Communication

This course is designed for students wishing to clarify and advance their career goals through a 16-week internship in Thailand. It provides a structured learning environment to help students make the most of their internship experience. While there are no regularly scheduled class meetings, internships are conducted under the close academic supervision of the Social Policy & Development department at Thammasat University. An assigned internship coordinator provides oversight and guidance for the duration of the internship. The course requires a minimum of 128 total work hours. To facilitate the completion of the internship and maximize skill acquisition, students are required to work at least one full day per week at their internships. Graded Pass/No pass only.

This course provides a study of journalistic coverage of social issues as well as best approaches and treatment. Topics covered include: an introduction to social journalism; insight into the history of social journalism and its sociological grounds; different reporting techniques, approaches, and tools used in social journalism.

This course investigates the theory behind techniques adopted by professionals in marketing, sales, public policy as well as general business negotiation environments in order to change stakeholder behavior and attitudes, influence outcomes, and gain compliance. Students explore, compare, and integrate a variety of theories of persuasion grounded in research from the fields of psychology and marketing.

This course covers cross-cultural, intercultural, and international communication. Topics include theories, history, and study of intercultural communication; language and verbal communication across cultures; nonverbal language in international communication; understanding intercultural misunderstandings; culture dimensions: power distance and political system; individualism/collectivism and political system, masculinity/femininity and political system; cultural rules for establishing relationships; communication in intercultural relationships; intercultural negotiation; managing conflict and negotiating face; legal and governmental considerations in intercultural communication; and intercultural encounters: political issues. The course also uses case studies of the US and Japan to discuss how culture affects foreign policy. 

This course covers the fundamentals of news, features, and creative nonfiction writing. It also introduces photo-video journalism, and documentary filmmaking. The course explores how to: recognize good stories; interview; gather data and information; develop contacts and sources; create news and feature stories; take photographs and develop photo-essays; shoot video and make short video reports or documentaries. The course also discusses global issues and the role of global mass media.