HS103 Communication Skills for Engineers

In today’s ‘global village’, there are many who believe that ‘Communication is like breathing and life would cease to continue without it’. This particular course on communication skills imbibes the same and therefore, it aims to equip the students with getting the basics right of communication and presentation skills for academic and professional purposes. It is designed to help the second language learners acquire fluency in both spoken and written English to communicate information with clarity, precision and confidence especially in the professional sphere. It will introduce learners not only to the basic concepts in communication but also focus on providing them a hands-on experience of the same. It is hoped that after commanding the skills required in spoken and written English, learners will be able to express themselves more effectively.

The course will have ten units and shall focus on the following topics:

Unit 1: Language and Communication

Unit 2: English Language Remedial Skills

Unit 3: Oral Skills

Unit 4: Listening Skills

Unit 5: Reading Skills

Unit 6: Writing Skills

Unit 7: Interview Techniques

Text and Reference Books:

HS201 Introductory Microeconomics

Introduction: Why Economics, The Central Economic Problem, Production Possibility Curve (PPC)

Overview of Markets: Demand and Supply, Elasticity, Efficiency and Equity, Markets in Action

Determinants of Demand and Supply: Utility and Demand, Production and Costs

Markets for Goods and Services: Competition, Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly

Markets and Government: Externalities, Public Goods and Taxes, Factor markets, Income distribution

Texts:

References:

HS203 International Trade and Payments

1. Basic Models of Trade

2. Resources, Comparative Advantage, and Income Distribution

3. The Standard Trade Model

4. Trade Policy

5. Accounting, Income Determination and Exchange Rates

6. Application of Trade maps and WITS data: to show trade relations empirically and validate the standard trade models.

Text Books

Reference Books

HS221 Fundamentals of Linguistics Science

The course aims to introduce the field of Linguistics to the B. tech students. Apart from introducing the broad fields of Linguistics, the course intends to orient the students towards applied linguistics especially where technology comes into play. This one semester course aims to educate students about the basics of core Linguistics so as to equip them to take on interdisciplinary researches at later stage.

What is Linguistics

What is language? What is Linguistics? Human and animal communication; descriptive and prescriptive grammar; performance and competence.

Language Acquisition

First and second language acquisition; brain and cognition; brain and language; universal grammar.

Linguistics Core Areas:

Phonetics/ Phonology

Mechanism of Speech Sound production and transmission- transverse and longitudinal waves; simple and complex waves; resonance and damping; resonators as acoustic filters; larynx as acoustic filters; role of larynx in voice switching and determining voice quality; fundamental frequency; spectrum; acoustic analysis; spectrograms and spectrographs.

Types of speech sounds- consonants; vowels

Basic concepts- phones, phonemes, allophones, phonology; phonology as rule governed system; phonotactic constraints.

Morphology

Morphemes; morphology as rule governed system; word formation processes; inflectional and derivational morphology; reduplication.

Syntax and Semantics

Prescriptive and descriptive grammar, PS rules, phrases and sentences; word order in Indian languages and English; agreement (gender, tense and number); syntactic tools; Meaning in languages; homophones; Semantic class, semantic features, prototypes.

Language in Society

Speech community; standard language; dialect; pidgin and Creole; language in contact; multilingualism and bilingualism

Language Technology

Understanding human natural language; natural language generation; language and computers; machine translation; artificial intelligence; speaker identification; speech recognition.

Basic Text:

Reference:

HS225 Media and Linguistics

Course Overview:

This course has been designed for B.Tech students as an elective course. Linguistics is the study of natural language. It not only deals with the study of the structures of natural human languages but also covers the study of meaning (semantics) and the social functions of language (sociolinguistics) among the domains of investigation pertaining to human language. Linguistic and language skills are crucial in the media industry especially in the modern times of globalization and technology mediated communication. From social networking sites to lifestyle magazines to social movements and computer gaming, due to the popularity and rampant usage of internet, this domain of linguistic study has become very pertinent.

Learning Outcomes:

A student passing this course shall be able to demonstrate knowledge and understand:

Course Module

Module 1

Introducing Linguistics and Media Linguistics

This module will introduce some of the key concepts of Linguistics as well as Media Linguistics to the students so that they can understand the nuances of language use in various social contexts.

Topics to be covered: Features of human language; performance and competence; levels of linguistic analysis; word meaning and relatedness; sense relations; tautology; metaphors; maxims of conversation; what is media linguistics; multimodality in linguistic communication; hyper- reality; binary oppositions; neural network analysis and its application in linguistic studies.

Module 2

Language in Cultural Context

This module will primarily explore the English language from the point of view of its structure and its unique role as a global language today. Select Indian languages and their role in the Indian society will also be investigated through case studies. Language variation refers to the way in which language changes in response to changing social situations. Through this module the students will get to explore perceptions of language use, different accents and dialects especially across India. The aim of this module is to raise your awareness of the linguistic consequences of the contexts of culture and situation.

