THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PAN AMERICAN

First-Year Writing Program

Curriculum
MINI COURSES FOR ENG1310 & ENG1320/1301
Curriculum designed by Aya Tsuchie and Thanh Hoang English6329 Curriculum Design

Table of Contents
Background Information of English 1310 and English 1320/1301 English 1310 Reading and Vocabulary (Remedial Reading Course) English 1320/1301 Rhetoric & Composition Writing Studio (Remedial Writing Course) Needs Assessment Result Background Mini Course Information Student Information Selection of Students Enrolling the Course Survey First Writing Assignment (Placement Test) Goals and Objectives Scope and Sequence Scope Entry Level Requirement Exit Level Requirement Limitations Sequence Mini Course 1: Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building Reading Strategies Goal Objectives Tasks/Activities for Reading Strategies Techniques Evaluation Vocabulary Building Goal Objectives Tasks/Activities for Reading Strategies Techniques Evaluation Mini Course 2: Writing Strategies and Surface Level Issues Writing Strategies Goal Objectives Tasks/Activities for Reading Strategies Techniques Evaluation

Surface Level Issues Goal Objectives Tasks/Activities for Reading Strategies Techniques Evaluation Program Evaluation Appendix

Mini courses are provided to surve mainly ESL students who will be enrolling in developmental reading (English 1310) or writing course (English 1320/1301). Background Information of on English 1310 and English 1320/1301 The following information is excerpted from the syllabi of English 1310 and English 1320/1301 developed by a writing program coordinator, Dr. Jonikka Charlton and a developmental coordinator, Dr. Colin Charlton. Students in each remedial course will be expected to do the following work. Some instructors teaching these courses follow the program developed by Dr. Charlton and Dr. Charlton with no revision or some revision. However, not all instructors who teach these developmental courses follow this program. As a mini course instructor, it is important to understand what the students are expected in each course. English 1310 Reading and Vocabulary (Developmental Reading Course) UTPA 2007-09 Undergraduate Catalogue Description This course offers students the opportunity to develop their ability to read college-level materials. Emphasis on vocabulary and word recognition skills, comprehension skills, study skills, and efficiency in content area reading. Required of students with reading skills below college level. Course does not satisfy University core curriculum requirements. English 1310 is a non-credit course, required for students who have not met the minimum standards for reading on any of several tests UTPA uses for admission and placement (for example, a THEA score of at least 230). The course grade is recorded as P (Pass) or NP (No Pass). Work & Evaluation English 1310 is a Pass/Fail class, so students grade will not be figured like a class with letter grades A through F. To pass the whole class, students will need to be doing passing work in four different areas by the end of the semester. Vocabulary in Context Journal Student will need to keep a Vocabulary in Context Journal this semester. When student runs across an unfamiliar word or phrase, they will write a dated entry in their journal about it. Instructors expect students to have at least two entries each week from week two to week thirteen (24 total entries). For each entry, about half a page, students will need to (1) write down the word/idea, (2) discuss what
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they already think or know about the word/idea, (3) discuss what they find out about it through research, and (4) discuss how it relates to or make sense in the reading where they found it. Instructors will take up the journals and grade them as Pass or Fail at least three times during the semester, so students need to make sure to keep them up-to-date and bring them to class every meeting. If students are not going to handwrite them, they will need to bring up-to-date printouts to class. Instructor will also go over a real student example of a journal entry in class during our first week together. To pass English 1310, students will need to have a complete and passing journal the final time they turn it in. Class Blog & Miscellaneous Work The class will have a class blog that only the class will be able to read and contribute to. If students are unfamiliar with blogs, short for weblogs, they are a simple way to have and save online discussions and to get prepared for class, continue conversations from class, and further develop reading and writing abilities. There will also be a variety of activities throughout the week, including in-class writings, group work with brief reports, and reading questions the instructor asks students to answer outside of class. For all of this work, the instructor will simply keep track of what students do (1 point) and what they dont (0 points). Students are to write at least one original blog entry and one comment on another post each week starting with week two (15 posts and 15 comments total). Every time the instructor assigns a workshop or in-class writing or anything else that is a substantial part of the class, The instructor will note the activity and mark down who was present and participating. So at the end of the semester, the instructor will have noted around 60 things. To pass English 1310, students will need to have received credit for at least 70% of this work. Summary & Response Papers Students will be responsible for summarizing and responding to one assigned reading about every three weeks (about five total). In class, the readings, strategies for summarizing and responding to them will be discussed and students will even spend time workshopping and revising their writing. Through this practice, the goal is to be writing clear and insightful summary and response papers by the end of the semester. To pass English 1310, students final summary and response paper will need to be passing. Cold Readings & Reflective Essay During our first meeting, at mid-term, and during week thirteen, students will do what is called a cold reading. In class, students will
