University of Belize
Faculty of Education and Arts
Belize City Campus
COURSE OUTLINE
Semester 2 (January -May 2009)
Course:
Lecturer:
Communication Skills (CMCN 209) Sections1 &2 (Page 1 of 7)
Ethnelda Paulino
Schedule:
Section 1:
M/W/F
10:00 – 10:50
JABU4
Office Hours: 4:45 -5:45 (on Wednesdays or by appointment)
9:00 -10:00 (on Tuesdays or by appointment)
Telephone:
BMP 822 -3680 –Ext 354
Email:
ethneldabz@yahoo.com
Course Description
This course is designed for students to explore the principles and functions of human
communication. It provides a thorough grounding in the theory and concepts used behind
effective communication. Development of students’ communication skills in both the
personal and business arenas will allow students to improve their abilities to adequately
assess various communicative situations and react appropriately. Both traditional and
emerging communicative devices will be explored.
RATIONALE
Living in a multi-cultural society means we have to associate and relate with people of all
backgrounds in both our private lives and in the public. Students need to know the basic
functions of effective communicative skills and apply these to specific situations ever
aware of the cultural dimensions. The idea is to enable students to develop strategies for
themselves becoming effective communicators.
Objectives
As a result of taking this course, students should be able to:
* Understand human communication as a multi-layered process that is
simultaneously
*created by all communicators involved
* Recognize the interrelationship between language, thought and emotions
* Appreciate the role of communication in human relationships
* Differentiate various communicative contexts
* Refine their own communicative skills
TEXTS and RESOURCES
Required Text: Devito Joseph A. HUMAN COMMUNICATION: The Basic Course. -11th
edition
Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 2006
Supplementary Text: Tubbs, Stewart L; Moss, Silvia. Human Communication. 8th ed.
New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
Resources:
Local and regional newspapers and broadcast media
Professor Lisa Stefani at Grossmont College
www.grossmont.net/lisa stefani
Instructional Methods
Activities: these will be both planned and impromptu
Group work with samples/case studies
Lectures, Demonstrations, discussions and role-play
Presentations
Interactive website assignment
REQUIREMENTS
15%
10%
10%
10%
15%
40%
100%
Intercultural Communication component – Stereotyping Assignment
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
Group Presentation
Final Exam
Course Outline 08/09 – Semester One
Unit One
Introductions/ Preview of the required text and Course Outline: student input in eliciting
initial questions suggestions/thoughts for Stereotypes intercultural exchange
assignment
Discussion of the Preface/Defining Communication:
*DUE by Monday, February 02, 2009: e-mail in your "Stereotypes Questions” to
ethneldabz@yahoo.com
with subject line stating “cmcn questions” (See Guidelines)
Overview:
Values of a Human Communication Course
Major Features of Human Communication
Preliminaries to Human Communication
The Elements of Human Communication
Major Topics:
Public Speaking, text book
Style and Delivery in Public Speaking, Unit 15 in text
The Informative Speech, Unit 16 in text book
The Persuasive Speech, Unit 17 I text book
The Special Occasion Speech
Style and Delivery in Public Speaking
Goals and Principles of Informative Speaking
Speeches of Description, Definition and Demonstration
Types of speeches
Readings: Human Communication, Foundations of Human Communication, text book
Unit 2:
Major Topics:
Culture and Communication
What is Culture?
