Bachelor 2025/2026

Mass Communications and Media Discourse

Type: Elective course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

When: 4 year, 1, 2 module

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Alexandra Nagornaya

Language: English

Contact hours: 48

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Mass Communication generally implies dissemination and exchange of information within large groups of people. This information flow has been considerably facilitated by recent advances in communication technologies. A study conducted by the Zenith Optima has revealed that people spend an average of eight hours a day interacting with the currently available forms of the Mass Media. Their daily ‘media diet’ may include watching a news program on TV, browsing through original content on YouTube, playing video games through Stream, leafing through their favorite magazines, reading e-books, listening to music through Spotify, or enjoying a wide variety of podcasts, often in the ‘media multitasking’ mode. This media exposure has changed not only people’s lifestyle, but the very core of their existence contributing to the emergence of a new type of human being, Homo Informaticus, whose life revolves around producing and consuming information. To paraphrase C. Wright, we now live in a second-hand world: we get and process terabytes of information related to events that are beyond our immediate grasp and are delivered to us through multiple and constantly developing channels. This delivery inevitably involves formatting the original information, imbuing it with certain meanings and making it serve a certain purpose. By doing so, the Mass Media largely form our mental images of the world, shape our outlook and spur us to take certain actions. The main objective of the course is to teach students to approach the media content critically, to be able to deconstruct the media text and detect hidden, ideologically loaded messages. The course is based on the most up-to-date theories, methodologies and explanatory models. It involves working with authentic media materials and using different approaches to their analysis. The students’ progress is mainly assessed through their participation in in-class activities and research projects. To enter the course, you need to have 8 or above as the grade for the Practical Course of the English Language.