UVW 312:

English for Technical

Communication
Week 1

Centre for International Languages (CIL)

Semester 2, 2019/2020.
FATEN KHALIDA BINTI KHALID
017-4473774
faten@unimap.edu.my
What is UVW 312 –
English for Technical
Communication?
 Course Overview:
• UVW 312 = compulsory course to ALL
Engineering and Engineering Technology
students.
• What will you learn throughout this course?
– Various theories of Technical Communication.
– Conduct primary and secondary research.
– Extract, evaluate and synthesize information with
a view to write good technical documents.
– Prepare technical documents as well as on how
to write clearly and concisely.
– Present their research report orally.
 UVW 312’s Assessments
1) Coursework:
Assignment 1: Designing a Questionnaire 5%
Assignment 2: Proposal Report 15%
Assignment 3: Oral presentation 10%

2) Examination:
i. Midterm test 20%
ii. Final Examination 50%

TOTAL= 100%
Proposal Report
Proposal Report
Group work: Propose a NEW program to be
implemented at your workplace/nearby
community.
E.g.:
– UniMAP Got Talent
– Explorace
– Six-pax Abs Fitness Class
– Movie Marathon
– Etc.
–(PROPOSAL REPORT TEMPLATE will be given later)
Technical Communication
 First of all, what is
COMMUNICATION?
 COMMUNICATION

• “The interchange of thoughts or information

to bring about mutual understanding,
confidence and effective human relationships”
(Biesler et al. 1990:1-2)

• Good communication is believed to result in

sharing the meaning of a message
• Types: Verbal and Non Verbal (?)
Types of Communication
What do we need to communicate?
RECEIVER

SENDER
 Flow of Communication

Channel
Sender (means)
Barriers Receiver
(Encoding to
the Memo (Decoding
communication
Message) Phone call The message)
Sms
Fax
E-mail
 What is Technical Communication?
Technical communication is communication
done at the workplace. It includes both written
and oral communication.

i. Important element in any workplace and

organisation.
ii. Specific purposes and audience.
iii. To communicate with colleagues and
superior.
iv. Presentation at a conference/ meetings.
Types of Technical Communication

WRITTEN ORAL
– Letters, memos – Formal and informal
– Reports presentations
– Advertising and – Group discussion
promotional materials – Etc.
– Guides, manuals,
instructions
– Newsletters, magazines
– Etc.
 Features of Technical Communication
Personal Essay Academic Writing Technical
Communication
1. Purpose • To convey • To communicate • To get something
personal what you know done within an
observations or about the topic, in a organization or
feelings. way that justifies a helping someone
high grade. else get something
done.
2. Audience • Readers from all • The lecturers who • Specific readers.
walks of life. requests the • In technical
•The writer assignment and writing, the writer
expresses his/her reads it from usually responds to
point of view, shares beginning to the the needs of the
experiences and end. reader/ workplace.
expects •The writer writes • Writer expects not
understanding from according to the only understanding
readers. topics and criteria from readers, but
laid out by the also specific actions
lecturer. after reading.
 Features of Technical Communication
Personal Essay Academic Writing Technical
Communication
3. Organization • Standard use of • Standard use of • Use of headings to
topic sentence and topic sentence and help readers form
transitional transitional their perceptions at
expressions. expressions. a single glance.
• Readers need to • Readers need to • Headings draw
read in-depth read in-depth attention to the
before the main before the main information
point and the point and the provided by the
organization organization document and
become apparent. become apparent. allow readers to
read only what they
want or need to
read.
4. Style of Writing • Casual, • Requires depth, • Simple concise and
conversational and logic, clarity, straightforward that
predictable. supporting evidence is easily understood.
• Uses examples and and grammar. • Use of short
descriptions. sentences and
predictable
sentence order.
 Features of Technical Communication
Personal Essay Academic Writing Technical
Communication
5. Tone • Expressive, • Academic, formal • Objective and
portraying emotion and objective. businesslike.
such as sadness,
excitement,
humour, etc.
6. Graphic Elements • Rarely used. • Sometimes used • Frequently used to
to explain and help readers to find
persuade. important
information as
quickly as possible.
 CMAPP Model
CONTEXT
AUDIENCE MESSAGE

PURPOSE PRODUCT
 CMAPP Model
CMAPP DEFINTION

C: CONTEXT • Surrounding situation such as time and place,

relationship between the sender and receiver and other
factors that impact the communication.
M: MESSAGE • The content of the communications.
• E.g.: Message, information, etc.
A: AUDIENCE • Your listeners/ readers.
• Primary audience ( The person/ people you want to reach
first)
•Secondary audience (Other people that you want to reach
as well)
P: PRODUCT • The physical from of communication and its appearance (
reports, memos, letters, etc.)
P: PURPOSE •The reason you are communicating (to remind, to
inform..) and the reactions/responses you are expecting
from your audience.
WHY is it important for us to
communicate?
 Importance of Communication
ORGANIZATION SELF
Your knowledge and ideas
will be useless unless
All organization
you communicate them
require up-to-date to others.
information to operate Communication expertise
efficiently. will be critical to your
career success.
 Exercise
1. What do you understand about Technical
Communication?
2. At workplace, how can you communicate with your
boss or colleagues?
3. CMAPP Model is developed to describe about the
nature of technical communication. Define CMAPP.
4. Why communication is regarded as important at
any workplace?
5. What makes Technical Communication differ from
other types of writing such as academic writing or
personal essays?
The Technical Writing
Process
What is the writing process?
Why do we use writing process?
Steps to the Writing Process?

