HCOM 110 Fundamentals of Speaking and Listening

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  HCOM 110
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This affordable learning resource is being utilized in a HCOM 110 course for undergraduate students by Professor Rachelle Escamilla at California State University Monterey Bay. The affordable resource chosen for this course provides, ”Active Listening Techniques” by Dr. Nixaly Leonardo. This title emphasizes techniques for active listening, emotional intelligence, and tools to employ when presenting ideas to large groups.  The main motivation to adopt an affordable resource is because I teach many sections of this course and many of my students are first gen and have trouble buying textbooks. Students can access this resource via the CSUMB Library permalink. 

Course Title and Number - HCOM 110: Fundamentals of Speaking and Listening

Brief Description of course highlights:  This course introduces students to foundational concepts and skills that support effective and ethical speaking and listening, in public contexts. Students receive a brief introduction to rhetorical theory and learn how the practices of public speaking and listening prepare them to be engaged citizens in their communities. Students are provided multiple opportunities to practice speaking and listening through in-class performance assignments. The course also emphasizes the skill of listening to, and integrating, multiple perspectives through group discussion. https://catalog.csumb.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=1&coid=740   

Student population: This is a requirement for all undergraduate students at CSU Monterey Bay. 

Learning or student outcomes: 
Listening:
- Apply active and dialogic listening in group deliberation to understand multiple perspectives and identify common ground.
- Accurately summarize a speaker’s message on his/her own terms.
- Analyze and evaluate arguments for coherence, logic, ethics, style, and audience appropriateness.
Speaking:
- Craft a speech/presentation through multiple drafts to achieve an intended purpose.
- Adapt content and style to audience, purpose, and context.
- Choose sources using criteria such as relevance, diversity of perspectives, and credibility.
- Integrate your own ideas with those from appropriate sources and attribute information to sources.
- Justify claims with evidence and attention to assumptions.
- Select and apply appropriate organizational patterns and mechanics such as previews, transitions, parallelism, etc.
-  Engage audiences through nonverbal communication.

Challenges and Solutions: In selecting and using affordable learning resources I have faced several key challenges: many commercial textbooks for speaking and listening are expensive and often lack representation that matches the student population. Dr. Nixaly Leonardo is the daughter of immigrants, which appeals to many students in my course. This book in conjunction with my library-licensed materials, free podcasts, authentic multimedia content and essays from my personal library allow me to offer diverse voices and real-world communication contexts. This allowed me to reduce the costs while making the content relatable. 

Another challenge was ensuring academic rigor, in conjunction with accessible language. To resolve this, I carefully curated materials from reputable sources, aligned each with specific course objectives and developed supplemental instructional material such as guided listening discussions, rubrics and structured speaking tasks to maintain consistency and rigor. 

A third challenge involved is accessibility and technology equity. Not all students have access to high-speed internet and are capable of streaming media-heavy content. To address this, I utilize mobile-friendly, downloadable content in multiple formats. I also introduce the students to librarians on campus and show them the different computer labs available to them. 

Finally, integrating affordable resources has taken me years building alibrary around Speaking and Listening, which requires more time and planning compared to using a single textbook package. I have a high pass rate in these sections, and students often tell me how much they enjoy the content of the course.  

Textbook or OER/Low-cost Title: Active Listening Techniques: 30 Practical Tools to Hone Your Communication Skills
Brief Description:  Resource Description: I selected “Active Listening Techniques” by Dr. Nixaly Leonardo as the learning resource. This text focuses on developing effective communication skills through intentional listening strategies, emotional awareness, and interpersonal engagement techniques. The resource is designed for learners seeking to improve professional, academic and personal communication effectiveness. The book introduces foundational communication theories and explores the role of listening in relationship-building, conflict resolution, leadership, and counseling contexts. Key concepts include reflective listening, paraphrasing, nonverbal communication cues, empathy development, emotional regulation, and feedback techniques. The resource also addresses common barriers to effective listening, such as cognitive biases, distraction and reactive responses. Rather than focusing solely on theory, the book integrates real-world examples, guided reflection prompts and step-by-step demonstrations of active listening strategies. The pedagogy emphasizes experiential learning, encouraging readers to practice techniques in authentic settings. Case studies and situational examples help bridge theory and application, reinforcing skill transfer across contexts. Each chapter includes reflective exercises, discussion questions, and scenario-based activities designed to strengthen comprehension and skill development. Learners are prompted to analyze conversations, identify ineffective listening patterns, and apply corrective techniques. Role-play exercises and self-assessment checklists are formative evaluation tools. The book is structured progressively, beginning with foundational listening principles and advancing toward more complex interpersonal dynamics. Chapters build upon one another, moving from awareness to skill refinement and mastery. If accessed through a digital platform, features may include searchable text, highlighting and annotation tools.

General Education: A1 Oral Communication
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
Units: 3

Provide link to the resource  https://csu-mb.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_UMB/1b7t6st/alma993749613502923
Authors:  Dr. Nixaly Leonardo

Student access:  Access to library owned unlimited-user textbook

Supplemental Resources Canvas assignments

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook. A standard traditional college textbook generally costs around $100 per student, this varies, but $100 is a common benchmark for communication texts. So using Active Listening Techniques saves $100 per student.

License*: Unlimited-user license through the CSUMB Library 

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process
Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option. I was motivated to use affordable and open educational resources to reduce financial barriers for students while also improving the quality and relevance of the course materials. The author is a woman of color who is a doctor and is also the daughter of immigrant parents. This fit with my teaching philosophy of decolonizing my syllabi. I was also motivated by the opportunity to improve and customize the learning experience of my students. Traditional speaking and listening textbooks often present generic scenarios that do not reflect the cultural, linguistic and professional realities of our students. 

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course? I found this during the pandemic while searching for a source that was written by a woman of color.

