-old college student who desperately needs a summer job to help
finance your way through school. You have had no sales experience but are popular and personable.
4. Employer-Employee Interview
Employer: You have noticed that the work of one of your employees has been substandard lately. He has worked for you as a used car salesman for the past five years and has been a better than average salesman. You have just received a call from his wife that he has been drinking somewhat lately and that she suspects him of having spent several nights with another woman. She is completely against any drinking, and she gets upset when he drinks even one beer or mixed drink. You call him in for a discussion.
Employee: You have been disappointed about your level of pay lately and you would like to be
considered for a promotion as a used car sales manager. You have been moonlighting at a second job lately to buy your wife a special birthday gift.
5. Counselor-Student Interview
Student: You are a college student who has become involved in drug use to an extent that you feel it is becoming a problem. You go to the university counseling center to get some help.
Counselor: You are employed by the university counseling center to give help to students who seem to have problems of various kinds. You are eager to help in any way you can. A student has just entered your office.