Skagit Valley College

Catalog Course Search Details

 Course Title:   Communication Skills

 Title Abbreviation:   COMMUNICATION SKILLS

 Department:    AESL

 Course #:    105

 Credits:    5

 Variable:     No

 IUs:    5

 CIP:    330108

 EPC:    n/a

 REV:    2018


 Course Description  

This course is designed to enhance speech intelligibility, fluency, and listening comprehension by focusing on common problems of advanced ESL learners.

 Prerequisite  

None

Additional Course Details

Contact Hours (based on 11 week quarter)

Lecture: 55

Lab: 0

Other: 0

Systems: 0

Clinical: 0


Intent: Distribution Requirement(s) Status:  

Academic Elective  

Equivalencies At Other Institutions

Other Institution Equivalencies Table
Institution Course # Remarks
N/A

Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Engage in small group discussions focusing on academic topics.
  2. Present material in a large group setting.
  3. Comprehend academic lectures and take appropriate notes.
  4. Understand a variety of listening genres including documentaries, interviews.
  5. Use speaking strategies such as conducting interviews, persuasive speaking.
  6. Express themselves with respect to stress, rhythm, and intonation.
  7. Self-evaluate through ratings pre-course speaking and listening abilities and tracking their progress throughout the course.
  8. Critical thinking through academic speaking and listening.

General Education Learning Values & Outcomes

Revised August 2008 and affects outlines for 2008 year 1 and later.

1. Information Literacy

Definition: Recognizing when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
1.1 Determine the extent of information needed.
1.2 Access the needed information effectively, efficiently, ethically, and legally.
1.3 Evaluate information and its sources critically.

2. Critical Thinking

Definition: The ability to think critically about the nature of knowledge within a discipline and about the ways in which that knowledge is constructed and validated and to be sensitive to the ways these processes often vary among disciplines.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
2.1 Identify and express concepts, terms, and facts related to a specific discipline.
2.2 Analyze issues and develop questions within a discipline.
2.3 Identify, interpret, and evaluate pertinent data and previous experience to reach conclusions.

3. Communication

Definition: Understanding and producing effective written, spoken, visual, and non-verbal communication.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
3.2 Recognize, produce and demonstrate appropriate interpersonal, group, and public speaking skills.
3.3 Demonstrate effective listening skills.
3.4 Produce academic and/or professional writing and integrate it into written and spoken projects.
3.5 Recognize, comprehend, and use non-verbal behaviors appropriate to a given context.
3.6 Recognize, comprehend, and use visual communication appropriate to a given context.
3.7 Adapt communication to diverse audiences and media.

4. Community & Cultural Diversity

Definition: Recognizing the value of human communities and cultures from multiple perspectives through a critical understanding of their similarities and differences.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
4.2 Understand, value and respect human differences and commonalities as they relate to issues of race, social class, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities and culture.
4.4 Demonstrate effective communication across differences in human communities and cultures.
4.5 Adapt to and function effectively in communities and cultures different from one's own.

6. Individual Awareness & Responsibility

Definition: Understanding, managing, and taking responsibility for one’s learning and behavior in varied and changing environments.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
6.2 Demonstrate standards of professionalism in manner, appearance, and setting appropriate to the context, including the classroom, workplace, and community.
6.3 Apply successful organizational strategies of planning, goal setting, prioritizing, resolving conflict, and managing time to specific goals and/or projects.

7. Aesthetics & Creativity

Definition: Interpreting human experience through engagement with creative processes and aesthetic principles.

Outcomes: Students will be able to . . .
7.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the creative process.

Course Contents

  1. Listening skills-speaking skills
  2. Note taking, idea mapping
  3. Intonation, discussion skills
  4. Asking and answering questions
  5. Rhythm and sentence stress
  6. Small and large group presentations
  7. Understanding spoken academic English
  8. Appropriate classroom communication skills
  9. Critical thinking skills-expressing appropriately