English Communication Skills for Electronics EngineeringLaajuus (3 ECTS)

Objective

On completion of the course the student will be able to write formal reports on electronics projects and present them orally.

He/she also understands procedures of formal and informal meetings and knows appropriate language phrases used in meeting situations, whether as a participant or as a chairperson. He/she is familiar with meeting documents, such as a notice of meeting, memo/minutes of the meeting.

The student also understands the role of cultural background in interaction with other people. He/she becomes more aware of the cultural processes and is able to pay attention to these when meeting people from different backgrounds.

Content

- Principles of planning, structuring and writing formal reports in the field of electronics and appropriate use of language register.
- Reporting on an electronics project both orally and in writing.
- Documentation of data and source material in texts.
- Oral project communication: team work, informal and formal meetings and negotiations.
- Basic variables concerning cultural and individual differences in intercultural communication and how these affect communication and interaction.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

In communication situations related to his/her field the student
• trusts his/her communication skills to manage professional communication events using inquiries and relatively short speech acts
• understands the communication partner enough to be able to act and verbalize in accordance with the task in question
• understands that cultural differences may affect the communication situation
• expresses his/her thoughts simply, mainly coherently, and relatively understandably, even if there may be deficiencies in professional terminology and structural inaccuracies, which may interfere with full understanding
• draws up simple, formatted texts independently and extensive texts using linguistic help tools

Assessment criteria, good (3)

In communication situations related to his/her field the student
• trusts his/her communication skills to manage in the professional context in line with the objectives set for the task
• interacts professional content as an equal partner with an independent language user
• takes the initiative in professional discourse and can take into account participants’ cultural and language backgrounds to some degree and the demands of the context
• expresses him/herself promptly in clear and detailed manner
• uses professional terminology to the point
• pronounces English clearly with matching stress and intonation
• produces genres for different purposes, where linguistic inaccuracy does not interfere with understanding

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

In communication situations related to his/her field the student
• trusts his/her communications skills to allow him/her to take initiative in communication events following the discourse practice of the field
• interacts clearly and fluently as an equal partner with a proficient speaker
• takes initiative also in demanding professional communications where participants’ cultural and language backgrounds need to be taken into account
• expresses him/herself effectively and accurately
• uses professional terminology to the point
• pronounces English clearly, with stress and rhythm matching the total message
• has the ability to produce several genres, which are clear, well-structured and effective