COMMUNICATION IN EVERYDAY LIFE The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking

Abstract

Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking has been written to provide students with a new kind of introduction to the central issues and topics of communication. Accordingly, it can serve as the course textbook for general education courses in communication, as the course textbook for survey courses taken by communication majors, and as a resource for anyone interested in the study of communication. Yet it demonstrates a fresh approach. This book, therefore, includes discussions of material traditionally included in such textbooks. However, it also includes material conspicuously absent from other textbooks but increasingly relevant in the everyday lives of students, such as the continued relational integration of media and technology along with global influences. Further, the book allows all of these topics to cohere and coalesce by pointing out the relational basis of all communication as a major feature of students’ everyday lives. This book is written in a conversational tone with an acknowledgment that students arrive at college with various levels of academic preparedness and that students come from a number of different backgrounds with diverse life experiences. Finally, this book recognizes the value of well-developed learning tools for students and the benefits of robust ancillary materials for both students and instructors. Through this preface, we will briefly introduce the focus on everyday communication and the relational perspective guiding this book. We will then examine pedagogical features, instructor support, and available ancillary materials. Before discussing those areas, however, we need to address what makes Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking different from Communication in Everyday Life: A Survey of Communication (without public speaking). That sure is a tough one, isn’t it? This version has public speaking chapters, and the other version does not have them. Otherwise, all the material examined in the other version appears in this version, with the exception of family, health, and influence chapters. Although that difference between the two versions is obvious, the reason for developing two versions may not be as clear. Quite simply, though, some schools and instructors want to include public speaking in their introductory courses, but others do not include public speaking in these courses. This is the book for those schools and instructors who include public speaking in their courses. Further, the relational perspective and focus on everyday communication readily apply to the study of public speaking, increase student understanding of the material, and increase student preparation for delivery of presentations. So, now that we have addressed the differences between the two versions, we can begin examining their shared theme and other shared characteristics.