Level Coordinators:

Maria Mattaliano - Office  E-711 Tel: 908-965-2354 Email:  Mattaliano@ucc.edu

Mahua De – Office  E-718A Tel: 908-659-5143 E-mail: de@ucc.edu

 

Prerequisites

ESL Placement Test or ESL 091 
Co-requisites
ESL 064, ESL 065, ESL 082

 

Course Description

ESL 092 is a full-semester advanced academic writing course that is part of the Level 6 sequence designed for students whose native language is not English.  Admission to the class is by placement testing, successful completion of ESL 091, or by teacher recommendation.  The course meets once a week for 3 hours for 15 weeks (including exams).  ESL 092 the purpose of this course is to extend the students ability to write essays that are clear, organized expression of ideas as begun in ESL 091.The emphasis is on responding to academic readings/texts/videos, utilizing quotations, paraphrasing, and summarizing in their essays. It is also the goal of 092 to introduce students to a variety of rhetorical styles and do simple library research. By the end of 092, students will be expected to write persuasive and argumentative essays in which they use personal experience and information from other sources to support their ideas.

 

Students who are successful in passing this course are finished with ESL non-credit writing, and they continue with English 111 and 112, which are equivalent to ENG 101 (3 credits) and a modern language elective (3 credits).Students who need more time at this level are required to repeat this course.

 

Course Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes

·       To write an organized and developed essay that uses adequate details to support a thesis and uses some syntactical variety. It includes occasional errors which may obscure meaning

·       To use a variety of prewriting strategies

·       To use a variety of revision strategies 

·       To proof read and edit their own writing, using a variety of editing activities and strategies

·       To write ungraded journals which demonstrate adequate fluency 

·       To demonstrate, in at least one graded essay, the ability to write in response to research sources

·       To show developing competency in recognizing and citing one or more print or electronic sources

·       To utilize quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing to respond to and incorporate ideas from other sources, while avoiding plagiarism

·       To manage email, send an attachment, and write papers in a proper format with word processing

 

Information Literacy

By the conclusion of the semester, all students who pass this course will demonstrate, in at least one graded essay, an understanding of the fundamentals of research.  This will include doing basic research, evaluating sources, and incorporating at least two sources in the essay.  Students must show developing competency in recognizing plagiarism and appropriately quoting and citing sources and preparing a bibliography. Some of the sources must be electronic, including a database and the internet.

 

Requirements

·       Students will write three multi-draft papers (2 to 3 drafts per paper).  The majority of the papers should be a minimum of  2-3 pages.

·       Students will write one additional multi-draft essay for which the teacher collects only the final draft.

·       Students will take in-class graded writing tests/assignments.

·       Students will take a midterm and final exam.

·       Students will take the Holistic Writing Test at the end of the semester.

·       Students will have mid-term conferences with their instructor.

·       Students will write journal entries. These are graded for the quality and quantity.

·       Students will utilize word processing to compose all papers.

·       Students will utilize email and attachments as part of regular class communication. (Send two or more assignments by email as an attachment.)

·       Students will maintain a writing portfolio.

    

Student Resources

·       Textbooks (Choose one of the following.)

·       Folse, K., Muchmore-Vokoun, A. and Vestri Solomon, E.   (2004).  Great Essays. 2^nd ed. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mufflin Co.

      Folse, K. et al. (2003).  Blueprints 2. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Co.

• Library data bases
• Internet

 

Suggested Final Grade Calculation

The final grade should be an average of the students’ total performance in the class: 

*Essays and other writing assignments            50%

Midterm and editing quizzes                           20%

In-class participation, homework, journals     10%

Final Exam or project or paper                       20%

 

The Holistic Writing Test is required at the end of ESL 092.  It is a 30-minute in-class writing that is graded by a committee of ESL faculty members using the ETS TWE guidelines.  The holistic scores serve as a guide for the final grade.  The holistic scores are not used as a sole criteria for passing/failing a student.

 

Suggested Methodologies and Activities

Draft Assignments

Students will write multiple drafts using various rhetorical styles and will incorporate writing process strategies, including prewriting, planning, peer review, revising and final editing.

 Journal Assignments

 ·       Writing an Autobiography

Each student will write weekly on a subject related to a reading assignment or a motivational prompt.  The topics will draw from the students’ personal experience making the pieces autobiographical.  The students will see the relationship between the experiences of the characters in the story and their own life experiences.  Also, they will share their writing with a partner or small group. 

• Circle Journals

Students write on different topics and pass on their writing to other students to respond and write on the same topic. 

• FreeWriting

Students write topics related to the topics they will be writing about in their compositions.

 

Coordination with Reading and Grammar Classes

Students discuss content and practice skills being covered in reading, listening and grammar.   Students write essays in response to readings or media sources, such as film, TV or music.

 Reading

All suggested writings are based on readings, i.e. articles, essays, short stories, biographies and novels

 Grammar

Grammar is taught in the context of student writing.  Students focus on their most common errors, such as sentence structure, coordination and subordination and verb tenses.

 

Sample Research Project

• Research a  topic, using internet and library data base sources. 
• Write an outline which includes a thesis statement, listing of causes, effects and solutions.  In the outline, paraphrase the important information and indicate the sources. 
• Give an in class writing in which students summarize their research, or ask students to give an oral presentation.
• Complete a writing assignment based on previous steps.    

 

CALL/ALC

• Students utilize word processing for free-writing, organizing,  peer review, drafting and editing of their essays.
• Students use email with attachments for sharing and sending assignments Journal