Advanced Reading and Writing for Students of English as a Second Language

Reading Skills

1. To follow the ideas and information in readings
   • Follow written instructions
   • Use active reading strategies with long textbook chapters (e.g., surveying, skimming, and sectioning)
   • Recognize purpose and/or issue, organization, overall key idea, main ideas, and key details in expository readings
   • Identify writer’s overall point of view, tone, bias, supporting argument and evidence in opinion readings
2. To determine meanings of unfamiliar words in course materials
   • Use an English-English dictionary, thesaurus, index, glossary, Wikipedia 
   • Use word analysis (word families and affixes)
   • Use context clues within sentences and in surrounding sentences (vocabulary in context)
3. Use library resources to locate materials
4. To use study skills 
   • Place text material into visual form
   • Interpret visuals such as graphs and tables
   • Prepare for objective tests (T/F, multiple choice) and essay tests using a variety of strategies
   • Learn content from text/class materials concerning economic, political, cultural, and socially relevant topics
5. Recognize cultural differences and show awareness of the general features of own culture and associated world views

Writing Skills

1. To write informally
   • Write reflectively about course readings
   • Summarize ideas and information from readings
2. To write formal summaries
   • Take accurate notes from an assigned article
   • Paraphrase accurately
   • Write one-paragraph summaries of texts of one to two pages
3. To write essays
   • Prewriting
     • Understand assignment instructions, including audience, purpose, and format
     • Generate ideas from readings on economic, political, cultural, and socially relevant topics
     • Select and narrow topics
     • Create essay outlines, which include focused thesis statements, body paragraphs with main ideas, and support
   • Writing
     • Write well-structured introductions
     • Develop unified, specific support in body paragraphs, reviewing paragraph structure as necessary
     • Incorporate source material, showing understanding of plagiarism by paraphrasing, quoting, and citing appropriately
     • Create coherence within and between paragraphs
     • Write well-structured concluding paragraphs
   • Revising
     • Redraft and revise on own
     • With peer and limited teacher feedback, re-draft and revise
     • Edit and proofread

Accuracy

1. To self-monitor for accuracy
   • Use word processing editing aids (spelling, grammar check, thesaurus)
   • Apply knowledge of parts of speech, sentence elements, specified sentence types, and mechanics
   • Identify and correct errors
2. For explicit instruction and evaluation
   • Review all verb tenses, especially perfect tenses
   • Identify and correct infinitive/gerund/base form errors
   • Correctly use articles and other determiners
   • Use a variety of complex structures and sentence patterns
   • Use a range of academic vocabulary
3. Items to work on as need arises
   • All accuracy items from 100 and 200 levels
   • Word choice and word form errors (e.g. parallelism in thesis statements)

Classroom Skills

1. Take responsibility for:
   • attendance and punctuality
   • class work and assignments
   • participation and teamwork