COM 8100
The Communication Perspective
Fall 2024
W 6:15-9:15pm, Garey B03
Instructor: Dr. Heidi Rose
Office: Garey 11
Phone: 610.519.6939 (but best way to reach me is email)
Email: Heidi.Rose@villanova.edu
Office Hours: M 11:00-12:00, 4:45-5:45; W 4:45-5:45, & by appointment. All office hours can
be held in person or via Zoom. If you’d like to meet over Zoom, just let me know ahead of time.
Course Description
This course grounds students in communication theory, focusing on various trends and figures
who have contributed to how we understand a communication perspective primarily in the US.
Tracing historical and contemporary issues in the development of communication study, the
course examines meaning-making and its consequences in a variety of contexts.
Course Objectives
As a result of participating in this course, you will be able to:
 explain the conceptual nature and practical importance of a communication perspective on
social life;
 identify commonly held misconceptions about the nature of communication and articulate
their limitations;
 describe some important figures and moments in the history of the Communication
discipline;
 explain central theoretical contributions to the contemporary study of communication;
 explore ethical concerns inherent to communication practice;
 demonstrate graduate-level competence in oral, written, and digital communication skills;
 demonstrate a critical sensibility through creative and thoughtful analyses of communicative
acts.
Required Materials
Course readings and assignments will be accessed via Blackboard and/or Falvey Library
databases. Please give yourself plenty of time to access and engage readings for a given class
meeting thoroughly and critically in preparation for class discussion.
Grading and Assignments
In addition to course readings and discussions, you will complete a midterm exam (takehome), précis, and a final project—which typically takes the form of a final exam (takehome). In certain cases, I will allow substitution of a term paper for the final exam
analyzing a particular instance of communicative action.
Participation & Attendance (15%)
Attendance is a given! As a graduate student you are expected to be present and on time for every
class meeting. Participation means actively and substantively participating in class discussion via
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comments and questions. It does not mean, of course, dominating discussion or speaking for the
sake of speaking. If you have read carefully and thoroughly, you should arrive to class each week
brimming with questions and ideas to engage.
Précis (25%)
You will each prepare a précis of one day’s readings, share it with the class via email by 5pm of
the class day, and facilitate discussion for part of the class. More guidelines on Blackboard.
Midterm Exam (30%)
A take-home exam in essay form. You will have 2 weeks to complete the exam. More guidelines
in Blackboard.
Final Project - exam or paper (30%)
This will either take the form of an essay exam or, if I approve an analysis of a communicative
event or action, a term paper. Examples of a communicative action include but are not limited to
public relations, advertising, or marketing campaign; in-house organizational communication;
news coverage of an event/story; public performance; health communication campaign;
political convention/advertising campaign/speech or debate; documentary film, web sites; etc.).
More guidelines on Blackboard.
*Failure to complete any of the above may result in failing the course.
Policy on Late Assignments and Missed Performances
With the exception of a true emergency, for each day a paper is turned in late (including
weekends and holidays) it will lose a half grade.
Grade Meanings
I believe strongly in process, but spending many hours on an assignment is not a guarantee that
the product will be above average! The following are my guidelines for considering whether work
is A, B, or C level:
A: Superb! Outstanding! Much more than would be normally expected. Superior written work. I
learned something valuable from you.
B: Good work! Clearly above average. More than would be normally expected. Above average
written work. A minor flaw or two.
C: OK! Directions followed. You did what would normally be expected for the assignment for a
student at this level. Several minor flaws.
Please note that in order to continue in the Department of Communication graduate program, you
must keep an overall GPA of a “B” or better. As this is a graduate course, I do not expect student
work to fall below a C.
Grading Scale
99-93=A; 92-90=A-; 89-87=B+; 86-83=B; 82-80=B-; 79-77=C+; 76-73=C; 72-70=C-;
All grades are based on evidence of commitment to the assignment, clarity and accuracy of
your prose (grammar, syntax, spelling, structure), preparation, critical and creative thinking,
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quality and completeness of argument and analysis, compelling understanding of concepts,
and accurate and thorough citing of sources in APA.
Class Norms and Expectations
-Get to know each other! Get a group chat going; study and prepare together if it’s helpful; share
questions, frustrations, and joys of learning and growing in this new community.
-Read, read again, and then maybe again, and write about it: As you read, take notes and write
longer-form ideas about what you’re reading (journal, short story or poem, start of an essay, etc.).
Always note the page number(s) from the reading that inspire the notes or other ideas. Bring
readings and your notes to class. We learn from reading, sharing our thoughts, listening to each
other, and engaging in dialogue.
