Mass Communications and Media Discourse

Bachelor 2020/2021

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)

Area of studies: Linguistics

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

Where: School of Foreign Languages

When: 4 year, 1-3 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Alexandra Nagornaya

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 50

Full Syllabus

Abstract

Mass Communication generally implies dissemination and exchange of information within large groups of people. This information flow has been considerably facilitated by recent advances in communication technologies. A study conducted by the Zenith Optima has revealed that people spend an average of eight hours a day interacting with the currently available forms of the Mass Media. Their daily ‘media diet’ may include watching a news program on TV, browsing through original content on YouTube, playing video games through Stream, leafing through their favorite magazines, reading e-books, listening to music through Spotify, or enjoying a wide variety of podcasts, often in the ‘media multitasking’ mode. This media exposure has changed not only people’s lifestyle, but the very core of their existence contributing to the emergence of a new type of human being, Homo Informaticus, whose life revolves around producing and consuming information. To paraphrase C. Wright, we now live in a second-hand world: we get and process terabytes of information related to events that are beyond our immediate grasp and are delivered to us through multiple and constantly developing channels. This delivery inevitably involves formatting the original information, imbuing it with certain meanings and making it serve a certain purpose. By doing so, the Mass Media largely form our mental images of the world, shape our outlook and spur us to take certain actions. The main objective of the course is to teach students to approach the media content critically, to be able to deconstruct the media text and detect hidden, ideologically loaded messages. The course is based on the most up-to-date theories, methodologies and explanatory models. It involves working with authentic media materials and using different approaches to their analysis. The students’ progress is mainly assessed through their participation in in-class activities and research projects.

Learning Objectives

• to help students form a systemic view of the modern Mass Media, their role and functions in society; • to lay firm theoretic foundations for conducting research in Media Linguistics through teaching specialist terminology and familiarizing students with the most relevant research methods; • to increase media literacy through developing skills of analyzing media products; • to enhance professional discursive skills.

Expected Learning Outcomes

The students are expected to have a systemic view of the history of the Mass Media in Great Britain and the USA.
The students are expected to know the scope of Media Linguistics and its methodological principles
The students are supposed to understand the goal and scope of Critical Discourse Analysis

Course Contents

Media Literacy
The ideological function of the media. Manipulative strategies employed in the mass media. The notion of media literacy. Components of media literacy. Critical Discourse Analysis. Transitivity Analysis. Mystification Analysis. Social Actor Analysis. Principles of visual content analysis. The functions of metaphors in media texts
Introduction to the Media. The Mass Media in the Modern World. Media in the English-Speaking Countries
The notion of Information. Types of information. Types of communication. Information society as a phenomenon. Mass communication. The basic models of mass communication (the effects Model, the Uses and Gratifications Model, the Cultural Ratification Model, the Ritual Model, etc.). Cognitive, emotional, aesthetic and moral aspects of mass communication. The mass media. The role and functions of mass information in the contemporary western culture,. Types of the media. A brief history of the mass media in the English-speaking countries. The present condition of the mass media, the main trends in their development, the role of globalization in their evolution. Quality of the media product. Media ethics.
Media Linguistics as a Discipline
Media Linguistics as an interdisciplinary field of knowledge. Its main principles, approaches, and methods. Media text and its types. Classification of media texts. Media Discourse. The components of media discourse. Discourse practices in the media sphere. The language of the mass media, the main approaches to its analysis

Assessment Elements

class work
presentation
The ‘presentation’ accumulates all the mini-projects presented in the classroom both individually and in small groups
presentation2
The ‘presentation’ accumulates all the mini-projects presented in the classroom both individually and in small groups
analysis
‘Analysis’ refers to analyzing a media product (newspaper article, news report) with Critical Discourse Analysis tools.
analysis2
‘Analysis’ refers to analyzing a media product (newspaper article, news report) with Critical Discourse Analysis tools.

Interim Assessment

Interim assessment (3 module)
0.2 * analysis + 0.2 * analysis2 + 0.2 * class work + 0.2 * presentation + 0.2 * presentation2

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

A history of mass communication : six information revolutions, Fang, I., 1997
Analysing discourse : textual analysis for social research, Fairclough, N., 2003
Analysing discourse : textual analysis for social research, Fairclough, N., 2010
Analysing newspapers : an approach from critical discourse analysis, Richardson, J. E., 2007
Communication, cultural and media studies : the key concepts, Hartley, J., 2002
Communication, cultural and media studies : the key concepts, Hartley, J., 2005
Communication, cultural and media studies : the key concepts, Hartley, J., 2007
Critical discourse analysis. Vol.1: Concepts, history, theory, , 2013
Critical discourse analysis. Vol.2: Methodologies, , 2013
Critical discourse analysis. Vol.3: Doing CDA/Case studies, , 2013
Critical discourse analysis. Vol.4: Applications, interdisciplinary perspectives and new trends, , 2013
Critical media studies : an introduction, Ott, B. L., 2014
Discourse theory and critical media politics, , 2011
Discourse theory and practice : a reader, Wetherell, M., 2005
Discourse theory in European politics : identity, policy and governance, , 2005
How to do critical discourse analysis : a multimodal introduction, Machin, D., 2012
Identity trouble : critical discourse and contested identities, , 2010
Introduction to mass communication : media literacy and culture, Baran, S. J., 2012
Language ideologies and media discourse : text, practices, politics, , 2010
Making sense of media : an introduction to mass communication, Rodman, G., 2001
Mass communication : an introduction to the field, Farrar, R. T., 1997
Mass communication : living in a media world, Hanson, R. E., 2014
Mass communication research methods. Vol.1: ., , 2008
Mass communication research methods. Vol.2: ., , 2008
Mass communication research methods. Vol.3: ., , 2008
Mass communication research methods. Vol.4: ., , 2008
Mass media in a changing world : history, industry, controversy, Rodman, G., 2012
Mass media research : an introduction, Wimmer, R. D., 2001
Mass media research : an introduction, Wimmer, R. D., 2011
Mass media research : an introduction, Wimmer, R. D., 2014
Methods of critical discourse studies, , 2016
Political discourse analysis : a method for advanced students, Fairclough, I., 2012
The dynamics of mass communication : media in the digital age, Dominick, J. R., 2007
The dynamics of mass communication, Dominick, J. R., 1990
The dynamics of mass communication, Dominick, J. R., 1999
Массовая коммуникация : западные теории и концепции: учеб. пособие для вузов, Бакулев, Г. П., 2005
Массовая коммуникация : западные теории и концепции: учеб. пособие для вузов, Бакулев, Г. П., 2010
Массовая коммуникация : исследование опыта Запада, Терин, В. П., 2000
Массовая коммуникация в современном мире: методология анализа и практика исследований, Назаров, М. М., 2000
Массовая коммуникация и общество : введ. в теорию и исслед., Назаров, М. М., 2010

Recommended Additional Bibliography

A2 media studies : the essential introduction, Bennet, P., 2006
Communication, cultural and media studies : the key concepts, Hartley, J., 2011
Introduction to media literacy, Potter, W. J., 2016
Media literacy, Potter, W. J., 2011
Media studies : an introduction, Kolker, R., 2009
The international encyclopedia of media studies. Vol. 6: Media studies futures, , 2013
Массовая коммуникация: сущность, каналы, действия, Березин, В. М., 2003

Course Syllabus