Browsing by Author "Grant, Terri"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Acquiring communicative competence for the world of work : a business needs analysis and its impact on curriculum development and delivery
    (2003) Grant, Terri; Steyn, Melissa
    This study, undertaken over a two-year period (2001/2) concerns the appropriate content for teaching communicative competence to contemporary graduates. It comprised two parts, phase one and phase two. Phase one set out to gauge the "fit" between the respective perceptions of Commerce students, staff and graduates in the field. Based on the findings of phase one, phase two then evaluated the extent to which students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) are being prepared for the commercial needs of their profession.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Restricted
    The case for 'face-time' in a multi-cultural, computer-mediated global economy
    (Taylor & Francis, 2005) Grant, Terri
    The advent of computer-mediated communications has put traditional interpersonal communications such as face-to-face (FtF) communication under scrutiny. Are these traditional channels becoming obsolete and, if so, are we, as communication teachers and practitioners, teaching our students appropriate and relevant communication skills for the global economy? A communication needs analysis in business, conducted at the University of Cape Town (UCT) during 2001/02, found that the underlying assumption regarding obsolescence of traditional communication channels was, for the most part, unfounded. Although written business communications have changed dramatically with the advent of e-mail, FtF oral communication is still preferred by student, staff and professional respondents overall. Reasons for the popularity of 'face-time' as espoused in the literature were confirmed in this study. Although respondents urged teachers to 'stick to the basics', most acknowledged the role and impact of electronic and cellular communication in modern-day communications. Rather than advocating an either-or scenario, respondents recommended a complementary high- and low-technology approach to communicative competence, especially in South Africa with its First and Third-World characteristics.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Scenario pedagogy as a negotiated, multimodal approach to developing professional communication practices in higher education
    (2012) Grant, Terri; Archer, Arlene
    The focus of this study is pedagogy - the 'how' of teaching. In particular, a negotiated and multimodal pedagogical approach which I have coined scenario pedagogy is of interest. Scenario pedagogy involves embedding an entire curriculum into a topical and authentic scenario, relevant to a particular group of students in higher education. The course in question is professional communication and the target group comprises senior and post-graduate accounting and other finance and information systems students registered in the commerce faculty. They are not communication students per se but register for a one-semester professional communication course towards their respective commerce degrees. In this study I examine how these students develop their professional communication practices using a wide variety of verbal and visual semiotic resources. Their selection of hybrid discursive, generic and modal resources are foregrounded at both draft and final product stage and include their communicative processes as well as the material artefacts they deliver in class. How students instantiate their meaning making and emerging identity as professionals-to-be is highlighted against a pedagogical framework of negotiated design. This framework combines a multiliteracies cum multimodal perspective which is underpinned by the notion of transformed practice. As pivotal elements of transformation - personally, collectively and societally - education and communication play significant roles, particularly in post-Apartheid South Africa still characterised by enormous socio-economic disparities and disadvantage.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Restricted
    The case for 'face-time' in a multi-cultural, computer-mediated global economy
    (2005) Grant, Terri
    The advent of computer-mediated communications has put traditional interpersonal communications such as face-to-face (F†F) communication under scrutiny. Are these traditional channels becoming obsolete and, if so, are we, as communication teachers and practitioners, teaching our students appropriate and relevant communication skills for the global economy? A communication needs analysis in business, conducted at the University of Cape Town (UCT) during 2001/02, found that the underlying assumption regarding obsolescence of traditional communication channels was, for the most part, unfounded. Although written business communications have changed dramatically with the advent of e-mail, F†F oral communication is still prefered by student, staff and professional respondents overall. Reasons for the popularity of ‘face-time’ as espoused in the literature were confirmed in this study. Although respondents urged teachers to ‘stick to the basics’, most acknowledged the role and impact of electronic and cellular communication in modern-day communications. Rather than advocating an either-or scenario, respondents recommended a complementary high- and low-technology approach to communicative competence, especially in South Africa with its First and Third-World characteristics.