Communicating Across the Curriculum:
Integrating more Communication Activities into your Classroom
Almost all introductory public speaking textbooks
refer to the findings of over 200 separate studies that have found communication
apprehension to be a common, yet sometimes severe condition that can impair
a person's ability to deliver a public address. Many courses throughout
the varied technical, science as well as liberal arts curriculum require students
to orally present materials as a major component of the of the course.
However, “[m]erely assigning communication projects
and grading them will not [by itself] promote better communication. Instructors need to provide students with a
forum to learn how to communicate effectively" (SIUC Communication Across
the Curriculum Lecture Series, 1999). It
seems, then, that when a teacher assigns an oral presentation it is in the best
interest of many students to also receive some instruction in how to overcome
their communication apprehension.
Yet, it is argued that due to time constraints
few teachers would find it feasible to incorporate additional research and material
into their curriculum. This need not
be the case. Southern Illinois University
's Communication Across the Curriculum Lecture Series identifies four common
"myths" commonly influencing teachers deciding whether or not to include
an emphasis upon various communication across the curriculum goals (e.g., reducing
speech anxiety):
1. Emphasizing Communication and Critical Thinking
Will Take Time Away from the Need to Address Content
2. Communication-Intensive Assignments Are Unsuitable
in Some Courses
3. Adding More Communication-Intensive Assignments
to a Course Will Bury the Teacher in Paper Grading
4. Many Teachers Do Not Have the Professional
Training to Teach Communication
First, by including a variety of oral, visual,
written and other forms of communication, instructors will stimulate additional
critical thinking skills pertinent to the classes’ particular subject matter.
As students learn how to better and more comfortably communicate, they
will more likely acquire a deeper understanding of the class material in general.
The second myth suggests that courses such
as chemistry or math might be unlikely candidates for oral assignments. While a 10 minute extemporaneous speech is
certainly not the most logical fit for this particular course, a periodic 1-minute
oral update could be a good opportunity for students to organize and clarify
their work, or express concerns relating to the course. In addition, the one-minute writing exercise
outlined in the exercise section below might be just what a chemistry teacher
needs to determine whether or not his or her students are digesting the course
material.
As for the third myth, it is not necessary
that these oral and/or written assignments be graded; instead, they might simply
be oral check-ins, written summaries, etc. attached to the current workload.
Finally, while it is true that many teachers do not have professional
training in communication, there are many resources available to help.
For example, this project and subsequent lesson plans have been designed
to allow the teacher to easily implement short, practical and useful ways to
help the student better communicate.
Definition
of Communication across the Curriculum
A movement to become more deliberate in including
an emphasis upon communication has been termed "Communication Across the
Curriculum" modeled after the "Writing Across the Curriculum"
movement. Selefe and Young (1998) define the two movements:
WAC: Writing
Across the Curriculum. A recent
educational movement that views writing at the center of the academic experience
in all disciplines. Writing is used as a tool for learning as well as for communication.
Two basic arguments sustain WAC programs: (1) writing helps students learn disciplinary
content, and (2) writing is integrally linked to the field in which one writes.
Therefore, writing should be a component in all college classes, rather than
being isolated to composition courses in English departments --from Electronic Communication
Across the Curriculum, ed. Reiss, Selfe, and Young (NCTE 1998)
CAC: Communication
Across the Curriculum. An expansion of the writing-across-the-curriculum
movement that broadens the focus from written communication to all other forms
of communication, including oral and visual. Although writing continues to be
viewed as central to teaching and learning, it is joined in an interactive social
process with other forms of communication to promote critical thinking, collaboration,
and problem-solving within and across disciplines. --from Electronic Communication
Across the Curriculum, ed. Reiss, Selfe, and Young (NCTE 1998)
Incorporating
Communication into Your Course
Southern Illinois University's Integrating
Written, Oral, Visual and Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum: A
Guide for Faculty and Graduate Teaching Assistants outlined at http://www.siu.edu/departments/cac/guide/guide4.html#talk
suggests that you carefully decide how communication be incorporated into your
curriculum. It is important to balance the emphasis upon communication
so that you do not "overwhelm the course.”
They recommend that you examine the following areas: 1) your role as
the teacher 2) your goals for your students and 3) your course goals, curriculum
and general discipline area. To assist you in your decision of how to
incorporate communication into your course, they pose the following questions:
1. About your role
as instructor, consider the following questions
·
What are your strengths in the classroom?
·
What do you enjoy most about this particular
course? Least?
·
What demands does this course place on you?
How might communication instruction change that?
·
What do you count as instructional success for
a class period? A unit? A test or lab? The entire course? To what extent do
writing and speaking relate to this success?
·
What is your role in this course? Instructor?
Mentor? Colleague? What type of communication does this relationship suggest
would be appropriate?
·
What would be your mode of assessing students
under ideal conditions?
2. About your goals
for students, consider the following questions:
·
What do you wish to accomplish in this course?
What should students be able to do after a semester under your guidance? What
is the relationship between this course and the university experience? This
course and the experience of non-majors?
·
What immediate contributions does this course
make to students' work in the university? If a student were to leave school
after taking this course, how would it benefit him or her? What long term benefits
does this course offer?
·
What would you like to accomplish with writing
in this course? Foster critical thinking? Promote thoughtful reading? Provide
a place for students to explore key issues and situate them in the history of
ideas and in contemporary society? Determine how well students are learning
course material? Gauge students' ability to synthesize new ideas?
·
What value does this course place on informal
communication? Formal communication? Revision of ideas and their presentation?
Group work?
·
What kinds of written, oral, and multimedia
communication do you expect students to use to convey their ideas about the
course when they are done? How do students prove that they have sufficiently
understood the course material? What kind of communication about your course
and a student's understanding of material would you enjoy? Final exam? Journal
article? Report? Presentation? Web page featuring course ideas? Documentary
of experience in the course?
3. About your course
and your discipline in general, consider the following questions:
·
What is the relationship between this course
and the major in this discipline? Between this course and graduate education?
Between this course and entry into the profession?
·
What kinds of communication do professionals
in your field regularly use? What forms of communication are marks of the highest
success? What forms of communication are making advances in your field? Disappearing?
To what extent should this course prepare students for these communicative norms?
If your course does not provide students with practice in these modes of communication,
are there courses that will?
·
What kinds of employment might majors in your
field (and students in your course) obtain? In what popular media do topics
in your course regularly appear? Who are the authors of this information? (Southern
Illinois University, 1999).
The guide explains that by answering these
questions, you will not necessarily have a “blueprint” for your plan, but instead
a better understanding of how your teaching goals for this course will best
be served by increasing your emphasis upon communication skills. “When you do turn to the incorporation of communication
in a course, you should likely begin with parts of the course that you enjoy
and feel comfortable with. If, for instance, the course contains a certain section
that you enjoy, begin by developing assignments that can be used in that section.
And look for areas in which concerns for communication and instruction in writing
and speaking can be integrated without increasing your workload; this approach
will prevent the communication aspect of a course from becoming a burden. You
might, for instance, consider substituting a report for a test… Use writing
and speaking to meet goals, not to add to them.” (Southern Illinois University,
1999).
Last update by Lori Halverson-Wente: 9/19/02