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read a text they havent seen before and then respond to a series of questions and writing prompts. The instructor will evaluate students work each time, giving them feedback about how the instructor thinks they can improve. During weeks fourteen and fifteen, students will review all three cold readings and write a reflective essay in which they discuss how their reading strategies and performance have developed, specifically referring to the readings and thier responses to them. To pass English 1310, students will have to complete all three cold readings and a reflective essay. The list of cold readings Brandt, Deborah. Remembering Reading, Remembering Writing. CCC 45.4 (1994): 464-65. Print. Jolliffe, David A., and Allison Harl. Texts of Our Institutional Lives: Studying the Reading Transition from High School to College: What are Our Students Reading and Why? College English 70.6 (2008): 599-617. Print. Interview with Mike Rose, author of Lives on the Boundary. Bill Moyers. English 1320/1301 Rhetoric & Composition Writing Studio (Developmental Writing Course) English 1320 Undergraduate Catalogue Description Intensive study and practice in basic grammar and fundamentals of composition. Emphasis on punctuation, sentence combining, sentence construction, correct language use and other basic writing skills. Does not count toward hours for graduation or in the computation of hours attempted or earned. A course grade will be recorded as Pass (PR) or No Pass (NPR). English 1320 is a non-credit course, required for students who have not passed the THEA writing exam with a score of 240 or whose English ACT score is below 24. English 1301 Undergraduate Catalog Description English 1301 is designed to help students become more effective and confident writers as well as more active and engaged readers of complex texts. To do this, students will engage in a variety of writing projects which will help them become more reflective writers who are better able to revise their work to meet the needs of a given writing situation. Work and Evaluation Portfolio (60%) Students will work on four major writing projects and many smaller and always related bits of writing. Their portfolio will contain three polished pieces of writing and all the bits and revisions for each:
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1. 2. 3.

best piece of writing; most challenging piece of writing; and final reflective project.

Other Work (40%) SQRs "SQR" is short for the summary, question ,and response papers students will write for every reading. Basically, students will write a brief and accurate summary of the reading. Then write down a question they have about what they read and try to answer it in NO MORE THAN one single-spaced page Workshops During these workshops, the instructor will be meeting with small groups and sometimes individuals to address students writing concerns, goals, and questions in brief conferences of 10 to 12 minutes. Students will write a set of notes for every workshop that consists of (1) an "opening" question and discussion of it (that they have to bring to participate in a conference) and (2) a continuing "reflection" they will write post-conference about their next move(s). The instructor will take your notes up several times throughout the semester Class Discussion/Blogging Students will have an online space where we ask questions, discuss concerns, report successes, and stay engaged with the work. To that end, the instructor will create a class blog that will only be usable and viewable by members of the class. It will be students responsibility to submit one original post and one comment/response to a peers post every two weeks. The grade the instructor gives students for blogging depends entirely on the frequency and quality of their original posts and their comments on their peers' posts. Writing Process Journal Students will come up with a question you have about any aspect of the writing process each week and deal with it in journal entry (What is your question? Why is it significant? What do you understand about it, even a little bit? What do other people in class think about it? What do people youre reading in 1301 have to say about it?). The list of course readings Downs, Douglas, and Elizabeth Wardle. Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions: (Re)Envisioning First-Year Composition as Introduction to Writing Studies. CCC 58.4 (2007): 552-84. Haas, Christina, and Linda Flower. Rhetorical Reading Strategies and the Construction of Meaning. CCC 39.2 (1988): 167-83.
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Moll, Luis C., and Norma Gonzalez. Lessons from Research with Language-Minority Children. Journal of Reading Behavior 26.4 (1994): 439-56. Gillam, Alice M. Research in the Classroom: Learning through Response. The English Journal 79.1 (1990): 98-99. Sommers, Nancy. Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers CCC 31.4 (1980): 378-88. Kantz, Margaret. Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively. College English 52.1 (1990): 74-91.

