EN1CAD: Communicating Across Disciplines

Module code: EN1CAD

Module provider: English Literature; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

ECTS credits: 10

Level: 4

When you’ll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Professor Paddy Bullard, email: p.s.bullard@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: Micro placement

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 25 March 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module enables undergraduate students to develop key communication skills. It offers a challenge to its participants: how, as a non-specialist, can you help researchers transfer expert knowledge to wider public audiences?

To equip students for meeting this challenge, it provides specialist training on aspects of cross-disciplinary theory, communication skills, advocacy work and engagement with young people. Students test this training when they lead pupils (Key Stage 4) from local schools in an enrichment day. Students build on knowledge and generic skills acquired in lectures and seminars to plan and deliver a communications seminar as part of that enrichment day. They will facilitate the transfer of knowledge of a special topic (in the module's initial iteration this will be a topic in environmental science and sustainability) with small groups of school pupils. Students on the module will share and reflect on their experiences with other participants, and those reflections will be written up in a final individual report.

The module aims to enable students to develop:

• A competent knowledge of the prescribed topic for communication
• The skills necessary to locate, comprehend and analyse relevant literature on the specified topic
• IT skills through use of digital resources and presentation technologies
• An understanding of the challenges and rewards of professional communications, interdisciplinary thinking and pedagogy in working environments, with the aim of informing later career decisions
• A range of other presentational, organisational and interpersonal skills readily transferable to other areas of employment besides teaching

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Conduct themselves as communicators in a professional manner
2. Reflect on their learning experiences, drawing on their observations and knowledge of appropriate literature to inform their reflections
3. Reflect on the development of their transferable skills and summarise their insights as one component of a final reflective report
4. Write a final reflective report on the theory and practice of cross-disciplinary communication, drawing on relevant literature to inform their findings

Module content

Module content is divided into four parts: 1. Theories and techniques of communication; 2. Introduction to the special topic for communication (in the module's initial iteration this will be a topic in environmental science and sustainability); 3. Developing practical applications in communication; 4. Preparation and delivery of the knowledge transfer event.

In Part 1 students cover theories and techniques of knowledge transfer and communication. As an indication these may include: theories of interdisiplinary inquiry and non-domain-specific expertise, techniques of narrativization, the uses of multimodality, and approaches to the popularization of specialist research.

In Part 2 students learn about the special topic for communication (environmental science and sustainability) in terms of its broad scientific contexts and socio-political implications. Students should note that deep knowledge of the special topic is not a module requirement: learning is focused instead on the challenges involved in effective communication of a topic in which the student is not an expert.

In Part 3, students continue to receive practical instruction in communication methods in lecture format. At the same time they will begin to develop their own communication project in self-scheduled small group discussion sessions.

In Part 4 they will receive a further focused briefing on a discrete piece of research within the special topic (environmental science and sustainability). This is in anticipation of the module capstone. The capstone is a day long local schools enrichment event, organized by the Reading Literary and Scientific Society (Reading Lit & Sci). At the event students registered on the module will: first, attend a keynote lecture (presenting research on the special topic, as per the previous briefing) alongside the local school pupil participants; second, run a knowledge transfer, discussion and communication seminar for the local school pupil participants, in which they will facilitate understanding of the lecture; and, third, help local school pupils to prepare their own persuasive summaries of the lecture content.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The teaching and learning methods for EN1CAD both involve and are concerned to investigate interdisciplinarity and mixed delivery modes. The first half of the teaching semester is lecture and seminar based, to establish understanding of the module's relation to more tradition humanities learning, knowledge of core communications techniques, and exploration of theoretical backgrounds. This learning will be assessed in the final reflective essay. The second half of semester begins with (at time of writing) two weeks of general instruction on the special topic (environmental science and sustainability), so that students are confident of the role they will be assuming as communicators. During the remaining weeks of the semester students will be taught practical methods of communication, seminar management and digital media use. They will be supported as they meet in small groups to plan their work at the capstone local schools enrichment event. This day-long event we consider to be a micro-placement, at which students will consolidate and apply knowledge and capabilities developed across the preceding semester.

Study hours

At least 18 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Although the oral presentation is assessed summatively, it has a strong formative function, working as an opportunity for feedback before the capstone local schools enrichment event.

Reassessment

Additional costs