Sharing Best Practices:  I think they should start small by replacing the high-cost textbook with an accessible book and use that book as a guideline for developing a bigger curriculum. If the book alludes to something, look it up and add it. If the book has a bibliography, find those sources and use them as well. Build out.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned. Developing course materials is a challenge because it takes a lot of time, and it can be hard to resist the shiny new textbooks and materials sent by publishers. 

Instructor Name - Rachelle Escamilla 
Lecturer and Monterey County Poet Laureate Emerita

Please provide a link to your university page.
https://csumb.edu/hcom/faculty-staff/hcom-l-escamilla-rachelle 

Rachelle Escamilla is a Chicana poet from California’s Central Coast and the author of Imaginary Animal (Willow Books), Me Drawing a Picture of Me[n], and Space Junk from the Heavenly Palace (Nomadic Press/Black Lawrence Press). She is the 2024–2025 Poet Laureate of Monterey County and a recipient of the 2025 Denis Diderot Grant supporting a residency at Château d’Orquevaux in France. Escamilla’s work has been featured at institutions including Stanford University, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, City of Asylum, and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. A former visiting scholar at the Library of Congress, she has published scholarship in English, Spanish, and Mandarin and is the founder of multiple literary and cultural programs in the U.S. and abroad.

Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.  
HCOM 110 – Introduction to Speaking and Listening. This course develops foundational skills in public speaking and active listening. Students learn to craft clear, well-organized messages, adapt to diverse audiences, and deliver presentations with confidence. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking, constructive feedback, and effective communication in academic, professional, and civic contexts.
HCOM 328 Latina Life Stories. This course explores the lived experiences of Latinas through autobiographies, memoirs, oral histories, and other narrative forms. Students examine themes such as identity, culture, migration, gender, family, and community, and create a multimedia website and podcast that showcase their research and storytelling using digital tools.
HCOM 231 Latine Creative Writing Workshop. A generative writing workshop exploring creative expression within Latine communities. Students engage contemporary Latine literature while developing original fiction, poetry, memoir, or hybrid work. Emphasis is placed on craft, revision, community critique, and storytelling as a form of cultural and artistic innovation.
HCOM 229 Multicultural Poetry.  A literature-based course examining multilingual poetry from diverse cultural, ethnic, and diasporic traditions. Students analyze poetic form, voice, and historical context while exploring how poets engage identity, migration, resistance, and community. Emphasis is placed on close reading, discussion, and critical writing.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching. Decolonize Syllabi to Resist Erasure and Promote Equity My teaching philosophy is informed by scholars, poets and educators who emphasize the necessity of creating equity in the classroom and making education relevant and meaningful to students. Chicana philosopher Cherríe Moraga writes that people of color need political memory, “so that we are not always imagining ourselves the ever-inventors of our revolution,” while Gloria Anzaldúa notes that a “firm foothold in history” enables us to shape social and political change. Giving my students access to historical and political memory, recognising the efforts of our foremothers, and creating spaces for self-actualization are central to my pedagogy. Students of color often share that the works they read in my courses are life-changing, empowering them to effect change in their communities–a response vastly different from their previous disengaged or disempowered experience of the traditional canon. To reduce harm, foster empowerment, and create a more just and equitable learning environment, I strive to: 

• Decolonize syllabi by centering writers of color, cultivating historical, political and cultural memory;
• Validate student voices by engaging them with theory and literature produced by our foremothers;
• Encourage agency and social responsibility by asking students to assess struggle, understand resistance and work toward solidarity;
• Prioritize creative work in students’ own voices, helping them see themselves as integral contributors to a broader community of change. 
• Support authentic expression, helping students write from their own experiences and validating the power of their languages and contexts. 

Student Multicultural and Multilingual Poetry to Engage and Empower 
Studying poetry by writers of color and the poetics of English dialects informs my approach to teaching creative writing. I encourage students, especially first-generation and students of color, to embody their dialects, hone in on their stories and experiences that shape their cultures, and embrace their voices fully. To accomplish this, I: 

• Teach works in English dialects, including Spanglish and African-American Vernacular English;
• Normalized colloquial language and diverse cultural expression in creative writing;
• Encourage students to speak and write unapologetically from their own experiences;
• Ask students to explore their own backgrounds without forcing them to conform to standardized English; 
• Highlight prosody, rhythm, and linguistic patterns in student’s native languages; 
• Discourage unnecessary code-switching or annotations or non-community readers. 

I am attentive to how assimilation and standardized expectations can create barriers for students of color and first-generation students. My courses provide spaces for active discourse around heteroglossia–the presence of multiple languages– and diverse experiences, enabling students to develop confidence and agency in both academic and creative contexts.

Build Skills Beyond Academia Using Practical Applications and Accessible Technology. I also view creative writing as a vehicle for skill-building and professional development. Students develop competencies that I extend beyond the classroom by engaging with technology, multimedia platforms and the publishing industry. I guide students to: 

• Design creative projects using digital tools and platforms (e.g. websites, social media, multimedia installations); 
• Present and defend their creative work through Ars Poeticas, abstracts or synopses;
• Research publishing markets, identify niche opportunities, and submit work to magazines;
• Translate creative work across media and disciplines, exploring poetry in film, theater, visual art, dance and public spaces; 
• Consider the real-world applications of creative writing, fostering innovation and critical thinking. 

Through these approaches, I teach students to see themselves as part of a living legacy of poetry, pushing boundaries while honoring their own experiences and communities. My courses foster equity-minded, culturally responsive, and socially engaged writers, prepared for both academic and community impact.  

Research Interests: I am currently a Jeffers Fellow where I am researching the connection between modern psilocybin therapy and ceremonies with the poetry of Maria Sabina from the 19th century as well as pre-colombian.