Kenneth Burke, the Basic Communication Course, and Applied Scholarship

The Journal of Applied Communication Research published a forum of position papers in 2000 (Volume 28, Issue 2) that sought to define “applied communication research.” Collectively, the authors called for scholarship that embodies a reflexive relationship between theory and practice (O’Hair, 2000; Keyton, 2000, Cissna, 2000; Eadie, 2000; Frey, 2000; Seibold, 2000; Wood, 2000). In this essay, we call for applied scholarship that focuses on how we talk, perform, and theorize the basic communication course. Drawing from the works of Kenneth Burke (e.g., 1931/1968; 1935; 1937/1984; 1941/ 1967; 1945/1969; 1954/1984), we focus specifically on the salience of discourses of and about the basic communication course and communication enriched courses across general education and liberal studies curricula