RichmondCC Instructors Emphasize Importance of Effective Speaking, Writing

December 11, 2018 – Psychology and history instructors implemented Richmond Community College’s Quality Enhancement Plan, “Speaking to Convey, Writing to Display,” into their curriculum this fall semester. Instructors Dr. Pamela Case and Elgin Emanuel were the winners of the QEP faculty prize drawing for their departments. The instructors were awarded $25 cash from the RichmondCC Foundation in support of the QEP.

Dr. Pamela Case

Dr. Case has been a psychology instructor at RichmondCC for seven years. She also taught at St. Andrews University for 15 years before coming to RichmondCC.

Dr. Case incorporated the QEP into her curriculum through research papers and annotated bibliographies. These assignments also gave her students the opportunity to present their work individually or in groups. It allowed her students to write and discuss in a more informal setting, whether for an online class or face-to face meeting. Writing and speaking activities have always been a part of psychology classes, Dr. Case said, so incorporating the QEP into her classes was easy.

Dr. Case believes it is very important to have effective oral and written communication skills.

“Learning to use the conventions of Standard English when we write or speak marks us as educated. It makes us more flexible in terms of jobs we can do and where we can do them,” she said. “While it might be acceptable among family and friends in the rural South to say, ‘He done it’ or ‘I seen him,’ the person who say this in a job interview indicates to his or her potential boss that he or she is not well-educated,” Dr. Case said.

Elgin Emanuel

Mr. Emanuel has been a history instructor at RichmondCC for eight years.

To incorporate the QEP into the history classes he teaches, Mr. Emanuel reinforced grammar, spelling, punctuation and content relevance because they are part of the grading rubric for written assignments.

“During class discussions, I encourage students to feel comfortable in responding to questions. By doing this, it requires establishing a class setting that is tolerant of differing opinions early in the semester, and it encourages students to clearly convey messages and opinions to the best of their ability,” he said.

How have students responded?

“From my observations, student are more willing to meet expectations with this process. I have never had any negative remarks about our QEP expectations and when discussing the required work,” Mr. Emanuel said.

He said oral and written communication skills are equally important for history because it requires a lot of intensive speaking, research and documentation.

“Our culture has obviously valued speech since before our inception as a nation,” said Mr. Emanuel. “The First Amendment to the Constitution clearly demonstrates this notion. Great orations given by national leaders throughout our history have been referenced and celebrated for centuries. It is imperative that we use both spoken and written forms of communication to represent our thoughts and emotions as clearly as possible.”