A Comparative Study on the Development of Communication Competence through the ‘Writing’ and ‘Presentation and Discussion’ Courses within Liberal Arts Education : A Case Study of N University

The purpose of this study is to identify ways to improve the liberal arts courses ‘Writing’ and ‘Presentation and Discussion’ by comparing the degree of improvement in communication competence among students who have taken these courses. To achieve this purpose, a pre-test and post-test on communication competence were administered to students enrolled in the ‘Writing’ and ‘Presentation and Discussion’ course during the first semester of 2025. The results of the study are as follows. First, the communication competence of students who took the ‘Writing’ course improved. Among the sub-competencies, ‘expression and delivery’ showed significant improvement, while ‘listening and understanding’ and ‘adjustment and resolution’ did not show statistically significant improvement. Second, the communication competence of students who took the ‘Presentation and Discussion’ course also improved. All sub-competencies showed significant improvement, with ‘adjustment and resolution’ demonstrating the greatest increase. Third, the overall improvement in communication competence, as well as in all three sub-competencies, was significantly higher in the ‘Presentation and Discussion’ course than in the ‘Writing’ course. Based on the research findings, the following recommendations are proposed. To enhance communication competence, the content of courses should be organized in a cyclical and developmental sequence of reading, thinking, writing, and speaking. In addition, the ‘Writing’ course should include topics that not only encourage students to express their own thoughts and emotions, but also require them to understand the thoughts and emotions of others. Furthermore, it is important to develop and provide weekly activity sheets that support students' project and team-based activities, and to regularly rotate team members to promote diverse collaboration.