Instructors of large lecture classes face a variety of challenges, including student engagement and participation. With budget cuts and increasing class sizes, more schools may turn to large lecture/lab formats for the basic communication course; instructors must understand how these classes engage students. For many students, learning all of the information encapsulated in a foundational course is challenging, a fact that is further complicated by students' relegation to large lecture and lab sections. Students' lack of participation, already a common concern among educators, is exacerbated in large lecture sections, as the distance between the instructor and students is increased both physically and interpersonally. The question of how instructors can get students in a large lecture section of the basic communications course to engage with the material remains a vital concern. One viable technique is the use of student response systems (e.g., clickers or SRS). However, the relationship between these systems, learning, and the factors that impact participation in basic communication courses is unclear. Much of the current understanding of SRS has been established in the areas of physics and biological sciences. Yet, it is important to examine SRS in social science disciplines, as content areas and concepts differ greatly from the hard sciences. This study will explore the effectiveness of incorporating student response systems into large lecture-format communications courses offered to lower-level undergraduates.