Bachelor of Mass Communication

Communication

This is probably one of the many courses that should actually b mad compulsory due to its importance and relevance. Practically every aspect of day to day life involves communication in one way or another. Countries rely on it for trade, education, to maintain peace and so on. In fact, it is one of those courses with limitless possibilities. Once, one acquires good communication skills, then they are set to do all they can, judging from the power that communication and negotiation hold in contemporary society. This is why communication as a subject has been a common course in some universities for almost half of the degree courses offered.

There are so many theories as to what communication is especially in the academic world as to what it really constitutes. Many definitions have been adopted to try and conceptualize the process through which we transmit messages to each other that are understandable. In fact, theorists have defined it as the exchanging of understanding from one human being to another human being. We have other theories that attempt to investigate communicative processes in not just human beings but also in non humans e.g. fungi, bacteria, animals and plants. In general, we can keep it simple by summarizing communication as the transmitting of information from one person to another.

Communication stands rooted deep in human cultures and behaviours that the entire social structures depends on it and scholars cannot perceive it outside the scope of a society. Because, it is such a young field of study, communication has had to rely on other social disciplines such as philosophy, psychology and sociology to stand as a holistic study. There lacks a general paradigm from which scholars may work. However, a bone of contention has always been that establishing what is known as a communication metatheory might actually negate whatever research there is and that stifle the growth of communication as a broad body of knowledge.

Communication theory has been contended from the time of Plato and Socrates who tried to correlate it with the study of linguistics. It has had different theories and viewpoints. Such viewpoints include; mechanistic: perceives communication as a transmission of a message from a sender to a receiver, psychological: includes transmission of feelings and thoughts, social constructionist: views it as a product of interactants creating a shared meaning, systemic:

new messages are made through interpretation as it passes through people and finally critical which views it as a source of power or oppression for various individuals and social groups.

Communication is still a growing subject as theorists try to work out the basic tenets. However, in essence the communication course is very straightforward and serves to improve an individual’s level of expression of messages. Such expression is very necessary in almost every aspect of life such as at home, work or at school. Learning communication is very helpful and that is why it is recommended for each and every scholar since it is a course that actually produces instant results that impact one’s relationships with others.