Revised, April 2012
Syllabus
Academic Critical Reading and Writing Level VI
Instructor:
Email:
Office:
Office Hours
Text and Materials Required:
Grammar Sense 4:Advanced Grammar and Writing (Kesner, Bland, Savage, & Mayer, 2008)
Articles and essays provided by the instructor
SALC reading material
Academic Critical Reading and Writing Level VI (ACRW) is designed for students who have been through RWEAPVI twice and whose grammar weaknesses are affecting writing and reading, preventing them from meeting CAP standards. This course will aggressively pursue thorough understanding of grammar and accurate production in writing as well as understanding of its implications in reading.
The specific learning outcomes for this course include the ability to:
1. Write sentences, paragraphs and essays with only occasional errors in grammar and usage;
2. Understand and use advanced vocabulary with a high degree of accuracy;
3. Write cohesively and coherently by choosing appropriate grammatical forms and vocabulary;
4. Demonstrate mastery (few or no consistent errors) of: clause structure and combination, verb tense and modality, voice (active and passive), and subordinate clauses (adverb, relative, and reduced relative);
5. Demonstrate proficiency (no more than occasional consistent errors) with: gerund and infinitives, conditionals, noun modifiers, and noun clauses;
6. Incorporate new vocabulary items in writing, chosen from readings and word lists;
7. Understand academic writing and high-quality journalism by analyzing the grammar and vocabulary;
8. Develop awareness of one’s own common error patterns;
9. Edit one’s own writing for accuracy in grammar and word choice;
10. Completely read 4 level-appropriate books from the SALC.
Grades
There will be at least three in-class writings, three outside of class compositions, three grammar quizzes, and three reading quizzes along with short vocabulary quizzes. If there are more than three of any of the above, the lowest grade will be dropped. There will also be reading, writing, and grammar finals, which will count for 20% of each grade.
The ELI uses the following grade scale:
100 - 93 = A / 89 - 88 = B+ / 79 - 78 = C+ / 69 - 68 = D+92 - 90 = A- / 87 - 83 = B / 77 - 73 = C / 67 - 63 = D
62 - 60 = D- / 82 - 80 = B- / 72 - 70 = C- / 62 - 60 = D-
In order to progress to the next level at the ELI, a student must earn an average of at least a C- for both grades. If a student earns an F in any skill area in a Reading/Writing class he or she will not be promoted regardless of the GPA. In other words, students earning an F in Reading, Writing, OR Grammar, will not be promoted.
Students also receive a number grade for effort. The ELI uses the following scale:
1 = Outstanding Effort
2 = Satisfactory Effort
3 = Unsatisfactory Effort
Attendance:
The ELI uses the following rules: Students are marked absent when they do not come to class for any reason. Students are marked late when they come to class more than 5 minutes late. Three lates equals one absence. Students are marked absent when they come to class more than 15 minutes late. After four absences for any reason, students receive a warning letter that asks them to make an appointment with the Associate Director to explain their absences. Students who have more than a total of sixteen absences in a session in both their Listening/Speaking and Reading/Writing classes are in violation of their student visa and may be dismissed from the ELI.
Certificates:
When students graduate from the ELI, they may receive a certificate. To receive a certificate, students cannot have more than a total of 12 absences for both their Listening/Speaking and Reading/Writing classes per 8-week session (85%) or 10 per 7-week session and must have a C- or better grade average. To receive a certificate with honors, students cannot have more than a total of 8 absences for both classes per 8-week session (90%) or 7 absences per 7-week session and must have an A- or better grade average.
CAP Requirements
Universities and graduate schools need to be certain that students admitted through Conditional Acceptance Programshave both linguistic and scholastic abilities that will enable them to succeed in the university. Therefore, students in EAP classes must demonstrate high levels of proficiency and scholastic effort.
To meet CAP requirements for admission to undergraduate programs, a CAP student must attain an averageof B in each of the skill areas of ACRWVI. In addition, a 6.5 as judged by two raters must beachieved on the final essay for undergraduate or graduate admission. Furthermore, an effort grade of 2 or 1 must be attained. The effort grade is determined as follows. Each student starts with 100 points, but 2 points are lost for each time one is late to class, 5 points are lost for each absence, 5 points are lost for each late assignment, 5 points are lost for misbehavior, and 5 points are lost for speaking one’s native language around the ELI.CONTINUED USE OF NATIVE LANGUAGE WILL IMPACT GRADES ALSO (minus 5 from overall grade) A final effort grade of 1 will result from a net total of 90 or more, and a 2 will result from 80-89. Below 80 will result in a 3.
Late assignments will be accepted before the end of Week 6 (8-week session) or Week 5 (7-week session) if the student discusses the matter with the teacher and the assignment is submitted within one week of the original due date. After Week6 (or 5 for a 7-week session) late assignments will not be accepted. Any late assignment will lose 10% (one full letter grade).
Make-up tests and in-class assignments generally cannot be made-up if a student misses class. The score on such tests or assignments may be the one that is dropped.Late assignments will affect the effort grade; thus, every effort should be made not to miss assignments or turn them in late.