"Reconstructing Communicating is about how we make sense of the practice of communicating and how we make judgements about the quality of the practices, while we are in the process of communicating. This volume contains Penman's exploration of what it means to inquire into communicating: to treat communicating as the essential problematic of concern and to recognize that we construct our reality in our communicating.

In undertaking this exploration, Penman pursues a central theme of what constitutes good communicating and, concomitantly, what constitutes good communication research. Along this course, she reconstructs a practical theory of communicating that establishes the possibility for a genuine disciplinary base. Using practical research examples, she also shows what it can mean to undertake practical inquiry in communicating once it has been reconstructed."--BOOK JACKET.