CS2054 Interpersonal Communication

Semester 2 2016-2017
Instructor: Vivian Hsueh-Hua Chen
Telephone: 6790-5833
Email: chenhh@ntu.edu.sg
Office: WKWSCI 03-16
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00-2:00PM and by appointment
Class Time and Location: Tuesdays 1:30-4:30pm TR+8
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explores the basic elements of interpersonal communication and provides students
with the foundation for effective dyadic communication skills to establish and maintain personal
and professional relationships. This course examines major theoretical perspectives and concepts
relevant to interpersonal communication in personal relationships. These relationships include
the everyday associations we have with others as a result of the positions we occupy in various
situations (often called role-relationships), as well as the more intimate relationships we form
with select others (friendships, family relationships).
COURSE OBJECTIVES:

To expose students to a social psychological view of interpersonal relationships

To give students an introduction to the essential concepts necessary to understand and

examine interpersonal communication events

To help students identify and analyze their personal communication strengths and weakness.

To help students develop an increased awareness of the self in the communication process.
REQUIRED TEXT
Devito, J. A. (2016). The Interpersonal Communication Book. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education.
Miller, R., Perlman, D., & Brehm, S. S. (2016). Intimate relationships (7th ed.). Boston, MA:
McGraw-Hill.
SUPPLEMENTARY TEXT
1
Solomon, D. H., & Theiss, J. A. (2013). Interpersonal communication: Putting theory
into practice. New York: Routledge.
METHOD OF EVALUATION
20%: Final Group Project
40%: Quizzes
20%: Weekly InterpersonalCommunicationSkillsPersonalJournal
20%: Weekly discussion question posting, Class Assignments, Online and Offline Class
Participation and Discussions
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Final Project: This assignment is designed to help you understand
concepts addressed in class in a more in-depth manner and apply to real
life situations. To better understand the concept you will explore scholarly
research on the subject and present your research and analysis of the
concept to the class in an engaging and educational manner.

2. Quizzes:An understanding of the theory underlying the skills that you are developing is
essential. These tests will help you to focus on and reinforce that understanding.
3. WeeklyInterpersonalCommunicationSkillsPersonalJournal:The objectives of your
personal journal are to focus on developing and improving your communication skills, to
further your understanding of the interpersonal communication concepts discussed in your
textbook and class, and to bring any changes you may experience into clearer focus through
writing about them as they occur. You will need to use critical and creative thinking to
complete this assignment. In the journal entry, you should discuss how course concepts
learned from the previous week help you reflect on your own interpersonal communication
styles. Use your own real life examples. Identify the strength and weakness of your
communication skills and how you wish you improve your communication skills. Find an
additional reading material from any published articles to support your points.

Personal journals entries must be typed and submitted by 12pm (noon) every SATURDAY.
You will write the weekly journal entry based on the content of the week. You must clearly
label each entry with your name, the date, and textbook chapter(s). You are allowed to miss 2
entries without penalty out of 10 required entries.
Journal Heading Format:
Your Name:
Date:
Week#:
Textbook Chapter or Journal article Title:
Journal entry:
The journal documents must be submitted through Assignments in NTULearn as a Microsoft
Word document. When you submit the assignment, include your full name as part of the
filename on the document. Save your documents with a filename such as Chen Vivian
Journal Week # .doc before uploading.
4. Class Participation, Discussion and Assignments: Class attendance is mandatory. You are
expected to complete the assigned textbook reading prior to each class. You are expected to
post 1 question about the reading that you would like for me to further discuss in class every
MONDAY before 9am via NTULEARN. Please explain what confuses you.

Your opinions and perspectives are valuable, and it is important to share your thoughts and
ideas with the class. Also, students learn best when they can communicate with others about
their understanding of the course concepts. So, your active participation is what will
determine the nature and quality of the learning experience for you and the entire class. You
are expected to actively listen and respond in a way that demonstrates that you have been
reading and thinking about the interpersonal communication principles.
Interpersonal communication discussions may deal with intimate topics. At times, students
may disclose personal information. I expect students to treat all class members with respect
and to keep confidential all personal information discussed in class. Respect for yourself and
others is mandatory. It is important that the class atmosphere be a safe, comfortable, and
supportive place for all to feel free to share and learn. Differences of experience, attitude, and
values can be discussed meaningfully as long as we agree to respect the norms of civil
discussion. Be willing to be open to and consider the thoughts and ideas of others in the

