ELI 851 - Current Events and Academic Discourse

This course teaches advanced listening and communication skills through interactive classroom projects and student led panel discussions on current topics important to understanding directions in higher education, research and development. Students will practice communication skills for discussion including; polite interruption and disagreement, question-answer, and engagement strategies. Students will also learn and use necessary academic vocabulary for discussing topics in economic sustainability, global health, technology, the brain and creativity. Each student will complete a video-taped presentation as a final project.. Learning Objectives: A. Handle complicated situations with comprehensible communication. B. Express opinions and knowledge using circumlocution and fine shades of meaning. C. Give appropriate response to a given situation. D. Use pronunciation and grammar that never interfere with comprehension. E. Be coherent with effective use of cohesive devices. F. Demonstrate comprehension of descriptions and narration of factual and technical material. G. Demonstrate comprehension of conversations and discussions with native speakers without much repetition or re-wording.