Speaking Attentive (SA)
Effective communication is the foundation of a liberal arts education. Good oral communication involves good thinking. Oral presentations are rarely spontaneous but involve choosing the most effective forms, planning (including audience analysis), systematically outlining, practicing, revising one's plan or outline, and attending to performance issues identified during practice. An effective presentation entails both knowledge of the content and effective delivery. Other types of oral communication also involve appropriate planning, practice, and performance.

Goals

Speaking attentive courses strengthen the connection between knowledge of a subject and effective oral communication by assigning diverse oral communication tasks and providing opportunities for practice and improvement.

Explain how the course meets the goals of the Speaking Attentive requirement.

Course Criteria

A course must meet the following criteria in order to be designated as fulfilling the Speaking Attentive requirement.
  1. Courses must feature oral communication assignments of different types. Among the possibilities are solo presentations, group presentations, debates, discussion groups, problem-solving groups, interviews, and performances.

    Explain how the course meets this criterion.

  2. Courses must feature explicit instruction on the chosen types of oral communication. This instruction should reflect the theoretical and pedagogical norms of sound oral communication instruction, as adapted for the particular discipline or field.

    Explain how the course meets this criterion.

  3. For each assignment, courses should feature critiqued practice, so that students might improve between practice and graded performance. This practice may be in the classroom with the instructor providing the critique or in the college's communication center.

    Explain how the course meets this criterion.

Learning Outcomes

Students will meet all of the following learning outcomes.
  1. Students will be able to demonstrate how they approach speaking assignments as a process, with the process varying from type to type but always featuring careful planning (including audience analysis), practice, and a performance.

    Explain how the course meets this learning outcome.

  2. Students will be able to effectively use different forms of oral communication.

    Explain how the course meets this learning outcome.

  3. Students will be able to demonstrate the use of feedback they receive from instructor (or communication center tutors) on practices to the graded activity.

    Explain how the course meets this learning outcome.

⛿ Be sure to complete the required information for each General Education requirement selected for this course, which are organized into separate tabs along the top of the page.