Analysing Professional Communication (MECM20012)

Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
Summer Term
November
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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.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, 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.

Generic skills

  • 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.

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites


Corequisites


Non-allowed subjects


Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Assessment

DescriptionTimingPercentage

Written quiz on seminar content

  • 1200 words (equivalent)
Mid teaching period30%

Annotated bibliography

  • 1600 words
End of the teaching period40%

Professional development resource

  • 1200 words (equivalent)
During the examination period30%
Hurdle requirement: Satisfactory completion of all online workshop activitiesDuring the teaching periodN/A

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Dates & times

  • Summer Term
    Principal coordinatorSarah Young
    CoordinatorMichael Davey
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours36 hours comprising a two hour on campus workshop and a two hour online workshop on each day of the nine day intensive, plus an optional assessment Q&A.
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period 6 January 2025 to 17 January 2025
    Last self-enrol date 8 January 2025
    Census date17 January 2025
    Last date to withdraw without fail24 January 2025
    Assessment period ends31 January 2025

    Summer Term contact information

    sry@unimelb.edu.au

  • November
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours36 hours comprising a two hour on campus workshop and a two hour online workshop on each day of the nine day intensive, plus an optional assessment Q&A.
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period24 November 2025 to 5 December 2025
    Last self-enrol date26 November 2025
    Census date 5 December 2025
    Last date to withdraw without fail12 December 2025
    Assessment period ends19 December 2025

    November contact information

    Dr Sarah Young: sry@unimelb.edu.au

Time commitment details

170 hours

What do these dates mean

Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:

  • Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
  • And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
       -  Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
     

    Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the 'last day to withdraw without fail') count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.

Last updated: 14 March 2025

Further information

Last updated: 14 March 2025