Please note the first class on September 1, 2021 (Wednesday) will be conducted online via ZOOM. Please check the course moodle for details.

In most, if not all, workplaces much of what gets done, for example, assigning certain tasks to employees, checking their progress, making decisions, is achieved through talk. Besides getting work-related things done, people also negotiate and maintain their workplace relationships through talk. Much of discourse-oriented research has been dedicated to professional and workplace communication and the role of language in achieving the so-called transactional (work task-related) and relational (relationship-oriented) goals at work. In this course the students will be introduced to some theoretical and methodological foundations of discourse research on workplace and professional communication through the work of leading scholars in the field. Students will be divided into small groups to lead discussion sessions on selected topics, including the topics of how workplace and professional communication has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as reflected in the most up-to-date research.

 

The topics that will be covered in the first part of the colloquium include: transactional activities: problem solving and decision-making; relational activities: face work and politeness; team work and team talk; culture at work; responsible research practices in professional and workplace settings; practice-oriented and reflective research; process vs. outcome-oriented discourse studies; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on workplace and professional communication research and practice.

 

The course is aimed at consolidating the knowledge that the students have acquired in their previous linguistic courses on sociolinguistics and discourse analysis that are relevant to professional discourse studies; and honing that knowledge  through reading and discussing seminal and recent theoretical and methodological work in the field.

 

The class will meet for two-hours every week. There will be no formal lectures. At the beginning of the course, students will be divided into small groups and assigned a set of readings. Students will take turns in leading the discussion of assigned readings on workplace and professional communication.

 

Assessment for the course is 100% coursework. This is made up of

Presentation and leading a discussion :	80%
Participation	20%

 

 

 

Specific readings will be selected by Dr. Zayts representing seminal and more recent research in the field of professional and workplace communication. Additional readings will also be suggested based on the topics covered in the course.