Communication¶
Readiness and care¶
Choose texts and audiences appropriate to language fluency; offer accessible media
Do not confuse persuasive effectiveness with truth or legitimacy. Obtain consent for recordings and protect private speech.
Qualified interpreter for high-stakes medical or legal communication
Assess accuracy, listening and audience fit separately from accent, status or rhetorical polish.
Close reading & interpretation¶
Understand: genre; context; inference; ambiguity; rhetoric; evidence
Judge: Distinguish what a text says from what the reader projects
Practice: Annotate and defend an interpretation of a difficult text
Evidence: Close-reading oral defense
Related study:
Expository writing¶
Understand: thesis; structure; paragraph logic; evidence; revision; style
Judge: Prefer clarity and warranted precision over impressive vagueness
Practice: Write and substantially revise a researched essay
Evidence: Draft history + final + defense
Related study:
- Grammar & Sentence Architecture
- Cohesion, Paragraphs & Information Flow
- Essay, Exposition, Definition & Criticism
Argument & rhetoric¶
Understand: claims; reasons; warrants; audience; ethos/pathos/logos; framing; fallacies
Judge: Persuade without hiding decisive evidence or exploiting vulnerability
Practice: Deliver opposing arguments and strongest rebuttal
Evidence: Speech/debate + self-critique
Related study:
- Rhetoric, Argument, Audience & Occasion
- Argument, dialectic, debate, rhetoric & adversarial reasoning
Narrative & imagination¶
Understand: story; scene; character; point of view; metaphor; pacing
Judge: Use narrative to reveal experience without confusing a compelling story for causal proof
Practice: Write/perform a narrative artifact
Evidence: Workshop + revision
Related study:
- Image, Figurative Language & Analogy
- Narrative: Point of View, Time, Scene & Summary
- Poetry: Rhythm, Meter, Line & Sound
Listening, conversation & interviewing¶
Understand: questions; turn-taking; silence; paraphrase; interviewing; conversational repair
Judge: Know when to inquire rather than assert
Practice: Conduct a long-form interview and produce fair synthesis
Evidence: Interview record + participant check
Related study:
- Dialogue, Drama & Subtext
- Oral English, Cadence, Speech & Performance
- Interaction, Identity, Norms & Influence
Multilingual / cross-cultural communication¶
Understand: language learning; translation; register; code-switching; pragmatics; cultural conventions
Judge: Treat translation as interpretation and avoid assuming one's norms are universal
Practice: Reach functional competence in another language where feasible; compare translations
Evidence: Conversation + translation commentary
Related study: