TECHNICAL ENGLISH- II anna university syllabus

TECHNICAL ENGLISH- II                                    L  T  P  C

                             (Common to all B.E/B.Tech programmes)                         3  0   0   3


Aim: To motivate students to develop their communication skills along with the thinking skill, and thus equip them for autonomous learning.

Objectives:
To enable the students to:

●      Extend their power to listen to English at the advanced level and comprehend its message.

●      Have a functional knowledge of spoken English at the formal levels.

●      Be able to read and get the in-depth meaning of technical and non-technical passages in English.

●      Master the art of writing official letters, reports, proposals, etc.

●      Expand their thinking capability so that they learn how to think and verbalize their thoughts.

UNIT I                                                                                                                                9

Listening task: Listening to technical topics. Speaking task: Debating for and against an issue – group discussion – persuading and negotiating strategies – public speaking. Reading task: Intensive reading & predicting content. Writing task: Writing extended definitions – writing paragraphs based on discussion – writing analytical paragraphs on different debatable issues – circular writing – memos – notice – agenda – minutes of a meeting. Language highlights: Technical vocabulary – one word substitution – prepositions.

UNIT II                                                                                                                             9

Listening task: Listening to intercultural communication. Speaking task: Speaking exercises involving the use of stress and intonation – presentations based on short stories / poems. Reading task: Extended reading – suggested reading (short stories, poems). Writing task: Writing formal letters – inquiry, quotation – clarification – orders – complaint – letters seeking permission for industrial visits – book reviews – writing for the web. Language highlights: Compound adjectives – making sentences using different grammatical forms of the same word (object verb / object noun).

UNIT III                                                                                                                             9

Listening task: Listening to interviews of famous / political personalities. Speaking task: Giving an oral presentation of a prepared report. Reading task: Critical reading – reading comprehension exercises with critical questions. Writing task: Report writing – types (industrial accident reports – survey reports – recommendation & feasibility reports) – writing recommendations. Language highlights: Impersonal passive voice – negative prefixes – direct and indirect speech.

UNIT IV                                                                                                                            9

Listening task: Listening exercises related to the TV (talk shows – news – other programmes). Speaking task: Speaking on academic topics – news reading – acting as a compeer. Reading task: Reading comprehension exercises with analytical questions on context – evaluation of context. Writing task: Writing argumentative paragraphs – writing letters of application enclosing a CV / Résumé – writing email messages – short biography writing. Language highlights: Numerical adjectives – error correction.

UNIT V                                                                                                                               9

Listening task: Listening to films of short duration (1 to 1.5 hrs). Speaking task: Brain storming & discussion – speaking about case studies on problems and solutions – extempore speeches – non-verbal communication. Reading task: Extensive reading (novel). Writing task: Writing an essay – writing a proposal. Language highlights: If-conditionals – technical and general meanings of words.

TOTAL = 45 PERIODS

Project work: At the beginning of the semester, the students should be informed of a mini project of 3000 words which they need to submit towards the end of the semester. This can be judged as part of their internal assessment.

TEXTBOOK

1. Dhanavel, S.P. 2010. English and Communication Skills for Students of Science and Engineering. Units 6-10. Chennai: Orient Blackswan.

REFERENCES

1. Houp, K W., T E Pearsall, E Tebeaux, and S Dragga. 2006. Reporting Technical Information. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. Ibbotson, Mark. 2009. Cambridge English for Engineering. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
3. Mishra, Sunita., and C Muralikrishna. 2006. Communication Skills for Engineers. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
4. Mohan, Krishna., and Meera Banerjee. 2009. Developing Communication Skills. 2^nd edition. New Delhi: Macmillan.
5. Riordian, Daniel. 2009. Technical Communication. New Delhi. Cengage Learning.
6. Weiss, E H. 2009. The Elements of International English Style: A Guide to Writing Correspondence, Reports, Technical Documents, Internet Pages for a Global Audience. New Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India Ltd.
7. Extensive Reading: (NOT FOR EXAMINATION) Khera, Shiv. 2011. You Can Win. New Delhi: Macmillan