Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - CMNS 304W D100

Communication in Everyday Life (4)

Class Number: 2413

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    17 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 45 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An examination of a range of theories of everyday language focused on specific forms of discursive practice, including gossip, humour, religion, and sarcasm. Writing.

COURSE DETAILS:

CMNS 304W examines various formations of everyday language to reveal the social values which, embedded in the very structures of our commonplace talk, give order and meaning to our perceptions of the world. Everyday language can be a language of resistance, but it also reflects social processes of domination. In slang, in gossip, and in humor we often express our opposition to this oppression; but in the so-called "institutional registers" of privileged discourse, the language of social control remains an integral part of everyday communication. 

Students will be introduced to the fundamental elements of discourse analysis in the course. The topics we will consider include:  issues in gender and language; the rhetoric of religion; the scientific paradigm as the modern discourse of social control; the medical model and the language of normality; psychiatric diagnosis and the framing of everyday behaviour; humour as a subversive language; consumerism and exchange as language; and contemporary theories of postmodern morality.

Grading

  • Seminar: (Participation and Presentation) 20%
  • Short Writing Assignment 20%
  • Term Paper 30%
  • Final Exam 30%

NOTES:

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relationship to established university-wide practices. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 with regard to Student Discipline. For further information visit: www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.


NOTE -- Tutorials do not start in Week 1 (3-9 September 2025) -- unless specified by the Instructor.  If your tutorial is scheduled to occur prior to your first lecture -- please check with the course Canvas page, or with your Instructor (via email), to find out if you will have a tutorial in the first week of Fall Semester 2025.   If your tutorial occurs after the first lecture, then just ask in the first lecture whether or not there will be tutorials during Week 1.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Williams, Ian, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time. Toronto: House of Anasi Press, 2024.


ISBN: 9781487013424

Neiman, Susan, Left is Not Woke. Cambridge, Uk: Polity Press, 2023.


ISBN: 9781509558308

Han, Byung-Chul, The Crisis of Narration. Translated by Daniel Steurer. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2024. 


ISBN: 9781509560431

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.