DAR ES SALAAM UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (DUCE)

CL 106: Communication Skills

Course instructor: Dr Mdoe Kuria M
Course Objectives
This course is designed to improve students' proficiency in listening to lectures, reading
academic texts, making notes, and writing essays. It includes work on description of physical
objects, hypothesis and speculation, explanation and logical argument.

Course Description
The principal aim of this course is to improve the students’ ability to learn efficiently through the
medium of English and to communicate about their specialist subjects in English. The course
concentrates on the way that information is presented in academic discourse, that is, not in
isolated sentences but in lectures, textbooks, articles etc. It is designed to equip students with
strategies to improve their efficiency in listening to lectures, reading academic texts, taking notes
from speech and writing, and planning and writing essays.

Delivery: 30 Lectures and 15 Seminars

Assessment: Coursework 40 percent; Final examination 60 percent.

Course Content
Module 1: Theory and Nature of Communication
1.1 Defining communication
1.2 The communication cycle
1.3 Routes of communication
1.4 Media of communication
1.5 Non-verbal communication
1.6 Barriers of communication
1.7 Techniques for Improved communication
Module 2: Grammar
2.1 Basic sentence structure
2.2 The tense system
2.3 The use of articles
2.4 Verbs – verb phrases, non-finite verb forms, passive verb forms, perfect
verb forms, modal verbs.
Module 3: Listening and Note Taking/Making
3.1 Listening process and types
3.2 Barriers to listening
3.2 Purpose for writing notes
3.2 Information structure in spoken and written texts
3.3 Note-taking from lectures
3.4 Note-making from written texts
3.5 Techniques for note-taking -organisation, layout, brevity etc.

Module 4: Reading Skills

4.1 Overview and purpose of reading
4.2 Types of reading: scanning and skimming; intensive and extensive reading

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 4.3 Intensive reading technique (SQ3R)
4.4 Deduction and inference
4.5 Connecting words and reference words to enhance comprehension
4.6 Managing difficult words (inference, dictionary, co-text, context etc.)
4.7 Bad reading habits

Module 5: Writing Skills

5.1 Writing process and stages in writing
5.2 Paragraph and essay structure (title, topic and thesis sentence)
5.3 Interpreting essay questions
5.4 Style and advanced punctuation
5.5 Documentation-citation, referencing styles
5.6 Plagiarism and ways to avoid it
5.7 Managing graphic / non-word information

Module 6: Presentation Skills

6.1 Presentation – preliminary consideration
6.2 Using visuals to simplify, quantify, simulate, illustrate, record etc.
6.3 Speaker skills
6.4 Presentation methods
6.5 Using feedback techniques
6.6 Non-verbal communication

Basic Readings
Bailey, R.E., and Denstaedt, L. (2005). Destinations: An integrated approach to writing
paragraphs and essays. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Beebe, S. et al (2016). Communication: Principles of Lifetime. Boston: Pearson.
Cusack, B, and McCarter, S. (2007). Listening and Speaking Skills. New York: Macmillan
Devito, J. A. (2015). Basic Communication: The Basic Course. Boston: Pearson.
Ferguson Career Skills Library. (2004). Communication skills. New York: Facts on File, Inc.
German, K. M. (2017). Principles of Public Speaking. New York: Routledge.
Gregory, H. (2005). Public speaking for college and career. 7th edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Hargie, O. (2019). The handbook of communication skills. London: Routledge.
Langan, J. (2006). English Skills. 8th edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill.
Langan, J. (2014). College Writing Skills. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Pearson, J. et al. (2011). Human Communication. London: McGraw-Hill.

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