Topics to be covered: English as global language; linguistic imperialism; India as a linguistic area; speech community;

Module 3

Media and Linguistic Culture

This module will introduce the students to the concepts of linguistic representation and linguistic identity as seen in popular media.

Topics to be covered: language attitude and ideologies; linguistic dominance and linguistic minority; bilingualism and multilingualism; standard language; dialect, registers; social networking and communication.

Module 4

Discourse in Media

Discriminatory discourse, racial and gendered abuse, aggressive posts and instigating discourses have become common sight on social media. This module examines how discrimination is encoded in language use in a range of institutional and everyday contexts to understand societal inequalities.

Topics to be covered: Pragmatics of discourse; language- gender- power relation; gendered and non- gendered languages; sexist language; language change; discursive approaches; language and gender in different contexts; case studies

Text books:

Reference Books:

HS231 Introductory Sociology

Aim of the course:

This course aims to prepare engineering undergraduate students with the necessary knowledge base to understand society through the basic subject matter of the academic discipline of Sociology. Essential concepts, vital perspectives, necessary theories, tools and techniques, and their like will be studied in this course. Link of this understanding will be connected with detailed analysis of the Indian society with the help of the work of prominent social thinkers and the personal everyday experiences of the learners. We will moor our learning through participation with different communities of practice around the campus.

Contents of the course:

Text and References:

HS233 Globalization and Social Change

Aim of the course:

This transdisciplinary course aims to introduce students to the nature of global world with the help of concepts and perspectives used by social scientists. It will enable students to understand the complexity of the contemporary society. The changing nature of the nation –state will provide key insights into the distinctive nature of global social change today. The increasingly intrusive role of technology will explain the twin processes of cultural deculturalization and cultural acculturalization. At the same time, the centrality of the consumer will help clarify the resurfacing of local and personal social identity under globalization.

Contents of the course:

Text and References: (Selected chapters from these books will be specified by the instructor during the course)

INTRODUCTORY MACROECONOMICS

Introduction: Alternative Economic Systems, Government and the Markets, Supply and Demand in Macroeconomics, Aggregate Demand and Supply, Macroeconomic Issues: Measuring the Economy, Economic Growth, Macroeconomics and Income, Aggregate Expenditures, Fiscal Policy, Inflation, Unemployment and Employment, Money and Banking: Money Creation, Monetary Policy, Role of Money in Macroeconomics, Commercial and Central Bank ,International Trade: International Trade, Trade and International Currency, Balance of payments and exchange rate, Exchange Rates and Their Effects

Texts:

References:

LITERATURE: VOICES AND CULTURES

Identity and diversity of culture, Concepts - ideology, power, hegemony. The voice of suppressed women in Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’, the appearance of the independent woman in ‘Jane Eyre’, woman-woman relationship in ‘Kamala’, challenging patriarchy in ‘Kamala’, Violence and Racism in Alice Walker’s ‘The Colour Purple’, Disruption of traditional roles in ‘The Colour Purple’, The voice of the underdogs in ‘Untouchable’, the female voice in ‘Untouchable’, laws and human behaviour in ‘The God of Small Things’, hierarchies in ‘Indian Society’ in ‘the God of Small Things’, the voice of the Black women in Phillis Wheatley’s ‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ and A. Ruth’s ‘A Black Woman, Nothing Else’, the voice of the powerless in Langston Hughes ‘Ballad of the Landlord’.

Texts:

References:

LANGUAGE, HUMAN MIND, AND INDIAN SOCIETY

Language: Form and function (Competence vs. Performance), Language as a rule-governed system, Language constitutive of being human; Languages of India: Language families (Genealogical classification of languages), India as a linguistic Area; Human mind: Cognitive language faculty, Biological foundations of language, Language acquisition, Human and non-human systems of communication, Construction of knowledge, Language processing, comprehension and production, Bilingualism and cognitive growth; Indian Society: Multilingualism vs. Bilingualism, India as a multilingual nation, Identities and language, Implications for pedagogy (Multilingual approaches to education), Language and dialect, Politics of language in India

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References:

COGNITION: LANGUAGE AND COMPUTATION

Language: Study of language as a rule governed system (Structure of Language), Acquisition of language, Universal Grammar, Knowledge of Language; Cognitive Science: Introduction, Study of Human Mind, Language and Human Mind, Language as a Cognitive Behavior; Cognitive Computation: Formal Models of Computation, Church-Turing Thesis, Chomsky/Machine Hierarchy; Human Cognition as Computation: Cognitive Architecture, Production System Architecture, Problem Spaces, Protocol Analyses; Artificial Intelligence and the Design of Intelligent Systems: Physical Symbol System Hypothesis, Representation and Semantics, General Models of Search, Knowledge & Search, Computational Limits and Rationality.

Texts:

References:

HS232 Health Care Management

Aim of the course:

The main aim of this course is to introduce students to the concepts of health, determinants of health care, and framework for health care management. This would allow students to understand the availability of health care services and development of health policies with special reference to India. It will also focus on analyzing the implications and outcomes of such policies. The course will emphasize on health disparities, health care management issues and their optimization in everyday lives of people in different communities of practice.

