J. TECH. WRITING & COMM., Vol. 4(2), Spring, 1974 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON TEACHING COMMUNICATION THEORY: A SUGGESTED WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT AND TESTING PROCEDURE BETTE ANN STEAD Associate Professor, College of Business Administration University of Houston ABSTRACT There are estimated to be 600-800 Ph.D. psychologists teaching in today’s Colleges of Business Administration (CBA). These behavioral- ists’ influences may account for the rapid emergence of “communica- tion theory” in both CBA curricula and business communication texts. This article suggests an approach that can be useful to those faculty teaching “communication theory” as a new experience and those experienced faculty who may consider it “food for thought.” A case method relating “communication theory” to the students’ real world and a multiple-choice testing procedure that forms a theoretical base on which students can build are presented and analyzed. Business communication faculty are noticing the rapid emergence of “communication theory” in both texts and curricula. Texts that formerly emphasized only good writing techniques are now including a sizeable portion of communication theory as well as the traditional good writing techniques [I]. Some texts like Haney ’s [ 21 Communication and Organizational Behavior and Hayakawa’s [3] Language in Thought and Action are devoted entirely to concepts from the behavioral sciences-psychology, sociology, and anthropology-placing them totally in the realm of communication theory. When business communication courses were devoted to improved writing techniques, instructors never lacked for written assignments with real-world flavor-letters, memos, reports, visual aids-to give 121 0 1974, Baywood Publishing Co. doi: 10.2 190/RBA4-Y09K-617B-XCBQ http://baywood.com