NC 330: ESL: College Readiness - Reading and Writing

• Read and analyze a variety of reading materials to use English more effectively in academic settings.
• Deduce meanings of new words from the context and through word stem analysis.
• Reply to inference as well as basic recall questions on reading comprehensions tests.
• Develop skimming, scanning, and rapid reading skills.
• Paraphrase or summarize a short reading passage.
• Write descriptive, comparison, cause-effect, and opinion paragraphs (8-12 sentences in length) that develop a topic in a clear and cohesive way.
• Organize and write a four to five-paragraph essay with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Use appropriate vocabulary, grammatical structures, and transitional expressions to produce clear sentences and coherent paragraphs.
• Evaluate paragraphs written at the high intermediate-level for grammatical accuracy, sufficiency of unity, development, and coherence.

Reading

1. Vocabulary Development
   1. Vocabulary learning strategies: flash cards, drawing, word web, word forms, collocations, synonyms, antonyms
   2. Find meanings of new words in context
   3. Utilize an all-English dictionary to advantage
   4. Word Structure: prefixes, suffixes, root words
2. Reading Skills
   1. Pre-reading: preview, predict, scan, skim
   2. Find main ideas and supporting details
   3. Respond to inference and basic recall questions
   4. Restate the topic and main ideas
   5. Increase reading speed and fluency
   6. Distinguish fact from opinion
   7. Evaluate arguments and form an opinion
3. Sentence Analysis
   1. Analyze complex syntactical structures: comparison/contrast, cause/effect, opinion statements, conclusions.
   2. Restate and paraphrase sentences for summary writing
   3. Form inferences by analysis

Writing

1. Grammar
   1. Verb tenses
   2. Subject/verb agreement
   3. Noun clauses, reported and quoted speech
   4. Adjective clauses and appositives
   5. Coordinating conjunctions
   6. Adverb clauses, phrases, and connectives
   7. Conditionals
2. Sentence Structure and Construction
   1. Dependent and independent clause study
   2. Compound and complex sentence writing
   3.  Sentence combining and subordination
   4. Use of transitions and transitional phrases
3. Mechanics and Punctuation
   1. Capitalization
   2. End punctuations: periods, commas, question marks, exclamation points
   3. Commas
   4. Colons and semi-colons
   5. Apostrophes
   6. Quotation marks
4. Writing
   1. Paragraph process:
      1. Pre-writing/organizing methods: free writing, clustering, outlining, listing, Venn diagram, t-chart
      2. Revising and rewriting drafts: clear focus, adequate supporting details, unity, coherence, sentence structure
      3. Editing drafts: grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation
   2. Paragraph development:
      1. Topic sentence
      2. Supporting sentences - types
      3. Concluding sentence
      4. Transitions
   3. Rhetorical modes:
      1. Descriptive
      2. Process or Classification
      3. Comparison
      4. Cause/Effect
      5. Opinion
   4. Essay introduction and development:
      1. Introduction: General statements, Thesis statement
      2. Body Paragraphs
      3. Conclusion
5. Reading and Analyzing Paragraphs/Essays
   1. Main idea
   2. Topic sentence and thesis
   3. Supporting details
   4. Rhetorical modes
6. Study Skills
   1. Exam writing with time constraints
   2. Avoiding Plagiarism