Contents of the course:

Text and references:

HS301 Financial Economics

Objective: Basic objective of this course is to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of financial economics, its theories and applications. Growing demand for expertise in the domain of finance, both professional as well as academics, will be served at preliminary level through this course.

Text and Readings:

HS311 Diasporic Literature

This course will deal with one of the most popular tools of contemporary theory- the notion of diaspora and its presence in literature:

Diaspora, exile, migration, old and new diaspora, identity formation, cultural assimilation, notion of home and homelessness, ideology of home and nation, homesickness, memory, nostalgia, politics of multiculturalism, the heterogeneity of diasporic groups, especially by gender, class, sexuality, caste, religion, the role of language and other cultural practices in migratory experiences; the significance of memory for the production of "imaginary homelands", Films and Indian diaspora.

Texts:

References:

HS312 Gender and Women’s Studies: An Introduction

Course Objectives:

This course decodes the power relations expressed/embedded in historical, structural, economic and political contexts, defines male and female relationship in multiple contexts steeped in patriarchy and age-old systems of dominance across cultures. With an aim to establish an egalitarian social structure free from exploitation, violence and oppression, society has indeed acknowledged the achievements of women and LGBTQ+. However, gender discrimination is still prevalent across the world and especially in the Indian society as it is entrenched and legitimized through our traditions, economy, religion and society.These patriarchal notions have seeped in from one generation to theother resulting in women and LGBTQpushed to subordinate position. Therefore, the course aims to minimize gender bias and works towards developing a gender sensitive pedagogy and knowledge system that will bring about a social change.

Unit 1: Basic Concepts in Gender

Unit 2: Feminism

Unit 3: Women’s Movements in India

Unit 4: Gender Inequalities across History

Unit 5: Bending Gender

Unit 6: Women and work

Unit 7: Gender and Violence

Unit8: Gender and Popular Culture

Unit 9: Gender and Politics

Unit 10: Gender and Technology

Text Books:

Bray, Francesca (2007) “Gender and Technology”

https://web.mit.edu/~shaslang/www/WGS/BrayGT.pdf

Pilcher, Jane & Imelda Whelehan (2004) Fifty Key Concepts in Gender Studies.SAGE

Publications Ltd

Richardson, Diane & Victoria Robinson (2007) Introducing Gender and Women's

Studies.Palgrave Macmillan

Sen, Sujata (2012) Gender Studies. Dorling Kindersley (PEARSON)

Devineni, Ram and Dan Goldman (2014)Priya's Shakti.Rattapallax

Suggested Reading:

Anagol, Padma (2005) The Emergence of Feminism in India, 1850-1920. Ashgate Publishing

Behl, Natasha (2019) Gendered Citizenship: Understanding Gendered Violence in Democratic India. Oxford University Press

Bhasin, Kamala (2000) Understanding Gender. Zubaan

Fontanella-Khan, Amana (2013) Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale of Women and Power in India. W. W. Norton & Company

Geetha, V (2002) Gender. Stree

John, Mary E (2008) Women’s Studies in India: A Reader. Penguin

Kumar, Radha (2000) The History Of Doing: An Illustrated Account Of Movements For Women’s Rights And Feminism In India, 1800-1990. Zubaan

Puri, Jyoti (1999) Woman, Body, Desire in Post-Colonial India: Narratives of Gender and Sexuality. Routledge

Tharu Susie & Lalita K (1997) Women Writing in India- Volume 1& 2. Oxford University Press

HS 322 Forensic Linguistics: Language, Law and Technology

Overview:

This course has been designed for B. Tech. students. Forensic linguistics or language and the law is the application of linguistic knowledge, methods and insights to the forensic context of law, language, crime investigation, trial, and judicial procedure. It is an umbrella of disciplines composed of many facets and a forensic linguistic enquiry will derive from other branches of theoretical and applied linguistics in order to analyze the language of some aspect of human life which has relevance to law, whether criminal or civil. Technological intervention at various levels of such inquiries has only improved the efficiency of such analyses. Some of the major issues that are addressed in this course through various topics are: language as forensic evidence; dealing with linguistic evidence; language and the law and language of the law. This course has been designed with the dual purpose of making the graduating students aware of the interface between language, law and technology and the immense career/ research scope that lies within its ambit.

Learning Outcomes:

A student passing this module should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding:

Course Outline:

Basic Linguistic Concepts: Introduction; Phonetics- Acoustic, Auditory and Articulatory Phonetics; Morphophonemics; Syntax; lexico- grammatical ambiguity; Sense relations; Linguistic Typology; Language Use in Society

Scope of Language as forensic evidence: Forensic Phonetics; speech decoding and transcripts; detecting behavior from voice; detection of deception; authorship; text as property; author- genre relationship; variation; cybercrime.

