HS6251 TECHNICAL ENGLISH II L T P C
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OBJECTIVES:
- To make learners acquire listening and speaking skills in both formal and informal contexts.
- To help them develop their reading skills by familiarizing them with different types of reading strategies.
- To equip them with writing skills needed for academic as well as workplace contexts.
- To make them acquire language skills at their own pace by using e-materials and language lab components.
UNIT I 9+3
Listening - Listening to informal conversations and participating; Speaking - Opening a conversation (greetings, comments on topics like weather) - Turn taking - Closing a conversation (excuses, general wish, positive comment, thanks); Reading - Developing analytical skills, Deductive and inductive reasoning - Extensive reading; Writing - Effective use of SMS for sending short notes and messages - Using ‘emoticons’ as symbols in email messages; Grammar - Regular and irregular verbs - Active and passive voice; Vocabulary - Homonyms (e.g. ‘can’) - Homophones (e.g. ‘some’,
‘sum’); E-materials - Interactive exercise on Grammar and vocabulary – blogging; Language Lab - Listening to different types of conversation and answering questions.
UNIT II 9+3
Listening - Listening to situation based dialogues; Speaking - Conversation practice in real life situations, asking for directions (using polite expressions), giving directions (using imperative sentences), Purchasing goods from a shop, Discussing various aspects of a film (they have already seen) or a book (they have already read); Reading - Reading a short story or an article from newspaper, Critical reading, Comprehension skills; Writing - Writing a review / summary of a story / article, Personal letter (Inviting your friend to a function, congratulating someone for his / her success, thanking one’s friends / relatives); Grammar - modal verbs, Purpose expressions; Vocabulary - Phrasal verbs and their meanings, Using phrasal verbs in sentences; E-materials - Interactive exercises on Grammar and vocabulary, Extensive reading activity (reading stories / novels), Posting reviews in blogs - Language Lab - Dialogues (Fill up exercises), Recording students’ dialogues.
UNIT III 9+3
Listening - Listening to the conversation - Understanding the structure of conversations; Speaking - Conversation skills with a sense of stress, intonation, pronunciation and meaning - Seeking information – expressing feelings (affection, anger, regret, etc.); Reading - Speed reading – reading passages with time limit - Skimming; Writing - Minutes of meeting – format and practice in the preparation of minutes - Writing summary after reading articles from journals - Format for journal articles – elements of technical articles (abstract, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, appendices, references) - Writing strategies; Grammar - Conditional clauses - Cause and effect expressions; Vocabulary - Words used as nouns and verbs without any change in the spelling (e.g. ‘rock’, ‘train’, ‘ring’); E-materials - Interactive exercise on Grammar and vocabulary - Speed Reading practice exercises; Language Lab - Intonation practice using EFLU and RIE materials
– Attending a meeting and writing minutes.
UNIT IV 9+3
Listening - Listening to a telephone conversation, Viewing model interviews (face-to-face, telephonic and video conferencing); Speaking - Role play practice in telephone skills - listening and responding,
-asking questions, -note taking – passing on messages, Role play and mock interview for grasping interview skills; Reading - Reading the job advertisements and the profile of the company concerned –
scanning; Writing - Applying for a job – cover letter - résumé preparation – vision, mission and goals of the candidate; Grammar - Numerical expressions - Connectives (discourse markers); Vocabulary -
Idioms and their meanings – using idioms in sentences; E-materials - Interactive exercises on
Grammar and Vocabulary - Different forms of résumés- Filling up a résumé / cover letter; Language
Lab - Telephonic interview – recording the responses - e-résumé writing.
UNIT V 9+3
Listening - Viewing a model group discussion and reviewing the performance of each participant - Identifying the characteristics of a good listener; Speaking - Group discussion skills – initiating the discussion – exchanging suggestions and proposals – expressing dissent/agreement – assertiveness in expressing opinions – mind mapping technique; Reading - Note making skills – making notes from books, or any form of written materials - Intensive reading; Writing – Checklist - Types of reports – Feasibility / Project report – report format – recommendations / suggestions – interpretation of data (using charts for effective presentation); Grammar - Use of clauses; Vocabulary – Collocation; E- materials - Interactive grammar and vocabulary exercises - Sample GD - Pictures for discussion, Interactive grammar and vocabulary exercises; Language Lab - Different models of group discussion.
TOTAL (L:45+T:15): 60 PERIODS
OUTCOMES:
Learners should be able to
- Speak convincingly, express their opinions clearly, initiate a discussion, negotiate, argue using appropriate communicative strategies.
- Write effectively and persuasively and produce different types of writing such as narration, description, exposition and argument as well as creative, critical, analytical and evaluative
writing.
- Read different genres of texts, infer implied meanings and critically analyse and evaluate them for ideas as well as for method of presentation.
- Listen/view and comprehend different spoken excerpts critically and infer unspoken and implied meanings.
TEXTBOOKS:
- Department of English, Anna University. Mindscapes: English for Technologists and
Engineers. Orient Blackswan, Chennai. 2012
- Dhanavel, S.P. English and Communication Skills for Students of Science and Engineering.
Orient Blackswan, Chennai. 2011
REFERENCES:
- Anderson, Paul V. Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. Cengage. New
Delhi. 2008
- Muralikrishna, & Sunita Mishra. Communication Skills for Engineers. Pearson, New Delhi.
2011
- Riordan, Daniel. G. Technical Communication. Cengage Learning, New Delhi. 2005
- Sharma, Sangeetha & Binod Mishra. Communication Skills for Engineers and Scientists. PHI Learning, New Delhi. 2009
- Smith-Worthington, Darlene & Sue Jefferson. Technical Writing for Success. Cengage, Mason
USA. 2007
EXTENSIVE Reading (Not for Examination)
- Khera, Shiv. You can Win. Macmillan, Delhi. 1998.
Websites
TEACHING METHODS:
- Lectures
- Activities conducted individually, in pairs and in groups like individual writing and presentations, group discussions, interviews, reporting, etc
- Long presentations using visual aids
- Listening and viewing activities with follow up activities like discussions, filling up worksheets, writing exercises (using language lab wherever necessary/possible) etc
- Projects like group reports, mock interviews etc using a combination of two or more of the language skills
EVALUATION PATTERN: Internal assessment: 20%
3 tests of which two are pen and paper tests and the other is a combination of different modes
of assessment like
- Project
- Assignment
- Report
- Creative writing, etc.
All the four skills are to be tested with equal weightage given to each.
ü Speaking assessment: Individual presentations, Group discussions
ü Reading assessment: Reading passages with comprehension questions graded following
Bloom’s taxonomy
ü Writing assessment: Writing essays, CVs, reports etc. Writing should include grammar and vocabulary.
ü Listening/Viewing assessment: Lectures, dialogues, film clippings with questions on verbal as well as audio/visual content graded following Bloom’s taxonomy.
End Semester Examination: 80%
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