Professional Communication

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Effective communication is the key to successful practice in many disciplines. This subject details how talk is managed in a range of professional settings, including: education (e.g. teacher-student interactions); medicine (e.g. doctor-patient consultations), psychology (e.g. counselling), law (e.g. question design in courtrooms), and journalism (e.g. radio interviews).

This subject will introduce students to interactional practices that are common to all workplaces: negotiation and resolving conflict; sources of misunderstanding; aligning with other speakers; managing topics; and different cultural practices in making sense of talk at work. Students will learn how interaction is organized based on the fundamental tenets of conversation analysis: turn-taking, repair and the sequential organization of talk. Students will develop an understanding of how these rules are managed in a range of settings, understanding talk as collaboratively achieved and fundamental to professional development.

On completion of this subject, students will be able to evaluate practices of effective communication in a range of professional settings, develop their own communication skills, and identify practical solutions to communication problems in the workplace.

On completion of this students should be able to:

• Identify verbal and non-verbal features of talk, using conversation analysis transcription;
• Identify and explain the structural ‘rules' of talk;
• Demonstrate key understandings of how communication is (mis)managed in professional settings;
• Analyse specific communication practices used in different professional contexts;
• Demonstrate how research evidence can provide solutions to communication issues in the workplace.

• Transcription task in class (400 words), due early semester (10%)
• Short research reviews about professional communication (1600 words), due mid-semester (40%)
• Professional development resource to teach communication skills in the workplace (2000 words), due examination period (50%)

Hurdle requirement: Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs/online classes) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Sidnell, J. & Stivers, T. (2012) The Handbook of Conversation Analysis. Chicester: Wiley. (E-book)

All weekly subject readings available on LMS.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

• Research skills through effective use of library resources and electronic databases;
• Critical thinking and analysis through reviews of the research literature and workshop discussions;
• Creative thinking through conceptualising theoretical problems, forming judgements and arguments from conflicting evidence and by critical analysis;
• Communicating knowledge effectively through workshop discussions and assessment tasks;
• Written communication skills through assignment preparation;
• Public speaking skills through workshop discussions;
• Attention to detail through assignment preparation and writing;
• Time management and planning through managing and organising workloads for class participation, recommended reading, and assignment completion.