Assighnment: Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication Dr. Nelson
Reasoning and Analysis Paper Assignment
What is this paper about?
For this paper, you will watch a short video, read one article, and use your textbook to help you discuss issues that relate to culture and interpersonal communication. You will then write a paper in which you use the video, article, and textbook, plus an example from personal experience (your own or someone you know) or from popular culture to discuss issues that arise during intercultural communications.
More specifically: You're being asked to analyze a conflict that arises when people from different cultural backgrounds communicate. There are various co-cultural groups represented in thevideos (socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, gender, disability, region, nationality, and politics). Pick a co-cultural group you observed in the video and focus on that group for your paper. Your discussion should include a description of the communication rules and cultural values in that group. Use examples from the video, and supporting information from the article and textbook, plus a supporting example from your own experience to discuss how membership in that group influenced communication. (To help you come up with ways to address the topic and to come up with a thesis statement, please see the prompts listed below.)
Specific Steps:
1. Choose ONE of these fivevideos:
- Clint Smith's TED talk, "How to Raise a Black Son in America"
- Ash Beckham's TEDxBoulder talk, "When to Take a Stand - and When to Let It Go"
- Jean Kilbourne's TEDxLafayetteCollege talk, "The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women"
- A clip from People in America: How Social Class Divides Us
- The video clip "Culture Shock Sudanese Refugees Coming to America"
The videos are all short; I would recommend watching a few of them so you can pick the one that you can use most effectively for this assignment.
2. ChooseONE of these five articles (NOT ALL):
- Banks-Santilli, Linda. "The unique challenges of a first-generation college student." Quartz Media.
- Birman, Dina and Meredith Poff. "Intergenerational Differences in Acculturation." Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development.
- Churgai, Debbie. "The Influence of Gender on Communication Style", LinkedIn.
- DuPraw, Marcella E. and Marya Axner. "Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication Challenges." PBS.
- Gross, Jessica. "How Language Can Affect the Way We Speak".
3. Use the Interplay textbook as an additional source.
4. Use an example from personal experience or popular culture as another reference.
5. Write a 3-page paper (750-1000 words, 12 pt. font, double-spaced, one-inch margins) in which you:
Use the examples from onevideo, one article, and the textbook, plus an example from personal or experience or popular culture, to support a thesis* about culture andinterpersonal communication.
Things to remember:
- The assignment and the grading rubric are all posted on Blackboard.
- You must hand in a hard copy the day the paper is due. If it is not handed in at the beginning of class on the day it is due, 5 points will be taken off your grade for every day that it is late.
- The paper must be turned in through Blackboard on the day it is due.
- Your paper will be assessed using the departmental grading rubric.
- The paper makes up 15% of your final grade.
- Follow MLA guidelines for format and citations and include a Works Cited page (bibliography).
*Thesis Statements
You should include a one sentence thesis statement that indicates the position you're taking in your paper aboutculture and interpersonal communication (it will be helpful to use the terms "culture" and "interpersonal communication" in the thesis statement). The thesis statement should take a position on the impact of culture on interpersonal communication relative to the video, article, textbook,and a personal experience or a popular culture example. Please underline your thesis statement in your final essay.
References and Citation
When you use other people's words, ideas, or work in your paper, you must cite them. If you directly quote their work, you use quotation marks to signify this and give the page number, as well. If you are simply paraphrasing or borrowing from one (or more) person's work, you do not need quotation marks, but you still need to indicate whose words you are using with a citation (for example, put their names in parentheses after the paraphrase).
At the end of your paper, you shouldhave a Works Cited page where you list all of the references used in your paper. For the articles, you will find the citation information included above. If you need more information on formatting and citing in MLA for the video and the textbook/
Note: Here are some possible prompts to help you think of a thesis. You should NOT try to use all of them, and you can use one that's different from below. These are just suggestions to help you come up with ideas.
• What are some key challenges that communicators face in intercultural communication situations and what are some specific ways they can resolve them?
• What are some specific ways that differences in one's key cultural values (e.g. low versus high context culture, power distance, individualism versus collectivism) can create problems in intercultural communication situations? How can communicators successfully address these value differences?
• How does the way we speak influence how others perceive us and how they communicate with us? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• Do you believe that one's gender makes a difference in how one is perceived in the world, specifically how one communicates with others and is communicated with by others? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• How does the experience of first-generation immigrants impact their daily experience? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• What impact does socioeconomic status have on how one communicates with others? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• How can differences in co-cultural group membership lead to misperceptions and miscommunication? What are some specific ways that these can be resolved?
o Groups to consider: Disability, Deaf culture, religion, hobbies, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age...
• Do you believe that one's appearance (e.g. dreadlocks, headscarf, gender fluidity, tattoos, scars, disability) makes a difference in how one is perceived in the world, specifically how one communicates with others and is communicated with by others? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• What are the major causes of intercultural communication conflict? How can these causes be successfully resolved? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.
• People who move to and/or do work in a new country should be expected to conform to the cultural values, norms, and traditions of their new country. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your position and provide evidence to support it.