COMM 490 Communication, Culture & Society

Assignment 4

CULTURAL PATTERNS

Purpose

To build awareness of the cultural patterns present and considered common sense.

Directions

Keep a three-day log of activities you encounter that involve common sense. These activities can occur in any situation that requires problem solving or figuring something out. In the log, make one entry for each activity and include the following three sentences:

Describe the activity (the situation or problem, in sentence one).

List the alternatives (solutions that came to mind, in sentence two).

Explain the process you followed to choose (your decision, in sentence three).

Before class, exchange logs with an assigned partner from another culture. Together write a two-paragraph paper (on one page), containing your personal reactions to each other's problem-solving methods. Devote one paragraph to each partner. Be sure to refer to your cultural backgrounds and to any beliefs, values, or norms that affected the common-sense patterns in your culture.

The paper must be typewritten, double-spaced, and proofread. The writing itself can be informal and does not require library research or preparation beyond your own knowledge.

Print out a copy to share at the beginning of the next class, and turn in that paper jointly. Also turn in your log separately.

Outcome

Come prepared to give a short overview of your paper to a small group in the next class meeting. Also think about how the experience of writing the paper affected you in any way.