Plan
 1. Planning
• Researching and collecting data.
• Brainstorm about the topic.
• Searching the information from the internet.
• Organizing your information.
• Decide which point you would like to mention
first.
• Outlining your communication.
• Outlining, Listing and Mindmapping.
Outlining
 Steps in Outlining
1. Organizing data for an outline.
– Compile all data by jotting down as many major and minor points as
possible.
– Jotting down points help you to make connections between the
points.

2. Drafting an outline.
– Identify relevant/irrelevant points. Organize your points under
appropriate headings.
– Brainstorm the points and connect the main points to its supporting
points.

3. Finalizing an outline.
– Refine your outline by revising and finalizing it.
Listing
 Steps in Listing
1. Listing of ideas.
– Write down anything you can think of relating to the topic.
– Write it down in the form of a list.

2. Grouping of ideas.
– Look for items or ideas that might be logically related in some way
and group them.

3. Finalizing your list.

– Look over your list again and see if any other items or ideas logically
go together.
Clustering/ Mind Mapping
Steps in Clustering/ Mind Mapping
1. Write down your main idea.
– Write down your main ideas in the centre of a blank piece of paper
and circle it.

2. Create a diagram or ideas.

– As new word or idea strikes you, draw a new circle and draw a line
from it to the preceding circle, each representing a major idea
coming from the centre.
– When a new idea occurs, draw more lines, circles and words.

3. Keep clustering till you run out of ideas.

– Keep clustering until the moment when a sense of the whole is
achieved, that a structure has made itself known.
Organizing the Message

Deciding on the sequences or order of your

information.
a) Chronological
b) Spatial
c) Comparing and contrasting
d) Most important to the least important
e) Cause and Effect
 1. Chronological organisation
• Information is organized according to TIME or WHEN
an event takes place.
• The development of a product or the history of an
event (ascending/descending order).
• E.g. : The disappearance of MH 370 flight
– March 8: Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370, a Boeing 777-
200 ER missing on a flight from KL to Beijing with 239
passengers and crew aboard.
– March 17: The search moved to Southern Indian ocean.
– April 7: “Black box” pings detected.
– April 16: Underwater search starts.
– June 30: Seafloor mapping starts.
 2. Spatial Organisation
• Information are arranged according to PLACEMENT/POSITION
or GEOGRAPHY.
• Description of a piece of equipment composed of a number of
parts explaining how each part works in relation to the other.
• Presenting sales figures according to geographical region.
• E.g.:
Remove any jammed pieces of paper from the copier.
Firstly, turn the unit off and press the top cover release
button and open the cover. Check for any jammed pieces of
paper and remove. Open the cover on the machine’s left
side and check in there as well. Turn on the copier and
check to see if it functions normally.
 3. Comparing and contrasting
• Information is arranged according to
SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCES.
• E.g.:
– Advantages and disadvantages of _____________.
4. Most important to the least important.

• When more than one point is given, the most

important idea is presented first and the
consecutive points are listed in descending
order of importance.
 5. Cause and Effect order.

- REASONS for an event

- CONSEQUENCES of an action.
e.g.:
As the phenomenon of global warming worsens, it is
expected that energy expenditures for countries around
the world will show a marked increase as hotter
temperatures will mean more air conditioning for
consumers, and more difficult and expensive operating
conditions for electric power plants.
 2. Drafting
• FIRST VERSION of the writing
• The focus is to DEVELOP the ideas you have
brainstormed, not to find errors in the writing
yet.
• Subject to change.
 3. Revising
• Reading through and making changes to the
first draft.
– E.g.:
Rearrange the sentences / make
improvements in word choice.
• Make sure the message says exactly what it is
supposed to.
• Things to be considered:
– Have you put all the important information?
– Does the paragraph flow well?
– Did you wander from your points?
The ABCs of Revising
 A : Accuracy
• Have you chosen the right information for the
situation?
• Are all your facts relevant to the topic?
• Have you make sure that all the facts are
correct?
• Is the information supported by any evidence?
 B: Brevity
• ‘ Say what you need to say and stop’
• SIMPLE, CONCISE and STRAIGHT TO THE
POINT.
• NO wordy sentences OR irrelevant visuals.
 C: Clarity
• Ability to be easily understood.
• Is the message CLEAR and UNDERSTANDABLE
to the audience?
• Words and grammatical structure.
• Organization of information.
• Way you present your message to your
audience.
 4. Editing and Proofreading

• Modify / refine a written message to improve

it.
• Editing :
 check the LENGTH and TYPES of sentences.
 use LANGUAGE that is APPROPRIATE for your
audience.
 avoid OVERUSED words.
 check for CLARITY, COMPLETENESS and TONE.
 4. Editing and Proofreading

Proofreading :
 Look for general content errors
Misspelled words, incorrect spacing, punctuation and
so on.
 5. Publishing

• The final document (error-free) is ready for

publication.
• Deliver your document to the receiver OR
make it available to public.
• Consider the visual viewpoint of the writing.
 Exercise
1. Writing is a process that involves several steps. How many
stages do we have in the technical writing process?
2. How many methods do we have in planning a piece of
writing?
3. When we are deciding the sequence/order of the information
in our writing, there are FIVE common organizational patterns
that can be used. Define each of them.
4. What is the ABC of Revising?
5. What is the difference between Editing and Proofreading?
 TASK!!

• Make a research about the following topics.

• Next week’s discussion. 
 Topics
Topic 1:
Discuss about things that you should do/ should not do BEFORE,
DURING And AFTER attending a job interview.
Topic 2:
Men’s and Women’s physical appearance (attire, personal
hygiene, colour) for attending job interview.
Topic 3:
Frequently asked questions for job interview + Tips to answer
them.
Dealing with sensitive questions asked.
Thank you 