YONSEIUNIVERSITY

GRADUATESCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

Communication Skills

Fall 2006

Professor Sungjean Seo (서 성진)

Email:

Office Hours: by appointment.

Course Description and Objectives

The objective of this course is to help students develop effective and sophisticated written and oral communication skills in English that are essential in academic and professional environments. Students will focus on strengthening their basic written skills by working on many different forms of writingthroughout the semester and will be required produce, among other things, a paper in three progressive stages (i.e., outline, first draft, and final version). Technical aspects of academic writing and basic professional writing, such as drafting a resume and business letter will also be covered. In terms of oral skills, students will be expected to learn and practice presentation and public speaking skills through in-class debates and a formal oral presentation using power point.

Course Requirements and Evaluation

Attendance and in-class participation: Attendance and in-class participation aremandatory for this class.Any unexcused absence will negatively impact your final grade. An unexcused absence is any absence that is not approved by the professor prior to the beginning of the class. Students who are more than 10 minutes late to a class will be considered absent for that class.

Assignment policy: All written assignments are due at the beginning of the class, unless otherwise noted by the professor. In fairness to the other students, any assignment that is turned in late will immediately lower your grade for the assignment by 10%; your grade will be further reduced by increments of 10% for each additional day the assignment is late. Students are expected to work individuallyon all written assignments, unless otherwise instructed by the professor. All written assignments should be double spaced, in Times Roman 12-point, with appropriate margins (i.e., 3 centimeters).

Grading: Your grade will be determined as follows:

Attendance and participation: 500 points (25%)

Attendance

In-class participation

Short un-graded writing assignments

assigned from time to time

Short assignments: 500 points (25%)

Summary

Re-write of Summary

Critique

Re-write of Critique

Outline of research paper

Oral Presentation: 500 points (25%)

Oral summary of book: 100 points

Short summary on current issue: 100 points

Power-point presentation

Oral presentation: 300 points

Major written assignments 500 points (25%)

Paper: 300 points

Rewrite: 200 points

Total2,000 points

Course Schedule

The following may be modified from time to time at the discretion of the professor. In addition to the assignments noted below, students are expected to read and listen to at least one English-language news source on a regular basis.

Week 1 (Sept. 5, 7):Introduction; understanding your audience: introduction and overview of the course; communicating across cultures; use of appropriate, “politically correct” language for all communications; stylistic considerations in professional/ academic communication; in-class exercises.

Week 2 (Sept. 12, 14): Writing a Summary; Oral Skills I: considerations in writingasummaryand giving an effective summary in oral form.

Assignment due: three to four minute in-class oral summary of your favorite book.

Week 3 (Sept. 19, 21):Writing a critique: requirements for writing a critique; critical analysis of supplied article(s); fair vs unfair criticism.

Assignment due:one to two page summary of assigned article.

Week4 (Sept. 26, 28): Writing an effective paragraph; effective transitions: topic and concluding sentences; paragraph blocks, unity and coherence; connection between paragraphs; connection between sentences; in-class debate on critiqued article(s).

Assignment due: preparation for in class debate; Critique I (two to three page critique of an assigned article).

Week 5 (Oct. 3, 5): National Foundation Day and Chuseok Holiday (No classes.)

Week 6 (Oct. 10, 12) Writing effective sentences: active and passive voice, action verbs, sentence length, emphasis, using effective words; in-class exercises; review of Critique I.

Assignment due: rewrite of Critique I.

Week 7 (Oct. 17, 19): The research paper: structural elements of a longer research paper (outline, introduction, discussion, conclusion, references, etc.)

Assignment due: paper topics/ preliminary outline/ list of sources

Week 8 (Oct 24, 28) (mid-term examination week):Individual conferences:Instead of class, there will be 10 minute individual conferences on paper outlines throughout the week (you will have an opportunity to sign up beforehand).

Week 9 (Oct. 31, Nov. 1):Citation; notes on plagiarism: in class exercises, technical aspects of proper citation to sources according to the Chicago Manual of Style.

Week 10 (Nov. 7, 9):Giving an effective oral presentation: public speaking techniques, persuading the audience, do’s and don’ts in giving an oral presentation, etc.

Assignment due: research paper

Week 11 (Nov. 14, 16):Student oral presentations

Week 12(Nov. 21, 23): Student oral presentations cont’d

Week 13 (Nov. 28, 30):Feedback on research paper

Week 14 (Dec. 5, 7):Writing in a professional context: writing a resume and a business letter; mock job interview; drafting an internal memorandum.

Assignment due: resume and cover letter.

Week 15 (Dec. 12, 14): Conclusion:wrap-up.

Assignment due: Rewrite of research papers

1