What Are The Importance Of Oral And Written Communication Courses

The Importance of Literary and Communicative Enhancement Courses for Engineering Students at the University of Saskatchewan

Technical professionals, such as engineers, are required to be able to communicate both through oral and written communication. For this reason, students attending the College of Engineering, at the University of Saskatchewan, should be required to take courses in literature and communication to qualify for graduation. These courses can help students to improve their ability to: analyse literature, improving creative thinking and problem solving; present and discuss topics of the course, improving oral communication skills; and learn the formats for formal and informal writing, improving audience awareness and professionalism. …show more content…
Having the ability to communicate ideas clearly to other individuals is an important skill to have as an engineer. Through the class discussions and presentations on narrative works, students can improve some of their communication skills. Any increase in the clarity of public speaking can be beneficial in pre- and post-graduate work; pre-graduate, students might be able to use these skills in other class discussions or presentations; post-graduate work, interviews and meetings were the student will need to be able to talk confidently and clearly to gain credibility. Clear communication is a skill the students will never stop developing as they will constantly be learning and needing to update their own vocabulary in order to communicate their ideas clearly and …show more content…
Report writing is typically informal as reports tend to be filled with jargon that is related to the subject at hand. Formal format uses formal English were no qualifications are needed to understand the contents of what is being read. Knowing the difference between the two formats can allow an individual to communicate more affectively and clearly to the intended audience. This can reduce confusion and increase the individual’s relationship with other peers or co-workers as a professional. Audience awareness is especially important when communicating in a professional sense, as the colleagues are most likely experts in the field on which you are communicating. If an individual is unable to use the technical language of his or her field they will most likely be seen as a less credible source or unqualified for the job at hand. To express the importance of audience awareness and format more clearly, use the example of an intern engineer writing a memo. If the intern is to write a memo in a formal letter format rather than an informal professional memo format the recipient is most likely not going to read the memo at all. Due to the fact that formal letters are written chronologically with no jargon where as the informal professional memos are written with all the important details in the first headline and paragraph using key terms that apply to