COMM 190 Public Speaking Pre-requisite: None
(4 semester hours)
Staff
This course addresses basic theoretical principles of effective public speaking necessary for pluralistic audiences, concentrating on content, organization, audience analysis, ethics, language, and delivery. Students apply these principles to several oral presentations, some videotaped and requiring the use of PowerPoint.
COMM 200 Introduction to Communication StudiesPre-requisite: ENGL 101E
This course provides an introduction to the field of human communication studies and a foundation for future study within the communication discipline. The course introduces the core concepts, essential skills, and perennial issues found in several relevant contexts of human interaction, including interpersonal relationships, organizations, and cross-cultural interaction. It also examines these contexts from a theoretical perspective, suggesting how scholars have sought to formulate generalized explanations for the processes of human meaning making. Writing intensive.
COMM 270SPre-requisite: None
This course is an introduction to message production and message interpretation within face-to-face settings. Major topics to be addressed include the role of communication in interpersonal relationships, basic speech act theory, linguistic pragmatics and an examination of how communication functions in a variety of social settings.
COMM 290S Media LiteracyPre-requisite: ENGL 101E
This course provides a broad foundation for examining the form, content, and consequences of mediated communication (including the Internet, recording, radio, television, cable, film, newspaper, and other publishing industries). The course introduces media industries from both an historical and contemporary perspective, covers the prominent theories that characterize mass media functions and effects, and addresses controversial issues in mediated communication. Students are introduced to intellectual tools that will enable them to be more critical consumers of media and given opportunities to practice applying those tools in both structured classroom discussions and formal writing assignments. A sample syllabus and assignments are available for your review at http://www4.wittenberg.edu/academics/communication/290.html. Writing intensive.
COMM 300 Social Scientific MethodsPrerequisites: COMM 200 and COMM 270S, 280 or 290S; Math Placement score 22 or permission of instructor
This course introduces students to the process of conducting qualitative and quantitative communication research, including how to 1) formulate a research question, 2) conduct library research for a literature review, 3) select a method (e.g., participant/observation, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, rhetorical criticism, content analysis, or survey research), 4) adhere to standards for scholarly writing, and 5) critically evaluate others’ research studies. Writing intensive.
COMM 320 Topics in Communication: Family CommunicationPre-requisites: COMM 200 and one of the following three courses: COMM 270S, 280, 290S; or permission of instructor
This advanced course examines topics related to 1) family communication and basic family processes, 2) communication in family subsystems, 3) communication during family stress, and 4) family interaction, health and well-being. Research and theories from communi-cation, sociology and psychology will be used to explain issues related to the family. Discussion topics include, for example, marital, parent-child, sibling, and intergenerational interactions in the family. Research pertaining to marital satisfaction, divorce, courtship, and the impact of the family on it’s children (and vice-versa) will also be examined.
COMM 328 – Intercultural CommunicationPre-requisites: COMM 200 or permission of instructor
The advanced seminar introduces students to a wide range of scholarship about intercultural communication. The course explores the nature of the communication processes that influence and/or are influenced by intercultural contexts. The role of communication in intercultural understanding, cultural patterns of interaction, cultural identity, ethnocentrism, and specific cross-cultural experiences are explored, as well as intercultural communication competence and the costs associated with cross-cultural misunderstanding.
COMM 351 - Media LawPre-requisites – Comm 290S or permission of instructor
This course examines how the law helps shape the activities of mass media industries in the United States. Students have the opportunity to develop a basic understanding of the American legal system, its institutions, and some of its terminology, as well as a broad understanding of First Amendment principles as they relate to mass communication. Readings provide a working knowledge of the laws that directly restrict or enhance information gathering and message dissemination in the mass media, and an understanding of the rationales behind those laws. Projects encourage the development of skills to identify and interpret the law, particularly as it develops beyond its present shape.
COMM 361 Gender and CommunicationPrerequisites: COMM 200 and 270S, 280, or 290S; or permission of instructor.
This course considers public understandings of gender and sexuality in America and the way in which they are represented in popular discourse. In particular, the focus is on cases of “gender trouble” or gender ambiguity, in which dominant cultural assumptions of gender and sexuality are challenged (e.g., drag performances, female masculinity, metrosexuality). Our goal is to discover how those challenges to gender norms are rhetorically configured, and how/if they are disciplined or realigned in the support of dominant gender norms. Experience in rhetorical criticism (i.e., COMM 301) is preferred, but not required. While the course is not writing intensive in that there will not be instruction in writing per se, there is an assumption that students are skilled in writing the required papers. Assignments include analytical papers, quizzes, and a final project with an oral presentation.
COMM 403 Communication Senior SeminarPre-requisites: COMM 200, COMM 300, and senior status
This course is the capstone experience in the Communication program. Through their work on independent and group projects, students will practice research, writing, and critical thinking skills that are part of the process of conducting communication research, culminating in both written and oral presentations of results. Writing intensive.
