Systematic examination of the role theory has played in the major associational journals in communication shows an exponential growth in the number of theories appearing in these journals. The sheer number and short lifespan of these theories as well as their limited impact on society suggest that they have little epistemological value but are, rather, the product of a closed system of discourse, symptomatic of a community speaking to itself.
AndersonJA (2013) Epistemological Movements in Communication: Part One: Empirical Research, London: International Communication Association.
2.
AndersonJA (2014a) Communication Theory: Fifty Years a Critic, Las Vegas, NV: Broadcast Education Association.
3.
AndersonJA (2014b) Panelist. A Century of Communication Studies: Part one, Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
4.
AndersonJA (2014c) Panelist. A Century of Communication Studies: Part two, Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
5.
AndersonJA (2015) Philosophy, Theory and Critique, San Juan, PR: International Communication Association.
6.
AndersonJAMiddletonMK (2013) Epistemological Movements in the Field of Communication, Washington, DC: National Communication Association.
7.
AndersonJAMiddletonMK (2014) Developments in Empirical and Rhetorical Communication Theory, Seattle, WA: International Communication Association.
8.
AndersonJAMiddletonMK (2015) Epistemological movements in communication: An analysis of empirical and rhetorical/critical scholarship. In: GehrkePJKeithWM (eds) A Century of Communication Studies: The Unfinished Conversation, New York: Routledge, pp. 82–108.
9.
BanduraARossDRossSA (1963) Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology66: 3–11.
10.
BeebeLMGilesH (1984) Speech accommodation theories: A discussion in terms of second-language acquisition. International Journal of the Sociology of Language46: 5–32.
11.
CoorenF (2010) Action and Agency in Dialogue: Passion, Incarnation and Ventriloquism, Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
12.
HanitzschT (2015) Celebrating 25 years of Communication Theory: Growing diversity under heavy strain. Communication Theory25: 349–355.
13.
FreidsonE (1956) The varieties of individual speech. The Quarterly Journal of Speech42: 355–362.
14.
MiddletonMKAndersonJA (2015) Claim and Value: Sixty Years of Rhetorical, Critical, and Empirical Research, San Juan, PR: International Communication Association.
15.
SchoenebornDBlaschkeS (2014) The three schools of CCO thinking: Interactive dialogue and systematic comparison. Management Communication Quarterly28: 285–316.