Cultural Differences
Intercultural Communication
- DUE: "Stereotype Assignment - questions component
Share and discuss submissions
- Communicative contexts
Illustration of Small Group communicative context as a way to get groups formed for
Presentation Final Project to determine initial topic preferences using text’s Table of
Contents as a guide
The Self and Perception: Readings: Unit 3, text book
Readings: Small Group Communication: Verbal Messages to preview/read as
Background
Illustration of Small Group communicative context as a way to get groups formed for
Presentation Final Project to determine initial topic preferences using text’s Table of
Contents as a guide
Unit 3
Major Topics:
Small Groups
Idea-Generation Groups
Personal Growth Groups
Information Sharing Groups
Problem Solving Groups
The Verbal Message
Required Reading: Small Group Communication: Verbal Messages, text book
Required Listening: two separate radio newscasts, inclusive their ads/messages
The Verbal Message continued
- Activities:
- language considerations/ Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The Non-Verbal Message
Required Reading: “The Non-Verbal Message”
Required Viewing: two different local TV newscasts
-
Review - Activities: Verbal/Non-Verbal communication
Review for Test 1:
* Ensure all will/can access Stereotype Assignment posted on Bulletin Board
Unit 4
TEST #1: Units 1. 2. 3:
Preview possible communicative scenarios ref. September ___ assignment
- Attend Belizean, cultural event of your choice: Test Two will contain questions
choices calling you to explore communicative aspects of this event Major Presentation Project: Groups meet: begin to determine topic possibilities and
Consider the use of audio-visuals and make necessary arrangements.
Required Reading: Chapter 5 on “Listening”
Unit 5:
Major Topics:
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
The Channels of Nonverbal Communication
Culture and Nonverbal Communication
- Listening Feedback/Activities
* Required Reading: “Relationships in Process”
- Communication and Relationships
* Required Reading: “Conflict and Negotiation”
Unit 6
Interpersonal Communication:
The conversation Process
Conversational Skills
Interpersonal Relationship: Stages and Theories
- Conflict and Negotiation
-Group Presentation Planning Meetings update
Required reading continued: “Conflict and Negotiation”
 Status check on Stereotyping Assignment
 Review for Test 2
Test 2: Units 4, 5, 6
Unit 7: Friends, Lovers and Families:
Friendship; Romantic Relationships;
Families: The Dark side of Interpersonal Relationships
Interpersonal and Small Group Conflict: Types of Conflict, Conflict Management
Strategies
Readings: Interpersonal and Small Group Conflict, text
Readings: Human Communication, text book
Unit 8
Human Communication in the Workplace: Organizational Communication
- Organizational Communication: review using past students’ non-confidential
reports on organizations they had visited
-Organizational communication activity
-Status check on Final Projects – interpersonal communication (activities)
Interpersonal communication: Required Reading Chapter 9
Interpersonal communication continues (activities)
* Required: Be prepared to orally update individual roles for final Presentation
Unit 9
- Intercultural communication
Belizean
scenarios/views
on
American…naming/labeling/stereotyping
- Regional and International scenarios
ethnicity
and
culture
in
Belize
*
-check up on Stereotyping Exchange Assignment
- Required Reading: Chapter 11 “Interviewing”
Unit 10
- Interviewing/ activities
- Interviewing continued
: -DUE: Stereotyping Assignment posted on Bulletin Board
- Oral debriefing of the experience
Overview of Mass Communication
Required Reading: Chapter 13 “Public Communication”
and Chapter 15 “Mass Communication”
Mass Communication
- DVD samples/ Local media samples –A/V room tba
- Final Project Groups meet: determine final format/outline
Unit 11
- Mass Communication continued w/activity
– TEST #3: Units: 7, 8, 9 – Interviewing (included)
(Note: Content of Chapter 12’s Small Group Communication, begun early in the
semester when groups were being formed, is incorporated into grading of Group
Presentations
*Required readings: “Public communication” and “Organizational
Communication (Revision)
Unit 12:
Public Communication and Organizational Communication – sharing from nonconfidential reports from previous class organizational visits-Continue Public and
Organizational Communication
Group Presentations Final checklists/Pointers
Unit 15
Major GROUP PRESENTATIONS
Unit 16: Finals
May
Class Policies
MATERIALS AND TEXTBOOKS: For this class, you will need to rent or purchase the
required Tubbs text available at the UB bookstore. You also need to ensure that you read at least
one local newspaper each week and keep up with local news events. If you do not get papers in a
timely manner, then you need to use the weekly collection at the UB library or on-line versions.
Access to a computer with Internet is necessary at least twice during the semester for a specific
intercultural communication exchange assignment on Stereotyping. If this poses a major
challenge to anyone, please consult with the lecturer.
ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY: Because this is a communication class where
interpersonal student interaction forms a vital part of the explanations of concepts, you are
expected to attend class sessions and to participate in all in-class discussions and activities.
Students who miss sessions or who attend less than 80% of the classes scheduled for the course
may receive a grade that reflects less than optimal mastery of the full course content, and will not
be eligible for consideration of full points for the Interpersonal Participation component of the
grade. Arriving more than 15 minutes late for class will result in your being marked absent.
Note, however, that frequent use of this “grace period” can ultimately affect your performance.
No interruptions via cellular calls will be entertained; please turn off your cell, including its
vibrate mode, before the session begins. If you forget and your cell rings during class, please
immediately turn it off. If you answer it, even if you leave the room to take a call, especially
during a test you will be asked to leave the session; the use of cell phones during any tests and
exams will result in a grade of (F) for that paper/presentation, except in cases, pre-arranged
with the lecturer, where the cell phone may form a part of a presentation.
DEADLINES FOR COURSEWORK: These are all indicated in the Course Outline and must
be submitted at the beginning of the class date they are due. Should a change be necessary, you
will be advised. Note that failure to turn in work when it is due impedes a student’s progress and
disrupts the lecturer’s planning and evaluation of other student’s work. Students who, because of
emergency extenuating circumstances, are not able to complete work on time must seek the
lecturer’s approval to rearrange in advance. If no advance notice can be given, the lecturer must
be informed as soon as possible and the student must request the extension. However, note that
the instructor is not required to accept or evaluate work submitted beyond established deadlines.
SCHOLASTIC HONESTY: Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of
scholastic dishonesty will result in a major course penalty or most likely failure of the course.
Passing off the work of others as your OWN can be either plagiarism or collusion. Both are
scholastic offences that the lecturer will not tolerate. If you have any questions during the course
of the program about the use you are making of source material, talk to the lecturer before turning
in the assignment in question. Cheating during texts or the exam or during any in-class
writing/presentations will result in an automatic grade of (F) for that paper/presentation.
Refer to the UB Student Handbook for more on Plagarism and Cheating.
In case you or your lecturer has a question about your work, keep any drafts, notes, papers or
research materials that you produce during the course until after you receive a final grade.
ALSO REFER to the UB Student Handbook for the full complement of university policies.
Guidelines for Assignments – CMCN 209: Sem. 2, 2009
Guidelines for Group Presentations:
Preliminaries to Human Communication – chapter 1
Groups of 2 or 3 students: Study the Chapter from the text that is relevant to your topic
and find additional material from: the library, your environment, your own reading, your
own experiences/anecdotal references. Topic Ideas for Presentations could be:
- Perception is everything: Chapters 1 and 2
- Nonverbal Communication: The Importance of Eye, Hand & Body Movement
- Communication in Families (Chapters 5 and 6)
- Communication between the Sexes: Do we really understand each other
- The Successful Job Interview (Chapter 11) - Organizational Communication (At
UB – or other choice)
- The Communicative effects of Local Talk Show Radios
-The Impact of Local Music as a Communicative Tool: Chapters. on Interpersonal/
Mass Comm.
- Intercultural communication: Avoiding Misunderstandings
Your group’s presentation must be accompanied by a typed outline presented to lecturer
before the presentation; each group member must deliver at least 5 minutes of verbal
communication. The presentation may take the format of speech with mini-drama; speech
with demonstration; speech with examples; it may use visual aids/role-play – please
check with lecturer for feedback on the format of your presentation. Note that simply
reading aloud a paper will not do and will result in an undesirable grade. Time per
group presentation: 20 minutes.
