SAMPLE COURSE SCHEDULES
While constructing your course schedule, the single most important point to keep in
mind—a point emphasized in the Preface for Instructors—is that each chapter is designed to be
covered in a minimum of approximately sixty minutes. Take my word for it—it‘s true. I strongly
urge you not to attempt to exceed the speed limit of one chapter per hour. Although the
chapters are brief, the material is dense. Books such as A First Look at Communication
Theory, which summarize vast quantities of information in very short spaces, must necessarily
leave out far more than they include. (In saying this, I do not mean to imply that this text
truncates theoretical explanation more drastically than others. All communication theory
books are similarly space-challenged.) Thus, the kind of brevity achieved in this book requires
the instructor to “unpack” and elaborate upon key paragraphs and sentences. In order to give
these theories their due, do not rush through the book. If your course meets twice a week in
ninety-minute sessions, of course, then you might reasonably expect to cover more than one
chapter per class meeting. With ninety-minute sessions, in fact, it’s prudent to alternate
between assigning two chapters and one chapter per class session. The material unfinished
from the first day can be covered on the second before moving on to the third and final
chapter. Correspondingly, courses that meet once a week in three-hour sessions can handle
three chapters at a time.
Below, I have supplied six sample course schedules: three for a fifteen-week term and
three for a ten-week term. You’ll note that only schedules #1 and #3 cover all of A First Look
Schedule #1
Three One-Hour Meetings per Week for Fifteen Weeks
Covers Every Chapter
(leaves 2 days free for holidays, no-class sessions)
Day Topic Reading Assignment
2. Launching Your Study “Introduction” & Chapters 1
4. Weighing the Words Chapter 3
6. Symbolic Interactionism “Interpersonal Messages” & Chapter 5
8. Expectancy Violations Theory Chapter 7
11. Social Information Processing Theory Chapter 10
13. Communication Privacy Management Chapter 12
16. Exam #1 Open
18. Elaboration Likelihood Model Chapter 15
20. Functional Perspective “Group Communication” & Chapter 17
22. Cultural Approach to Organizations Chapter 19
24. Critical Theory of Organizations Chapter 21
26. Dramatism Chapter 23
28. Media Ecology “Media and Culture” & Chapter 25
30. Cultural Studies Chapter 27
31 Integration day (no new material)
33. Uses and Gratifications Chapter 28
35. Agenda-Setting Theory Chapter 30
37. Standpoint Theory Chapter 32
39. Communication Accommodation “Intercultural Com.” & Chapter 34
41. Co-Cultural Theory Chapter 36
43. Planned day off / Holiday
45. Final Exam
Schedule #2
Two Ninety-Minute Meetings per Week for Fifteen Weeks
Covers 30 theories
Day Topic Reading Assignment
1. Introduction to Course Open
3. Weighing the Words Chapter 4
5. Expectancy Violations Theory Chapter 7
7. Uncertainty Reduction Theory Chapters 9
9. Relational Dialectics Theory & “Relationship Maintenance” &
Media Multiplexity Theory Chapters 11 & 13
11. Elaboration Likelihood Model & Chapters 15–16
Cognitive Dissonance
13. Symbolic Convergence Theory Chapter 18
15. Communicative Constitution of Orgs Chapter 20
17. Dramatism Chapter 23
19. Midterm Exam #2 Open
21. Semiotics &
Cultural Studies Chapters 26-27
23. Agenda-Setting Theory Chapter 31
25. Muted Group Theory Chapter 33
27. Co-Cultural Theory Chapter 36
29. Planned day off/ Holiday
30. Final Exam
Schedule #3
One Three-Hour Meeting per Week for Fifteen Weeks
Covers Every Chapter
Day Topic Reading Assignment
2. Interpersonal Messages “Interpersonal Messages” & Chapters 5-7
4. Relationship Maintenance “Relationship Maintenance”
& Chapters 11–13
6. Group Communication “Group Communication,” Chapters 17–18,
8. Organizational Communication “Organizational Com.” & Chapters 19–21
10. Media & Culture “Media & Culture” & Chapters 25–27
12. Gender & Communication “Gender & Communication,”
Chapters 31-33,
14. Integration “Communication Theory,” Chapter 37, &
15. Final Exam
Schedule #4
Three One-Hour Meetings Each Week for Ten Weeks
Covers 24 Theories
Day Topic Reading Assignment
2. Launching Your Study & “Introduction” & Chapters 1-2
Talk about Theory
4. Symbolic Interactionism “Interpersonal Messages” & Chapter 5
6. Expectancy Violations Theory, Chapter 7
8. Uncertainty Reduction Theory Chapter 9
10. Media Multiplexity Theory “Relationship Maintenance” & Chapter 13
12. Elaboration Likelihood Model Chapter 15
14. Symbolic Convergence Theory Chapter 18
16. Cultural Approach to Organizations “Organizational Com.” & Chapter 19
18. Rhetoric “Public Rhetoric” & Chapter 22
20. Media Ecology “Media & Culture” & Chapter 25
22. Uses and Gratifications Chapter 28
24. Genderlect Styles “Gender & Communication” & Chapter 31
26. Communication Accommodation “Intercultural Com.” & Chapter 34
28. Co-Cultural Theory Chapter 36
30. Final Exam
Schedule #5
Two Ninety-Minute Meetings per Week for Ten Weeks
Covers 24 Theories
Day Topic Reading Assignment
1. Introduction to Course Open
3. Symbolic Interactionism “Interpersonal Messages” & Chapter 5
5. Social Penetration Theory “Relationship Development”
& Social Information Processing Theory & Chapter 8, 10
7. Social Information Processing “Relationship Maintenance”
Relational Dialectics Theory & Chapters 11 & 11
9. Midterm Exam Open
11. Cultural Approach to Organizations “Organizational Com.” & Chapter 19
13. Dramatism Chapter 23
15. Uses and Gratifications Chapter 28
17. Genderlect Styles “Gender & Communication” & Chapter 31
19. Communication Accommodation “Intercultural Communication” & Chapters
& Face-Negotiation Theory 34–35
20. Final Exam
Schedule #6
One Three-Hour Meeting Each Week for Ten Weeks
Covers 21 Theories
Day Topic Reading Assignment
2. Coordinated Management of Meaning, Chapters 6-8
3. Uncertainty Reduction Theory, “Relationship Maintenance,”
4. Social Judgment Theory, “Influence,” & Chapters 14–15
Elaboration Likelihood Model
6. Functional Perspective, Cultural “Group Communication” “Organizational
7. Rhetoric, Dramatism, “Public Rhetoric,” Chapters 22, 23, 25
& Media Ecology “Media & Culture”
8. Cultural Studies, Agenda-Setting, & “Media Effects,”
Cultivation Theory Chapters 27, 29, 30