Nature of Linguistic Evidence- Forensic texts; forensic transcription; audio materials; forensic authorship; linguistic evidence in courts; case studies

Language and the law: rules of questioning; linguistic advantages and disadvantages; courtroom interpreting and translation; roles of a forensic linguist; language analysis for the determination of origin (LADO); speaker profiling; linguistic minorities and linguistic human rights; trade name and domain name disputes.

Text:

References:

HS331 Sociology of Development

Introduction: Scientific Study of Social Life, Concept and Context of Development, Comparative Perspectives, Systems of Governance, Role of the State, Public- Rights and Responsibilities, Indian Society- Structure and Change.

Theories of Development: Classical, Modernization, World System, Dependency, Structure-Agency Integration, Colonial, and Third-World Perspectives.

Themes and Perspectives: Rural Development, Gender and Development, Public Health, Sustainable Development, Action Research, (Mal)development- Anomie, Alienation, and Fragmented Identities, Urban Migration, Social Movements, Humanizing Development through Right-Based Approach (Right to Education, Information, Food, etc.)

Text and References:

Fundamentals of Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science: nature, history, and major findings and applications; Philosophy of language and mind; Psycholinguistic approach to the child language and cognitive development; Linguistics and the study of language in society: language, dialects, and varieties, native speakers and language acquisition, language as a mental phenomenon vs. language as behavior; multilingualism; Artificial Intelligence: Turing Test and Chinese-Room Argument, Natural language vs. artificial language; fuzzy logic; Culture as cognitive construction, culture and society, culture and language, cognition and human evolution.

Texts and References:

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Aim of the Course:

Today, many of the engineering students after passing out are joining some kind of organization. Therefore, they need to know how they will be successful as job applicants, trainees, employees, team players, and managers. This course will help them in knowing about all these and applying psychological principles in industries and organizations.

Course Contents:

Introduction: Psychology as a science of Behaviour and Mental Processes: Nature, Scope and Subject Matter of Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Time and Motion Study, Classical Hawthorne Studies.

Employer Selection: Recruitment Process; Selection Process - Job and Worker Analyses, Matching Job with the Person; Selection Methods - Application Blank, Biographical Inventories, References and Recommendation Letters, Interviews.

Psychological Testing: Characteristics of Psychological Tests; Types of Psychological Tests; Tests of Knowledge, Skills and Abilities - Interest, Aptitude and Personality Tests; Limitations of Psychological Testing Programmes.

Training and Learning: Need Identification; Psychological Factors in Learning; Training Methods in the Workplace; Effective Training Programme; Career Planning and Development.

Motivation: Needs, Incentives and Motives; Financial and Non-financial Motives; Theories of Motivation; Management of Motivation; Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction.

Leadership: Changing Views of Leadership; Theories of Leadership; Leadership Styles; Pole of Power in Leadership; Charismatic and Effective Leaders.

Group Behaviour:Formal and Informal Organizations in Industry; Conflicts in Organization; Resolution of the Conflicts; Decision Making Process.

Characteristics of the Workplace: Working Conditions - Physical and Psychological; Accident, Safety and Health; Management of Stress; Spirituality at Work.

Organizational Communication: Process of Communications; Upward, Downward and Horizontal Communications; Barriers to Communication; Effective Communication.

Texts and References:

Objective: The course intends to train the learners in using both verbal and non-verbal communication effectively. It also exposes them to different nuances of writing effectively for various professional purposes.

Details of Course:

Texts and References:

Objective:

Research design

Criteria in social research – reliability, replication, validity; Types of research designs -experimentation, cross-sectional studies (with emphasis on survey research), longitudinal studies, case study, comparative studies; Steps in doing research (planning for research); Questionnaire designing and validation

Quantitative research methods – Introduction

The four preoccupations – measurement, causality, generalization, replication; Defining a concept and its measurement; Types of data – primary and secondary data, cross-sectional, time-series, panel data; Statistical modelling – role of data in theory, hypothesis testing and general to specific modelling, exploratory data analysis

Sampling Theory

Census vis-à-vis sample, why sampling? Probabilistic sampling – advantages and disadvantages, types of probability sample –simple random sampling, stratified sampling, systematic sampling, multistage clustered sampling, how to determine sample size, bias, non-response, Non-probabilistic sampling – advantages and disadvantages.

Quantitative data analysis

Presentation of data – textual, tabular, graphical, Ratios and proportions, Univariate data analysis - frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, moment conditions, Estimation and test of Significance, Bivariate data analysis - contingency tables, correlation. Multivariate data analysis – causation, statistical inference, Analysis of variance.

Qualitative Research Process

Developing research questions, statement of problem, reviewing literature

Methodological approaches

Ethnomethodology; Ethnography; Phenomenology; Action Research; Historical and archival, research; Developing a Methodological Design; Triangulation/mixed method.

Qualitative data collection

Interviewing, Observation, Focus group Discussions, Using Archives

Qualitative data analysis and writing

Documentation of qualitative data; displaying and presenting data, writing, qualitative research, Ethics.

