Syndication: A Vision for the Basic Course

• In Event: Top Student Papers in the Basic Course

Abstract

This essay is devoted to the explication of critical pedagogy and its present manifestations. After reviewing relevant literature and discussing the pedagogical approaches employed, the potential significance of uniting previously posited ideas will be discussed. Critical pedagogy has been discussed primarily in regard to intercultural, interracial, and interpersonal communication classes. The analytical portions of this essay argue that the basic course is a site where critical pedagogues can use practices such as “othering” and forming resistive alliances to teach students to reflexively combat hegemonic ideology. The final section offers conclusions after suggesting that the following topics from the basic course text are specific sites where critical pedagogy may be especially useful: (1) The Speech Communication Process, (2) Ethnocentrism, (3) Ethical Listening, and (4) Using Language.

Author

• Jonathan Kent Osborne, University of Nevada-Las Vegas