READING SYNTHESIS 1 Improving Learning and Communication Studies Anush Kocharyan California State University Northridge READING SYNTHESIS 2 Engleberg I N Ward S M Disbrow L M Katt J A Meyers S A O Keefe P 2017 The development of a core communication competencies for introductory communication courses Communication Education 66 1 18 What Should a Graduate with a Communication Degree Know Understand and Be Able to Do The National Communication Association Learning Outcomes in Communication Project Communication is an important part of anyone s personal and professional growth This is the reason why it is very important that students in college who take communication studies or courses ought to get the best out of their lessons and be able to apply everything in real life situations that will not only improve their personal but also their professional connections In the readings assigned it is highlighted that certain adjustments in handling communication subjects in college ought to be given attention to in order to improve the value of each lesson presented in these courses These adjustments are expected to provide students a better and more realistic understanding of the manner by which they could use the lessons in their actual lives and their future expectations in the professions that they would want to embrace This reading synthesis work shall focus on the statement presented by Engleberg et al 2016 that highlights the lack of concentration on how communication courses are better designed to approach the personal and professional living conditions of the students The documentation states Competency research in the communication discipline primarily focuses on one of two academic domains The first domain investigates competencies related to the large scale goals of developing and implementing standards for departments programs and or degrees the second domain centers on learning objectives and competencies the assessment of those competencies and pedagogy for teaching individual courses or units within a curriculum e g McCroskey 1982 Phillips 1984 Staley Shockley Zalabak 1985 A significant gap READING SYNTHESIS 3 between these two domains in the competency literature exists in that there is little or no research dedicated to identifying and justifying core communication competencies that constitute the basis for introductory communication courses across a variety of contexts Engleberg et al 2016 p 3 In the work of Engleberg et al 2016 entitled The Development of a Set Core Communication Competencies for Introductory Communication Courses there are at least seven core competencies that must be considered when developing communication courses with the development of the students in mind These competencies include 1 monitoring and presenting one s self 2 practicing communication ethics 3 adapting to others through communication 4 practicing effective listening 5 expressing messages 6 identifying and explaining communication processes and 7 creating and analyzing message strategies With 125 participants in the study it was realized that students respond well to these factors of competencies Although current courses are offering a directive on how communication courses are often used as introductory subjects For courses not dedicated to communication only a few lessons focused on communication are offered If this point of focus would be changed it is expected that the students will not only be good communicators they would also be able to form better relationships may it be personal or professional in form As highlighted on the study Englebert et al 2016 points out that the competencies for introductory communication courses and their supporting templates are not meant to be fixed inflexible or limited in scope Ideally they should change given advances in the Communication discipline research conducted in the communication education subdiscipline and analyses of institutional department and faculty goals p 7 From point of self awareness to the point of making connection with others using READING SYNTHESIS 4 proper communication is expected to create better identities and characteristics on the part of the students as they grow into maturity On the other hand the document on A Faculty Driven Effort focused on Developing NCA s Learning Outcomes in Communication Through Tuning 2015 identifies with the role of teachers to help students get the best out of the lessons that they are studying In this document the NCA LOC project participants were given the chance to respond to the project based on how they like to be taught and guided to communicate their thoughts between peers and during specific activities that involves expressing themselves to their superiors in a more formal manner In this project it was realized that there are factors that can be considered by educators in order to improve the way they reach out to their students when teaching communication subjects in school These factors of teaching that can be considered include 1 faculty drive strategies 2 discipline specific teaching 3 student centered lessons and 4 teaching learning focused assessments As highlighted in the documentation of NCA 2015 a central assumption of these Learning Outcomes in Communication is that communication constructs the social world and is relational collaborative strategic symbolic and adaptive The LOCs are adaptable to different expectations for level of accomplishment at different degree levels With all these considerations put in place as communication subjects are put into different curriculum across different courses the process is defined dependent on clarity and adaptability that will certainly benefit the students well The connection of the contexts of message suggested by the documents highlight the need of communication subjects included in different courses highlight the need of teachers to be careful about the way they handle lessons in communication and keep in mind the students are going to use these lessons in their personal and professional lives even after attending the course READING SYNTHESIS 5 Students on the other hand ought to be the center of the goals with which the lessons are going to be designed With these considerations in mind it is expected that communication will not be considered as a mere prerequisite to other major subjects added in a course Instead communication subjects are going to be considered as foundation to every student s capacity to express themselves