Project 1 Students will write a literary autobiography to reflect on their history of literacy practices (reading, writing, and learning), to reflect on current literacy practices and make connections to the articles, and to create a theory you have about your literacy practices. Project 2 Students will come up with a question about issues you have with writing or reading and find the answer to the question through secondary research and primary research. They will use course reading(s), sources they find, data they collect, and their own ideas to answer the research question. They will also make connections between what you think, data gathered, and what source readings propose. Project 3 Students will take their question, their investigation, and their findings from their Project 2 and turn all that into a working and rhetorically smart public document. They will also identify a target for Project 3, an audience that they want to reach Project 4 Students will reflect back what they have done in English1320/1301 and think about what they have learned by studying the work they have done for the class Needs Assessment Result Background Mini Course Information Student Information Students who will be enrolling in these mini courses are chosen by each instructor of English 1310 or English 1320/1301 and an instructor
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of the mini course using survey question and placement writing (first writing assignment of the course). Typical students enrolling in the mini courses are ESL students who do not have enough English competencies to succeed in mainstream English 1310 or English 1320/1301. Course Information These supplementary mini courses provide ESL students with additional support needed to succeed in English 1310 (Remedial Reading course) or English 1320/1301 (Remedial Writing course). The following is the list of the mini courses provided. Mini Course 1: Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building Mini Course 2: Writing Strategies and surface level issues Each mini course has one-on-one conference time included. These courses are a paired course and the class meets twice a week for one hour for 13 weeks. Selection of Students Enrolling the Course Instructors of English 1310 or English 1320/1301 will choose ESL students who need additional support from the mini courses from conducting a survey in the beginning of the semester and from the first writing product of the course to determine the placement of the students. In addition to the instructors of English 1310 and English 1320/1301, the instructor of the mini course will look through the survey results and first writing to determine the enrollment for mini course to increase validity for the selection. Survey Questions Name First language Second language Language you prefer to speak Language you prefer to write Dominant Language in the family High school you graduated from (US or other country) Years you studied English Years in the US Students who responded as one of the following answers might be the potential students who will be considered to be enrolled in the mini courses.
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First language: Any language other than English Second language: English Language you prefer to speak: Any language other than English Language you prefer to write: Any language other than English Dominant language in the family: Any language other than English High school you graduated from: Any country than US (Possibly US if the students have been in the US less than 3 years.) Years you studied English: Less than 3 years (Anybody with more than 3 years could be considered as well depending on the responses for the other questions) Years in the US: Less than 3 years (Anybody with more than 3 years could be considered as well depending on the responses for the other questions) First Writing Assignment First writing assignment of the course Summary-Question-Response (SQR) - Students are to write a summary of the first assigned article related to writing and create their own question from the reading and respond to the question. Instructor will use first SQR to determine whether the students need the supplementary mini courses. The following characteristics of the writing may help the determination of the placement of the students. Common Error Types in ESL Students Writing (Reference from Ferris 2002) 1) Word Choice: Includes errors in which the meaning of one word is wrong or unclear in this context. Also includes wrong verb or auxiliary, modal, preposition, or relative pronoun. Does not include spelling errors, other pronoun errors, article/determiner errors. Examples: (a) In addition of the challenge [Possible correction: to] (b)My English doesnt have a very good prove. [Possible correction: improvement] (c) I couldnt speak English as fluently as they were. [Possible correction: did] 2) Run-on sentences (Due to surface level issue) Fragments (Due to surface level issue)

