Course Objectives COMM 380

Overall Course Goal:

To increase our intercultural communication awareness, knowledge and competency.

Specific Course Goals:

1. To study the many processes operating during intercultural communication.

2. To learn common barriers which create misunderstandings in intercultural contacts.

3. To develop improved intercultural communication skills.

4. To learn about the major elements of culture and how they influence communication.

5. To study the role of verbal and nonverbal messages play in intercultural communication.

6. To become more consciously aware of cultural differences in time and space perceptions.

7. To reduce ethnocentrism in our communication and thinking.

8. To learn how different perceptions of reality from culture to culture impacts communication.

9. To understand the process of stereotype formation and how they affect communication.

10. To examine the relationship between symbols, language, culture and perception.

11. To become more aware of the cultural diversity within most cultures.

12. To study the sources of intercultural conflict and some methods of reducing it.

13. To explore the relationship between mass media and intercultural communication.