Coordinator: Ms. Melanie Zee
Course Description
This 6-credit English-in-the-Discipline course aims to develop students' professional and technical communication skills for disciplinary studies in the sciences. There are three main components in the course: 1) Writing a popular science article 2) An oral presentation and 3) An oral defence. Students will learn rhetorical skills for presenting and explaining scientific concepts to a cross-disciplinary and non-specialist audience in both written and spoken communication. The oral defence component provides students with the opportunity to articulate and justify their choice of research article topic, demonstrating their ability to engage critically with scientific content and respond to questions in a professional setting.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Critically select, evaluate, and engage with recent scientific research, transforming key ideas into a popular science narrative.
- Persuasively justify and defend the relevance and validity of scientific research, responding critically to inquiries from diverse stakeholders.
- Communicate complex research clearly and responsively to cross-disciplinary audiences, demonstrating the ability to adapt information to address questions in a professional manner.
- Demonstrate effective rhetorical and engagement strategies in written, spoken, and visual scientific communication and non-specialist audiences.
Strategies
- Students are asked to select a science topic and do some background research on their topic. They are then asked to write a topic proposal for their topic which they will later write up in a popular science article.
- Students are asked to write a popular science article on their chosen topic. Students are expected to use a range of rhetorical features of popular science articles in order to engage with the target audience. These features will be covered in the course.
- Students are asked to deliver a 5-minute oral presentation on their popular science topic and answer a Q&A after the presentation. Students will need to select key information from their popular science article and decide how to present this. They should use a range of rhetorical features of oral presentations in order to engage with the target audience such as effective use of visuals and voice. These features will be covered in the course.
- Students engage in a Self-Access Language Learning (SALL) project. They are challenged to analyse their own language needs and develop corresponding goals and strategies. They are asked to develop a self-study programme to address their language needs, carry out this plan, and reflect on the experience in the form of a written reflection. Students are encouraged to reflect on and share their SALL experiences in class at various stages of the course.
Assessment Methods
(with breakdown of percentage weighting of the various methods)
- Other genres of writing (45%)
- Oral presentations (35%)
- Oral Defence (20%)