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 Lack of main ideas in the summary (Due to lack of reading comprehension in English) Misuse of vocabulary (Due to lack of familiarity of vocabulary) Errors in conjugation of verbs (Due to grammatical errors) Unclarity of ideas presented (Due to lack of ability to express ideas in English) A limited vocabulary Inaccurate verb tenses Chaotic writing structure and grammar Any of these characteristics in their writing may be a sign that a student needs to be enrolled in the supplementary mini courses. Scope and Sequence SCOPE Entry Level Requirement 1) Students must be enrolled in one of the developmental courses either English 1310 or English 1320/1301. 2) Students have written SQR1 (First writing product used as a placement writing) or any first writing assignmnet and were determined by the English 1310 or English 1320/1301 instructor and the mini course instructor for a need to take mini courses. Exit Level Requirement 1) Students need to accomplish minimum of 80% of mini course goals and objectives. 2) Students are relatively equal to writing competencies of mainstream students and ready to take English 1302 without any significant language related problems. Limitations 1) Instructors selected to teach the course may be professors, lecturers, or Teaching Assistants. Limitation with instructors teaching the course may be that some instructors may not be familiar with ESL related knowledge. 2) Since the mini courses do not give additional credit hours, students may not be motivated to work for the courses. SEQUENCE The curriculum is sequenced by targeting reading strategies first and then writing strategies since in order to gather ideas for writing, students need to know the strategies for understanding academic articles well. Each activity for each mini course builds for the following activities starting from a smaller aspect to a larger aspect.

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Also we start the curriculum of these mini courses with reading an article relating to reading strategies of ESL students. We advocate for Writing About Writing with the hope of building and improving not only students reading and writing skills, but also students topical knowledge about reading and writing. MINI COURSE 1: READING STRATEGIES AND VOCABULARY BUILDING READING STRATEGIES Goal 1. Students will be able to read academic articles with less difficulty Objectives 1.1 Students will identify reading strategies they are currently using by sharing with their classmates and use the strategies in one section of assigned reading. 1.2 Students will learn some new reading strategies which are introduced in one section of assigned reading and look at the list of reading strategies given by the instructor. 1.3 Students will apply the new reading strategies when academic articles are given in order to understand the main ideas from the article for 80% accuracy. Tasks/Activities for Reading Strategies Discuss and share students reading strategies prior to reading an article about ESL reading strategies Read a section, Reading Strategies Research of A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei by using their current reading strategies and evaluate the effectiveness of their current reading strategies (See Appendix A) Give students a checklist of reading strategies listed (The list can be acquired from the article) to provide additional reading strategies they could use for reading academic articles (See Appendix B) Students will see an instructor modeling few of the reading strategies that students were interested in using from the list Read a section, Discussion and Conclusion of A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei to apply new reading strategies on their own Techniques

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Discussion: Give students some time to brainstorm before the discussion by writing down their reading strategies. Instruct them to paste the paper on the wall or the board and to walk around and read each others reading strategies. After that, students have discussion in a small group and then a larger group. In Class Reading: Give students time to read a section of the article to demonstrate their reading strategies. (See Appendix A) Model: With a whole class, an instructor will model some reading strategies using a paragraph from the article to demonstrate.

