INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION - 2019/0
Module code: CMCM002
Module Overview
The module aims to introduce students to key concepts in interpersonal communication with particular attention to inter- and trans-culturality across a varied ranged of communicative contexts, from everyday familiar situations to business encounters.
Students will examine, week by week, core concepts in interpersonal communication to understand how humans go about constructing, establishing, negotiating and challenging relations across an array of interactional arenas. Concepts learnt will be re-examined weekly as new notions are introduced. This includes their application to data. Students will need to download interactional data or gather their own. This will offer them hands on practice analysis and a base from which to plan the group presentation and essay.
Module provider
School of Literature and Languages
Module Leader
DIPPOLD Doris (Lit & Langs)
Number of Credits: 15
ECTS Credits: 7.5
Framework: FHEQ Level 7
Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A
Overall student workload
Independent Learning Hours: 128
Seminar Hours: 22
Module Availability
Semester 2
Prerequisites / Co-requisites
None
Module content
The following areas are indicative of topics to be covered:
The following units of analysis will be covered:
- speech acts
- conversational implicature
- frames and footing
- positioning
- face
- adjacency pairs
- turn-taking
- sequence organisation
- contextualisation cues
The following topics will be covered:
- phatic communion/small talk
- language and gender
- conflict
- miscommunication
- (im)politeness
- transactional v. relational talk
- language at work
- mediated talk
Assessment pattern
| Assessment type | Unit of assessment | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Oral exam or presentation | GROUP PRESENTATION | 30 |
| Coursework | 2500 WORD ESSAY | 70 |
Alternative Assessment
Individual presentation (not necessarily in front of the whole seminar) (30%)
Assessment Strategy
The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:
- their development in understanding of interpersonal communication
- their understanding of the practices humans engage in to communicate meaning and index various stances.
- their development of research and analytic skills.
Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:
Mid-Semester group oral presentations (30%)
End of semester 2500 word essay (70%)
Alternative assessment
The alternative assessment to the Mid semester group oral presentation (30%) is individual presentation
Formative assessment and feedback
Verbal feedback in class plus written and/or oral feedback on project work.
Formative ‘feed forward’ is provided through seminar discussions, tutor feedback in seminars, and a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and classroom exercises, and one-to-one tutorials focusing on assignment planning.
Module aims
- This module aims to develop students understanding of interpersonal communication in its inter-cultural and cross-cultural dimension
Learning outcomes
| Attributes Developed | ||
| 001 | Demonstrate a critical understanding of the ways in which interpersonal communication is effected in everyday and institutional talk including mediated communication | K |
| 003 | Apply theoretical approaches to the solution of communication problems | C |
| 004 | Collect instances of interpersonal communication | K |
| 005 | Select appropriate excerpts for analysis | K |
| 006 | Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate method of transcription needed for a given analysis | K |
| 007 | Critically evaluate the appropriacy of theoretical approaches across languages and cultures and where possible suggest refinements | C |
| 008 | Show an understanding of the intricacies of mediated and non-mediated interpersonal communication in a range of inter-cultural and cross-cultural contexts | C |
| 009 | Demonstrate an appreciation of the characteristics of everyday and institutional talk across languages and cultures | K |
| 010 | Analyse and where possible predict the causes of smooth interpersonal communication as well as miscommunication | P |
| 002 | Show a good ability to analyse interpersonal communication by links to scholarly controversies | C |
Attributes Developed
C - Cognitive/analytical
K - Subject knowledge
T - Transferable skills
P - Professional/Practical skills
Methods of Teaching / Learning
The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:
- Develop students’ understanding of scholarship in interpersonal communication
- Equip students with some of the research and analytic skills they will need to evaluate the (lack of) effectiveness of communication across cultural contexts with a view to suggesting solutions.
The learning and teaching methods include:
2 hour seminar x 11 weeks. In each session notions will be presented, discussed and applied. These will be evaluated week by week as new notions are introduced. At least one session towards the end of the module will be devoted to discussing the written assignment according to students’ essay plans.
Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.
Reading list
https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: CMCM002
Programmes this module appears in
| Programme | Semester | Classification | Qualifying conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercultural Communication with International Business MA | 2 | Compulsory | A weighted aggregate mark of 50% is required to pass the module |
Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.