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Spring 2009 Syllabus

Author:		Anne Agard
Posted:		8/18/2008; 11:23:04 AM
Topic:		Spring 2009 Syllabus
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Laney College ESL Department

Spring 2009

ESL21B (Reading and Writing 6) 

Lec 20626           5 Units

Monday and Wednesday 10-11:50 AM
Friday  10:00 - 10:50AM                                                         

Room E200: On many Fridays, we will meet in the computer lab in F170.

Instructor: Anne Agard

Telephone: (510) 464-3159 extension #3                     

           E-mail: aagard@peralta.edu

 Class Website: http://laneyeslwriting6.kern.org

 Office: Room T408 (fourth floor of the Tower administration building)

Office hours:   1:00-3:00 p.m. Monday and Friday

12:00-12:50 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday

Other office hours by appointment

Course description: This is an advanced ESL reading and writing course, taken prior to or concurrently with English 1A. It may be transferred for elective credit to the University of California and California State University systems. Those who successfully complete the course will be prepared to succeed in English 1A, the college transfer freshman English course.

Student learning outcomes: Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:

1. Read and comprehend a variety of materials expected at the college freshman level, by reading independently, using a monolingual dictionary as needed, and completing objective test questions on the reading with at least 70% accuracy.
2. Research, evaluate and use a variety of sources in writing.
3. Integrate research findings and readings into writing using correct citation format to avoid plagiarism.
4. Effectively follow the steps in the writing process: prewriting, writing, revising, and editing.
5. Produce college freshman-level writing in terms of organization, grammar and mechanics.

 Specific objectives of the course are to:

1. Demonstrate use of the various rhetorical modes of expository writing, such as comparison and contrast, definition, classification, argument and analysis, to organize and support ideas on a well-developed essay.

2. Demonstrate critical thinking skills through the media of reading, writing, and discussion.

3. Summarize and analyze materials read, synthesize findings, and propose new ideas.

4. Discuss issues, examining evidence from reading materials and personal experience, and present a position in writing

5. Use a variety of writing processes: brainstorming, restricting topics, creating thesis statements, developing supporting information, formulating conclusions, revising, and editing.

6. Demonstrate strategies for taking essay examinations.

7. Demonstrate basic methods of conducting library and online research, and incorporating information from other writers into a paper.

8. Demonstrate understanding of the concept of plagiarism, and successfully avoid it when using the work of other authors by appropriate citation of sources.

Required prerequisite: Completion of ESL 21A (Writing 5) with a grade of "C" or better, or placement by Peralta Colleges assessment testing. Highly recommended: successful completion of or concurrent enrollment in ESL 202C (Grammar 5), or exemption from ESL grammar requirement by Peralta Colleges assessment testing.

Writing 6  is a challenging course, even for those who have completed the prerequisite and recommended preparation.

To succeed in this course, you must be able to read college-level materials with the help of a dictionary, and be able to use the grammatical structures needed for English writing at the college level; these include the passive voice, reported speech, adjective, adverbial and complex noun clauses, present and past unreal conditionals.

Please do not attempt to take this course without the necessary preparation.

Course Texts and Required Materials:

(1) Dollahite, Nance E. and Julie Haun. Sourcework: Academic Writing from Sources. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. ISBN 0-618-41287-5.

(2) Spack, Ruth. Guidelines: A Cross-Cultural Reading/Writing Text, Third Edition. Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-61301-9. BE SURE TO GET THE NEW THIRD EDITION (2007).

(2)   A monolingual English dictionary. Recommended choices are the American Heritage Dictionary for second language learners and Longman Advanced Learners' Dictionary. You may use a paper dictionary, monolingual or bilingual, at any time in this class including tests, quizzes or in-class assignments. A bilingual dictionary will be useful for reading, but should be avoided when preparing writing assignments. NO ELECTRONIC TOOLS OR ELECTRONIC DICTIONARIES WILL BE PERMITTED DURING TESTS OR IN-CLASS WRITING ASSIGNMENTS.

(3)   A folder in which to keep all of the work that you pass in for a grade, including preliminary drafts.

(4)   To succeed in this course, you will need access to a computer and the Internet. Computers are available in the college library and during open lab hours in the Tech Center, Room F170, and in the James Oliver Writing Center in B260-261. If computer access is a problem for you, please speak with the instructor.

(5)   In order to use the college library and the Tech Center, you will need a college ID. If you do not already have an ID, you can obtain one at the ID office on the fourth floor of the Student Center building.