- Learning Environment: We are in this together! As graduate students, you are here to dive into
how the Communication discipline integrates and interrogates theory, research and practice. As
your professor, I am here to facilitate your learning to the best of my ability. This includes
encouraging and challenging you, and creating a safe learning environment in which you can
express yourself freely in relation to course material while always respecting the diversity of
others. Controversial material will likely come up. We will not always understand in the same
way, and that is great! You all bring a wealth of individual experiences and perspectives to the
class, and our readings, discussions and activities will encourage you to explore them. We will
create a positive communicative environment together if we communicate respectfully and
responsibly, and engage difference with courtesy and open minds. Question everything. Teaching
and learning happen with dialogue.
-Laptops and Phones: No phones, please! Laptops are fine if you need them for notetaking
and/or to access the readings, though it would be easier for you if the laptop is used for one or the
other.
-AI: We know AI is here to stay and that it has potential benefits in our lives. That said, for our
purposes in the course, the use of AI technologies to generate text will not be allowed and will be
treated as an academic integrity violation. See Villanova’s guidance:
https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/provost/teaching-learning/AVPTL/text-generators.html
-Written Work: To achieve your best work: 1) Read aloud from any part(s) of your draft to see
what works and what’s missing; 2) Give yourself time for revising; 3) Proofread, proofread,
proofread! And then ask a trusted someone to proofread; 4) I highly recommend the Writing
Center—it’s not only for undergraduates! 5) Meet with me! I can’t read a whole draft ahead of
time but will be happy to talk through ideas, questions, approaches, etc. Check with our Falvey
Library Communication reference librarian, Nicole Daly, if you have research questions
(Nicole.daly@villanova.edu). For citation guidance: https://library-villanovaedu.ezp1.villanova.edu/research/subject-guides/citing-your-sources
-Land Grant Acknowledgement: As a class, we acknowledge that we are gathered on the
unceded land of the Leni-Lenape peoples. We acknowledge the Lenape community, their elders
both past and present, as well as future generations. This acknowledgement demonstrates the
Villanova community’s commitment to the process of learning about and working for the
dismantling of all ongoing legacies of oppression.
* Schedule is subject to change
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* This syllabus constitutes a contract between the instructor and students. It is assumed that you
understand the nature of the course, the terms and conditions of the syllabus, and agree to fulfill
your responsibilities in the course.
Course Schedule
Date
Topic / Readings / To Do & Due
8/28
Wed
GRADUATE PROGRAM FIRST LECTURE & WELCOME RECEPTION!
COMMUNICATION’S ORIGINS & FOUNDATIONS:
Before and after the first lecture, read:
Dance, F. E. X. (1970). The concept of communication. Journal of
Communication, 20, 201-210.
Eadie, W.F. (2011). Stories we tell: Fragmentation and convergence in
communication disciplinary history. The Review of Communication
11(3), 161-176.
Attend First Lecture, Review guiding questions in Blackboard; send responses to
HR by Friday 8/30, 11:59pm
9/4 Wed
COMMUNICATION’S ORIGINS AND GAPS:
Peters, J. D. (1999). Introduction: The problem of communication. In J. D. Peters
Speaking into the air: A history of the idea of communication, (pp. 3-31.) Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Chakravarty, P., and Jackson, S. (2020). The disavowal of race in
communication theory. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies,
DOI: 10.1080/14791420.2020.1771743 (Online First).
Dorsten, A. (2012). “Thinking dirty”: Digging up three founding
“Matriarchs” of Communication Studies. Communication Theory, 22, 2547.
9/7 Sat
GRAD ORIENTATION, CLASS CONTINUED!
Continue from 9/4 as needed and add:
Buell, C. (2004). Models of mentoring in communication. Communication
Education, 53, 56–73. doi:10.1080/0363452032000135779
Goodall, H. L., Jr. (1999). Casing the academy for community.
Communication Theory, 9, 465-494. doi:10.1111.j.14682885.1999.tb00208.x
9/11
Wed
DEVELOPING A COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVE:
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Axley, S. R. (1984). Managerial and organizational communication in terms of
the conduit metaphor. Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 428-437.
Koschmann, M. (2010). Communication as a distinct mode of explanation makes
a difference. Communication Monographs, 77(4), 431-434.
Thayer, L. (1982). What would a theory of communication be for? Journal of
Applied Communication Research, 10(1), 21-28.
9/18
Wed
COMMUNICATION AND SIGNS, SIGNIFICATION, MEANING
Ott, B. L., & Domenico, M. (2015). Conceptualizing meaning in Communication
Studies.” In J. Gehrke and W. M. Keith (Eds), A century of communication
studies: The unfinished conversation, (pp. 234-260). New York, NY:
Routledge.