Essential Readings:

Additional Readings

Pre-requisite:Students opting for this course should have completed some undergraduate level courses on economics (HS 201 and HS 202) and basic statistic.

Introduction: To provide students with the capacity to understand and apply some of the methodologies available for applied research in economics and aid them in analysis and decision making.

Unit 1.Introduction to econometrics, steps in empirical economic analysis

Unit 2.Bivariate Analysis and Applications, Simple Regression

Unit 3.Multiple Linear Regression - OLS Asymptotics, BLUE, Heteroscedasticity, Multicollinearity, Autocorrelation

Unit 4.Regression Analysis with Economic time Series data

Unit 5.Pooling Cross Sections across Time: Simple Panel Data Methods

Unit 6.Instrumental Variables Estimation and Two Stage Least Squares

Suggested Readings

Objective:

Research design

Criteria in social research – reliability, replication, validity; Types of research designs -experimentation, cross-sectional studies (with emphasis on survey research), longitudinal studies, case study, comparative studies; Steps in doing research (planning for research); Questionnaire designing and validation

Quantitative research methods – Introduction

The four preoccupations – measurement, causality, generalization, replication; Defining a concept and its measurement; Types of data – primary and secondary data, cross-sectional, time-series, panel data; Statistical modelling – role of data in theory, hypothesis testing and general to specific modelling, exploratory data analysis

Sampling Theory

Census vis-à-vis sample, why sampling? Probabilistic sampling – advantages and disadvantages, types of probability sample –simple random sampling, stratified sampling, systematic sampling, multistage clustered sampling, how to determine sample size, bias, non-response, Non-probabilistic sampling – advantages and disadvantages.

Quantitative data analysis

Presentation of data – textual, tabular, graphical, Ratios and proportions, Univariate data analysis - frequency distributions, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, moment conditions, Estimation and test of Significance, Bivariate data analysis - contingency tables, correlation. Multivariate data analysis – causation, statistical inference, Analysis of variance.

Qualitative Research Process

Developing research questions, statement of problem, reviewing literature

Methodological approaches

Ethnomethodology; Ethnography; Phenomenology; Action Research; Historical and archival, research; Developing a Methodological Design; Triangulation/mixed method.

Qualitative data collection

Interviewing, Observation, Focus group Discussions, Using Archives

Qualitative data analysis and writing

Documentation of qualitative data; displaying and presenting data, writing, qualitative research, Ethics.

Essential Readings:

Additional Readings

Pre-requisite:Students opting for this course should have completed some undergraduate level courses on economics (HS 201 and HS 202) and basic statistic.

Introduction:To provide students with the capacity to understand and apply some of the methodologies available for applied research in economics and aid them in analysis and decision making.

Unit 1.Introduction to econometrics, steps in empirical economic analysis

Unit 2.Bivariate Analysis and Applications, Simple Regression

Unit 3.Multiple Linear Regression - OLS Asymptotics, BLUE, Heteroscedasticity, Multicollinearity, Autocorrelation

Unit 4.Regression Analysis with Economic time Series data

Unit 5.Pooling Cross Sections across Time: Simple Panel Data Methods

Unit 6.Instrumental Variables Estimation and Two Stage Least Squares

Suggested Readings

Introduction to Growth and development, Government, markets and public policy, Welfare Economics, (The concept of Welfare, Equality, Inequality and Efficiency, Welfare and Public Policy), Poverty and Inequality, Benefits from Economic Development, Endogenous Growth and Technological Change, Growth Models (Nurkse Model, Rosenstein-Rodan Model and Solow-Swan growth model,) Trade ( Traditional trade theories ,New Trade Theory), Political Economy: Liberalisation and Deregulation, The Aid Question

Texts:

References:

Representation of Gender in Literature

Theoretical concepts: Gender as a construct; gender socialization and polarization; relationship between gender and class, caste, race, location and ideology; concepts Écriture feminine, phallocenrism, androcentrism and biological essentialism; theories of gender and feminism; influences on gender theories – Michelle Foucault, Jacques Lacan, Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Elaine Showalter, Toril Moi; criticism of gender theories; concept of culture - high and low culture; women in various sources of popular culture: mass media, television, advertising, icons; textual representation: rebels or stereotypes; gender and society; Virginia Woolf: negotiating gendered space; Thomas Hardy: the ‘new woman’, Hardy’s relation to gender roles; Krupabai Satthianadhan: the ‘new woman’ in India, women and patriotism; Bapsi Sidhwa: violence against women; Chitra Bannerji Divakharuni: women in the Indian diasporas.

