Choices & Connections

Choices & Connections was the first title to involve the Editorial Board for Diversity, Inclusion, Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Learning Materials. For the Fourth edition, the Board reconvened to review the photos and examples of this text, with the goal of ensuring that the content throughout the book works for all students. Thanks to their guidance and new contributor content, the Fourth Edition offers a better, bolder, more inclusive learning experience.

Every example in this book—from activities to examples—is designed to engage students in the study of communication and help them become resilient, confident, and culturally competent communicators. This edition features significantly expanded coverage of gender and culture throughout the book, in addition to a revised Chapter 3: Understanding Gender and Culture.

With insightful guidance and feedback from our Editorial Board for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogy, the photos, examples, and features of the fourth edition were carefully reviewed and selected to reflect the diversity of students in today’s classroom.

When students see communication concepts played out in examples relevant to their life, they are more able to bring their whole self to the material—and the material to their lives. Choices & Connections is intentional about situating skills and concepts within culturally relevant examples. The text is filled with current pop culture examples from movies, streaming series, and the news that are recognizable to students. The examples are always accompanied with descriptions and engaging questions to foster critical thinking and application. For the Fourth Edition, the authors and editor worked with the Editorial Board to ensure these examples better reflect the diversity of students’ interests and lived experience. The accompanying example from Chapter 6 uses NFL player protests in 2017 to discuss the power of nonverbal communication.

With the guidance of the Editorial Board, the authors and editor took a careful look, page by page, at the text and photos throughout Choices & Connections to ensure that examples and content reflect the perspectives and experiences of all students. These eight communication scholars and professors brought both their expertise in inclusive pedagogy as well as new perspectives creating a more diverse set of voices that are reflected in the text.

In this new edition, language has been revised to create a more welcoming, positive, and inclusive narrative tone and voice. One significant update is the replacement of “you” language with “we” language, where applicable, throughout the text. The use of individualized language in sections involving skill recommendations and examples have been revised to incorporate more positive examples that reflect different stages of learning.

The accompanying image is a section of actual manuscript from Choices & Connections, Fourth edition, with tracked changes by the author. Feedback from the Editorial Board and our review program helped us make changes like this throughout every chapter, ensuring the use of inclusive, positive language and the representation of diverse perspectives.

Choices & Connections, Fourth Edition features an extensively revised Chapter 3: Understanding Gender and Culture. The Editorial Board felt that it was important to expand the book’s coverage of gender and culture – and to do so in an inclusive, non-binary way. With updated research studies, insight from our Editorial Board, and content from new contributor, Dr. Tasha Davis, our authors and editors created this reimagined chapter, which shows how gender and culture influence each other.

New end-of-chapter activities (pictured to the right) encourage students to reflect on how gender and cultural identities influence communication.