Evaluation Application of reading strategies will be evaluated by asking them to list the main ideas from the section Discussion and Conclusion of A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei to see if the reading strategies helped them to get the main ideas from the article VOCABULARY BUILDING Goal Students will become more familiar with academic vocabulary Objectives 2.1 Students will increase a number of familiar academic vocabulary by writing 3 unfamiliar vocabulary from assigned reading in Vocabulary Journal every week. 2.2 Students will have more experience in making educated guess of unfamiliar vocabulary from the context of the reading when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary in academic articles for 80% accuracy
2.

Tasks/Activities for Vocabulary Building Each student will write down unfamiliar academic vocabulary from the article in a vocabulary journal from reading A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei Each student will do the following for each vocabulary word Write down a vocabulary word Guess a meaning of the word Write down how they guess the meaning Write down a meaning from a dictionary Create a sentence using the vocabulary word

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Each student will choose 3 words a week (The vocabulary can come from the reading assigned in this course and Students will share their selected vocabulary

Techniques Vocabulary Selection: Guide students to choose the unfamiliar vocabulary that are necessary to understand the idea of the sentence or the paragraph. Guide them to ignore the unfamiliar vocabulary that does not hinder their understanding of the ideas Vocabulary Journal: Instruct students to create a sentence that relates to their lives. Evaluation Vocabulary Building will be evaluated by the number of vocabulary words in the vocabulary journal. (3 words each week, 7 weeks = 21 words in total) MINI COURSE 2: WRITING STRATEGIES AND SURFACE LEVEL ISSUES WRITING STRATEGIES Goal 3. Students will become more familiar with writing strategies that can be applied in order to minimize the difficulties in writing in second language. Objectives 3.1 Students will be able to express their ideas and opinions in English with less difficulty in order to include them in their writing assignments for English 1310 or English 1320/1301. 3.2 Students will be able to paraphrase quotes or ideas from their assigned reading without borrowing words from the article in order for them to avoid plagiarism and include them in their writing assignments for English 1310 or English 1320/1301. 3.3 Students will be able to select a quote or a section to paraphrase in order to answer a question in order to use it in response part of their writing assignments in English 1301 or English 1320/1301. Tasks/Activities for Writing Strategies Paraphrasing: Students will be given a section to paraphrase.

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Practice incorporating sources in their writing: By using a given question students will answer the question by using the quote they select from the article Practice expressing ideas in English: Students will include their opinions, ideas, interpretation, or experience that relates to the question given from the article in order to be able to express their ideas in English Write QR (Question-Response): Students will select their own question from a selected reading section and respond to the question using quate(s) or paraphrase and their related opinions, ideas, interpretation, or experience. (Combining the skills from earlier two bullets) Alternative way to express ideas in English: Students will read each others QR (Question-Response) and choose unclear sentence and suggest an alternative sentence that has the same idea. (by using Speed Dating)

Techniques Paraphrasing: Instruct students to read through a selected passage once, looking for information to answer the questions: Who or what? Where? When? Why? How? Conclusions? Instruct students to write the answers using their own words. Then instruct students to write what they interpreted for the passage only using the answers to the questions. (They cannot look at the passge) Practice incorporating sources in their writing: Provide a question from A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei and ask students to select an appropriate quote that can be used to answer the question you selected. Instruct students to answer the question by using the quote. Practice expressing ideas in English: Instruct students to use the question given and the quoates they selected in the earlier practice. With that question and response, instruct them to include their related opinions, ideas, interpretation, or related experience in their own words. Speed Dating: Instruct students to sit in inner and outer circles. Each student will spend few minutes reading each others QR and select unclear sentence. Each student will write alternative sentence in their own words that has the same idea so that the student who wrote the unclear sentence can see the opition for different way of expressing his/her idea. After a few minutes, they will rotate. Evaluation

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Students will be evaluated for their writing strategies from writing a QR (Question-Response) of A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers by Alireza Karbalaei. Instructor will select a question from the assigned reading section of the article and a quote needed to answer the question. Students will write answer to the question using the quote and their opinions, ideas, interpretation, or related experience. Response

Respond to the question (10 pts). Include a reference to the reading by either paraphrasing or using direct quotes from the reading. Cite the reference. Make sure you include your related experiences, your opinions, ideas, or interpretations of the article in addition to the reference to answer the question.

