Course Name
Communication Skills
Lecturer:
Assoc. Prof. Ludmilla Andreeva, Ph.D.
Type of Course
Elective
Year
Second
ECTS
3
Type of education
Part-time and distance learning
Assessment
Weekly quizzes; final exam
Educational Degree
Master’s
Semester
3rd
Workload
8 hours of lectures and 7 hours of seminars
Language of Education
English
Prerequisites
Students should have completed Cognitive Psychology and Psychology of Social Cognition courses.
Exam
Course requirements:
 Weekly quizzes, homework.
 Final exam.
Course aims
The course explores a topic with obvious relevance to students’ own personal lives, and great potential for
personal benefit. It emphasizes the transactional nature of interpersonal relationships. It presents
communication not as a collection of techniques people use on others, but as a process they engage in with
them. The students will learn that even the most competent communication doesn’t always seek to create
warm relationships and that even less personal interaction usually has the best chance of success when
handled in a constructive, respectful manner. Grounded in scholarly research, the course stresses the
importance of interpersonal communication in the workplace: it will equip students with communication
strategies that will enhance career success. Topics include managing emotions on the job, effective
nonverbal communication in employment interviews, avoiding negative self-fulfilling prophecies in the
workplace, integrating newcomers into an organization’s culture, dealing with workplace romances, and
leaving a job on a positive note.
Lectures and seminars
1. INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Why We Communicate (Physical Needs; Identity Needs; Social Needs; Practical Goals). The Process of
Communication (A Linear View; A Transactional View). Communication Principles and Misconceptions. The
Nature of Interpersonal Communication (Two Views of Interpersonal Communication; Mediated
Interpersonal Communication; Personal and Impersonal Communication: A Matter of Balance); What
Makes an Effective Communicator? (Communication Competence Defined; Characteristics of Competent
Communicators; Competence in Intercultural Communication).
2. COMMUNICATION AND IDENTITY: CREATING AND PRESENTING THE SELF
Communication and the Self (Self-Concept and Self-Esteem; Biological and Social Roots of the Self;
Characteristics of the Self-Concept; Culture, Gender, and Identity; The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and
Communication; Changing the Self-Concept). Presenting the Self: Communication as Identity Management
(Public and Private Selves; Characteristics of Identity Management; Why Manage Identities? How Do
People Manage Identities? Identity Management and Honesty).
3. EMOTIONS: FEELING, THINKING, AND COMMUNICATING
What Are Emotions? (Physiological Factors; Nonverbal Reactions; Cognitive Interpretations; Verbal
Expression). Influences on Emotional Expression (Personality; Culture; Gender; Social Conventions; Fear of
Self-Disclosure; Emotional Contagion). Guidelines for Expressing Emotions (Recognize Own Feelings;
Recognize the Difference between Feeling, Talking, and Acting; Expand Own Emotional Vocabulary; Share
Multiple Feelings; Consider When and Where to Express Feelings; Accept Responsibility for Own Feelings;
Minding the Communication Channel). Managing Difficult Emotions (Facilitative and Debilitative Emotions;
Sources of Debilitative Emotions; Irrational Thinking and Debilitative Emotions; Minimizing Debilitative
Emotions).
4. LANGUAGE: BARRIER AND BRIDGE
Language Is Symbolic. Understandings and Misunderstandings (Understanding Words: Semantic Rules;
Understanding Structure: Syntactic Rules; Understanding Context: Pragmatic Rules). The Impact of
Language (Naming and Identity; Affiliation; Power; Disruptive Language; The Language of Responsibility).
Gender and Language (Content; Reasons for Communicating; Conversational Style; Nongender Variables).
Culture and Language (Verbal Communication Styles; Language and Worldview).
5. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication (Nonverbal Skills Are Vital; All Behavior Has Communicative
Value; Nonverbal Communication Is Primarily Relational; Nonverbal Communication Serves Many
Functions; Nonverbal Communication Offers Deception Clues; Nonverbal Communication Is Ambiguous).
Influences on Nonverbal Communication (Gender; Culture). Types of Nonverbal Communication (Body
Movement; Voice; Touch; Appearance; Physical Space; Physical Environment; Time).