Guidelines for Stereotyping Assignment
E-mail/ bring in your "Stereotypes Questions" on February 02. After we have discussed
your questions, you will be free to post them on the Bulletin Board. Professor Lisa
Stefani at Grossmont College – has designed the Bulletin Board on her on-line class
website. It forms an exchange with students in another country. You will both ask
questions of each other and respond to questions asked. All questions will be posted on
the Bulletin Board by February 09. You will then post on the Bulletin Board your
responses to the questions from the foreign students by Monday, February 23 by 11:55
PM: (confirm with lecturer at class session). Post on the BB as per the Assignment
directions. This complete assignment is worth 15% of your grade – Posting of 3
questions: 7.5 %; posting the 3 responses, another 7.5%.
Failure to follow instructions: for example, if you post the same question If you post the
same question 6 times, you lose 5 points; twice, you lose one point, thrice, 2 points and
so on. Error free last minute postings, you lose 5 points.
Tests: All three tests are noted on the course outline; the tests, tied to the chapters as
indicated, will also cover the material discussed in class as relevant to the listed test units.
Final Assignment: Research Report (assignment instructions, attached)
-------------
CMCN 209
Final Assignment: Due: April 27, 2009 (DEADLINE)
RESEARCH REPORT (In continuous prose with sub-headings, as indicated, below)
Work must be processed, pages numbered, lines double spaced, on sheets, 8 1/2 by 11.
Please include attractive, presentable cover sheet and work). Remember to cite your
sources (see rubric for format).
This is individual work. It is impossible for any two or three of you to submit the same
information, even if you are twins or if your parents are the same 2 people. Please make
sure that I get the name of the organization that you have chosen on Monday, February
16th, 2009. No two (2) students are allowed to visit the same organization (building).
Choose TWO contexts to research within a Belizean Organization (which you MUST
visit). If you write a report about the place in which you work, then consider your work,
null and void.
Make sure the organization is in the area in which you live – the village, town or city
which you call home.
1. First Impressions
Relate your first impression of the site, organization, the clients, staff, services provided.
Describe your impressions and feelings, both positive and negative, without specifically
naming individuals.
2. The Organization
Describe the organization in detail. Tell how and why it was founded, years of service,
its mission or goals, clients served by the organization, the number of employees/
volunteers, etc.
3. Personal Reflection
What did you find to be the most rewarding or meaningful part of your visit? What was
least rewarding or negative and how did your feelings tie in with what you know about
communication?
CONTEXTS: See Tubbs and Moss/ Devito and other resources to learn more about
these. Remember that you must examine 2 of these contexts. Remember that you
have been asked to Choose TWO contexts to research.
Intercultural Communication: Prejudice, Stereotypes, Barriers to Intercultural
Understanding, Beliefs or Values.
Dyadic Communication: Norms, Roles, Self-disclosure, Dominance, Satisfaction,
Power, Gender.
Organizational Communication: Flow of Information, Rumours, Supervisor,
Behaviour, Power
Small Group Communication: Leadership, Cohesiveness, Decision- making,
Problem Solving, Dealing with Conflict
Mass Communication: Advertising, Dissemination of Information, Television,
Ethics, Technology
Communication Variables are: Listening, Verbal Communication, Non-verbal
Communication, Conflict, Disclosure, Assertiveness, Roles, Sex Roles, Stereotype,
self-esteem, etc.
Use your CMCN text and library resources to research the two contexts of your choice.
This means intercultural, dyadic communication, etc. (see bolded list above)
1.
2.
3
4.
5.
Examine a main thesis supported by the research. That is, your review as it
relates to the Belizean Organization of your choice.
Review the research findings of the Communication Variables within the specific
context.
Describe the effects/implications of your findings on individuals. (In this case,
Belizean employees and employers)
Describe the effects of your findings on the Belizean Society.
For example, the authors of your text tell you how males or females use
language. Is this true in your in the organization of your choice? Where
appropriate, show how research findings help to support or to refute your research
findings.
Monday, April 27th Presentations begin: Presenters please prepare for
presentations, before classes begin. Remember that you will do peer
evaluation that you will be graded for participating in all in-class
activities.
You must evaluate each group, individually. Your evaluation sheet for each
group must include the following:
Specific goal, Content, Organization, Language, Delivery
Evaluate the presentation as: Excellent, Good, average, Fair, Poor - 5 points,
maximum.