Academic Communication Skills in English (DACSE)
Autumn Term 2013


DACSE 2013
•course instructor
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•course administration
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•course introduction
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Course Instructor
•LIBOR ŠTĚPÁNEK (lstep@fss.muni.cz)
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•Masaryk University Language Centre (CJV MU)
•    Dept. at FF/FSS (room 555) / Komenského nám 2
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•Education:
–MA in English / History & PhD in Political Science
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•Specialization and Research:
–Academic Public Speaking
–Academic Writing
–Creativity in Language Learning
Obrázek1 735771

course objectives
•After completing this course you will be able to:
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•communicate effectively within the international academic community setting
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•be a successful participant of an international conference;
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• recognize various organizational patterns found in academic speaking;
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•adjust communication to different tasks;
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•write short formal academic texts.
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course organisation
•+/-9 course weeks
•   (no sessions on 26th Sept; 3rd Oct; 21st Nov; 12th Dec)
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•theoretical input combined with diverse practical activities based on individual needs
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Materials
•IS study materials
–face-to-face classes
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•IS (or other) discussion forum
–collaborative activities
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requirements
•Active participation in:
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–presentations / talks / teaching sessions giving
–face-to-face discussions
–online discussions
–writing assignment
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assessment
•Writing assignment
–title; abstract /short info; biography;
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•a 20 minute presentation per person / panel discussion / chairing a session / teaching session
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•peer analysis / peer review / peer feedabck
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Self-study resources
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•http://vjs.muni.cz
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Introduction
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Introduction
•peer2peer → class
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Charles_Babbage_1860 alan-turing steve_jobs bill-gates 220px-Ada_Lovelace betty_snyder_1
Sammett-Elaine-Jean FrancisAllen AnitaBorg shafigoldwasser shannon moorslaw bacus gracehopper1
Blaise_pascal

priorities
•1. small talk – starting / finishing / turn taking
•2. after-presentation discussion
•3. critical listening
•4. critical thinking
•5. sound argumentation
•6. conference presentation giving
•7.  panel discussion – presentations
•8.  panel discussion – chairing
•9.  panel discussion – turn taking
•10. conference slot chairing
•11. feedback giving /accepting
•12. lecturing
•13. interactive seminar giving
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•14. academic talk
•15. peer-to-peer communication
•16. authoritative communication
•17. “one of the crowd” communication
•18. adjusting language to your audience
•19. instructions giving
•20. academic writing style
•21. abstract writing
•22. biography writing
•23. informal emails/letters
•24. formal emails/letters
•25. critical reading
•26. other

tasks for the following sessions
•Watch the videos (first 3 minutes of speech is always enough) and characterise the situation
(purpose, topic, information flow, audience, speaker, …)
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•Discuss the videos in the IS discussion forum.
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