The UTCP curriculum includes one academic writing course titled “Ideas and Exposition”. The Ideas and Exposition (I&E) courses are offered by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC). Below is a sampling of the I&E courses offered.
Please click here for the most updated I&E course offerings and timetable updates
| Ideas and Exposition I / Faculty | Synopses |
|---|---|
|
UTW1001A
Identities and Ideas in Modern Market-driven Societies Ms Marissa E Kwan Lin |
'Innovation,' 'growth' and 'development' are some buzzwords shaping our understanding of social realities. What do they reveal about the values upheld in modern consumer societies? In this course, we examine how themes like competition, self-responsibilization, self-accountability, rational profit-and-loss thinking and the constant impetus towards self-improvement operate as predominant frames in the conduct our daily lives. We explore how the identities and ideas of living in modern market-driven societies are constructed in relation to consumer lifestyles, sport, life-long learning and public housing. Students will develop writing skills enunciating varied points of view and arguments associated with the topics discussed. |
|
UTW1001B What is a nation? Texts, images and national identity Dr Namala Lakshmi Tilakaratna |
National identity is an integral part of who we are. Yet, it remains a highly disputed concept. This course will problematize key theoretical debates by exploring Singapore’s national identity and examining how Singapore and regional countries have been shaped by interaction with colonialism and beyond. Drawing on a Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA), which allows us to analyse image and text interactions, we explore how national icons are created in public media and ask the question of how national identity still remains a powerful and emotional entity that rallies or divides people of different ethnicities, religious, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. |
|
UTW1001C At the Edges of the Law: Ethics, Morality and Society Dr Zhou Ziqian Jan |
What should be the reach of the arms of the law? Most find it unproblematic if a state punishes distributors of child pornography; but what if the punitive muscle of the state is also used to enforce public morality? Can the law intrude on the private lives of citizens? Should euthanasia be legal? In this course we shall be putting these and other pressing issues that are at the centre of political debate to critical enquiry. This course will appeal to students interested in the study of applied ethics, the criminal law, public policy and socio-political theory. |
|
UTW1001D Self, Society, and the Digital Tsunami Era Dr Yurni Said-Sirhan |
Cyberbullying, cyber-racism, online falsehoods. These are some of the phenomena that can be observed online. In an era of overwhelmingly diverse viewpoints within social media platforms, how has digital communication shaped and changed the way we communicate and respond to each other as human beings? Have we compromised more than we have gained? Drawing upon perspectives from various disciplines, this course helps students explore how opinions and ideas are formed, debated and transmitted in an age where human interaction is constantly mediated by technology. |
|
UTW1001F The Internationalisation of Higher Education: Impact and Challenges Dr Fong Yoke Sim |
The internationalisation of higher education (IHE) is evident all around us: international students, faculty, researchers; twinning, exchange, offshore programmes; and the list goes on.But amidst the ever-changing landscape, benefits and challenges of IHE (Knight, 2013), how has internationalisation impacted higher education? How have, say, academic mobility and cross-border alliances influenced students, institutions, countries and the world? What are its implications for cultural and academic values? In this course, we will examine the contexts of IHE, compare different case studies in various settings and analyse the controversies of marketisation, language/cultural attrition, global citizenship, etc. |
|
UTW1001G
Human Behaviours: How do 'I' fit in this Social World Dr Misty Cook |
Human behaviours are complex. Individuals' intrapersonal and interpersonal social skills could affect how well they function in a society. This course will allow students to examine psychosocial and sociocognitive theories that explain intrapersonal and interpersonal social skills which are defined as 21st-century competencies. Students will evaluate the appropriateness/effectiveness of intrapersonal skills such as the self-concept/image, self-regulated learning and maintaining intellectual openness, and interpersonal skills such as team cooperation/collaboration, conflict management, and leadership in educational, political and business settings. By the end of this course, students should be able to critically analyse and develop awareness of essential social behaviours and skills. |
|
UTW1001H
Eating Right(s): The Politics of Food Dr Ramanujan, Anuradha |
Do you know where your last meal came from? Have you ever wondered how your dietary choices affect communities, species and landscapes worldwide? This interdisciplinary writing course examines some human and ecological impacts of contemporary food-related practices and interactions. Readings from different perspectives focus critical attention on industrial agriculture, factory farming, packaging/distribution networks and international trade agreements in relation to issues of hunger, obesity, food security and environmental sustainability. In small collaborative classes, you will examine the strategies used by individual authors to construct persuasive arguments and learn to incorporate these rhetorical skills into your own writing about food. |
|
UTW1001O
The Urban and the Wild: Reading Urban Progress in Southeast Asia Ecocritically Dr Jinat Rehana Begum |
This course aims to develop the ecocritical* awareness essential for understanding and navigating cities in an age of climate crisis. Students of this course will focus on reading, thinking and writing ecocritically about urban development in Singapore and other cities in Southeast Asia where urban development has displaced nature and wildlife. This will involve employing close-reading strategies traditionally employed in literary analysis to read stories, poetry, movies, paintings and photographs alongside historical, geographical, and psychological accounts that examine urbanisation and its effects on the human and nonhuman inhabitants of cities. *Ecocriticism, which is committed to examining the relationship between humans and nonhumans, has its roots in literary studies. As a discipline, ecocriticism has expanded beyond Literature and includes a range of diverse disciplines including the environmental science, history, geography, sociology, psychology and politics. |
|
UTW1001P
Heroes Dr Jason Banta (Taught by Dr Anne Seah in AY2021/22 Sem 2) |
This course will explore the development and transformation of heroic figures across time and cultures, how people have reacted to these figures, and how these figures have been adapted. Students will engage with multiple versions of the "hero," both male and female, from a variety of media (literature, film, television, graphic novel) and scholarly literature on the subject as a means to develop critical writing skills. Some questions we will ask include: What defines a heroic character? What do a society's heroes reflect about its own values? What are the dangers of uncritical acceptance of heroes? |