COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE – PROGRAMME SUBJECT IN PROGRAMMES FOR SPECIALIZATION IN GENERAL STUDIES (KKM1-01)

Laid down as a regulation by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training on 31 March 2006 as delegated in a letter of 26 September 2005 from the Ministry of Education and Research pursuant to the Act of 17 July 1998 no. 61 relating to primary and secondary education (Education Act) Section 3-4 first paragraph.

Gjelder fra: 2006-08-01T00:00:00 +2

Gjelder til: 2022-07-31T00:00:00 +2

Purpose

Communication is fundamental to all interpersonal contact, in terms of cultural fellowship and between people with different backgrounds. Norway is a multicultural society, one that encompasses both Norwegian and Sámi culture, as well as a variety of minority cultures. People are increasingly on the move; they migrate both within countries and between countries, and cultural currents from all over the world put their stamp on people’s everyday lives. Working life is becoming more and more globalized. The number of multinational companies international organizations is increasing. In the fields of science, culture and education there is also an increase in cross-border collaboration. All this creates a need for knowledge about other cultures and for skill in communicating with people with a different cultural background. The programme subject Communication and culture shall provide insight into cultural encounters at the level of the individual, the group and society.

The rise of the Information Society has created an urgent need for people who are skilled communicators. New electronic media require a high level of competence in creating and understanding texts that combine such forms of expression as language, images and sound. The programme subject shall help develop competence in creating composite texts adapted to a variety of communication situations. In this way, the programme subject can provide a sound basis for continued education in practical and theoretical communication subjects.

Knowledge of communication both within and across dissimilar cultures shall give individuals greater understanding and respect for their fellow human beings. The programme subject shall also create an awareness of cultural tradition by showing how texts help preserve the culture’s world of knowledge, values and norms. Teaching in the subject shall help the individual’s self-development through reflecting on their own culture and identity. The programme subject should thus provide a good basis for participating actively in the Information Society and for communicating in a globalized world.

Instruction in the programme subject shall be organized in such a way that the work is both theoretical and practical. Through analysis and reflection on cultural encounters in communication, greater insight can be gained into the subject’s methodology and mode of thought. Working with communication can help develop practical communication skills.

Structure

The programme subject Communication and culture comprises three program subjects: Communication and culture 1, Communication and culture 2 and Communication and culture 3. Communication and culture 2 and 3 can be taken independently of each other; both build on Communication and culture 1.

Overview of the main subject areas:

Programme subject	Main subject areas
Communication and culture 1	Theory of culture and communication	Text	Communication
Communication and culture 2	Theory of culture and communication	Text
Communication and culture 3	Theory of culture and communication	Communication

Main subject areas

Theory of culture and communication

Communication and culture 1

The main subject area comprises different aspects of the concept of culture and the relationship between culture, society and the individual, sub-cultures and norms. Culture is understood as communicative context, both at the situational level and the level of society. Linguistic, textual, literary and aesthetic theories and methods as tools for interpretation, analysis and assessment are all covered by the main subject area. It looks at how historical, social and cultural circumstances create requirements for texts and communication, and how texts and communication help create, maintain or challenge these circumstances.

Communication and culture 2

The main subject area deals with key forms of understanding and methods of analysis within culture and communication. It deals with what takes place in our encounter with cultures, and considers the ways that culture changes. The main subject area includes the phenomena tradition, modernity and postmodernity. The main subject area also encompasses general text theories, such as rhetoric, discourse analysis and narrative theory.

Communication and culture 3

The main subject area deals with how communication is affected by cultural factors such as national culture, group affiliation, ethnicity, gender and professional and occupational background. The main subject area encompasses individualization, group formation and globalization. Central to the main subject area are underlying cultural values in various forms of communication, and communicative challenges facing those with different cultural backgrounds. General communication theories, such as semiotics, pragmatics and conversation analysis, are also covered by the main subject area.

Text

Communication and culture 1

The main subject area comprises contemporary texts related to different cultures’ modes of thought and patterns of behaviour. The concept of text is understood as something broad and multifarious. It includes oral and written texts, but also composite texts that include non-verbal forms of expression, such as images, music and graphics.

Communication and culture 2

The main subject area deals with the way texts are constructed at different levels, with their individual characteristics in special situations, and with genre norms of different cultures. It also deals with how a society consists of different text cultures with dissimilar tasks, such as informing, politics, the governing of society, religion, art and entertainment. Furthermore, the main subject area deals with how norms for production and assessment of texts is developed and altered in various text cultures. The comparison of texts from a variety of text cultures is also covered by the main subject area.

Communication

Communication and culture 1

The main subject area deals with oral, written and non-verbal communicative processes, with an emphasis on interaction between individuals and within and between groups and organizations. It includes communication patterns in different national or cultural communities and addresses the question of what happens when participants from various communities communicate with each other. The main subject area is also concerned with how different media help create opportunities and limitations for interaction.

Communication and culture 3

The main subject area deals with communicative processes in social interaction in a broad range of situations, and with how these processes relate to various kinds of activities and genres. Furthermore, it deals with how communication creates and maintains social relationships that are characterized by solidarity and power, intimacy and distance. Non-verbal communication related to verbal communication and the media’s role in communication and interaction is also covered by the main subject area.

Teaching hours

Teaching hours are given in 60-minute units.

Communication and culture 1: 140 teaching hours per year

Communication and culture 2: 140 teaching hours per year

Communication and culture 3: 140 teaching hours per year

Basic skills

Basic skills are integrated into the competence aims for this course in areas where they contribute to the development of and are part of the subject competence. In the Communication and culture programme subject, basic skills are understood as follows:

Being able to express oneself orally and in writing in Communication and culture involves the presentation of independent projects to a public and the adaptation of one’s choice of linguistic and non-linguistic forms of expression to the target group and the situation at hand.

Being able to read in Communication and culture involves mastering composite texts. Reading composite texts involves understanding composition and structure in different types of audio and visual impressions, as well as the interaction between these forms of expression.

Numeracy in Communication and culture involves identifying geometrical forms and mathematical symbols in texts.

Being able to use digital tools in Communication and culture involves utilizing a variety of electronic media for gathering information, as well as the presentation of one’s own work. It also involves source criticism and the assessment of ethical questions related to personal security and copyright when working with one’s own texts.