Global Communications (Lang 100Y)

Instructor: Katya Fairbanks

Global Communications uses American academic English to engage language and cultural issues in order to enhance the international student’s ability to succeed in graduate school. Operating under the theory that in order to learn a language, one must learn the culture, the course will study American culture as it influences daily academic life. The students are asked to refine their English skills in order to do the writing, reading, thinking, talking, and listening that graduate school demands. To this end students are asked to do freewrites, write essays, read actively and critically, proofread, participate in discussions, give presentations, keep a researcher’s journal, and address individual language and learning issues.

The students will work on writing, listening, reading, discussion, and analysis in every class. They are expected to arrive on time for all class meetings and to participate actively in class discussion.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Readings

Readings will be assigned from the text and other sources. You will also be required to find articles for use in preparing essays and presentations. The main additional reading assignments will be articles and/or books for the synthesis paper.

Essays

There will be four main essay assignments: a short introductory essay, a summary, a critique, and an argument synthesis . Please submit essay drafts on 81/2” x 11” paper, typed, and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. You will write the main assignments in two drafts, the second of which will receive a grade. Along with each first draft, you will attach a cover memo that discusses specific problems and questions you had as you were writing. All essays must be submitted on time. If an essay is late, the grade will be lowered. If you are not satisfied with your grade, you may do additional revisions. The grades on these papers will be averaged with the original grade.

Freewrites

You will frequently write impromptu pieces in class for 5 to 15 minutes. Occasionally your classmates, tutor, or the instructor will respond to them, but they will not be graded. These freewrites are to promote fluency, speed, and clarity in written English by omitting the pressure of a grade and allowing you to explore ideas.

Researcher’s journal

As you begin the synthesis paper you will be asked to keep a researcher’s journal. This should include observations, insights, questions, thoughts, opinions about your topic of research and about the process of researching. It is meant to be a source from which you will later be able to get ideas for your paper. Allow your thoughts to take whatever direction they will and include anything you think may or may not be useful later in your paper. Keep all your entries dated in your journal binder.

Class presentations and discussions

Presentations will include a short introductory talk during the first weeks of class, a group presentation, one or two individual presentations, and a final presentation of the material researched for the synthesis paper. These should all be well prepared and rehearsed before class. You will also be asked to lead discussions on classmates’ papers in the peer review workshops.

Oral summaries of articles

In each tutoring session, you will give the tutor a short, prepared oral summary of a newspaper or magazine article of your choice. You may speak from notes but not from the article itself. You must bring a hard copy of the article for the tutor to refer to while you speak.

Required Texts:

Assignments and Class Schedule