Course Outline of Record

Item	Value
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	12/05/2023
Top Code	493084 - English as a Second Language - Writing
Units	5 Total Units
Hours	90 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 90)
Total Outside of Class Hours	0
Course Credit Status	Credit: Non-Degree Applicable (C)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Basic Skills (B)
Repeatable	No
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S),  Pass/No Pass (B)

Course Description

Formerly: ESL G105. This course is the second course of the ESL Academic Writing sequence for multilingual students who need proficiency in academic English. It focuses on cultivating academic language, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, with a specific emphasis on crafting introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs—a foundational skillset for academic essay writing. Throughout the course, students will learn to develop a strong thesis statement, grasp the essential structure of academic essays, and refine their ability to build supporting details through revisions. NOT DEGREE APPLICABLE. Not Transferable.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

1. Course Outcomes
2. Employ the stages of the writing process: pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing.
3. Apply pre-writing strategies including brainstorming and outlining to organize ideas in response to a prompt to create structured paragraphs and short essays.
4. Differentiate organizational structure of an academic essay: introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs.
5. Compose a cohesive multi-paragraph essay.

Course Objectives

• 1. Interpret the role of audience and purpose in writing and adjusting ones writing to match the target audience and purpose.
• 2. Differentiate diverse academic texts to determine the writers purpose, perspective, central idea, and methods/manners of language.
• 3. Employ reading strategies such as summarizing, paraphrasing, synthesizing several readings, and comparing/contrasting thematically related readings.
• 4. Compose a cohesive essay controlled by a thesis statement and supported by evidence employing all stages of the writing process as a response to a text-based prompt.
• 5. Employ an essay structure to meet the demands of a specific writing task in response to a prescriptive prompt.
• 6. Develop revision techniques to enhance writing quality.
• 7. Apply important grammar terms and rules to self-edit writing to reduce errors and improve language accuracy.

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Lecture Content

Academic Reading Reading Strategies Examine the writers rhetorical strategies to understand their point of view. Investigate the writers linguistic choices to raise awareness of various words and syntax used for academic communication. Recognize discourse markers (e.g., sentence connectors, transitions, pronoun reference) that show relationships between concepts. Draft outlines, summaries, and paraphrases of a given text. The Construction of Meaning: Comparing the Text with the Readers Context Make connections between the text and personal experience. Make correlations between the text and current and/or past events. Connect the text to additional texts. Assess, compare, and contrast various texts using the techniques listed above. Academic Writing Composition Context: Identify Foundational Structures and Their Importance Match target audience and purpose to specified writing assignments. Identify various rhetorical tools for specified writing assignments. Identify the characteristics of the academic paragraph and essay. Composition Creation: The Writing Process The writing process such as pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing. Pre-writing techniques to gather ideas such as brainstorming, clustering, outlining, and freewriting. Pre-writing techniques to organize paragraphs that have a clear beginning, middle and end. Pre-writing techniques to organize a short essay with a well-developed thesis and unity. Fluency writing techniques such as topic reflections and evaluations of opinions. Utilize various techniques to create ideas. Utilize various techniques to create support for an argument. < Utilize the typical structure of an academic essay, with a stress on thesis establishment in the introduction, followed by supporting and concluding paragraphs. Utilize various essay organization techniques to coordinate the organization with the rhetorical purpose. Use rewriting and editing strategies to improve writing. Basic Essay Structure Topic sentences with a clear topic and controlling idea that guides the essay. Main ideas and effective supporting details that support the topic sentence. Introduction paragraph that contains a developed thesis that supports a claim. Body paragraphs that have a logical grouping of ideas that helps support the thesis. Conclusion paragraph that summarizes the main idea and brings the writing to a smooth close. Revision/Editing Strategies Utilize strategies to build word choices and syntactic styles that generate cohesion, cohesiveness, and comprehensibility in texts. Improve techniques for self-editing and peer review. Use instructor feedback to revise own writing. Identify the significance of self-editing to build linguistic accuracy. Reassess diction, grammar, mechanics, reference, and syntax to develop cohesion, intelligibility, and comprehensibility. Use autonomous techniques to gain control of academic writing instead of eliminating error. Incorporating Sources Differentiate between quotes, summaries, and paraphrases. Reiterate the writers main concepts by summarizing and paraphrasing. Cite and attribute credit to secondary sources of information. Provide support for an argument by utilizing quotes, summaries, and paraphrases in MLA format. Produce a works cited page in MLA format. Academic Vocabulary Identify academic vocabulary commonly used in academic discourse. Utilize techniques to examine complex vocabulary in authentic academic discourse. Identify the significance of a diverse lexicon and proper choice of register in academic writing. Identifying collocations and the effects of using synonyms on syntax. Build techniques to revise lexical choices to enhance correctness, diversification, and complexity. Utilize autonomous vocabulary learning techniques. Academic Grammar/Language Recognize conventional structures utilized in academic writing. Examine various usages of verbs and their frequency in different academic contexts. Employ correct verb tenses based on the context. Analyze impeding common errors such as subject/verb agreement and count/non-count nouns.

