Bunker Hill Community College

ESL 089 ACADEMIC WRITING II w/(RWGXC)

w/reading, writing, and grammar across the curriculum

This high intermediate course focuses on the fundamentals of sentence structure and paragraph and essay writing. Students will be asked to write paragraphs from personal experience and in response to readings. Grammar is taught in the context of the readings and student generated writing. This course must be completed with a “C” grade or better in order to take ESL 099.

GOAL
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to write paragraphs and essays from personal experience and in response to readings. Students will be able to write from general to specific with specific details and support.

OBJECTIVES
I. Personal Writing

1. write in journal at least once a week

2. write paragraphs and/or essays in class and at home in response to simple prompts

3. write from general to specific, with specific supporting and details in essay form

4. support thesis statement or topic sentence with controlling idea with main and secondary support

5. write simple, compound, and complex sentences with correct word order

6. write paragraphs/essays easily understood by native readers of English

II. Responding to readings

A. Prior to or after class discussions, students will be assigned a reading passage of 500-750 words related to a writing topic. Over the course of the semester, the length and difficulty of the reading passages should increase in order to challenge the students’ levels of academic literacy. In class activities and homework assignments over the course of the semester, students will repeatedly:

1. demonstrate comprehension by responding in writing to reading passages of 500-750 words

2. relate the ideas of a reading passage to the essay, cite source

3. analyze patterns of organization

4. analyze rhetorical modes

5. demonstrate critical thinking in written responses to writing prompts designed to elicit analysis of the topic

6. identify topics and topic sentences in readings

III. Writing Process

A. After reading articles on topics related to class discussions, students are expected to write summaries and/or personal reactions to the readings. After class discussions, students may write summaries of the discussion and/or reactions to the topic. In class activities and homework assignments over the course of the semester, students will demonstrate writing proficiency by doing the following:

1. show improvement in using the five steps of the writing process: brainstorming, organizing, writing, revising, editing

2. write at least 3 drafts of each composition

3. practice peer evaluation of drafts

4. practice at least four of the following rhetorical modes: narrative, process, comparison, expository, cause /effect, and/or argumentative

5. write at least a paragraph in response to 2-4 in-class writing assignments

6. score at least 4.6 on the REEP rubric on an in class writing assignment by semester’s end

7. reflect upon personal writing process, revisions, and editing

IV. GRAMMAR/EDITING OBJECTIVES

In the context of the class discussions, readings, and student-generated writing, students will practice or review the following structures:

1. articles

2. prepositions

3. perfect and modal aspects of present, past, and future tenses

4. adjective clauses

5. subordination w/adverb and noun clauses

6. logical connectors

7. editing the errors in drafts

8. present real/unreal conditionals

9. correct run-on’s and fragments

10. correct spelling and punctuation

V. Sentence/paragraph/essay production

1. write simple, compound, and complex sentences with correct word order and subject/verb agreement.

2. write complex and compound complex sentences using correct punctuation

3. recognize independent/dependent clauses

4. subordinate with adverb and noun clauses

5. use connectors that fit rhetorical modes

6. progress from paragraph to essay form: topic sentence to topic with controlling idea to thesis, adding secondary support to main support, using transitional signals, and a conclusion

7. expand nouns with adjectives and adjective clauses

RECOMMENDATIONS

A. RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS
1. Great Essays. Folse, Muchmore-Vokoun, Solomon. 2002. Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-90425-0

2. In Our Own Words. 2nd ed. Mlynarczyk and Haber. CUP1998, ISBN 0-521-65764-4

3. an English dictionary, American Heritage ESL Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin. 1998. ISBN 0-395-873-7

4. Developing Composition Skills, 2nd ed., Reutten, ITP, 2003, ISBN 08384-2655-7

5. Eye on Editing 2, Cain. Longman, 1997. ISBN 0-201-62134-7

6. Intro. To Academic Writing, 2nd ed., Oshima and Hogue, Longman, 1997 ISBN 0-201-69509-X

7. Write in the Middle. Shoemaker and Larsen. ITP ISBN 0-03-022297-4

8. Writing Down the Bones

9. Focus on Grammar

B. RECOMMENDED TEACHING PROCEDURES

1. Students should write paragraphs in class 4-6X over the semester in response to readings assigned as homework.

2. Readings can be above students’ reading range if faculty allow for class time to aid comprehension; otherwise, readings should be within students’ reading range.

3. Students should write frequently and about topics related to discussions and readings.

4. Students should revise and edit at least three drafts of four different writing assignments.

5. In-class writing assignments should be assessed w/the REEP writing Rubric.

C. RECOMMENDED PORTFOLIOS

1. Final portfolio should be 4-6 compositions at least one double-spaced page each.

2. Each composition should go through at least three drafts.

3. Compositions should be in at least four of the following rhetorical modes: narrative, descriptive, expository, comparison, cause/effect, and/or argumentative.

4. Students should have many opportunities to continuously revise and edit their compositions until the final portfolio is due.

5. Students may need a graded mid-term portfolio, which can later be revised for a better grade, to realize the need to re-write, and the benefit of doing so.

D. RECOMMENDED GRADING SCHEME

1. portfolio 25-40%

2. in-class assessments 15-25%

3. journal 15-25%

4. peer evaluations 10-20%

5. attendance and participation 10-20%

E. RECOMMENDED EXIT CRITERIA

1. Complete a portfolio of four to six final drafts, each at least one double-spaced page long. Each composition should demonstrate competence in writing in a different one of the following rhetorical styles: narrative, process, expository, comparison, cause/effect, and/or argumentative.

2. In response to an open-ended question designed to elicit a reaction to a reading, student relates own ideas to those of reading by consistently writing essays in class, which can be independently scored at least 4.6 on the REEP rubric.