6. LISTENING
Listening Defined (Hearing versus Listening; Mindless Listening; Mindful Listening). Elements in the
Listening Process (Hearing; Attending; Understanding; Responding; Remembering). The Challenge of
Listening (Types of Ineffective Listening; Why We Don’t Listen Better; Meeting the Challenge of Listening
Better). Types of Listening Responses (Prompting; Questioning; Paraphrasing; Supporting; Analyzing;
Advising; Judging; Choosing the Best Listening Response).
7. COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONAL DYNAMICS
Why People Form Relationships (Appearance; Similarity; Complementarity; Reciprocal Attraction;
Competence; Disclosure; Proximity; Rewards). Relational Development and Maintenance (Models of
Relational Development; Characteristics of Relationships; Repairing Damaged Relationships).
Communicating about Relationships (Content and Relational Messages; Types of Relational Messages;
Metacommunication).
8. INTIMACY AND DISTANCE IN RELATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Intimacy in Relationships (Dimensions of Intimacy; Masculine and Feminine Intimacy; Styles; Cultural
Influences on Intimacy; Intimacy in Mediated Communication; The Limits of Intimacy). Self-Disclosure in
Relationships (Degrees of Self-Disclosure; A Model of Self-Disclosure; Benefits and Risks of Self-Disclosure;
Guidelines for Self-Disclosure). Alternatives to Self-Disclosure (Silence; Lying; Equivocating; Hinting; The
Ethics of Evasion).
9. IMPROVING COMMUNICATION CLIMATES
Communication Climate: The Key to Positive Relationships (Levels of Message Confirmation; How
Communication Climates Develop). Defensiveness: Causes and Remedies (Face-Threatening Acts;
Preventing Defensiveness in Others). Saving Face (The Assertive Message Format; Responding
Nondefensively to Criticism).
10. MANAGING INTERPERSONAL CONFLICTS
The Nature of Conflict (Conflict Defined; Conflict Is Natural; Conflict Can Be Beneficial). Conflict Styles
(Avoiding; Accommodating; Competing; Compromising; Collaborating; Which Style to Use?). Conflict in
Relational Systems (Complementary, Symmetrical, and Parallel Styles; Intimate and Aggressive Styles;
Conflict Rituals). Variables in Conflict Styles (Gender; Culture). Constructive Conflict Skills (Identifying the
Problem and Unmet Needs; Making a Date; Describing Own Problem and Needs; Considering the Partner’s
Point of View; Negotiating a Solution; Follow Up the Solution). Constructive Conflict: Questions and
Answers (Isn’t the Win-Win Approach Too Good to Be True? Isn’t the Win-Win Approach Too Elaborate?
Isn’t Win-Win Negotiating Too Rational? Is It Possible to Change Others?).
References
Hargie, O. D.W. (Ed.) (2006). Handbook of communication skills. London: Routledge.
Thompson, N. (2002). People Skills (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave.
Worth. R. (2004). Communication skills (2nd ed.). New York: NY: Ferguson.
Standards of Academic Integrity
Generally, academic fraud and dishonesty include, but are not limited to the following categories: cheating,
fabrication, plagiarism, multiple submissions, etc.
 Cheating: Using unauthorized notes, aids or information on an examination; altering a graded work
prior to its return to a faculty member, allowing another person to do one’s own work and
submitting it for grading.
 Fabrication: Inventing or falsifying information, data or citation; presenting data gathered outside
of acceptable professorial guidelines; failing to provide an accurate account of how information,
data or citations were gathered; altering documents affecting academic records; forging signatures
or authorizing false information on an official academic document, grade, letter, form or any other
university document.
 Plagiarism: Submitting material that in part or whole is not one’s own work; submitting one’s own
work without properly attributing the correct sources of its content.
 Multiple Submissions: Submitting identical papers or course work for credit in more than one
course without prior permission of the instructor.
A breach of ethics or act of dishonesty can result in:
 failure of an entire course (blatant plagiarism, cheating on a test or quiz);
 academic suspension or expulsion from the university.