Communication Skills Question Paper
Communication Skills
Course:Bachelor Of Education
Institution: Kenyatta University question papers
Exam Year:2009
KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2008/2009
INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
EDUCATION
UCU 100: COMMUNICATION SKILLS
DATE: Tuesday 6th January, 2009 TIME: 8.00 a.m. – 10.00 a.m.
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INSTRUCTIONS
Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions.
1. A. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow it.
GETTING ALONG WITH NATURE
The defenders of nature and wilderness – like their enemies the defenders of the
industrial economy – sometimes sound as if the natural and the human were two separate estates, radically different and radically divided. The defenders of nature and wilderness sometimes seem to feel that they must oppose any human encroachment whatsoever, just as the industrialists often apparently feel that they must make the human encroachment absolute or, as they say, “complete the conquest of nature”. But there is danger in this opposition, and it can be best dealt with by realizing that these pure and separate categories are pure ideas and do not otherwise exist. Pure nature, anyhow, is not good for humans to live in, and humans do not want to live in it – or not for very long. Any exposure to the elements that lasts more than a few hours will remind us of the desirability of the basic human amenities:
clothing, shelter, cooked food, the company of kinfolk and friends – perhaps even of hot baths and music and books.
It is equally true that a condition that is purely human is not good for people to live in, and people do not want to live for very long in it. Obviously, the more artificial a human environment becomes, the more the word “natural” becomes a term of value. It can be argued, indeed, that the conservation movement, as we know it today, is largely a product of the industrial revolution. The people who want clean air, clear streams, and wild forests, prairies and deserts are the people who no longer have them.
People cannot live apart from nature; that is the first principle of the conservationists. And yet, people cannot live in nature without changing it. But this is true of all creatures; they depend upon nature, and they change it. What we call nature is, in a sense, the sum of the changes made by all the various creatures and natural forces in their intricate actions and influences upon each other and upon their places. Because of the woodpeckers, nature is different from what it would be without them. It is different also because of the borers and ants that live in tree trunks and because of the bacteria that live in the soil under the trees. The making of these differences is the making of the world.
Some of the changes made by wild creatures we would call beneficent: beavers are famous for making ponds that turn into fertile meadows; trees and prairie grasses build soil. But sometimes, too, we would call natural changes destructive. According to early witnesses, for instance, large areas around Kentucky salt licks were severely trampled and eroded by the great herds of hoofed animals that gathered there. The buffalo “streets” through hilly country were so hollowed out by hoof wear and erosion that they remain visible almost two centuries after the disappearance of the buffalo. And so it can hardly be expected that humans would not change nature. Humans, like
(i) Explain the term conservationists using your own words. [3 marks]
(ii) Identify the contradiction in paragraph one. [3 marks]
(iii) Which other word from the passage has the same meaning as nature from paragraph one? [3 marks]
(iv) Which is the key point of this passage? [3 marks]
(v) Identify two key words used by the author to show that change is a positive as well as a negative process. [3 marks]
B.
(a)The following represent the first three references of a bibliography from a
student’s essay. Identify five errors from the list. [10 marks]
(i) Peter Coombs (1968). The World’s Educational Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(ii) Todaro, M. (1982) Economics for a Developing World. Longman.
(iii) Atkinson G B. “Economics of Education”. New York: Hodder & Stonghton, 1983.
(b) Explain each of the following [5 marks]
(i) Classification scheme
(ii) Call number
2. Listening is not a passive but an active process. Show clearly what an effective listener (student) does in order to be actively engaged in the listening process.
[20 marks]
3. Write four paragraphs on the topic “How to slow the aging process?” [20 marks]
4. Thelma is in her second year of study at Moi University. She has received an academic warning due to her low grades in almost all subjects. She comes to you for advice on how she can be a more effective student. Under each of the following, write five tips for Thelma to help her improve her grades.
(i) Time management
(ii) Forming a study group
(iii) Organizing study materials
(iv) Preparing for examinations.
5.(a)Identify four barriers to communication and explain each briefly. [6 marks]
(b) Illustrate using relevant examples how a communication goal is achieved during the process of communication.
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