2024/2025
Smart Talk: Key principles to effective communication
Type:
Optional course (university)
Delivered by:
Department of Foreign Languages
When:
3, 4 module
Open to:
everyone
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The course is aimed at everyone who wants to master the art of persuasive communication and develop public speaking skills in English. It might be recommended to students of various disciplines. The course participants will get acquainted with the modes of persuasion, rhetorical techniques, the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to persuade, motivate and negotiate in a number of professional and life situations. Students will learn through practice to develop their skills of reasoning and persuasion while applying them for various scenarios. The best TED Talks will be analyzed to identify methods and techniques to communicate complex ideas, motivate and manipulate audiences. Multimedia interactive cases (computer games) are included into the course to enhance students’ engagement. By the end of their studies, course participants will give their own talks in different formats (academic presentation, sales pitch, social persuasive talk, etc.).The course is practice-oriented, and the students will not only improve their English, but also develop their communicative skills within different social, cultural and professional settings.The required level of language proficiency is B2 CEFR.
Learning Objectives
- To study the main strategies of speech influence, taking into account socio-cultural factors influencing the result of communication.
- 2. To develop tactics and strategies of text generation in different speech registers.
- 3. Master the conventions of speech communication in society, rules and traditions of intercultural and professional communication.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Prepare effective public speeches taking into account not only verbal but also non-verbal components.
- Build professional intercultural communication taking into account social factors (gender, age, status, etc.).
- Effectively apply the techniques of speech manipulation in oral and written texts.
- Create effective multimedia game-based multicode texts.
Course Contents
- 1. Professional Communication
- 2. The nature of language: linguistic universals and linguistic variation
- 3. Intercultural communication
- 4. Non-verbal communication
- 5. Language means of persuasion
- 6. Fundamentals of public speaking
- 7. Building effective oral skills
- 8. Key TED Talk strategies
- 9. Muilimodal case ‘How different is different. The case of TBS’
- 10. Exam
Assessment Elements
- TestsKey terminology tests Content test quizzes
- Classroom activityClassroom interaction / homework (oral tasks (participation in seminar discussions/ answers to lecture questions) +comments made in seminars+ homework on assigned topics. A student can get 1-2 points for relevant extended comments made in a seminar (visualized in a record sheet as +\++or a -) and should have at least 3 marks for home work tasks.
- Examan oral defense of the group project: Aasales pitch is a speech/ presentation a person gives to persuade someone to buy their product. Students should demonstrate their video/ a poster ad and the presentation to explain the modes of persuasion, different instances of playful use of language you used in the video.
