University of the Philippines Open University
Faculty of Education
Second Trimester, Academic Year 2021-2022
COMM 10: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES IN COMMUNICATION
COURSE GUIDE
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Theories and frameworks of communication in various contexts
COURSE GOAL
For students to have an informed engagement with issues on communication in local
and global contexts using various theoretical lenses
Welcome to COMM 10: Critical Perspectives in Communication! This is a UP
General Education (GE) course that explores how communication takes place in various
levels of human interaction: interpersonal or group, mass or public, intercultural and
workplace. This course intends to help you build a better understanding of yourself, your
individual identity, your language use, your own culture and the culture of others through
your interaction with others in a local or global context. It gives you the opportunities to
be equipped with critical lenses to assess the communication that occurs between and
among people and institutions in a multicultural setting.
In this course, you will analyze communication issues focusing on language,
identity construction, representation, culture, and discourse in various texts guided by the
theories and frameworks of communication and other essential analytical tools in social
sciences.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
After completing this course, you should be able to:
1.
Discuss the changing landscape of communication;
2.
Explain the different theories and frameworks of communication;
3. Apply relevant communication theories and frameworks in the analysis of
various issues; and
4.
Formulate a critical perspective on a communication phenomenon or event.
COURSE OUTLINE
I.
The changing landscape of communication (Module 1)
A.
Orality and literacy
B.
Traditional media, mass media, new media
C.
Media convergence, blurring of genres
II. Frames of engagement:
Theories and frameworks of communication
A.
Communication and rhetoric (Module 2)
1. The rhetorical situation
2. Political rhetoric
3. Digital rhetoric
B.
Communication and identity construction (Module 3)
1. What is identity?
2. The process of identity construction
3. Social and cultural identities
C.
Communication and representation (Module 4)
1. Theories of representation
2. Semiotics, the discursive approach and the production of meaning
3. Media content and representation
D.
Communication and culture (Module 5)
III. Communication as critical practice: a synthesis
THE MODULES
The course has five modules, and each module has lessons that intend to help
you gain critical perspectives on relevant issues in the different levels of communication.
Each lesson is presented with a set of readings and other learning materials, like videos
and online articles to give you more information about the topic. A list of questions follows
after each lesson to guide you in understanding the topic. These are learning activities
that are not necessarily graded, but are meant to help you better appreciate the lessons for
further insight. The Discussion Forum Posts and the Summative Activities (SA) will be
graded as they provide the basis of your understanding of the lessons. All course materials
will be posted on our course site.
SUBMISSION OF REQUIREMENTS
All requirements must be submitted in the proper bin of our course site. See
specific instructions for the requirements below. Be mindful of the university rules and
policies on academic integrity (UP Code on Conduct and Discipline, Chapter 81, Art. 473)
in submitting your course requirements.
STUDY SCHEDULE
This study schedule will help you allot time to every task that you need to
accomplish, from studying modules to completing and submitting discussion forum
posts and summative activities. Refer to this schedule always.
WEEK
1
DATE
Feb 21-25,
MODULE/TOPIC
Meet and Greet
4-5
Feb 28-March 4;
Forum Post: Introduce Yourself
Due date: Feb 26
2022
2-3
EXPECTED OUTPUT
Module 1: The Changing
March 7-11
Landscape of Communication
March 14-18;
Module 2: Communication
and Rhetorics
March 21-25
Forum Post 2:
Due date – March 11
Forum Post 3:
Due date – March 18
Summative Activity 1:
Due date – March 25
Forum Post 4:
March 28-April 1
6-7
Module 3: Communication
and Identity Construction
April 4-8
Due date – April 1
Summative Activity 2:
Due date – April 8
April 11-15
8-9
Module 4: Communication
and Representation
Forum Post 5:
Due date – April 15
April
April18-22
5-10;
Summative Activity 3:
Due date -April 22
8-9
April 25-29
April
May19-24;
2-6
10-11
Module 5: Communication
and Culture
Forum Post 6:
Due date – April 29
Summative Activity 4:
Due date – May 7
12
May 9-13
Synthesis
FACULTY INFORMATION
JENNIBELLE R. ELLA
School of Education, Arts,
and Sciences
Colegio de San Juan de
Letran Calamba
DR. ELLA is a faculty member of the School of Education, Arts,
and Sciences of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Calamba.
She holds a license in professional teaching. She has handled
general education courses and also major courses for BS
Education and AB Communication programs. She teaches
Purposive Communication, The Contemporary World,
Introduction to Communication Media, and Teaching and
Assessment of Literature Studies among others.
She also teaches at UPOU handling COMM 10: Critical
Perspectives in Communication.
She finished her PhD Applied Linguistics degree at De La Salle
University-Manila and her MPAf in Education Management and
BA Communication Arts at UPLB. She has presented her
research papers in national and international conferences and
has published in Scopus-indexed and peer-reviewed journals.
Her research interests are in the areas of World Englishes,
Corpus Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, and Language Learning.
Her most recent publication is titled Characterizing the move
structure in abstracts of undergraduate theses (2020).
E-mail address
jennibelle.ella@gmail.com
Consultation hours
For your questions about the course, please email me anytime.
You can also send your message through our course site. Just
let me know how I may help you. I will reply as soon as I can.
GRADING SCALE
Range
Final Grade
240-250
1.0
229-239
1.25
218-228
1.5
207-217
1.75
196-206
2.0
185-195
2.25
174-184
2.5
163-173
2.75
150-162
3.0
Qualitative Eval
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Satisfactory
Passed
COMM 10 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS AND “HOUSE RULES”
1. Course Site. The official course site for COMM 10 is in MyPortal.
2. Online discussion forums. Discussion forums allow you to share your ideas
and learn from one another. When responding to the discussion prompts,
keep in mind that it is always best to:
•
•
•
•
Be polite. You are encouraged to express your thoughts or comment
on your classmates’ posts, but make sure you do it in a respectful
manner.
Be clear. Use familiar words and use them correctly. It is better to
review your work for clarity before posting. Revise if necessary. When
unsure about your writing, consult a grammar guide.
Be concise. Avoid wordiness.
Cite your references.
3. Submission of requirements. Submit all course requirements through
the proper bins on MyPortal.
Important Reminders when Submitting Requirements
•
Write your complete name and Forum Post Number / Summative Activity
Number on the first page of your submission.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Use Arial font type, 12 points, 1.5 spacing.
Be concise. Avoid lengthy statements. Observe the principles of clear and
effective writing. The rubrics for each learning activity will be provided.
Follow word limit. If the task requires you to write a maximum of 300
words, do not attempt to write more than what is instructed.
Do not forget to cite your sources. Do in-text citation and list down all
references at the last page. Use APA style (7th edition).
For summative activities containing a series of questions, always rewrite
the questions first before providing your answer.
Submit your work in word doc form not PDF.
Avoid penalties for late submission.
4. Class administration. The class will be administered online.
IMPORTANT REMINDER ON CHEATING:
•
•
IMPORTANT REMINDER: “Any form of cheating or dishonesty shall
be punishable.” (UP Code on Conduct and Discipline, Chapter 81, Art.
473)
For the first offense (one paper), a grade of 5.0 will be given for that
paper. For more than one offense (more than one paper), a grade of 5.0
will be given for the course, not just for the papers.