Benveniste, E. (1996). The nature of the linguistic sign. In P. Cobley, (Ed.),
The communication theory reader, (pp.63-69). New York, NY: Routledge.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1996). ‘Introduction,’Language as social semiotic: The
social interpretation of language and meaning.” In P. Cobley, (Ed.), The
communication theory reader, (pp. 88-93). New York, NY: Routledge.
Cohah, S. & Shires, L. M. Theorising language. In P. Cobley, (Ed.), The
communication theory reader, (pp.115-125). New York, NY: Routledge.
Barthes, R. The photographic message. In P. Cobley, (Ed.), The
communication theory reader, (pp.134-147). New York, NY: Routledge.
Eco, U. (1996). How culture conditions the colours we see. In P. Cobley, (Ed.),
The communication theory reader, (pp.148-171). New York, NY:
Routledge.
*The above list will be reduced by at least one reading! And we’ll prep for
9/25.
9/25
Wed
Class meets at Topper Theatre, Mullen Center for Theatre of War’s Hector,
Andromache, and the Death of Astyanax, 6:30 pm
Read ahead:
Doerries, B. (2016). Prologue & Introduction. The theater of war: What ancient
Greek tragedies can teach us today. (pp. 3-56). New York, NY: Knopf
Doubleday.
Conquergood, D. (1988). Health theater in a Hmong refugee camp: Performance,
communication, and culture. The Drama Review, 32, 174-208.
Butler, J. (2005). Responsibility. Giving an Account of Oneself. (pp 83-136). New
York, NY: Fordham University Press.
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After the event, review readings and submit response to Theater of War for
all to read by Friday 9/27 11:59pm.
10/2
Wed
COMMUNICATION AS RITUAL AND PERFORMANCE:
INTERPRETING & CRITIQUING CULTURE
Review previous week’s reading as needed plus:
Conquergood, D. (1991). Rethinking ethnography: Toward a critical
cultural politics. Communication Monographs, 58, 179-194. doi:
10.1080/03637759109376222
Turner, V. (1988). Images and reflections: Ritual drama, carnival, film, and
spectacle in cultural performance. In The anthropology of performance, (pp.
21-32). New York, NY: PAJ.
Geertz, C. (200 “Blurred genres: The reconfiguration of social thought.” In H.
Bial (Ed.), The performance studies reader, (pp. 64-67). New York, NY:
Routledge.
Warren, J. T. (2008). Performing difference: Repetition in context. Journal of
International and Intercultural Communication, 1 (4), pp. 290-308
FALL
BREAK
Midterms
Take-Home Midterm due by Friday Oct. 18 11:59pm
10/16
COMMUNICATION AS PERSUASION AND INFLUENCE [MEDIA
APPROACHES I]
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (19 ). The agenda-setting function of mass
media.
Scheufele, D. A. (2006). Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of
Communication, 49(1), 103-122.
Murdock, G. (2018). Media materialties: For a moral economy of machines.
Journal of Communication 68 (3), 359–368, doi:10.1093/joc/jqx023.
Stroud, N. J. (2010). Polarization and partisan selective exposure. Journal of
Communiation, 60, 556-576. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01497.x
10/23
COMMUNICATION AND RHETORICAL APPROACHES
Burke, K. (1973/2016). The rhetorical situation. In L. Thayer (Ed.),
Communication: Ethical and Moral Issues (pp. 263-275). New York: Gordon
and Breach Science Publishers.
Blair, C., & Michel, N. (2007). The AIDS Memorial Quilt and the contemporary
culture of public commemoration. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 10, (4), 595–626.
Zelizer, B. (1995). Reading the past against the grain: The shape of memory
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studies. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(2), pp 214-239.
Asen, R. (2015). Critical engagement through public sphere scholarship. Quarterly
Journal of Speech, 101 (1), 132-144.
10/30
Wed
COMMUNICATION AND/AS POWER: CRITICAL AND CULTURAL
STUDIES APPROACHES
Grossberg, L. (2006). Does cultural studies have futures? Should it? (Or what’s the
matter with New York?): Cultural studies, contexts, and conjunctures. Cultural
Studies, 20, (1), 1-32.
Shome, R. (2003). Space matters: The power and practice of space.
Communication Theory, 13 (1), 39-56.
Shome, R. (2019). When postcolonial studies interrupts media studies.
Communication, Culture, and Critique, 12, 305-322.
