bsc - Prospective Undergraduates - Human Communication Sciences

BSc (Hons) Human Communication Sciences

The BSc is a three-year Honours degree for students with an interest in the theoretical aspects of normal human communication and how it may be impaired across the human lifespan. It is a multi-disciplinary degree, taught by experts in linguistics, phonetics, psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, education and language pathology, and approached from the perspectives of behavioural, cognitive and medical science.

BSc (Hons) Human Communication Sciences: Overview

The BSc in Human Communication Sciences differs from most comparable degrees in the UK. Most focus either on normal communication alone, or on the nature of communication impairment in the context of speech and language therapy. The University of Sheffield BSc in Human Communication Sciences focuses on the nature of human communication, and of impairments of human communication, in their own right, but also contends that the study of communication disorders has a key role in enabling us to achieve a deeper understanding of the nature of normal communication processes.

The degree provides a strong academic basis for applying to train as a speech and language therapist at a postgraduate level, and is therefore an option for individuals who wish to delay making the decision to pursue a career in speech and language therapy until after their undergraduate study.

Some of the main questions it addresses are:

What is the nature of speech and language and how do humans use speech and language to communicate?
How are speech and language acquired and processed across the lifespan?
What are the cognitive and social factors which affect different types of communication?
Why do some children fail to acquire speech and language normally?
How is communication impaired by factors as diverse as brain damage, autism and dyslexia?
How can the study of communication impairments inform our understanding of the nature of normal communication?

BSc (Hons) Human Communication Sciences: Content

The degree includes some components common to the BMedSci (Speech) degree, but also allows you to take some modules from other departments in the University (e.g. Psychology; Sociology; English Language & Linguistics; Modern Languages; Philosophy; Information Studies) in order to extend the range of approaches to the study of language and communication.

Level 1
5 compulsory modules: Research Methods 1 [10 credits] Research Methods 2 [10 credits] Lifespan Communication and Cognitive Development [20 credits] Introduction to Communication [20 credits] Discovering Psychology: Mind, Brain and Social Interaction [20 credits]
At least 20 credits from the following: Memory, Skill and Everyday Life [10 credits] Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology [10 credits] Social Understanding, Social Communication and Social Places [10 credits] Participation and Society [20 credits]
The remaining 20 credits may be made up from modules offered by the Human Communication Sciences department or modules from other departments, subject to approval.

Level 2
4 compulsory modules: Language Processing [20 credits] Speech Processing 1 [20 credits] Research Methods 3 [10 credits] Speech Processing 2 [20 credits]
At least 20 credits from the following: Complex Communication Impairment [20 credits] Neuroscience [20 credits] Cognition Psychology [20 credits] Social Psychology [20 credits] Developmental Psychology and Individual Differences [20 credits]
The remaining 30 credits may be made up from modules offered by the Human Communication Sciences department or modules from other departments, subject to approval.

Level 3
Compulsory module: Research Methods 4 (Dissertation) [30 credits]
At least 30 credits from the following: Extended Essay in HCS [10 credits] Practical Project in HCS [10 credits] Mental Health and Learning Difficulties Across the Lifespan [10 credits] Literacy, Numeracy and Other Symbolic Systems [10 credits] Cognition and Communication [20 credits] Speech Technology [10 credits] Audiology [10 credits]
Modules up to the value of 30 credits from the following: Cognitive Neuropsychology [10 credits] Personality, Identity, Self and Emotion [10 credits] Neural Bases of Learning and Development [10 credits] Co-operative Models of Mind [10 credits] Visual Perception [10 credits] Environmental Psychology [10 credits] Occupational Psychology [10 credits] Multivariate Methods for Personality and Social Psychology [10 credits] Psychological and Biological Approaches to Mental Health Cognitive Development
The remaining 30 credits may be made up from modules offered by the Human Communication Sciences department or modules from other departments, subject to approval.

BSc (Hons) Human Communication Sciences: Careers & testimonials

The degree provides a good basis for a wide range of careers where good communication skills and an understanding of the processes of communication are important. These include careers in personnel management, public relations work, marketing and teaching English as a foreign language, as well as a number of different careers in one of the caring professions, where people with communication difficulties are commonly encountered. Previous graduates from this course have also gone on to further study in order to enter various professions, including social work, nursing, special needs teaching, primary education, educational psychology, audiology, and speech and language therapy.

Testimonials

"The research and analysis techniques I studied during my BSc (Hons) in `normal´ adult communication provided me with an excellent and invaluable basis for my Masters degree in Applied Linguistics. My academic background has provided the opportunity to specialise in linguistic intelligence analysis in the future, for example to analyse hoax phone calls or rapists utterances to determine speaker profiling and identification."
Lucinda Kalinski
Strategic Intelligence Analyst
South Yorkshire Police
2001 Graduate BSc Human Communication Sciences.

Further Information about the course is available from:

Admissions Secretary, Tel: 0114 2222405