This study traces the development of Lincoln-Douglas debate in Texas. The history of this type of debate from the Great Debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas to the Reagan-Mondale debates is considered. In addition, the merits of this type of oral controversy are explored. The reasons for the creation of L-D debate and its introduction into the forensic curriculum are discussed. In order to measure L-D's growing acceptance in the debate community, the results of a questionnaire of Texas Forensic Association debate coaches is evaluated. This study found that L-D debate is growing in participation in Texas schools. The distinct features of L-D enable it to be an innovative and challenging form of discourse.

The effectiveness of a social skills training workshop was assessed by comparing the rated competence of participants in an Interpersonal Skills Training Program (a 2-session, 12-hour workshop) to the rated competence of nonparticipants. This comparison was operationalized through a study design of the pre- and posttesting of 12 experimental and 22 control subjects. The assessment instruments used were Spitzberg's Conversational Skills Rating Scale (CSRS) and Curran's Simulated Social Interaction Test (SSIT). Two rating judges were utilized. Results, although modest, are in the expected direction. Measured competence on the CSRS failed to show significant improvement in the rated competence of the experimental group as compared to the rated competence of the control group. However, the SSIT did reveal significant improvement of the rated skill and anxiety of experimental subjects while the control group showed no significant improvement. In addition to assessing the effectiveness of the workshop, this study sought to find a positive correlation of the CSRS instrument to the SSIT instrument. As expected, the CSRS showed a positive correlation to the SSIT.