Upper Intermediate Reading and Composition for English Language Learners

Reading Skills 

1. To follow the ideas and information in readings
   • Follow written instructions
   • Use pre-reading techniques to prepare for a reading task
   • In expository texts, recognize purpose and/or issue, overall key idea, main ideas, and key details
   • Follow organization of a text and paragraphs within a text
   • Scan for specific information
   • In opinion texts, identify author’s opinions, reasons, and supporting details
   • Make inferences
   • Describe plot, major and minor characters, and setting in a short story or simplified novel
2. To determine meanings of unfamiliar words in course materials
   • Use an English-English dictionary
   • Use prefixes to determine meanings and suffixes to identify grammatical uses
   • Use several types of context clues, such as parts of speech, related words, and other sentence clues
3. To find materials in the library
   • Use both digital and print resources
4. To use study skills
   • Take notes: outline text; make margin annotations
   • Interpret visuals in text material
   • Prepare for tests: T/F, completion, matching, multiple choice and short answer
   • Learn content from text/class materials

Writing Skills

1. To write informally
   • Write reflectively about personal experience and readings
   • Summarize main ideas and key details in own words
   • Summarize opinions, and supporting details
2. To write compositions of one or more paragraphs using the following strategies:
   • generate ideas from personal experience and readings
   • select and narrow topics
   • create paragraph frameworks
   • write topic sentences with specific controlling ideas
   • develop unified, specific support and refer to source if used
   • create coherence using logical order, transitions, and pronouns
   • develop and support one idea in a multi-paragraph composition
   • revise with peer and teacher feedback
   • follow format instructions
   • edit and proofread
   • demonstrate an understanding of plagiarism by using own words and referring to sources

Accuracy

1. For explicit instruction and evaluation
   • Correctly form and use past continuous, present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses;  use these tenses in appropriate ways (event before now with unspecified time, frequency and length of experience) using appropriate time markers
   • Expand the range of cause/effect, conditional, and comparison/contrast connectors to join ideas with correct meaning and punctuation (conjunctions, adverb clauses, subordinators, transitions: correctly forms and uses reduced adverb clauses (participial phrases)
   • Expand  the use of relative clauses (use of “whom, whose” + revision of “who, whom, that”): correctly forms and uses reduced adjective clauses (participial phrases)
   • Identify and correct plural/singular errors with frequently used count and noncount nouns
2. Items to work on as need arises
   • All accuracy items specified for the 100 level
   • Correctly form and use the following modals  (including past tense): necessity, advice, obligation and possibility
   • Edit simple, compound and complex sentences for completeness and punctuation
   • Edit for pronoun and verb tense shift errors
   • Edit for article/determiner errors by applying simple article and determiner rules (e.g. second mention)
   • Correctly spell specified connectors, frequently used content words, and irregular past participles
   • Apply appropriate strategies to use computers in writing

Classroom Skills

1. To take responsibility for the following:
   • attendance and punctuality
   • class work and assignments
   • participation and teamwork
2. To follow instructions, communicate with peers and instructors, and ask for clarification.
3. To show an awareness of cultural differences and general features of own culture and the world.