Write in the present tense Make sure to include the author and title of the work Write in your own words (If you must use the words of the author, cite them) Dont put your opinions, ideas, or interpretations into the summary SURFACE LEVEL ISSUES Goal 4 Students will become more familiar with their surface level errors in writing and will know how to fix those errors. Objectives 4.1 Students will be aware of their surface level issues that hinder readers understanding of their writing 4.2 Students will have a small group conference with an instructor to discuss their common surface level issues and become familiar with correcting those errors Tasks/Activities for Surface Level Issues Students will identify sentences with surface level issues from each others summary Students will identify few main surface level issues Students will see some of the common surface level issues presented by the instructor Techniques
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 Small Group Conference: Instructors will group students with a similar surface level issues and have a small group conference with each group to target the issues they have Instructor will identify the most common surface level issues from the students and model what students should to avoid those mistakes. Evaluation Surface level issue will be evaluated by their revised draft of the summary they have written on Reading Strategies Research from A Comparison of the Metacognitive Reading Strategies Used by EFL and ESL Readers Evaluation of the Course The paired mini courses will be evaluated every two academic years to ensure that the need of ESL students enrolling in English 1310 or 1320/1301 is targeted in the mini course. The continuous evaluation is necessary in order to revise the curriculum for improvement of the program. Approaches to Program Evaluation Full evaluation of this program wii be conducted by using a combination of ProcessOriented Approach and Product-Oriented Approach with the purpose to improve the program to in order to develop ESL students reading comprehension of academic articles and writing skills. Instructors, program developers and English department staffs will take the responsibility for this full evaluation. Product- Oriented Approach Product-Oriented Approach is used to evaluate whether the goals and objectives of the course were met. In order to determine the achievement of goals and objectives, instructors of the mini course will use the mini portfolio students turn in at the end of the course. In addition, since students comments/ feedback should be valued also,reflective writing produced at the end of the course by students for their mini portfolio will be used to evaluate the satisfaction of students achievement of the goals and objectives. . Reflective writing is just what it sounds like. Students make self- evaluation of their progress in reading academic articles and writing skills after taking the mini courses. There will be reflective writing instruction in which there are several prompting questions that help students to focus their evaluation (Appendix 1). Process-Oriented Approach
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Process-Oriented Approach is used to question the very worth of those goals in the first place (Brown 222). In order to collect data to determine whether the goals and objectives reflect students needs, needs assessment will be conducted every two academic years to update their needs. Needs of ESL students may change over time so updated needs assessments will help the program developers to have data and foundation to adjust program goals and objectives therefore adjust materials and other related class activities needed to achieve those goals and objectives. Three Dimensions of the Evaluation Purpose of the information Both formative and summative evaluation is used for this program. Formative Evaluation: The data from formative evaluation is collected every semester until summative evaluation is conducted and the purpose of formative evaluation is to collect data to revise the curriculum in a small scale. The data for formative evaluation is collected through student survey, mini course instructor survey, and English 1310 or English 1320/1301 instructor survey. The student survey (See Appendix A), mini course instructor survey (See Appendix B), English 1310 or English 1320/1301 instructor survey (See Appendix C) are conducted at the end of each semester. Summative Evaluation: The data for summative evaluation is collected at the end of the semester every two academic years in order to collect information from a sufficient number of ESL students in these mini courses and the purpose of the summative evaluation is to collect data to determine whether the program met the needs of the students. If the data shows the need for the change of the program, curriculum will be revised in a larger scale. The data for summative evaluation is collected through needs analysis to determine whether the goals and objectives of the course reflect on the needs of ESL students who are enrolling English 1310 or English 1320/1301. Needs analysis will be collected in the beginning of the semester every two academic years. Types of the information Both process evaluation and product evaluation will be used for this program. Process Evaluation: The data collected for process evaluation will be used to evaluate whether the program is working. The data for process evaluation is collected from surveys mentioned for formative evaluation. Product Evaluation: The data collected for product evaluation will be used to evaluate whether the students goals are achieved. The data for product evaluation will be collected through mini portfolio students turn in at the end of the course.
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 Types of data Both qualitative & quantitative data and analysis will be used to evaluate this program. Qualitative: Holistic data will be collected through analysis of students mini portfolios, open-ended survey questions analyze and interpret students grades of their writings and their portfolios. Quantitative: multiple choice answers from survey questions Appendix 1 REFLECTIVE ESSAY GUIDELINES Goals Students will be able to read academic articles with less difficulty 4. Students will become more familiar with academic vocabulary 5. Students will become more familiar with writing strategies that can be applied in order to minimize the difficulties in writing in second language. 6. Students will become more familiar with their surface level errors in writing and will know how to fix those errors. Objectives
3.

