Registry
Module Specifications
Archived Version 2020 - 2021
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Description This module introduces final year undergraduates to selected tenets of communication theory with a particular emphasis on how theories can be used as tools to interpret human and mediated communication. Student activities will include in-class debates, essays and seminar presentations. In addition to exploring theories of human communication in interpersonal interactions, relationships and groups, the module also examines theories of mediated communication (analogue and digital). Overall, the module critically reviews the conceptual foundations and dominant assumptions informing studies across the interdisciplinary field of communications. It retraces some of the threads that underlie contemporary scholarly approaches to the institutions, forms, patterns and styles through which communication takes place in the contemporary world. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Learning Outcomes 1. Understand and describe the philosophical underpinnings of communication theory 2. Describe and differentiate human communication in various contexts 3. Explain how media function within the overall evolution of human symbolic power as both instruments of social control/order and as agents of change 4. Explain how different historical situations shape the use of different technologies to disseminate knowledge about society 5. Research and write theoretically-informed assignments and seminar reports | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and
Learning Activities Introduction and description of moduleIntroduction; major traditions of communication theory; varieties of human communicationTraditions of communication theory and the Socio-psychological traditionTraditions of communication theory and the Socio-psychological traditionThe self and societyThe self and society; Symbolic InteractionismInterpersonal communicationRelational Dialectics TheoryCommunication in groupsSymbolic Convergence TheoryPresentations and performancesThe dramaturgical perspectiveMediated communication and mediatizationMediated communication and mediatizationMedia effects [Cultivation theory]Media effects [Cultivation theory]News and public opinion [Framing and agenda setting]News and public opinion [Framing and agenda setting]Critical approaches to communication [Encoding and decoding]Critical approaches to communication [Encoding and decoding]Participatory culture, protest and the public sphereParticipatory culture, protest and the public sphere | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List
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Other Resources None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Programme or List of Programmes |
CS | BA in Communication Studies |
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