(1)   You must attend class regularly and on time in order to receive a good grade. Your class participation and your work with other students are important components of this course, and by college regulations you may be dropped from the course if you miss more than ten hours of class. Your grade in the course may be lowered if you have more than four unexcused absences. Three times late will be counted as one absence. Except in an emergency, please do not leave the classroom while the class is in session.

     IF YOU MUST BE ABSENT OR LATE FOR ANY REASON, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE WORK YOU MISSED AND MAKE IT UP. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, YOU WILL RECEIVE GRADES OF "0" ON THE WORK MISSED, WHICH WILL SERIOUSLY LOWER YOUR COURSE GRADE.

(2)   This class may be taken CR/NCR if you wish. CR (Credit) is given if you earn a grade of A, B, or C, and NCR is given if you earn a grade of D or F. Whether it is a good idea for you to take the course CR/NCR depends upon your specific situation: for example, your future academic plans and whether you are an immigrant or have a student visa. If you have questions about whether you should take the course CR/NCR, discuss the matter with a college counselor on the third flood of the Tower building or with the international students' counselor.

(3)   You may not use a cell phone in this class, or leave the room in order to answer one. Text messaging in class is also not permitted. Please be sure that all electronic devices are turned off at the beginning of each class session. If you have special family or personal circumstances that justify an exception to this rule, please let the instructor know in advance. No electronic tool of any kind may be used during quizzes, tests or in-class writing assignments.

(4)   This is a five-unit college-level course, which means that you will need to schedule at least ten hours a week to complete assignments in addition to the time you spend in class; in fact, students who do well in Writing 6 often devote even more time to the course than this. Give some thought now to your schedule and your other commitments, and be sure that you will be able to devote the time to this course that you will need to succeed.

(5) Writing 6 students are expected to write with a good control of basic English grammar. The instructor will not attempt to read and grade papers that contain a large number of errors with such things as singular and plural forms, subject-verb agreement, correct verb tense, and basic sentence structure. A paper with more than four such basic errors may be returned to you for grammar work before it is graded.

(6)   You will be scheduled for two private student-teacher conferences during the semester. These are normally held in the instructor's office, and will be scheduled at your convenience as far as possible. These conferences are a required component of the course, and failure to attend a scheduled conference without explanation and re-scheduling will have a negative effect on your grade.

(7)   Assignments must be turned in on time, and will be marked down 10% for each class period they are late. No work will be accepted more than one week after its due date. Extensions of due dates are possible under unusual and unforeseen circumstances; in general, if you need an extension you must discuss the problem with the instructor on or before the original due date. Remember that you can always contact her by phone or e-mail.

(8) There will sometimes be short quizzes at the beginning of class. These cannot be made up if you are absent or late. Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped when your final grade is computed.

(9)   Assignments completed outside of class should be neatly done on a typewriter or computer, and always double-spaced. Assignments must conform to the teacher's instructions, which will normally be provided in writing. You may be asked to re-do an assignment if it is not double-spaced, is difficult to read, or does not follow instructions.

     When working on a paper, keep all drafts and assignments related to the paper process. Essays turned in for a grade should be both in hard copy (paper) form and electronic form, e-mailed to the instructor as an attachment.

(10)   Plagiarism is a serious offense in a college class. Plagiarism is copying the work of another writer and presenting it as your own. Copying from a printed source, from the Internet, or from another student are all forms of plagiarism. It is also plagiarism to paraphrase the ideas of another writer without giving their source. In this class, you will learn how to cite sources so that you can use the work of another writer without plagiarizing. Plagiarism in a finished assignment will result in an "F" for the assignment. Repeated incidents of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean's office and can result in dismissal from the college.

(11)   Grading policy: Your grade for this course will be computed as follows:

                 Homework and quizzes:                                                              20%.

 Mid-term exam, final exam and two in-class essays:             40%

 Four multi-draft essays:                                                          

40%

Essays consist of multiple steps and drafts, and the essay grade includes completion of each step or draft on schedule.

In some cases, an assignment may not be graded, but failing to complete it will result in points deducted from your grade. This will sometimes be the policy for final drafts of your essays; that is to say, you will be graded on a first or second draft, but required to turn in a completed final draft as well.

Points may be deducted from your final grade for excessive unexcused absence or lateness (up to 10 points), non-participation in group work (up to 10 points), or non-participation in student-teacher conferences (up to 10 points).

(12)        Be sure that you save all your work in more than one format. Several times in the past, Writing 6 students have experienced the disaster of losing weeks of work in a computer crash or on a lost or damaged disk or memory stick. Don't let it happen to you

Writing 6 Schedule for Spring 2009

(Some important Laney College deadlines are included in italics)