HS21 TECHNICAL ENGLISH I syllabus

                HS2111 TECHNICAL ENGLISH – I 3 1 0                                                100

AIM:

To encourage students to actively involve in participative learning of English and to help them acquire Communication Skills.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To help students develop listening skills for academic and professional purposes.

2. To help students acquire the ability to speak effectively in English in real-life situations.

3. To inculcate reading habit and to develop effective reading skills.

4. To help students improve their active and passive vocabulary.

5. To familiarize students with different rhetorical functions of scientific English.

6. To enable students write letters and reports effectively in formal and business situations.

UNIT I                                                                                                                                                             12

General Vocabulary - changing words from one form to another - Adjectives, comparative adjectives – Active and passive voice – Tenses - simple present,present continuous - Nouns – compound nouns - Skimming and scanning – Listening and transfer of information – bar chart, flowchart - Paragraph writing, description – Discussing as a group and making an oral report on the points discussed,conversation techniques - convincing others.

Suggested activities:

1. Matching words & meanings - Using words in context – Making sentences.

2. Changing sentences from active to passive voice & vice versa.

3. Skimming, cloze exercises, exercises transferring information from text to

graphic form – bar charts, flow charts.

4. Writing descriptions using descriptive words & phrases, and technical vocabulary.

5. Role play, conversation exercises, discussions, oral reporting exercises

Any other related relevant classroom activity

UNIT II                                                                                                                                                12

Vocabulary – prefixes & suffixes – simple past tense - Spelling and punctuation – ‘wh’ Question forms - Scanning, inference - Listening & note-taking – Paragraph writing - comparison and contrast - Creative thinking and speaking.

Suggested Activities:

1. a. Vocabulary actiivities using prefixes and suffixes.

    b. Exercises using questions – asking & answering questions.

2. Scanning the text for specific information

3. Listening guided note-taking - Writing paragraphs using notes, giving suitable headings and subheadings for paragraphs. Using expressions of comparison and contrast.

4. Discussion activities and exploring creative ideas. Any other related relevant classroom activity

UNIT III                                                                                                                                               12

Tenses - simple past, simple future and past perfect - Reading in Context -Reading & note making– single line – Definitions – sequencing of sentences – instruction -Persuasive speaking.

Suggested activities:

1. a. Providing appropriate context for the use of tenses

2. Listening and note-taking

3. (a) Writing sentence definitions, instructions

    (b) Identifying the discourse links and sequencing jumbled sentences / writing instructions.

4. Speaking exercises, discussions, role play exercises using explaining, convincing and persuasive strategies Any other related relevant classroom activity

UNIT IV 12

Modal verbs and Probability – Concord subject verb agreement (Correction of errors) - Cause and effect expressions – Extended Definition - Speaking about the future plans.

Suggested activities:

1. a. Making sentences using modal verbs to express probability

    b. Gap filling using relevant grammatical form of words.

2. Writing extended definitions

3. Speaking - role play activities, discussions, extempore speaking exercises speculating about the future. Any other related relevant classroom activity

UNIT V 12

‘If’ conditionals – Gerunds - Intensive reading - Speaking – Presentation of problems

& solutions - Itinerary – planning for an industrial visit - Formal Letter writing – Letter

to the editor, invititation letter, accepting, declining letter and permission letter.

Suggested activities:

1. a) Sentence completion exercises using ‘If’ conditionals.

    b) Gap filling exercises using gerunds and present participle forms

2. Reading comprehension exercises.

3. Role play, discussion, debating and speaking activities for stating, discussing problems and suggesting solutions.

4. Writing letters to officials and to the editor in formal/official contexts. Any other related relevant classroom activity

TOTAL: 60 PERIODS

AREAS TO BE COVERED UNDER DIFFERENT HEADINGS:

A) Language focus

1. Suffixes and Prefixes

2. Transformation of words from one form to another (Derivatives from root words)

3. Matching words & meanings (synonyms)

4. Compound nouns

5. Degrees of comparison

6. Active and passive voice-impersonal passive

7. Tenses: simple present, simple past, simple future, present continuous, past continuous, Present perfect

8. Modal verbs

9. ‘Wh’Question forms

10. Conditional clause

11. Gerunds and infinitives

12. Expressing Cause and effect

13. Concord

14. Punctuation

15. Writing definitions

B) Reading

1. Reading in context

2. Skimming and scanning

3. Scanning the text for specific information

4. Reading and notemaking

5. Intensive reading for making inferences

6. Reading comprehension

C) Listening:

1. Listening and transfer of information

2. Listening & note taking

3. Listening and guided note-taking

D) Writing:

1. Transformation of information from graphical data to written form and from written form to graphical form

2. Paragraph writing – Description

3. Paragraph Writing -comparison and contrast.

4. Note-making

5. Writing Instructions

6. Jumbled sentences

7. Letter writing- Formal letters (Invitation, Accepting, Declining, Permission Letters) Letters to the editor

E) Speaking:

1. Discussing as a group and making oral reports,

2. Role play-Conversation techniques-convincing others

3. Creative thinking and speaking, Exploring creative ideas

4. Persuasive strategies

5. Speaking about the future plans

6. Extempore speech-Speaking exercises speculating about the future

7. Presentation of problems and solutions

8. Debates

TEXT BOOK:

1. Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Anna University, ‘English for Engineers and Technologists’ Combined Edition (Volumes 1 & 2), Chennai: Orient Longman Pvt. Ltd., 2006.

      Themes 1 – 4 (Resources, Energy, Computer, Transport)

REFERENCES:

1. Meenakshi Raman and Sangeeta Sharma, ‘Technical Communication English skills for Engineers’, Oxford University Press, 2008.

2. Andrea, J. Rutherford, ‘Basic Communication Skills for Technology’, Second Edition, Pearson Education, 2007.

Extensive Reading:

A.P.J.Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari, ‘Wings of Fire’ An Autobiography, University Press (India) Pvt. Ltd.,1999, 30th Impression 2007.

NOTE:

The book given under Extensive Reading is meant for inculcating the reading habit of the students. They need not be used for testing purposes.

Question Paper Pattern

For the Semester Examination the following pattern will be adopted:

Anna university – Tirunelveli

Semester I – HS2111 Technical English I

Scheme of Examination.

Part A

Questions 1-10                                                                        Marks: 20

Number of short answer questions to be set: 10

Distribution of Marks: 10 x 2 = 20 marks (each question carrying 2 marks)

Format: Answer all questions type. Any ten Language focus items given in Unit entitled “Focus on Language”.

Part B

Marks: 80 Five Questions with subdivisions.

Distribution of Marks: 5 x 16 = 80 marks (each division carrying 16 marks)

Question No.1 1( No Choice) Four general Reading Comprehension passages each with different types of questions - true or false type, short-answer questions, multiple– choice items, fill-in-blank types, cloze types, sentence completion questions and meaning of words.                                  (4 x 4 = 16 marks)

Question No.12: a) Note-making (either … or type)                                                            (8 marks)

            b) Paragraph writing( comparing and contrasting) (either … or type)       (8 marks)

Question No.13: a) Letter writing (official) (either … or type)                                            (8 marks)

                                    b) Letter to the Editor (either … or type)                                                   (8 marks)

Question No.14:

a) Converting the given form of graphic presentation into a continuous paragraph. (either … or type)                                                                                                                                                          (8 marks)

b) Writing Instructions (or) Jumbled sentences                                                                          (8 marks).

Question No.15:  General essay (either….or type)                                                       (16 marks)