Fanon, F. (2008) Black skin, white masks. New York, NY: Grove Press. (Chapters
1, 5)
11/6
Wed
COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES (MEDIA
APPROACHES II)
Litwack, M. (2021). Extensions after man: Race, counter/insurgency and the
futures of media theory. Media, Culture & Society: 1-14. DOI:
10.1177/0163443721994532.
Peters, J. D. (2012). The telephonic uncanny and the problem of communication.
In J. Sterne (Ed), The sound studies reader, (pp. 363-371). New York, NY:
Routledge.
Ong, W. J. (2017). Prologue; Logos and digitization; Language, technology, and
the human. In Language as hermeneutic: A primer on the word and digitization,
(pp. 11-19, 67-84, 90-93). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
11/13
Wed
COMMUNICATION AND THE BODY/EMBODIMENT (FEMINIST,
QUEER STUDIES APPROACHES)
Chávez, K. R. (2018). The body: An abstract and actual rhetorical concept.
Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 48, (3), 242-250. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/02773945.2018.1454182
Harris, K. L. (2016). Feminist dilemmatic theorizing: New materialism in
communication studies. Communication Theory, 26, 150–170.
Johnson, E. P. “Quare” studies or (almost) everything I know about queer studies I
learned from my grandmother. Text and Performance Quarterly, 21, (1), 1-25.
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Yep, G. A. (2003). The violence of heteronormativity in communication studies:
Notes on injury, healing, and queer world-making. Journal of Homosexuality,
45, (2–4), 11– 59.
11/20
Wed
COMMUNICATION AS RELATIONAL
[INTERPERSONAL, INTERCULTURAL, ORGANIZATIONAL COMM
APPROACHES]
Ting-Toomey, S. (2010). Applying dimensional values in understanding
intercultural communication. Communication Monographs, 77(2), 169-180.
Suter, E. A., & Norwood, K. M. (2017). Critical theorizing in family
communication studies: (Re)reading relational dialectics theory 2.0.
Communication Theory, 27, 290-308. doi:10.1111/comt.12117
Kuhn, T., Ashcraft, K, and Cooren, F. (2019). Introductory Essay: What work can
organizational communication do? Management Communication Quarterly,
33 (1), 101-111.
11/2712/1
Thanksgiving Break
12/4
Wed
COMMUNICATION AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Over the Thanksgiving break, read Frey and Thayer, and find your own
communication article about making a difference. Share with the class via email by
Tuesday night 12/3 and be ready to discuss your selection. Can also recommend
revisiting any reading from earlier in the semester.
Frey, L. R. (2009). What a difference more difference-making communication
scholarship might make: Making a difference from and through
communication research. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 37.2,
205-214.
Thayer, L. (1973/2016). Towards an ethics of communication. In L. Thayer (Ed.)
Communication: Ethical and moral issues, (pp. 345-360). New York: Gordon
and Breach Science Publishers.
12/11
Wed
12/13
12/18
Wed
Wrapping up!
Reading Day
Final Exam or Paper Due; possible class meeting to share papers
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University Policies and Services
Office of Access and Disability Services (ADS) and Learning Support Services (LSS)
It is the policy of Villanova to make reasonable academic accommodations for qualified individuals with
disabilities. All students who need accommodations should go to Clockwork for Students via myNOVA
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http://learningsupportservices.villanova.edu or the ODS website
https://www1.villanova.edu/university/student-life/ods.html for registration guidelines and instructions. If
you have any questions please contact LSS at 610-519-5176 or learning.support.services@villanova.edu,
or ODS at 610-519-3209 or ods@villanova.edu.
Academic Integrity
All students are expected to uphold Villanova’s Academic Integrity Policy and Code. Any incident of
academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for
disciplinary action. For the College’s statement on Academic Integrity, you should consult the Student
Guide to Policies and Procedures. You may view the University’s Academic Integrity Policy and Code,
as well as other useful information related to writing papers, at the Academic Integrity Gateway web site:
https://library.villanova.edu/research/subject-guides/academicintegrity
Absences for Religious Holidays
Villanova University makes every reasonable effort to allow members of the community to observe their
religious holidays, consistent with the University’s obligations, responsibilities, and policies. Students
who expect to miss a class or assignment due to the observance of a religious holiday should discuss the
matter with their professors as soon as possible, normally at least two weeks in advance. Absence from
classes or examinations for religious reasons does not relieve students from responsibility for any part of
the course work required during the absence.
https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/provost/resources/student/policies/religiousholidays.html
Congratulations—you’ve made it to the end of the syllabus! If you have any questions about any
policy or aspect of the class, my door (wooden or virtual) is always open!