Understanding the Syllabus
By Debbie Harris, Contributor

WELCOME! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to another exciting and challenging year. There is a lot to be learnt and certainly I want you to achieve your full potential as a candidate of the Communication Studies course in the Caribbean Examination Council's (CXC) Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).

Communication Studies is a one-unit course and contains three modules:

MODULE 1
Gathering and Processing Information

MODULE 2
Language and Community

MODULE 3
Speaking and Writing

The syllabus requires 150 hours (50 hours per Module) and "provides students with the opportunity to respond creatively to the implied challenges, through the development of their communicative awareness and abilities."

It is imperative that each candidate gets a syllabus upon commencement of the study of this course. A thorough understanding of its objectives is necessary for you to successfully acquire the appropriate communication skills: comprehension, language awareness and use and expression.

Candidates are assessed both externally and internally. The 2003 Syllabus has been revised. There are several amendments to the course and chief among them is the assessment component. The external assessment of the course has two written papers (Paper 01A, Paper 01B and Paper 02 ­ Note that Paper 01 has two parts) while the internal assessment requires the candidates to complete a Portfolio on a selected theme. Paper 01A and 01B are basically comprised of short-response questions. The portfolio should be internally coherent and organised under three major headings:

­ Expository
­ Reflective
­ Analytical

The Expository section will be orally presented and examined, the Reflective will require the candidate to produce two samples of original work and the Analytical will be an analysis of one of the reflective pieces. There are other details concerning the assessment which will be dealt with thoroughly in future lessons.

APPROACHES TO TEACHING AND LEARNING THE SYLLABUS

The integrated approach has been recognised to be a very useful way to both teach and learn the concepts and skills in this syllabus.

While the syllabus is divided into modules, there are many connections between the various language areas in each Module, hence the integrated approach. Candidates ought to be given ample opportunity to not only speak and write, but also listen and read. (The revised syllabus contains numerous suggested activities which can be used to acquire these skills).

In the coming weeks, I will be facilitating the learning of the course through a combination of practice exercises and clarifying of crucial concepts. In order that the content of the course be covered, the lessons will be designed according to the structure of the assessment, that is, both internal and external. In other words, my aim will be to prepare you for assessment.

So, prepare yourself for next week's lesson by purchasing the Communication Studies Syllabus and reading all the general and specific objectives. Until then, walk good!