Sri Lanka GCE Ordinary Level - Communication & Media Studies

This course introduces students to the world of communication and media. It covers various aspects of communication, from interpersonal to mass communication, and explores the impact of media on society and culture. The course emphasizes developing critical media literacy and practical communication skills.

Communication and Society

This section examines the complex relationship between communication and society. It explores the origins and evolution of society, the role of communication in shaping social structures, and the impact of globalization on communication trends. Topics covered include:

• Understanding Society: Origins, composition, social resources, power dynamics, and knowledge exploration.
• The Relationship Between Communication and Society: The role of communication in societal development, indigenous communication, social influence of communication, and monitoring communication.
• Social Role of Communication: Communication for personal and social needs, information dissemination, and socialization.
• Globalization and Trends in Communication: Concepts of globalization, the knowledge society, new trends in communication, citizen media, and alternative anti-concepts.

Communication Skills and Competencies

This section focuses on developing practical communication skills across various contexts. It covers:

• Personal Intrapersonal Competencies: Information gathering, memory recall, mind control, logical thinking, decision-making, self-concept, and learning.
• Intrapersonal Competencies: Effective speech, listening skills, empathy, and decorum.
• Mass Communication Competencies: Understanding mass audiences, collective responsibility and accountability, interviewing skills, dissent and agreement, and politeness.
• Instrumentalized Communication Competencies: Using various communication instruments, including oral, projective, non-projective, and environmental/creative tools.

Language and Mass Media

This section explores the nature of language and its use in different media. Topics include:

• Identification of Language: Historical development of language, the communicative role of language, living language trends, standard and non-standard language, and sub-languages.
• Varieties of Language Use: Utterance/voicing, presentation, explanation, speech, and writing.
• Manipulation of Language in Mass Media: Writing for print, radio, and television, and manipulating language in modern media.
• Strengths, Weaknesses, and Limits of Language Use in Mass Media.

Public Relations

This section introduces the principles and practices of public relations, with a focus on the Sri Lankan context. It covers:

• Introduction to Public Relations: Defining the public, the needs and nature of public relations, and the use of public relations in Sri Lanka.
• Tools and Forms of Public Relations: Print media, audio-visual media, photographs, exhibitions, media relations, sponsorship, and environmental tools.
• Competencies of Public Relations: Print media competencies, media announcements, media conferences, creating the environment, and personal image.
• Public Relations Plans: Identifying target audiences, setting aims and targets, choosing methods and strategies, preparing the plan, and pre-evaluation.

Media Culture

This section examines the nature and influence of media culture. Topics covered include:

• Understanding Media Culture: Definitions and concepts of culture, the relationship between media and culture, social needs of media culture, and media culture as an extension of public culture.
• Cultural Media Programs and Circulation: The nature of cultural media project circulation, media culture and technology, media culture and social change, and imbalances in media culture circulation.
• Influence of Media Culture: Culture shock, cultural invasion, and cultural exchange.
• Media Culture and the Market: Globalization and neoliberalism, media culture and commercial dominance, market expansion and media culture, and the media advertising society.

Coexistence and Communication

This section explores the role of communication in fostering peaceful coexistence. Topics include:

• Conflict, Conflict Resolution, and Mediation: Defining conflict, parties involved in conflict creation and continuation, conflict management and intermediaries, and the win-win approach.
• Mental Peace and Personal Behavior: The relationship between mind and behavior, the nature of mental processes, dealing with mental stress, bad behavior and mental peace breakdown, religious discourse on mental peace, and human peace and values.
• Domestic Peace and Coexistence: The nature and importance of domestic peace, domestic peace and communication, breakdown of domestic peace, managing domestic peace, and leisure and relaxation.
• Social Peace and Coexistence: Societal diversity and coexistence, citizenship and service, social peace and communication, breakdown of societal peace, and commitment and acceptance.
• Media and Violence: Defining violence, media portrayal of violence, the appeal of violence, societal and domestic influence of media violence, and analyzing and controlling media violence.

Constructive Communication

This section delves into the concept of constructive communication and its role in positive social change. It covers:

• Introduction to Constructive Communication: The origins, basic features, usage, and relationship with mass media.
• Constructive Messaging: Identifying constructive messages, media for constructive messaging, creating and promoting constructive messages.
• Techniques of Constructive Communication: Traditional and modern methods, forms of community participation, and ideals of constructive communication.
• Problems and Challenges to Constructive Communication: Problems with the constructive philosophy, attitudinal problems, information imbalances, and political and cultural problems.

Creative Communication

This section explores creative communication and its various forms. Topics include:

• Approaches to Creative Communication: Introduction to creative communication, studying resources for creative communication, classifying creative communication, and exploring creative communication.
• Creativity (Theory and Use): Creative thinking and observation, creative writing, creative reading, and creative drawing, photography, and graphics.
• Study of Creative Communication and Folklore: Folklore, folk songs, folk worship, folk poems, folk games, rituals, folk dance, folk storytelling, and folk beliefs.
• Forms of Creative Expression: Creative identity, receptor-centered creative messaging, techniques of creative presentation, pre-training and pre-evaluation, and presentation.

Media Criticism

This section develops critical thinking skills related to media analysis. It covers:

• Understanding Media Criticism: The nature of media criticism, societal need for media criticism, elements of media criticism, and the role of the media critic.
• Content of Media Criticism: Comparing and contrasting mass media, rules of print, radio, and television mediums, and media comparison.
• Approach to Media Criticism: Comparative analysis, aesthetic, linguistic, moral, political, and historical approaches.

Media Literacy

This section focuses on developing media literacy skills. Topics include:

• Media Literacy: Defining media literacy, the need for media literacy, limits and aspects of media literacy, and the relationship between media literacy and media education.
• The Home, Society, and Mass Media: Domestic invasion by electronic media, influence of electronic media on domestic culture, mass media as a learning tool, and personal and social agendas and mass media.
• Popular Culture: Introduction to popular culture, functions of the media market, features of popular culture, functions and stakeholders of popular culture, and the influence of popular culture.
• Media Representation and its Hidden Meaning: Defining media representation, media reality and social consciousness, grasping hidden meanings, and media representation and social roles.
• The Critical Receptor: Identifying the nature of the receptor, mass media institutions and receptor aims, mutual influence between media and receptor, and critical receptor competencies.

Constructive Communication Project

This section involves a practical project where students plan, implement, and present a constructive communication project. It covers:

• Project Proposal: Collecting information, determining methods, preparing instruments, collecting and analyzing information, and arriving at preliminary conclusions.
• Preparation of Project Proposals: Target and aim, field of operations and limits, partners and organizations, methodologies and strategies, budget and resources, time frame and responsibilities, expected outcomes, and evaluation process.
• Implementation of a Constructive Communication Project: Work distribution and responsibilities, reporting and monitoring, assessment and review of benefits.
• Preparation of the Final Report: Information collection and report preparation, critical discussions, report preparation, and report presentation.