HS6251 TECHNICAL ENGLISH II -syllabus

                             

      

HS6251 TECHNICAL ENGLISH II

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

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

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

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

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

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; Ematerials
- Interactive grammar and vocabulary exercises - Sample GD - Pictures for discussion,
Interactive grammar and vocabulary exercises; Language Lab - Different models of group discussion.

                                                                                                                                 Total: 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:

1. Department of English, Anna University. Mindscapes: English for Technologists and
Engineers. Orient Blackswan, Chennai. 2012
2. Dhanavel, S.P. English and Communication Skills for Students of Science and Engineering.
Orient Blackswan, Chennai. 2011

REFERENCES:

1. Anderson, Paul V. Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach. Cengage. New
Delhi. 2008
2. Muralikrishna, & Sunita Mishra. Communication Skills for Engineers. Pearson, New Delhi.
2011
3. Riordan, Daniel. G. Technical Communication. Cengage Learning, New Delhi. 2005
4. Sharma, Sangeetha & Binod Mishra. Communication Skills for Engineers and Scientists. PHI
Learning, New Delhi. 2009
5. Smith-Worthington, Darlene & Sue Jefferson. Technical Writing for Success. Cengage, Mason
USA. 2007

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