1.4 Students will identify reading strategies they are currently using by sharing with their classmates and use the strategies in one section of assigned reading. 1.5 Students will learn some new reading strategies which are introduced in one section of assigned reading and look at the list of reading strategies given by the instructor. 1.6 Students will apply the new reading strategies when academic articles are given in order to understand the main ideas from the article for 80% accuracy. 2.3 Students will increase a number of familiar academic vocabulary by writing 3 unfamiliar vocabulary from assigned reading in Vocabulary Journal every week. 2.4 Students will have more experience in making educated guess of unfamiliar vocabulary from the context of the reading when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary in academic articles for 80%
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accuracy 4.1 Students will be able to express their ideas and opinions in English with less difficulty in order to include them in their SQRs or projects for English 1320/1301. 4.2 Students will be able to paraphrase quotes or ideas from their assigned reading without borrowing words from the article in order for them to avoid plagiarism and include them into SQR or projects for English 1320/1301. 4.3 Students will be able to select a quote or a section to paraphrase in order to answer a question in order to use it in response part of SQR and Project 2 (research paper) of English 1320/1301. 4.1 Students will practice expressing their ideas in English in different ways when their written sentence is vague. 4.2 Students will have a small group conference with an instructor to discuss their common surface level issues and become familiar with correcting those errors

Look back at the goals and objectives for the class at the top, and here are some questions you can think about as you reflect on your experience:

What do you know about yourself as a writer now that you didnt know before? What strategies have you learned to use to make your writing more effective? What strategies have you learned to improve your academic reading? Where do you see glimmers of understanding? What do you still need to work out in your mind? Where do you see yourself not being able to say/do what you wanted to? What have you learned about composing, about rhetoric, about reading comprehension and about yourself? What were the things that helped you learn? What were the challenges you faced this semester? How did you deal with those challenges? What do you still want to know more about?

Appendix A

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SURVEY QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS Purpose: Evaluate ESL students view of the course Evaluate the program- Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building section Submission: at the end of the course Performed by: ENG 1301/ 1320 or ENG 1301 Instructors who have ESL students involve in these mini courses Reviewed by: program developers and writing program directors 1) How was the ease of the selected article for mini course? 1. Easy 2. Somewhat easy 3. Average 4. Somewhat difficult 2) How helpful was the information of the selected article for mini course? 1. Not helpful 2. Somewhat helpful 3. Helpful 4. Very helpful 3) Do you think the topic of the selected article will help improve your reading comprehension of academic article? 1. Yes 2. No 4) If you chose No in previous question, what topic would you prefer to read in order to improve your reading comprehension of academic article? Please list your preferred topics _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