page 2

classroom. Talk to each other and/or the instructor about ideas that you find particularly
difficult, interesting, or exciting. Be prepared to help facilitate class discussion on one of the
discussion topics.
Class participation will be graded in terms of your application of the readings to class
discussions, your willingness to contribute actively to class exercises and group projects, and
your contribution toward maintaining a supportive learning environment.
POLICIES AND EXPECTATIONS
1. Course Communication: All email communication will take place within university system.
Email communication will be processed at least once a day, Monday through Friday. When
communicating online, please include a salutation and close with your full name. You are
expected to check announcement, updates and complete assignments posted on NTULearn.
2. Scheduled Assignment: You are expected to turn in all assignments by the due date/time.
Having a problem with a personal computer is not an acceptable excuse for late assignments,
missing tests or presentations. Students are advised to have access to a backup computer or to
be prepared to use the on-campus computers or public library computers. If you miss the due
date, you must notify me if you would still like to submit the assignment. Assignments turned
in after stipulated time will be considered late. The penalty for late written assignment is
15% deduction per day including the day of submission and the weekend. All written
assignments must be presented in computer generated form and adhere to APA (6th edition)
format. In all cases, written assignments should adhere to standard usage of English grammar
and be free of typographical errors.
You can NOT make up for any in-class activities/presentations/assignment you missed. If
you are not present for your individual presentation or class discussion (regardless of
the reason) you will receive 0 points for that assignment.
Students who miss their final exam are to submit their MC within 2 working days of the final
exam and the MC has to be dated on the day of the exam.
3. Classroom Etiquette: I expect you to commit yourself to the learning process by remaining
attentive for the entire class period. Class behavior must not interrupt or interfere with the
education process and learning atmosphere. Unacceptable behavior includes but is not
limited to arriving late, leaving early, inattentive, disrespectful, or otherwise disruptive
behavior such as side conversation or remarks. Switch off all mobile phones during class.
Any student who engages in offensive or disruptive behavior that prevents other students
from learning will be asked to leave the class.
4. Academic Integrity
The work that you submit for assessment in this course must be your own individual work (or
the work of your group members, in the case of group projects). The NTU Academic
Integrity Policy (http://academicintegrity.ntu.edu.sg/) applies to this course. It is your
responsibility to familiarise yourself with the Policy and to uphold the values of academic
integrity in all academic undertakings. As a matriculated student, you are committed to
uphold the NTU Honour Code (http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sao/Pages/HonourCode.aspx).
Acts of academic dishonesty include (adapted from:
http://academicintegrity.ntu.edu.sg/policy/):

page 3

Plagiarism: using or passing off as ones own, writings or ideas of someone else, without
acknowledging or crediting the source. This includes
o using words, images, diagrams, graphs or ideas derived from books, journals,
magazines, visual media, and the internet without proper acknowledgement;
o copying work from the internet or other sources and presenting as ones own;
o direct quoting without quotation marks, even though the source is cited;
o submitting the same piece of work to different courses or to different publications.
Academic fraud: cheating, lying and stealing. This includes:
o Cheating bringing or having access to unauthorised books or materials during an
examination or assessment;
o Collusion copying the work of another student, having another person write ones
assignments, or allowing another student to borrow ones work;
o Falsification of data fabricating or altering data to mislead such as changing data to
get better experiment results;
o False citation citing a source that was never utilised or attributing work to a source
from which the referenced material was not obtained.
Facilitating academic dishonesty: allowing another student to copy an assignment that
is supposed to be done individually, allowing another student to copy answers during an
examination/assessment, and taking an examination/assessment or doing an assignment
for another student.
In cases of academic misconduct, the penalty is either of the following, whichever is
greater:
(a) 10 marks off the final course grade, which in most cases translates to a drop of 2 letter
grades (e.g., A to B+); or
(b) a grade of zero for the assessment component on which the academic misconduct
occurred.
All instances of academic misconduct will be recorded in school and university registers
of academic misconduct, and the penalty for a second or subsequent offense may be
greater.

5. Leave of absence. If you miss any lectures or tutorials because of illness, please submit a
copy of your medical certificate to the course instructor within one working day. You are
responsible for any material presented in lectures and tutorials. If you miss material that is
distributed during class, you must make arrangements to get copies from a classmate.
6. Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and require
accommodations to obtain equal access to this course, please contact the instructor at the
beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is
required.

page 4

CS2054 Tentative Course Schedule (Subject to change at the instructors discretion)

Wee

Date

Topic

Reading

Jan 10

Introduction to Course

Jan 17

Foundations of Interpersonal
Communication
The Building Blocks of Relationships
The Building Blocks of Relationships

Course
syllabus
DeVito Ch1

Assignment

MPB Ch1
MPB Ch1

Jan 24

Jan 31

Interpersonal Relationships Stages, Theories

and Communication

DeVito Ch9

Feb 7

MPB Ch4
DeVito Ch3

Feb 14

Social Cognition
Perception of the Self and Others in
Interpersonal Communication
Attraction

Feb 21

Interdependency
Quiz 1

MPB Ch6

1st Weekly
discussion
question
1st Journal
Entry

MPB Ch3

RECESS
8

March 7

Emotional and Conversational Messages

DeVito Ch7,8

March
14

Friendship

MPB Ch7

Love
Maintaining and Repairing Relationships

MPB Ch8
MPB Ch14

Stresses and Strains

MPB Ch10

10

March
21

11

March
28

Quiz 2
12

13

April 04

April 11

Interpersonal Conflict and Conflict

Management
The Dissolution and Loss of Relationships
Interpersonal Power and Influence
Final project presentation due in class

DeVito Ch11
MPB Ch13
DeVito Ch12

Final paper
due 12pm
(noon) on
April 14 via
Turnitin

page 5

page 6