Thanks for your interest in the breadth subject MECM20012 Analysing Professional Communication.

As access to subject content on Canvas is only available once you have enrolled, the information here is to help you decide if this subject might be of interest to you.

What is the subject about?

What is the assessment?

There are three assessment tasks for this subject, designed to build your knowledge of how talk works, to develop your capacity to critique evidence-based practices in talk-in-interaction, and to apply this evidence to advice for professional communication.

Task 1 is a quiz, where short written answers show your understanding of each topic. 

Task 2 and Task 3 allow you to explore a topic that interests you, to identify a particular professional communication problem, explore the research on the topic (Task 2), and create a training resource for a particular group of professionals (Task 3). For example, you might want to learn more about how psychologists keep their clients onside (ie. affiliation), then prepare a 3 minute talk (for psychologists)  explaining how to maintain affiliation with clients.

TASK 1: Quiz on conversation analysis (30%, equivalent 1200 words)

This quiz is made up of eight mini quizzes, one for each topic in the subject. Essentially it's an online exam, but split up throughout the intensive to support your progress and learning . The quiz questions are based on the readings, seminar content and knowledge from workshop activities.  The  questions are multiple choice, true or false, or fill in the gap. Your answers will be graded throughout the course, so that you can reflect on the content learning as we go.  The quiz for topic 1 won't count towards your grade, so you can have a practice without any pressure! 

TASK 2: Annotated bibliography (40%, 1600 words)

For this task you need to identify research relevant to the professional communication problem you have chosen to explore, and choose 5 articles or research chapters to review. Please choose articles published in the EMCA Bibliography.Links to an external site.  You will write a short review of each paper (ie 250 words), explaining what the research is about, what in particular the findings illustrate about talk-in-interaction, and what these findings mean for our understanding of professional communication. You will have the opportunity to submit a practice review for feedback during the course.

TASK 3: Communication training resource (30%, equivalent 1200 words)

This task is an opportunity to share the knowledge you have developed in Task 2. This applied assessment creates the opportunity to share research in conversation analysis for a particular professional audience. You will prepare a three-minute TED-style talk, to share how the research evidence can support professional communication. You will present to a group of 12 of your peers at the end of the intensive, and receive feedback from us all. 

Hurdle requirement

In addition to these three assessment tasks, satisfactory completion of this subject depends on completing all online workshop activities. These activities are not assessed, but provide an opportunity to deepen your understanding of talk-in-interaction (and for Amelia to see your progress!).