Texts:

References:

English for Research Skills

Structure of Modern English: Sound Patterns of English (places and manners of articulation of English sounds), Structure of Words (Phonotactic Rules), Architecture of English Sentences (Uses of Parts of Speech, Lexical and Inflectional Categories), Stress Patterns, Intonations

Reading skills:Newspapers editorials of The Hindu, The Statesman, The New York Times and The Washington Post; Featured stories of magazines such as Economic and Political Weekly, The Time and The Frontline, Short stories, and Novels

Listening skills:Listening to British Broadcasting Corporation, All India Radio (Audio), CNN and MSNBC TV, BBC TV (Audio-Visual), Parts of Documentaries (Story of English, Why we fight, The Corporation etc.), and Feature Films (No man’s land, Gandhi; Schindler’s list)

Speaking: In class presentations and group work

Writing: Short essays, journals, Short paper

Texts:

References:

Literary Representation of the Postcolonial Nation

This course will deal with narratives that construct the nation. Issues of centre/periphery, unity and oneness will be discussed through texts which make use of history and tell the story of nationhood. Main topics – what is postcolonial? Locating the hyphen: post-colonial or postcolonial, hybridity, Orientalism, the Other, Otherness, Centre and Margin, mimicry, nation and nationalism, subaltern. Postcolonial Literature and the Magic Radio: The Language of Rushdie’ds Midnight’s Children, Magic Realism as a postcolonial device in Midnight’s Children, Postcolonial identities and gender boundaries in The Shadow Lines, Partition in The Shadow Lines. History in In Times of Siege, ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ in In Times of Siege, Globalization and Migration in The Inheritance of Loss, identity conflicts in The Inheritance of Loss, Postcolonial nation state in The White Tiger, Western construct of India in The White Tiger, Cultural Displacement in The Mimic Men, nexus between language and power in The Mimic Men.

Texts:

References:

Objective:The course intends to train the learners in using both verbal and non-verbal communication effectively. It also exposes them to different nuances of writing effectively for various professional purposes.

Details of Course:

Texts and References:

Aim of the Course: Story telling is as old as human civilization and short fiction is one of the most important means through which human relationships have built and developed themselves in society. This course looks at Short Fiction as a specific category in literature with its own peculiar characteristics. While the course will look into the various themes of the stories listed below, it will also closely study the form as well as the various literary devices employed by the authors. While analyzing the short stories, each story will be contextualized in the time, history and locale in which it is written as well as in the biographical trajectory of the author. The course proposes to undertake a close reading of these short stories aiming to develop a comprehensive understanding of short fiction as a distinct genre in literature with its own specific forms of perceiving and registering reality in all its varied manifestations. The selection of stories is especially designed to offer a wide range of themes as well as forms. The writers belong to different countries; hence the present selection almost serves as a window to the literature of other countries. The stories have been chosen from Indian, British, American, Russian and other World literatures.

Content of the course:

Unit- 1: Indian Literature

R K Narayan- An Astrologer's Day

Ruskin Bond- The Kite Maker

Mulk Raj Anand- Why Does the Child Cry

Bharati Mukherjee- Nostalgia

Shashi Deshpande- It was Dark

Jhumpa Lahiri- Interpreter of Maladies

Unit -2: British Literature

D H Lawrence- The Horse Dealer’s Daughter

Virginia Woolf- The Mark on the Wall

James Joyce- Araby

Joseph Conrad- The Secret Sharer

H G Wells- Jimmy Goggles the God

Unit -3: American Literature

Edgar Allen Poe- The Tell-Tale Heart

Nathaniel Hawthorne- The Ambitious Guest

O Henry- The Last Leaf

Mark Twain- The Secret Revealed

Langston Hughes- Thank you Ma'm

Unit-4: Russian Literature

Leo Tolstoy- God Sees the Truth but Waits

Fyodor Dostoevsky- The Christmas tree and the Wedding

Anton Chekhov- The Lament/ The Grief

Nikolai Gogol- The Overcoat/ The Cloak

Ivan Turgenev- The District Doctor

Unit-5: Other World Literature

Franz Kafka- A Hunger Artist

Guy de Maupassant- The Thief

Katherine Mansfield- The Little Girl

Thomas Mann- A Man and His Dog

Samuel Beckett- First Love

Chinua Achebe- Civil Peace

Saadat Hasan Manto-Toba Tek Singh

Text and References:

ELT Methodology: Theory and Practice

The course aims to equip the learners with the necessary background on language teaching theories. It introduces various theoretical perspectives that underlie the teaching of a second language and also enables students to have a practical experience of teaching. The objective of the course is to develop researchers who can join the work place with adequate knowledge of language teaching skills and methods.

Course Content:

Approaches and Methods of Language Teaching: What is method?; components of a method (approach, design and procedure); historical background of language teaching in India; a brief survey of methods like Grammar Translation, Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Communicative Language Teaching in India etc.

Theories of Language Learning: Skinner and the Theory of Behaviorism, Chomsky and Universal Grammar, Schumann and the Acculturation Model, Jean Piaget and theory of Cognitive Development, Vyogotsky and Second Language Acquisition, Jerome Bruner and Constructivist Theory, Krashen and the Monitor Model

Perspectives on ELT: communicative competence; fluency and accuracy; errors and their significance for language teachers; bilingualism and multilingualism; the mother tongue and second language teaching; suggestopedia, technology for language teaching, Krashen’s strategies

Practice Teaching: teaching prose / poetry; teaching grammar/ vocabulary; teaching pronunciation/ building strategies for developing LSRW skills

Ear Training: Learning to listen to incorrect sounds and unacceptable or incorrect utterances; recognizing pauses at incorrect places or frequent pausal errors.

