COURSE TITLE: JBTE/COM100: English and Communications I
CREDITS: 3
DURATION: 45 Hours
PREREQUISITES: CXC English A, General Proficiency, Grades I, II or III
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to enhance students’ information gathering and processing skills. It focuses on both the reading and listening skills required for basic research, effective comprehension and
assimilation and summary of information. The course is designed to alert students to the processes involved in reading and listening and the strategies that could aid those processes. Students are expected to utilize the available technology as well as all library resources.
RATIONALE
The post-CXC student is expected to interact with more sophisticated levels of language in the pursuit of academic knowledge at a tertiary institution. The student must meet the challenge of
converting information in the form of lectures and reading materials, into clear and accurate notes and points. Preparation for the roles and responsibilities of a citizen also requires the
student to employ sound reasoning and judgemental skills in weighing oral or written rhetoric. Consequently, he/she must draw increasingly on higher-level comprehension skills that will
facilitate effective critical interaction with oral and written language. In order to use language proficiently, students must first be cognizant of the nature of language itself and recognize its
various functions. Analytical awareness of language eventually translates (through the type of practice provided in Communications II), into proficient language production.
OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to enable students to:
demonstrate an understanding of the nature and function of language.
recognise and appreciate the variety of ways in which writers and speakers use language.
utilise basic study and research skills and strategies.
respond critically and creatively to samples of spoken and written material.
select, retrieve, evaluate and combine information from a variety of textual and oral
sources.