International Year One in Journalism, Media and Culture

The Academic English Skills course teaches students the specific academic language skills they need to develop for success at Cardiff University. The course focuses on receptive (listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing) skills through practice in semi and authentic task-based activities which build a strong foundation in preparation for each student's future studies. This critical module places particular emphasis on developing academic reading and research skills; research-based writing along with presentation and seminar speaking skills.

This module will provide students with an overview of key concepts and development in mass communication and popular culture. This will include an introduction to major theories in media studies, including cultural studies, media effects, and political economy. Students will learn key terms and concepts such as media literacy, hegemony, representation and media ethics. Various cultural industries including broadcasting, journalism, and pop music may also be examined, considering the historical and contemporary perspectives on media production and distribution. Students will be taught methods for deconstructing a range of media texts, including print, broadcast, and digital media. Using case studies illustrating media bias, propaganda, and the influence of media ownership, students will apply their knowledge to the social, political, and economic roles of media in shaping public opinion and cultural norms. Students will also examine the impact of new media technologies on traditional media and cultural consumption and consider the future trends in media and popular culture. 

The aim of this module is to provide students with an overview of the academic field of media studies, including the key concepts and terminologies in media scholarship. Students will learn a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods and theories, including, for example, content analysis, audience studies, ethnographic approaches, semiotics, narrative theory, and ideological analysis, and be able to apply these methods and theories to various media forms, including film, television, and digital media. Academic research skills will also be a priority on this module, with students learning how to structure and organise an academic essay, reference correctly and navigate library databases and digital archives.

This module will introduce students to semiotics and its application in advertising, exploring how advertisers use visual and textual elements to convey messages and influence consumer perceptions. The portrayal of different races, genders, and stereotypes in advertising and how these representations shape societal attitudes and perpetuate or challenge stereotypes, may also be considered. This module will provide an overview of the global advertising industry's structure and key players, and the economic, cultural, and political factors influencing global advertising strategies. Students will also examine the ethical considerations involved in advertising, including issues of truthfulness, manipulation, and exploitation. Students will apply the knowledge learned to several case studies, including controversial campaigns and social media advertising. It will analyse the relationships between advertising, consumer culture and the concept of brand loyalty, and its social and environmental implications.

This module introduces students to media audience studies, starting with some of the early theories of media effects, such as the hypodermic needle model and limited effects theory. It will also explore audiences from a cultural studies perspective, potentially covering such models as the encoding/decoding model, polysemy, and audience resistance. The module may examine audience reception of controversial material, within the frameworks of media violence and moral panics. Students will also be introduced to theories of active audience engagement and participatory culture. Key research methods, such as ethnography, interviews, and focus groups, will be applied to case studies in media audience research. Finally, students will explore digital media and changing audience behaviours within local and global contexts.

This module will begin with the historical debates over freedom of the press, especially considering the evolution of the legal and ethical dimensions of such debates in different countries. Within these contexts, we will look at the definition and historical origins of the Fourth Estate and the role of journalism in holding governments and powerful organisations to account. Students will consider the changing political economy of news media, such as media ownership, revenue models, digital transformation and the economic pressures imposed by the transition to the 24/7 news sphere. It will also look at the economic pressures on journalistic quality. Other topics to be covered may include debates around objectivity and impartiality in journalism, fake news, infotainment, tabloidization, media ethics and citizen journalism.

This module will introduce students to key concepts of representation in communication and explore how constructed media-cultural representations contribute to the formation of our values, attitudes and identities.  Students will understand how representation constructs reality, and the role of cultural and social contexts in shaping representations. Case studies will be drawn from visual representation in media and art. The module will also examine language as a system of representation, utilising discourse analysis to understand how language shapes and reflects societal norms and ideologies. Students will consider how objects and material culture represent cultural values, and will include analyses of fashion, architecture, and everyday objects as forms of representation. It will also look at the interplay between consumer culture and representation. Case studies will be drawn from a range of different forms of media that reinforce or challenge dominant ideologies. Finally, the module will look at the impact of digital media on contemporary forms of representation.