Eye Training: Recognizing errors in written English; learning to account for errors

Suggested Readings:

Text Books:

Reference books:

Post-Independence Censorship in India: Laws and Literature

Objective of the course:

“Post-Independence Censorship in India: Laws and Literature” is primarily meant for research scholars. The course will help them to learn and evolve an understanding of issues which became crucial or decisive to censoring or ban in India. It attempts to familiarize them with the ever-growing corpus of literary and cultural texts which faced ban, either partially or completely. Being a diverse country, India is home to different religions, languages, castes and ideologies however, despite its heterogeneous and secular construct, it has been hovered with censoring agents and their own strategies of control. Therefore, the course would seek to examine the socio-political dynamics in these writings with a view to understanding and appreciating the cultural sensitivity of India’s kaleidoscopic layers and reception of the literary-cultural artefacts of our society. This course intends to bring in the discussion and debates on defining censorship and rationale behind censoring/banning of literary and cultural texts. It also aims to highlight the complex relations between power, control and the act of reading.

Text Books:

Reference Books:

Current Trends in Linguistic Theory

Pre-Generative Era; Different stages of principles and parameter framework (Aspects, Standard Theory, Government and Binding Theory): Basic Linguistic Questions; Implicit Knowledge; Innateness; Knowledge of Language; Problems of Language Acquisition; Words and Syntactic Categories; Phrase Structure Rules; Ambiguity and Structural Relations and Trees; Binding Theory; Case Theory; Expletives and Theta Roles; The internal structure of XPs; Head Movement; DP Movement; Wh-Movement, Minimalist Program.

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References:

Trends in Applied Linguistics

This course has been designed for research scholars. Applied Linguistics is concerned with practical issues involving language in the life of human community. Some of the major issues that are addressed under this are the pedagogy involved in second or foreign language learning, language policy, multilingualism, language education and discourse. This course has been designed with the dual purpose of making the research scholars aware of the current trends in Applied Linguistics and also to make them aware of the immense scope of research in these areas.

Language Pedagogy: Introduction; Methodology Vs Methods; Structural Methods, Functional Methods, Interactive Methods; Use of Technology in Language Education; ELT- Changing Trends.

Language Acquisition:Difference between acquisition and learning, First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition, Approaches of language acquisition studies, Language Acquisition and Brain; English as Second Language and English as Foreign Language, Concept of Interference.

Language in Society: Speech Communities and Ethnocentrism; Bilingualism and Multilingualism; Language in Contact; Language Variation; Language Varieties; language and power; language and culture Role and limitations of English in India; Linguistic Imperialism.

Language Planning and Policy Making: Concept of Speech Community; Language Ideology; Planning Goals; Types of Language Planning; Language Regulators; Natural Languages and Auxiliary Languages.

Discourse Studies: Meaning of discourse and its types; critical and pragmatic approaches to discourse; utterance and discourse; role of discourse in profession; Classroom Discourse; Institutional discourse; English for Academic Purpose.

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Social Research Design and Practice

Knowledge and Power, Fundamentals of Research, Problem Formulation, Resource Survey

Qualitative Research: Interviews, Narratives, Ethnography, Focus Group, Action Research, Hermeneutics, Semiotics, Discourse Analysis, Archival Research, and Visual Methods

Quantitative Research: Surveys, Experimental Methods, Content Analysis, Data Organization and Analysis, Use of Statistics tools and Computer Software(s)

Mixed Methods, Comparative Strategies, Post-formalism, Bricolage, Crystallization

Ethics of Research, Social Responsibility and Public Outreach, Research Report

Suggested Readings:

Sociology of Education

Relevant Theories:

Functionalism, Cultural Reproduction, Symbolic Interactions, Feminism, Alternatives, and “Post”-Theories.

Themes and Perspectives:

Socialization- Family and Community, State- Ideology and Policies, School as a System, Schooling as a Process, Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Evaluation, Media Literacy, Diversity and Difference

Education and Society in India:

Historical Legacy and Social Context, Modernization and Education, Equality and Equity, Links- Basic and Higher Education, Science, Technology and Education, Transnationalism and Education, Educational Revolution in India- Right to Education, Quantitative Growth and Quality Discourse.

Suggested Readings:

Theories of Knowing in Contemporary Society

Aim of the course:

This course will deal with different ways of knowing and will span epistemologies from different traditions, historical time and space, and discourses. Theoretical mooring along with the worldliness will be addressed for how it implicates “knowing” and what it means for social processes of being in the world. Attempt will be made for synchronizing between the world as given and the world as intended, disembodied and situated epistemologies, and between “I am” and “I think” binaries of human subjectivities. We will be committed to “thinking thought itself” along with the relationship between the places in which people live and the spaces in which they think. Needless to say, we will explore different ways of knowing in relation to community, agency, identity, access to, and engagement with, new technologies, as well as possibilities of civic engagement and social justice in a multitude of social context.