5. Difficult

5) How do you feel about the vocabulary journal? Do you think it is helpful in terms of increasing academic vocabulary? 1. Not helpful 2. Somewhat helpful 3. Helpful 4. Very helpful 6) Is the number of vocabulary words required for each week reasonable for a mini course? 1. Prefer less (1 or 2 words) 2. Reasonable (3 words) 3. Prefer more (4 or 5 words) 7) How do you feel about your ability to select unfamiliar vocabulary words that is needed to comprehend a text out of many unfamiliar vocabulary words in an academic article?
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1. Confident 2. Somewhat confident 3. Same 4. Not confident 8) How do you feel about expressing your opinions and ideas in English after the mini course? 1. Confident 2. Somewhat confident 3. Same 4. Not confident 9) How do you feel about your ability to paraphrase ideas presented in academic article? 1. Confident 2. Somewhat confident 3. Same 4. Not confident 10) How do you feel about locating your surface level issues (grammatical errors) in your writing? 1. Confident 2. Somewhat confident 3. Same 4. Not confident 11) How was the instruction method used by the instructor? 1. Unsatisfied 2. Somewhat unsatisfied 3. Average 4. Somewhat satisfied 5. Satisfied 12) If you chose unsatisfied or somewhat unsatisfied in the previous question, please answer the following questions. Which instructional method are you unsatisfied or somewhat unsatisfied with? Please list the instructional methods _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ How would you prefer to be taught? Please list the instructional methods you prefer _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________

Thank You Appendix B

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SURVEY QUESTIONS FOR INSTRUCTORS OF MINI COURSES

Purpose: evaluate this program- Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building Submission: at the end of the course Performed by: Instructors of mini courses Reviewed by: program developers and writing program directors

1) What do you think about the chosen reading in mini course 1- Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building? Is it beneficial for ESL students? 2) What do you think about the suggested activities (Discuss and Share, In- class reading, Evaluate the effectiveness of students current reading strategies, Modeling, Apply new reading strategies)? Are they beneficial to ESL students in terms of introducing new reading strategies and modeling students to apply them? 3) What do you think about Vocabulary Journal? Is it beneficial to ESL students in terms of building academic vocabulary sources? 4) Generally, what do you think about 2 main activities (Vocabulary Selection and Vocabulary Journal) of Vocabulary Building section? 5) Do you think suggested time allotment is reasonable? 6) Do you have any suggestion to improve this Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building course? Thank You

Appendix C SURVEY QUESTIONS FOR ENG 1301/ 1320 or ENG 1301 INSTRUCTORS

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 Purpose: Evaluate ESL students performance and their improvement Evaluate the program- Reading Strategies and Vocabulary Building section Submission: at the end of the course Performed by: ENG 1301/ 1320 or ENG 1301 Instructors who have ESL students involve in these mini courses Reviewed by: program developers and writing program directors

1) Do you recognize any significant improvement in reading and writing in English of your ESL students?(if yes, please specify) 2) Do you see they are still having any difficulties in Composition course compare to other native learners? 3) Do you see have any suggestions for the mini courses to help ESL students overcome their difficulties in reading and writing academically? Thank You

APPENDIX A http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/sept_2010/alireza_karbalaei.pdf Please find the article in the link above. APPENDIX B
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Check on the strategies you currently use. Circle the strategies you would like to use.

Setting purpose for reading Using prior knowledge Previewing text before reading Checking how text content fits purpose Skimming to note text characteristics Determining what to read Using text feature (e.g., tables) Using context clues Using typographical aids (e.g., italics) Critically evaluating what is read Resolving conflicting information Predicting or guessing text meaning Confirming prediction Reading slowly and carefully Trying to stay focused on reading Adjusting reading rate

Paying close attention to reading Pausing and thinking about reading Visualizing information read Re-reading for better understanding Guessing meaning of unknown words Taking notes while reading Reading aloud when text becomes hard Summarizing text information Discussing reading with others Underlining information in text Using reference materials Paraphrasing for better understanding Going back and forth in text Asking oneself questions

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