Course Overview

English Written and Oral Communication for Professional Pursuit is a course intended to familiarize students with skills and strategies with respect to employment-related genres: resumes, cover letters, proposals, interview, and oral presentation skills. Students will be provided with opportunities to cultivate not only their writing capabilities but also communication skills; to this end, students will be engaged in authentic case analyses, hands-on writing tasks via collaborative learning, simulation interviews and oral presentations. This course enables students to adopt the skills and strategies they have learned to enhance their job-related written and oral communications and tailor them according to personal needs or in consideration of target audiences. This course culminates in a simulation interview, along with written products, as the final demonstration of students’ learning outcomes.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to
1. Recognize and analyze different types of resume structures.
2. Understand the importance and the skills needed for writing cover letters.
3. Write resumes and cover letters according to personal needs or in consideration of target audiences.
4. Use different communication strategies during interviews to effectively self-market.
5. Learn proposal writing structures and skills through group discussions and exercises.
6. Learn oral presentation skills and master workplace communication practices.

Course Requirements

1. Students who do not show up in the first class are deemed to automatically drop this course. Students must attend every class and have no more than three absences during the semester.
2. Students must actively participate in class discussions.
3. Students must submit assignments on time. Late assignments will not be graded.
4. If students were caught committing plagiarism, their assignments would not be graded.

References

Betrus, M. (2005). Perfect Phrases for Resumes. New York: McGraw-Hill.
DiSanza, J. R., & Legge, N. J. (2011). Business & Professional Communication: Plans, Processes, and Performance. Pearson Higher Ed.
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2010). Business Communication: Process and Product. Cengage Learning.
Mehlich, S., Smith-Worthington, D., & Che, P.-C. (2007). Refining Technical Writing for Success: A school-to-work approach. Singapore: Thomson Learning.
Mehlich, S., Smith-Worthington, D., & Che, P.-C. (2007). Technical Writing for Success: A School-to-work Approach. Taipei: Cengage Learning.
Oliu, W. E., Brusaw, C. T., & Alred, G. J. (1998). Writing That Works: How to Write Effectively on the Job. St. Martin’s Press.
Searles, G. J. (2006). Workplace Communications: The Basics. Addison-Wesley Longman.

Evaluation

Schedule