Real Communication An Introduction

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fashion: essential concepts and models of communication, self, perception, cul-

ture, language, nonverbal communication, listening, interpersonal relationships,

interpersonal conflict, small group communication, organizational communica-

tion, public speaking, interviewing, and mass and mediated communication.

But we’ve also included topics and research relevant in today’s fast-changing

world, topics often underrepresented in competing texts: cyberbullying, orga-

nizational ethics, physical ability and public speaking, learning disabilities and

listening, culture and language, nonverbal cues, mediated communication, and

much more. And we consistently emphasize the concept of competence through-

out, encouraging students to think about their verbal and nonverbal messages

and the feedback they receive from their communication partners in the larger

relational, situational, and cultural contexts.

Real Communication is, well, real. It incorporates stories, tales, and interviews

with former communication students plus insights and examples derived from

communication scholars into each of the book’s boxes, examples, and features.

These rich materials ring true because they are true. And the book invites read-

ers in with numerous self-examination features that allow them to consider their

own experiences, evaluate their own communication skills, and integrate their

knowledge into improved, more effective behaviors.

Engaging examples—from pop culture and beyond—bring concepts to life

and connect with students’ lived experience. Today’s students are intercon-

nected as no generation has ever been. Real Communication harnesses this reality

by illuminating communication concepts through students’ shared experience

of culture through novels, film, and TV; the viral language of the Internet; the

borderless interactions of online social networking; and the influence of current

events in an age of round-the-clock news. This perspective informs the examples,

features, and overall voice with which we introduce the discipline.

Highlights connections among the different aspects of the course. On every

page, Real Communication highlights ways that the different areas of our disci-

pline support and inform one another. Along with relevant coverage in the main

text and running examples that in some cases span several chapters, marginal

connect notes throughout the book help students truly make sense of the hu-

man communication course—and the discipline. These unique callouts draw

concrete links between coverage areas in different parts of the text—for example,

explaining that understanding interpersonal conflict can lead to improved lead-

ership in a small group or that the steps students take to organize a speech can

help them organize a group meeting.

Learning tools and apparatus that help students understand, internalize, and

practice communication concepts and skills.

c Attention-grabbing opening and closing vignettes. Each chapter of Real

Communication is bookended with a topic that we think will resonate with

students, from teams at Pixar working to represent their characters’ nonver-

bal behavior, to Captain Ray Holt leading an unruly police squad in Brooklyn

Preface

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