The “required” first course in speech: A survey

Trends in the Introductory Communication Course from 1956 to 2016: A Systematic Review of the Results of 11 National Survey Studies

“…Regarding step one, nine replicative introductory course surveys, extending from 1970 to 2016, served as the original impetus for the present study. In addition to including those nine articles in the sample, a review of literature pointed to the need to complete the historical picture of introductory course studies by including the two earlier seminal studies (Dedmon & Frandsen, 1964;Hargis, 1956), which had been commissioned by the leading academic association at that time, the Speech Association of America. In each of the 11 published studies, some references were made to the results of earlier studies, though no summative review of the findings of past studies was presented.…”

“…For more than 60 years, communication researchers have conducted and published a series of national surveys of the introductory communication course, starting with two early seminal studies, by Hargis (1956) and Dedmon and Frandsen (1964). A series of nine replicative studies, extending from 1970 to 2016, focused on the careful examination of the nature and content of the introductory course (Gibson, Gruner, Brooks, & Petrie, 1970;Gibson, Gruner, Hanna, et al, 1980;Gibson, Hanna, & Huddleston, 1985; Gibson, Hanna, & Leichty, 1990; Gibson, Kline, & Gruner, 1974;Morreale, Hanna, et al, 1999;Morreale, Hugenberg, & Worley, 2006;Morreale, Myers, et al, 2016;Morreale, Worley, & Hugenberg, 2010).…”