Goals and Objectives

Students will develop sensitivity to ethical issues in communication.

• Demonstrate the ability to identify and evaluate ethical issues in communication situations encountered in classroom discussions, readings, and assignments.
• Propose strategies for responding appropriately to ethical problems identified in discussions, readings, and assignments.

Students will demonstrate the ability to think critically.

• Identify fallacies in argumentative discourses.
• Interpret and evaluate the use of evidence in created and received messages.
• Recognize different forms of reasoning in oral and written discourses.

Students will be able to distinguish various approaches to the study of communication.

• Identify important issues and developments in the history of communication theory.
• Apply communication theories in the performance and analysis of communication acts.

Students will attain competence in oral communication.

• Be able to prepare and deliver an informative or persuasive speech on a variety of topics.
• Be able to prepare and present an aesthetic performance.
• Evaluate the possible impact of a speech or a performance on various audiences.

Students will develop greater awareness of the social context in which communication occurs.

• Apply the transactional model in the analysis of communication to a real or hypothetical communication situation.
• Enact the transactional model when communicating with others.
• Practice appropriate audience behavior.
• Explain the social and political implications of strategies used in historical and contemporary communication situations.

Students will knowledgeable and aware of the nonverbal components of communication interactions.

• Explain principles of nonverbal communication.
• Describe the relationships between verbal and nonverbal elements in communication interactions.
• Practice vocal and physical strategies in the performance of texts and everyday life exchanges.