Also see: How to get copies of the text (for students), Information for Instructors and Changes in the website for the 10th edition

Em, Andrew, and Glenn describe changes in the 10th edition.

Major Changes

• In response to instructor feedback calling for additional attention to communication technology, a new chapter addresses the Media Multiplexity Theory of Caroline Haythornthwaite.
• Likewise, in response to instructor feedback calling for additional attention to intercultural communication, a new chapter addresses the Co-Cultural Theory of Mark Orbe. Note: The unit on intercultural communication now concludes the text, with the unit of gender and communication now preceding it. Thus, several chapter numbers have changed from the 9th edition.
• Throughout the book, we have revised the critique sections (which appear at the end of each chapter) to evaluate the theories using the criteria outlined in chapter 3 (Weighing the Words).
• We have brought the chapter on Relational Dialectics Theoryfully up to date with Baxter’s second version (“2.0”) of the theory, and the chapter therefore names both Baxter and Bakhtin as the creators of the theory.
• Agenda-Setting Theory has received an extensive overhaul, now addressing cutting-edge concepts such as the third level of agenda-setting and agendamelding.
• We have revised the chapter on Dramatism for clarity and recency, now including several examples from the 2016 United States presidential election.
• The Cultural Studies chapter includes a new ethical reflection on Larry Frey’s communication activism for social justice.
• The chapter on Face-Negotiation Theory reports Ting-Toomey and Oetzel’s state-of-the art research, which clusters conflict styles under three umbrella terms (dominating, avoidance, and integration).

Summary of other Changes to the Text

• Examples have been revised throughout the text to provide students with vivid and contemporary depictions of communication theory. For example, The Rhetoric now focuses the chapter around Barack Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame.
• The book’s cartoons have been vetted and updated with an eye toward recency and diversity.
• Chapter 4’s Mapping the Territory, which covers Craig metamodel of communication theory, now concludes each tradition with a recap of the practical question addressed and an explanation of why the research example drew from that tradition.
• The Social Information Processing Theory chapter includes a new critique section introducing the scholarship of Sherry Turkle, who has challenged the assumption that online communication is beneficial for relationships.
• The Standpoint Theory chapter highlights the difference between a social location and a standpoint, which was obscured in previous editions.
• To make room for the new chapters on Media Multiplexity Theory and Co-Cultural Theory, the chapters on Watzlawick’s Interactional View and Philipsen’s Speech Codes Theory have been moved to the Archives on this site. Thus, the 10th edition of the book is exactly the same length as the previous edition.

Detailed description of other Changes

To help instructors who have taught with the 9th edition adjust their course, we’ve outlined the chapter-by-chapter changes in the 10th edition. The list can also help students who have opted to purchase the 9th edition identify sections that they otherwise might miss.

These notes will be found in the “Changes” option in Theory Resources, which is available to all users. Before the 8th edition, this option was called "Principal Changes," and was available only to logged-in instructors and included only a brief summary of changes noted in the Instructors Manual.

Also see: How to get copies of the text (for students), Information for Instructors and
Changes in the website for the 10th edition

updated August 14, 2018