Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Unit Guide
TRIMESTER 1 2013
Lecture Information
Time:
Venue: TBA
Pre-requisites: None
Teaching Staff
Teaching Role
Name
Oanh.Duong@isb.edu.vn
Room
TBA
Consultation Times
By appointment
Unit Description
Increasingly, Vietnamese students entering the job market are expected to be able to function
both in Vietnam and in international contexts. While Vietnamese university education places a
triple emphasis on soft skills, hard skills, and proficiency in at least one foreign language, reality
shows that Vietnamese students are still inadequately trained in soft skills, causing students to
lose opportunities both within the classroom and in the job market. This introductory course is
an effort to equip Vietnamese students with basic survival skills and aims to prepare students to
become more successful in both academic and working environments by targeting common
weaknesses and shortcomings that Vietnamese graduates face. In particular, this course
emphasises cross-cultural communication, particularly with English-speaking cultures, and is
designed to help students become more confident, adaptable, and suitable for work in a
multicultural environment.
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Aims
This course aims to help Vietnamese students gain skills necessary for success in international
workplaces as well as in academic environments at colleges and universities. Skills covered by
the course include critical thinking and analysis, communication, academic and business writing,
research methodology, and learner autonomy. Furthermore, this course aims to introduce and
train students in problem solving skills for both academic and real-life applications. The course
is tailored to the Vietnamese context and addresses specific cultural differences and difficulties
that Vietnamese students commonly face when working in an international environment.
Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students are expected to have gained a foundation in the
following four skills, which also serve as the four focuses of the course.
1. A basic general understanding of skills necessary for both academic and business
environments within an international context.
2. Critical thinking, including analyzing and formulating evidence-based arguments.
3. Integrated basic language skills for improved student functionality within Englishlanguage environments (such as reading, note-taking, speaking, writing, and active
listening).
4. Oral communication, including spoken etiquette in both formal and informal situations
and spoken English fluency.
5. Writing, including business and academic writing as well as IELTS and TOEFL writing.
6. Research skills and Learner autonomy, including finding and evaluating sources,
citations, and presentation skills.
Learner Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Perform well in international-level academic and business environments.
2. Analyze and assess arguments presented in both scholarly and popular texts.
3. Formulate coherent arguments and present evidence based on analysis of information to
develop and support a position.
4. Identify key components of the communication process and communication styles for
effective communication, both in written and oral forms with other related skills in an
academic setting.
5. Communicate effectively using proper etiquette in written and oral forms in both formal
and informal situations.
6. Understand the concepts and practices needed to accomplish written assignments/projects
and to deliver an effective presentation.
7. Develop a better understanding of different learning styles and techniques necessary to
work effectively as individuals or collaboratively with others.
8. Develop a higher comprehensive understanding of the academic research process.
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LECTURE PROGRAM
The following is a general program for the course that indicates the topics covered in each class
along with the associated activities and required assignments/reading. The lecturer may modify
this syllabus at his/her discretion and add or remove material as necessary to accomplish the
goals of the unit. The course is taught over the duration of 40 hours, with each class lasting two
hours and the last two classes (i.e. four hours) dedicated to the final revision.
Focus
Topic
Ask students to
define critical
Critical thinking
thinking
Definitions and applications Describe a picture
critically (pair
of critical thinking
work and group
work)
Use GRE prompts
for both evaluating
Critical thinking
an argument and
Analysing and evaluating an formulating an
argument
argument.
Practice writing in
Formulating an evidenceclass
based argument
Brainstorming (pair
and group work)
Identifying critical
thinkers
Critical thinking
Developing critical
Integrated language skills in
reading, speaking,
critical thinking
listening, writing
skills
Ask students to
name some
common problems
Communication
they face
(communication
Common problems in oral
breakdown,
communication
miscommunication,
Introduction to Englishunintended
language etiquette
attitudes)
Communication
2
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Activities
Identify basic
requirements for
Required
Assignments/Reading
Unistep Chapter 4:
Thinking Critically, pp.
70-89
Handout
Video clips
Handout (GRE)
Unistep Chapter 1:
Related University
Survival Kit, pp 5-13
Unistep Chapter 4:
Critical Reading and
Note-taking, pp. 94133; Handout
Video clips
Reading: Brian
Paltridge, Chapter 5:
conversation analysis
(85-101)
Cross-cultural video
clips and handouts
(include clips on some
other non-English
cultures and
distinguishing different
English-speaking
cultures)
Reading: Linda Grant,
Well Said
pronunciation, stress,
intonation, and rhythm
English speaking,
practice.
