Santa Monica College

Course Outline ForESL - ENGL FOR SECOND LANGUAGE SPEAKERS 16C, Sentence Structure and Punctuation

Course Title: / Sentence Structure and Punctuation / Units: / 1
Total Instructional Hours (usually 18 per unit): / 27
Hours per week (full semester equivalent) in Lecture: / 2 / In-Class Lab: / 0 / Arranged: / 0
Date Submitted: / May 2011
Date Updated: / September 2013
CID: / NONE
Transferability:
IGETC Area:
CSU GE Area:
SMC GE Area:
Degree Applicability: / Credit - Not Degree Applicable
Prerequisite(s): / ESL 10W
and ESL 10G
Pre/Corequisite(s): / None
Corequisite(s): / None
Skills Advisory(s): / None
I. / Catalog Description
This course helps students whose first language is not English to construct grammatically correct sentences using appropriate punctuation. Students will learn to combine sentence elements (clauses and phrases) to produce effective sentences. Course Note: Concurrent enrollment in ESL 11A or B is recommended; however, this course is open to students whose placement assessment results are Group B or A.
II. / Examples of Appropriate Text or Other Required Reading: (include all publication dates; for transferable courses at least one text should have been published within the last five years)
1.  Great Sentences for Great Paragraphs, 3rd, Folse, Keith S., April Muchmore-Vokoun, and Elena Vestri Solomon, Houghton Mifflin Company © 2010
2.  Top 10: Great Grammar for Great Writing, Folse, K., Solomon, E. and Tortorella, D, Heinle © 2008, ISBN: 9780618481057
III. / Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1.  Compose and edit simple, compound, and complex sentences including negatives and questions.
2.  Use prepositional phrases.
3.  Recognize and construct independent, adjective (relative), adverbial, and noun clauses.
4.  Employ verb-tense consistency.
5.  Apply appropriate punctuation and capitalization rules.
IV. / Methods of Presentation:
Group Work , Lecture and Discussion , Other (Specify)
Other Methods: Pair Work Individual exercises Computer-assisted instruction
V. / Course Content
% of course / Topic
12% / Grammar basics: parts of speech, sentence parts, and word order.
25% / Sentence types and sentence combining.
15% / Punctuation and capitalization.
10% / Prepositional phrases.
25% / Editing for grammar and mechanics.
5% / Verb tense consistency and logical shifts.
3% / Clause reduction.
5% / Word forms and usage.
100% / Total
VI. / Methods of Evaluation: (Actual point distribution will vary from instructor to instructor but approximate values are shown.)
Percentage / Evaluation Method
30 % / Quizzes - 12 quizzes
20 % / Class Work
20 % / Final exam
30 % / Written assignments
100 % / Total
VII. / Sample Assignments:
1.  Given a paragraph consisting of simple sentences, students combine the sentences into compound and/or complex sentences using appropriate coherence markers.
2.  Students compose false statements, and classmates respond by contradicting the statements and composing true statements.
VIII. / Student Learning Outcomes
1.  Given a paragraph composed of simple sentences, students will connect the clauses to write compound and complex sentences using appropriate coherence markers. As assessed by: a writing assignment scored by a rubric for appropriate use of coherence markers.
2.  Given a topic, students will write a paragraph which demonstrates control over sentence structure, punctuation, and capitalization. As assessed by: a writing assignment for which students must compose a paragraph on a given topic scored by a rubric for appropriate use of verb tense consistency, sentence types (simple, compound, and complex), and mechanics.
3.  Students will exhibit strong academic behaviors: regular attendance, timeliness, participation in class activities, perseverance, and adherence to the College Honor Code.