URCE-5102                Language Comprehension & Presentation Skills                              3(3+0)

The course aims at developing linguistic competence by focusing on basic language skills in integration to make the use of language in context. It also aims at developing students’ skills in reading and reading comprehension of written texts in various contexts. The course also provides assistance in developing students’ vocabulary building skills as well as their critical thinking skills. The contents of the course are designed on the basis of these language skills: listening skills, pronunciation skills, comprehension skills and presentation skills. The course provides practice in accurate pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns and critical listening skills for different contexts. The students require a grasp of English language to comprehend texts as organic whole, to interact with reasonable ease in structured situations, and to comprehend and construct academic discourse. The course objectives are to enhance students’ language skill management capacity, to comprehend text(s) in context, to respond to language in context, and to write structured response(s).

Contents

1. Listening Skills, isolated sentences and Speech extracts
2. Managing listening  and overcoming barriers to listening
3. Expressing opinions (debating current events) and oral synthesis of thoughts and ideas
4. Pronunciation Skills
5. Recognizing phonemes, phonemic symbols and syllables, Pronouncing words correctly
6. Understanding and practicing stress patterns and intonation patterns in simple sentences
7. Comprehension skills
8. Reading strategies, Summarizing, Sequencing, Inferencing, Comparing and contrasting 
9. Drawing conclusions, Self-questioning, Problem-solving, Relating background knowledge
10. Distinguishing between fact and opinion, Finding the main idea, and supporting details
11. Text organizational patterns, Investigating implied ideas, purpose and tone of the text
12. Critical reading, SQ3R Method
13. Presentation Skills, Features of good presentations, Different types of presentations
14. Different patterns of introducing a presentation, Organizing arguments in a presentation
15. Tactics of maintaining interest of the audience, Dealing with the questions of audience

Recommended Texts

1. Mikulecky, B. S., & Jeffries, L. (2007). Advanced reading power: Extensive reading, vocabulary building, comprehension skills, reading faster. White Plains, NY: Pearson/Longman.
2. Helgesen, M., & Brown, S. (2004). Active listening: Building skills for understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Suggested Readings

1. Roach, C. A., & Wyatt, N. (1988). Successful listening. New York: Harper & Row.
2. Horowitz, R., & Samuels, S. J. (1987). Comprehending oral and written language. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.