ENG 101 English Fundamentals

A. Course General Information:

B. Course Catalog Description (Content):

The English Fundamentals (ENG 101) course covers all four skills of English language required for students’ basic academic and professional needs. Classroom tasks aim at promoting specific language skills (e.g. analyzing reading texts, writing academic papers, delivering PowerPoint presentations, etc.). The core objectives are integrated through different lessons. Speaking classes help students improve their Communication Skills. The Reading & Writing classes have a good number of selected reading materials covering a wide range of topics to help students develop Global Thinking and basic Quantitative Skills. Two different types of essays - Argumentative Essay and Response Essay, and presentations such as, Poster presentation, Advertisement Presentation, Debate on Climate Change, and Argumentative Presentation, aim at improving Critical Thinking in students.

C. Course Outcomes:

Upon Successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply reading skills such as skimming and scanning
• Enhance vocabulary stock (from reading materials and discussion) and analyze their contextual meanings
• Comprehend and analyze critically on selected topics and express opinions with proper examples and evidence in both writing and speaking tasks
• Write well-organized academic essays maintaining coherence and unity
• Prepare and deliver formal speeches individually or in group by maintaining appropriate art of speaking with correct pronunciation, pitch, stress, intonation, etc
• Demonstrate improvement in group effectiveness: sharing the floor, sharing tasks, acknowledging the contributions of others, giving and receiving constructive feedback

D. Suggested Text and Reference Book:

• Richards, "Fundamentals of English"

ENG 102 English Composition

A. Course General Information:

B. Course Catalog Description (Content):

The main focus of this course is writing. The course attempts to enhance students’ writing abilities through diverse writing skills and techniques. Students will be introduced to aspects of expository writing: personalized/ subjective and analytical/persuasive. In the first category, students will write essays expressing their subjective viewpoints. In the second category students will analyze issues objectively, sticking firmly to factual details. This course seeks also to develop students’ analytical abilities so that they are able to produce works that are critical and thought provoking.

C. Course Outcomes:

It is expected that after completing this course, students will be able to:

• Exercise academic reading skills in distinguishing styles with respect to formality, abstraction, word choice and multiple perspectives
• Evaluate articles about social issues using Critical Reading Skills
• Gain first-hand knowledge of research methods
• Investigate and present a problem based project

Use effective communicative strategies and skills (both in spoken and written form) in different contexts

D. Suggested Text and Reference Book:

• Steinbeck, "The Pearl", 1st ed., Penguin Books, 2000.
• Thomas Cruisius and Carolyn Channell, "Aims of Argument", 3rd edition, Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000.
• Betty Mattix Dietsch, "Reasoning & Writing Well", McGraw-Hill, 2003.

BNG 103 Bangla Language and Literature

A. Course General Information:

B. Course Catalog Description (Content):

C. Suggested Text and Reference Book:

HUM 103 Ethics and Culture

A. Course General Information:

B. Course Catalog Description (Content):

This course introduces the students to principles and concepts of ethics and their application to our personal life. It establishes a basic understanding of social responsibility, relationship with social and cultural aspects, and eventually requires each student to develop a framework for making ethical decision in his work. Students learn a systematic approach to moral reasoning. It focuses on problems associated with moral conflicts, justice, the relationship between rightness and goodness, objective vs. subjective, moral judgment, moral truth and relativism. It also examines personal ethical perspectives as well as social cultural norms and values in relation to their use in our society. Topics include: truth telling and fairness, objectivity vs. subjectivity, privacy, confidentiality, bias, economic pressures and social responsibility, controversial and morally offensive content, exploitation, manipulation, special considerations (i.e. juveniles, courts) and professional and ethical work issues and decisions. On conclusion of the course, the students will be able to identify and discuss professional and ethical concerns, use moral reasoning skills to examine, analyze and resolve ethical dilemmas and distinguish differences and similarities among legal, ethical and moral perspectives.

C. Suggested Text and Reference Book:

• Ingram and J. A. Parks, "Understanding Ethics", Alpha, 2002.
• John R. Boatright, "Ethics and the Conduct of Business", 4th edition, Pearson Education, New Delhi, 2003.
• Manuel G. Velasquez, "Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases", 5th Edition, Pearson Education, New Delhi, 2002.
• William Lillie, "An Introduction to Ethics", 3rd Edition, Methuen & Co. Ltd. London, 1964. 4. Donald C. Abel, "Fifty Readings in Philosophy", 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2004.
• Nigel Warburton, "Philosophy Basics", 3rd Edition, Routledge, 1999.
• Peter Singer, "Practical Ethics", 2nd Edition, The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 2000.

EMB 101 Emergence of Bangladesh

A. Course General Information:

B. Course Catalog Description (Content):

The Emergence of Bangladesh course has been designed for students to understand their historic and cultural roots as citizens of this land. It documents the struggles against colonial oppression, political and ethnic subordination, cultural domination and economic exploitation over the last two centuries that have eventually given rise to our independent country. The course traces the history of Bengal from the British conquest through treachery and military might, the pillage and plunder they carried out, the de-industrialization and impoverishment that resulted from their policies, to the active political struggles (both armed and non-violent) for freedom and independence, the development of a national consciousness, the false hopes of Pakistan, the struggles against the oppression of the military-bureaucratic state of Pakistan to finally the genocide we faced and subsequently our victory as an independent Bangladesh.

C. Course Objectives

The course intends to equip students with factual knowledge and analytical skills to learn and critically appreciate the antecedents of the history, politics, and economy of Bangladesh. The course seeks to assist students in using such analytical knowledge of their historical roots to better understand and relate to people‟s struggles in different countries and contexts to build more democratic, inclusive, multi-cultural societies that pursue social, ecological and gender justice. Students will also be encouraged to reflect on the principles of democracy, economic justice, secularism and respect for ethnic differences that united us to struggle for a free country and relate such principles to formulating their own vision for the future. 

D. Course Outcomes:

On successful completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:

• Describe specific stages of Bangladesh‟s political history, through the British colonial period and the Pakistan period till the emergence of Bangladesh.
• Identify the major struggles for economic and political freedom during the British and Pakistan periods. Understand the economic exploitation and the extraction of surplus by both the British and the Pakistan state as well as the oppression of the zamindars.
• Analyze how the capitalist development model pursued by Pakistan created the income and regional inequalities that led to its own destruction.
• Understand our War of Independence both in terms of the genocide that Pakistan committed as well as the political and armed struggles we engaged in.
• Articulate how the four principles of the Bangladesh constitution – socialism, democracy, secularism and nationalism – provides the basis for envisioning a future Bangladesh.