Academic Catalog

NCEL 435: LISTENING/SPEAKING FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 0
Hours: 5 lecture per week (60 total per quarter)
Prerequisite: Appropriate placement through Foothill College's placement model (i.e., guided self-placement).
Advisory: Successful completion of ESLL 226 and 227, or NCEL 426 and 427 strongly recommended; intended for students whose native language is not English.
Degree & Credit Status: Non-Degree-Applicable Non-Credit Course
Basic Skills, 2 Levels Below Transfer
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: None
Grade Type: Pass/No Pass Only
Repeatability: Unlimited Repeatability

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Summarize a lecture.
  • Participate in group discussions based on lectures.

Description

A noncredit listening/speaking course focusing on preparing students for listening to authentic lectures and participating in classroom discussions and presentations.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Listen for different purposes
  2. Respond to listening tasks in different ways
  3. Recognize the basic features of spoken English in academic discourse
  4. Make connections between speech and writing
  5. Participate in conversations in class and in groups
  6. Participate in class and group activities
  7. Participate in multicultural group activities
  8. Speak with relative intelligibility in an academic context
  9. Give oral presentations on academic and personal subjects
  10. Develop an effective understanding of how thought groups and focus words facilitate the understanding of spoken English
  11. Demonstrate the use of thought groups with emphasis on focus words to facilitate better understand of spoken communication

Course Content

  1. Listening for different purposes
    1. Learning learning about the spoken features of English
    2. Getting getting information
    3. Participating in conversations
    4. Learning new concepts
    5. Integrating information from multiple sources
    6. Distinguishing among types of discourse
      1. Directions
      2. Announcements
      3. Narratives
      4. Conversations
      5. Simulated and authentic lectures
    7. Appropriate strategies for listening tasks include:
      1. Tolerating ambiguity
      2. Adjusting to a variety of speakers
      3. Guessing meaning from context
      4. Making predictions
      5. Forming hypotheses
      6. Listening for main idea
      7. Listening for specific details
      8. Differentiating between fact and opinion
      9. Identifying lecture language that indicates main ideas, supporting ideas, transitions, and repetition
  2. Responding to listening tasks in different ways
    1. Taking lecture notes
      1. Using abbreviations
      2. Noting content words and eliminating function words
    2. Reconstructing notes into narrative form
    3. Taking dictation
    4. Writing critical responses
    5. Writing summaries of lectures
    6. Giving oral summaries using paraphrasing
      1. Using meaningful body and facial language to communicate in oral summaries
  3. Recognizing the basic features of spoken English in academic discourse
    1. Listening for number of syllables
    2. Listening for stressed syllables
    3. Listening for grammatical signals at the ends of words, e.g., /s/, /d/
    4. Listening for word blending in discourse
    5. Listening for stress on content words
    6. Listening for rhythm in discourse
  4. Making connections between speech and writing
    1. Learning sound/spelling correspondences
    2. Recognizing stylistic difference between speech and writing in academic vocabulary and discourse
  5. Participating in conversations in class and in groups
    1. Responding appropriately in conversations
    2. Initiating conversations
    3. Sustaining conversations
    4. Turn taking
    5. Conducting interviews
  6. Participating in class and group activities
    1. Asking questions in class
    2. Asking for clarification
    3. Negotiating class activities
    4. Asking for repetition
    5. Asking for specific information
    6. Comparing and contrasting
    7. Presenting and defending opinions
    8. Explaining
    9. Analyzing
    10. Defining terms and concepts
    11. Showing comprehension
    12. Being active in class according to U.S. class cultural expectations
    13. Working in groups according to U.S. academic cultural expectations
    14. Discussing lectures and readings
    15. Leading, participating in and reporting on discussions
  7. Participating in multicultural group activities
    1. Learning to accommodate and negotiate differences in how students participate in American classrooms
    2. Giving eye contact and body language to show interest and attention
  8. Speaking with relative intelligibility in an academic context
    1. Using appropriate number of syllables in words
    2. Pronouncing final syllables of words, especially syllables that show grammatical endings, e.g., plurality, possession, tense
    3. Placing stress on the appropriate syllable of words
    4. Placing sentence stress appropriately in common phrases to focus, emphasize, contrast
    5. Using intonation appropriately, e.g., to introduce or conclude a topic, to distinguish between main points and descriptive details
    6. Speaking in appropriate phrases and not single one-word-at-a-time sentences
  9. Giving oral presentations on academic and personal subjects
    1. Applying the rules of pronunciation and stress in controlled and communicative practice with peers
      1. Using appropriate stress on content words in spoken English to create the anticipated rhythm in spoken discourse
      2. Using appropriate body language, facial expressions, and eye-contact
  10. Developing an effective understanding of how thought groups and focus words facilitate the understanding of spoken English
    1. Identifying thought groups and their focus words for effective communication
    2. Recognizing how the same group of words when put into different thought groups can change meaning
    3. Recognizing how a shift on a focus word in a thought group can change the intent of the speaker
  11. Demonstrating the use of thought groups with emphasis on focus words to facilitate better understanding of spoken communication
    1. Applying learned rules for thought groups in controlled and communicative oral practice
    2. Shifting the focus to different words in the same thought groups and demonstrate how this changes meaning
    3. Incorporating thought groups with focus words into formal and informal class presentations

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught online, ongoing access to internet connection, email software and hardware, and a working email address are required.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Textbook- and/or teacher-generated listening quizzes
Homework
1. Listening to/watching a lecture
2. Summarizing the lecture
3. Being able to answer questions about the lecture
Oral presentations
1. Short presentations on personal or academic topics
Group work
1. Turn-taking
2. Initiating questions
3. Non-verbal signals and eye-contact

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Class and group discussion
Oral presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Frazier, Laurie, and Shalle Leeming. Lecture Ready 3. 2013.

Gilbert, Judy. Clear Speech. 2017.

Grant, Linda. Well Said: Pronunciation for Clear Communication. 2016.

Although some of the representative texts for this course are older than the suggested "5 years or newer" standard, they remain seminal texts in this area of study.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Readings in the texts
  2. Writing to support listening and speaking activities
  3. One-on-one survey taken on campus outside of the classroom
  4. Listening to lectures on campus in chosen discipline
  5. Listening to assigned videos (TED-Talks, The World from PRI, etc.)
  6. Recording possible personal stories on The World from PRI

Discipline(s)

English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Second Language (ESL): Noncredit