Offers engaging, lively examples from students’ everyday experience. Throughout, the text offers intriguing chapter opening vignettes, fresh examples, and a Real Communicator feature that showcases former students who use communication concepts and skills to improve their own lives. From these first-hand accounts to spotlights on individuals like Susan Boyle to intriguing examples about the role of perception in speed dating, Real Communication continually proves that real life is the best context for studying human communication.
Highlights the connections among interpersonal communication, group communication, and public speaking. Throughout the text, marginal notes labeled CONNECT emphasize how the different parts of the discipline support and inform one another. For example, students learn that understanding interpersonal conflict can lead to improved leadership in a small group.
Encourages students to think critically about ethics, culture, and technology. Feature boxes throughout the text offer compelling stories of ethical dilemmas, communication across cultures, and the impact of technology. Questions after each feature help students consider various communication strategies that could be applied to the situation.
Innovative tools for study and self-assessment help students learn and apply communication concepts:
A self-assessment quiz in each chapter invites students to examine their own communication in light of scholarly concepts discussed.
And You? questions in the margins challenge them to think critically about how they might respond to a situation discussed in the text.
Real Reference guides in each chapter help them grasp important ideas quickly, make connections among the topics, and study for the test.