Contents of the course:

Power- Knowledge-Public: Centrality of “will” to knowledge and, thereby, control for progress and development in contemporary neo-liberal, transnational, and new imperial society.

Public-CounterPublic-Public Engagement: Diverse processes of comprehending the social reality and engaging the public including colonial and contemporary governmentality using technology and new media interface.

Digital Culture- Citizenship- Open Access: Problematic of citizenship configuration for national and sub-national identity and resistance along with increasing use of digital culture and open access of open sources.

Ontology- Epistemology-Methodology: Linking everyday social experiences and the centrality of “knowing” as per the “being” of the subject and the aspirations of “doing”

Globalism-Education-Identity: Pertinent issues of contemporary society where globalism serves the nexus of new identity repertoire for education and configures (as Eliot would) that “ it is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view”

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NB-additional reading materials will be suggested during the course.

HSS PhD elective. Course instructor- Dr Aditya Raj

Organizational Behaviour

Introduction:
Foundations of Individual Behaviour, Diversity in Organizations, Trends, Challenges & Opportunities, OB Model

The Individual
Attitudes, Emotions & moods, Personality & Values, Perception and Individual decision making, Motivation: Concepts, Theories & Applications

The Group
Foundations of group behavior, Understanding work teams, communication, leadership, power & politics, conflict & negotiation, foundations of organizational structure

The Organization System
Organizational Culture, organization change & stress management

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Course objective

This course, carrying forward the concepts learnt in the previous course “Managing and Developing People (OB)” is therefore designed to focus on practical applications that all managers need to manage their HR-related responsibilities, as also students aspiring to a career as a HR professional. The course will introduce the basics of strategic HR planning and forecasting while dealing with important concepts, processes, and tools in recruitment and selection. It deals with the shift in the paradigm in HRM from administrative to strategic function. It will also focus on understanding the importance of job analysis in effective recruitment and selection. The course will give practical information on various challenges faced during forecasting, recruitment and selection in today`s world of globalization. It provides interesting and practical insights on how to link the planning and staffing function to talent management in the organization.

This course requires an analytical ability to understand the concepts and a keen eye for observing how people management policies and practices affect organizational working. The sessions would comprise of Lectures, Practical examples, Case Discussions, Films, Experiential Exercises, Videos, and Project Work.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a broad understanding about:

Course Content

Strategy, forecasting, planning and people – HR and its contribution to strategy, from manpower planning to strategic human resource forecasting. The strategic human resource forecast – components, developing strategic options, creating HR scenarios, assessing HR demand and supply, assessing cultural implications, gap analysis.

The Human resource plan: Components of the human resource plan, quantitative human resource plan, the resourcing plan

Competency Mapping: Approaches of competency mapping, Process of competency mapping, Preparing organization for competency mapping, identifying job function for competency mapping, collecting data for job descriptions,

HR Budgeting: Estimating and assigning costs to plan data, creating an HR budget for the organization.

Staffing

Recruitment - Concept - Factors Affecting Recruitment – Sources of recruitment -Methods and Techniques - Recruitment Policies - Assessment of Recruitment Program, Selection - Procedure - Policy - Essentials of Selection Procedure - Steps in the Selection Procedure – Selection Tests – Psychological Testing, Selection Interview: Process including reference check and medical examination.-Placement and induction

Competency-Based HRM applications: competency-based recruitment and selection, hiring plan, assessment tools, selection fitment, on boarding, induction

Training & Development

Training & Development: Introduction, Training Process, Training Need Analysis, Systematic Approach to Training, Types of Training and Development, Training Evaluation

Talent Management: Evolution of Talent Management, Developing a Talent Strategy interwoven with the Company Business Strategy, Assessment Processes: Capabilities as the corner stone of Talent Management, classification of competencies leading, To an Integrated System of Talent Management, Performance Management, & Reward Systems.

Issues of Talent Deployment: career planning and management, succession planning and its purpose, criticality etc., The Nine Box Talent Matrix by Vanhecke & Bekaert of McKinsey’, The Nine Box Matrix of Talents of GE developed for Jack Welch, Processes of engagement, talent management responsibilities at every level.

Contemporary Issues: HR Accounting, International HRM, HR Analytics, HRIS, Business Process Outsourcing, Right Sizing of Workforce

INDICATIVE READING LIST - Key Texts and Sources

Text books

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Population and Public Health

Aim of the course:

The main aim of this course is to acquaint students with the concepts, theories, methods, and debates that underpin population and public health research. The course covers a wide range of topics including the introduction to population health paradigms, the history of public health, and critical debates in population and public health. The course will thus emphasize on concepts of population and public health, fundamentals of public health strategies including health promotion, public policy, disease prevention, communication in health, and behaviour change in everyday lives of people.

Contents of the course:

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