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ENGL 080 Learning Academic English

This integrated ESL course prepares students whose first language is not English to read and write in college-level courses. It aims at improving and developing their English language skills to be at a level similar to native English speakers. This holistic course combines several skills both linguistic and cultural. So, students of this course will: learn to write correct standard English sentences and paragraphs; be able to read, understand, identify, and analyze information; be able to speak fluently and convey their ideas; and understand different cultural values that pertain to life in the United States, both academic and personal. 

Credits

4 credits

Semester Contact Hours Lecture

60

Semester Contact Hours Lab

0

Semester Contact Hours Clinical

0

ENGL 080Learning Academic English

Please note: This is not a course syllabus. A course syllabus is unique to a particular section of a course by instructor. This curriculum guide provides general information about a course.

I. General Information

Department

English and Languages Academic

II. Course Specification

Course Type

{33F85C8E-F028-4EA1-B462-29A7236FE794}

Credit Hours Narrative

4 credits

Semester Contact Hours Lecture

60

Semester Contact Hours Lab

0

Semester Contact Hours Clinical

0

Repeatable

Yes

III. Catalog Course Description

This integrated ESL course prepares students whose first language is not English to read and write in college-level courses. It aims at improving and developing their English language skills to be at a level similar to native English speakers. This holistic course combines several skills both linguistic and cultural. So, students of this course will: learn to write correct standard English sentences and paragraphs; be able to read, understand, identify, and analyze information; be able to speak fluently and convey their ideas; and understand different cultural values that pertain to life in the United States, both academic and personal. 

IV. Student Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

  • Demonstrate, through conversation, understanding of native speakers’ utterances containing unfamiliar vocabulary.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the essential points of a conversation in academic settings.
  • Use appropriate reading strategies for understanding unfamiliar texts or materials.
  • Apply the competency and fluency gained in basic reading to achieve academic success and test-taking success.
  • Identify main ideas and key points in unfamiliar reading passages and use syntactic clues and other context clues to interpret complex sentences and unfamiliar words.
  • Evaluate reading content for facts or opinions; make inferences by analyzing contextual and syntactic clues to interpret the author’s point of view.
  • Apply a series of steps in writing process to develop essays of different organizations suitable for unique disciplinary expectations.
  • Write summaries of reading passages, take notes from lectures, and write formally and informally to meet audience needs.
  • Evaluate unique cultural situations and formulate appropriate responses when such situations differ from the learner’s home culture.
  • Develop and demonstrate strategies for parsing and responding to cultural misunderstandings and differences.

V. Topical Outline (Course Content)

Speaking & Listening

  1. A. Pronunciation
    1. 1. Sentence stress, rhythm and intonation
    2. 2. Phrasal stress and thought groups
    3. 3. Emphasis patterns for content and structure words
    4. 4. Constrastive stress and intonation
    5. 5. Linking and reductions
    6. 6. Rate and volume
    7. 7. Evaluation and individualized instruction to meet each student’s pronunciation difficulties
  2. B. Listening
    1. 1. Understanding longer lectures and longer segments from broadcast media
    2. 2. Strategies for effective listening
    3. 3. Strategies for effective note-taking
    4. 4. Using context to aid comprehension
    5. 5. Drawing inferences and predicting information
    6. 6. Using sound patterns to aid comprehension:
    7. 7. Using sentence and contrastive stress
    8. 8. Intonation patterns
    9. 9. Recognizing reduced speech
    10. 10. Focusing on grammatical word endings for meaning
    11. 11. Listening to information given by instructor and other students in classroom discussion; evaluating its relevance
  3. C. Speaking
    1. 1. Planning, organizing, practicing and delivering longer oral presentations on academic topics using outside source materials
    2. 2. Participating in class discussions with native speakers
      1. a. Strategies for agreeing, disagreeing, interrupting, clarifying, etc.
      2. b. Leading small group and whole class discussions
    3. 3. Impromptu and planned speaking
    4. 4. Orally summarizing information

 

Reading

  1. A. The reading process, including pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading strategies
  2. B. Reading excerpts from authentic academic texts and textbooks in English for overall understanding and for detail
    1. 1. Identifying main ideas and details
    2. 2. Recognizing text structure
    3. 3. Identifying and using elements of textbook design to understand textbook content.
    4. C. Strategies for dealing effectively with unknown vocabulary met while reading, including context clues, word parts, dictionary use, etc.
    5. D. Recognizing and using an increasing range of vocabulary
    6. E. Locating information quickly in new as well as previously read material
    7. F. Recognizing and using an increasing range of vocabulary

 

Writing

  1. A. Writing paragraphs and essays of increasing length
  2. B. The writing process, including strategies for pre-writing, drafting, revising and editing
    1. 1. Peer- and self- revising and editing
    2. 2. Making effective use of peer and instructor feedback on writing
    3. C. Constructing sentences and paragraphs clearly and effectively
    4. D. Combining paragraphs into more sophisticated compositions with introduction, body and conclusion
    5. 1. Beginning to develop thesis statements
  3. E. Recognizing and following standard U.S. academic writing conventions
  4. F. Recognizing and using formal academic grammar and vocabulary
  5. G. Understanding and appropriately varying sentence structure in writing
  6. H. Beginning to integrate information from outside sources with personal ideas and experiences

 

Grammar

  1. A. Review of the sentence and its parts:
    1. 1. Parts of speech: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions
    2. 2. Parts of sentences: Subjects, verbs and objects
    3. 3. Standard word order in statements, negative statements, yes/no and wh-questions
    4. 4. Subject-verb agreement
    5. 5. Common sentence problems (e.g., comma splices, fragments and run-on sentences)
  2. B. Conjunctions: Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs
  3. C. Verbs:
    1. 1. Simple, progressive, perfect and perfect progressive aspect in present, past and future tenses
    2. 2. Modal verbs, including phrasal modals and modal perfects
    3. 3. Passive voice
    4. 4. Real and unreal conditionals
  4. D. Clauses:
    1. 1. Adjective clauses
    2. 2. Noun clauses
    3. 3. Adverb clauses
    4. 4. Quoted and indirect speech
    5. 5. Participial phrases (reduced clauses)
  5. E. Nouns, Adjectives and Adverbs:
    1. 1. Count and non-count nouns
    2. 2. Articles, determiners, quantifiers, and possessives
  6. F. Dictionary and Grammar Reference
    1. 1. Understanding the different types of information in a dictionary entry
    2. 2. Locating and using information from a grammar reference

 

Cultural Awareness

 

 

VI. Delivery Methodologies