Communication
Role-play pair
and group work
and presentation
Etiquette in speaking:
Quantity, Quality, Relation,
and Manner
Useful expressions in daily
English communication
Small talk
Role-play
Communication
Etiquette in speaking:
Politeness, Keeping face
and losing face in a crosscultural context, Non-verbal
communication
Communication
Academic speaking:
Effective presentation in
formal contexts
Mock interview
Group/pair work
and
presentation/report
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Reading: Brian
Paltridge, Chapter 3:
The cooperative
principles and
conversational maxims
(39-57)
Handouts
Video clip
Reading: Brian
Paltridge, Chapter 3:
The cooperative
principles and
conversational maxims
(39-57)
Reading: Beyond
Language, Chapter 4
(99-129)
Handouts
Video clip
Reading:
Unistep Chapter 12, pp
337-343
Jeremy Comfort.
Effective Presentations
Video clips and
handouts
Group discussions
followed by
presentation and
class discussion
Introduction to written
English etiquette
Writing
Write a letter of
inquiry
Write a cover letter
and a CV
applying for (a)
job/project/research
/to a professor
Optional: Ask
students to write
cover letters and
CVs for a job
listing (using real
job listings)
Unistep Chapter 6, pp
137-162, Chapter 8,
pp196-240
Hamp-Lyons, L. and B.
Heasley. Study Writing
Handouts
Handouts
Reading: Rebecca
Chapman. English for
Emails.
Writing
Academic writing: What is
academic writing? Nonacademic and academic
writing
Ask students to
judge a text for its
academic quality
Summarize a text
Reading:
Unistep Chapter 9, pp
246-279, Hamp-Lyons,
L. and B. Heasley.
Study Writing
Summarising a text
Writing
Academic writing: Topic
sentences and paragraphs
in an essay; coherence and
cohesion
Writing
Academic writing:
Organisational, structural,
and linguistic skills in the
IELTS and TOEFL writing
sections
Research & Learner
autonomy
What is research?
Identifying the research
question
Structure of a research
paper
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Practice identifying
topics and forming
outlines.
Homework
assignment: write a
text to be evaluated
by the instructor
and fellow
classmates
Practice test with
IELTS and TOEFL
samples
Provide examples
of research for
students to
determine research
question
Write a short
literature review
based on several
sources
Introduction
Literature Review
Data
Methodology
Results
Analysis
Applications
Conclusion
Examples of good
and bad sources
Language and
reliability of a
source
Handouts
Video clips
Reading: Hamp-Lyons,
L. and B. Heasley.
Study Writing
Handouts
Video clips
Reading: Hamp-Lyons,
L. and B. Heasley.
Study Writing
Handouts
Video clips
Reading: Hamp-Lyons,
L. and B. Heasley.
Study Writing
Handouts
Video clips
APA, Harvard,
Chicago
Bring some books
and sources for
students to practice
citations and
bibliographies
Handouts
Handouts
Learner autonomy in
research
Final revision
5
Final revision
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No.
Type of
Collaboration
Weight (%)
01
Group
30
Individual
10
01
Individual
20
01
Individual
40
Total
100
Group presentation
Class attendance and participation
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Any student caught (1) Cheating on an exam, (2) Collaborating with others on work to be
presented, if contrary to the stated rules of the course, (3) Submitting, if contrary to the rules of
the course, work previously submitted in another course, (4) Knowingly and intentionally
assisting another student in any of the above actions, including assistance in an arrangement
whereby work, classroom performance, examination, or other activity is submitted or performed
by a person other than the student under whose name the work is submitted or performed, or (5)
Plagiarising, may fail the class and be subject to further disciplinary action.
First violation will result in a grade ZERO (0%) for that assignment. Second violation will result
in a failure course grade. Written assignments will be randomly checked by the professor with
Turnitin.com, an online plagiarism-checking tool.
Furthermore, your reference to support your statements must be from a reliable source, such as,
textbooks, supplemental reading material, and reference books. However, many websites are not
reliable sources. Examples are Wikipedia.org, about.com, and ask.com. If you are not sure if a
reference is acceptable or not, please contact the professor.
Referencing
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 6th edition will
serve as the primary reference materials for all students. Therefore, all papers must be submitted
in APA format. The mechanics of student papers and work will be evaluated, as well as the
content. It is imperative that guidelines be reviewed before an assignment is begun. It is also
important that the required submission format be followed in compiling the final paper or
assignment.
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