Method(s) of Instruction

• Lecture (02)
• DE Live Online Lecture (02S)
• DE Online Lecture (02X)

Reading Assignments

Texts including the personal (personal experience), the analytical, the academic, and/or the argumentative as intensive and extensive reading.

Writing Assignments

Multiple essays either in-class and/or take-home that follow the writing process. Essays are written in response to critical readings that require students to formulate a thesis. Short writes, summaries of readings, and weekly online blogs. Peer and self-revision writing exercises to improve coherence and unity in writing.

Out-of-class Assignments

Journal and blog writing exercises that illustrate the students self-editing strategies. Take-home essays that illustrate the students ability to apply the stages of the writing process and produce a short, unified essay. Take-home essays that illustrate the students ability to organize an essay with an introduction paragraph, followed by supporting body paragraphs, and a relating concluding paragraph. Short writes, summaries of readings, and weekly online blogs.

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Students will engage in critical analysis and evaluation of peer compositions, leveraging group discussions and reviews to deepen their appreciation of different writing styles and viewpoints. A fundamental component of the curriculum is the cultivation of abstract thinking in writing, where students will express their perspectives in essays, sharpening their logical reasoning and evidence-based argumentation. Emphasis is placed on the application of correct grammatical structures, prioritizing clarity and style over simple rule memorization. Additionally, the course requires students to meticulously edit and revise their work, focusing on enhancing clarity, conciseness, and coherence. This comprehensive approach is designed not only to improve language skills but also to significantly refine students critical thinking abilities in writing.

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

Methods to comprehensively assess students skills in writing, problem-solving, and practical application include applied performance, such as following directions and note-taking; various presentation formats evaluated by peers, teachers, or external assessors; in-depth projects and reports; a range of test types including fill-in-the-blank, cloze, dictation, and multiple-choice; observational assessments during individual and group activities; cooperative experiences in focus groups and team projects; and the compilation of student work portfolios. This multifaceted assessment strategy ensures a thorough and nuanced understanding of each students abilities and progress. experience (e.g., focus groups, student teams, study groups); portfolio of students work (e.g., completed assignments).

Eligible Disciplines

ESL: Masters degree in TESL, TESOL, applied linguistics with a TESL emphasis, linguistics with a TESL emphasis, English with a TESL emphasis, or education with a TESL emphasis OR bachelors degree in TESL, TESOL, English with a TESL certificate, linguistics with a TESL certificate, applied linguistics with a TESL certificate, or any foreign language with a TESL certificate AND masters degree in linguistics, applied linguistics, English, composition, bilingual/bicultural studies, reading, speech, or any foreign language OR the equivalent. Masters degree required.

Textbooks Resources

1. Required Lane, J. & Lange, E. Writing Clearly, 2nd ed. Heinle ELT (latest), 2014 Rationale: (latest) 2. Required Bradbury, R. Fahrenheit 451, ed. Simon & Schuster (latest), 2012 Rationale: (latest)