Communications and Culture (AQA)
Communication and Culture deals with the meanings of cultural practices: what we do from shopping to downloading; from festival going to celebrating a birthday and cultural products. You will learn how to analyse and understand your own culture in relation to others and yourself in relation to your own culture.
Entry Requirements
Students should have gained 5 GCSEs at Grades A-C including English Language.
Course Content
AS Unit 1: Understanding Communication and Culture 1 hr 45mins exam
The focus is the personal level of communication and you will learn how the
experiences of everyday life can be interpreted and analysed.
- Identity and self presentation
- Popular culture and high culture
- Group communication
- Verbal and non-verbal communication
AS Unit 2:The Individual and Contemporary Coursework Portfolio
This coursework provides an opportunity to apply the knowledge and understanding
developed in Unit 1. You will build a portfolio of work in areas such as:
- Clothes make the person: to what extent are we what we wear?
- Retail Therapy: the Meanings of the Shopping Mall
- Good Taste Bad Taste: in what ways are we defined by what we like?
A final piece involves the creation of, for instance, a presentation such as a short powerpoint presentation dealing with the topic 'My Culture': exploring Personal and Cultural identity.
A2 Unit 3: Communicating Culture
This builds upon the knowledge and understanding developed in units 1 and 2. This will
require the analysis and understanding of cultural production and consumption in
contemporary society.
A2 Unit 4: Communication and Culture in Practice: Portfolio
This requires a major piece of independent work, the focus of which will be set each
year.