CONTRA COSTA COLLEGE
Course Description
ESL 189-6552 - Writing III – 5 Units
Semester:
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Office Phone:
E-Mail:
Class Dates:
Holidays:
Schedule:
Final Exam:
Advisory: Successful completion of ESL 186 or appropriate score on ESL Placement Test.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course provides instruction in paragraph writing and short compositions for highintermediate ESL students.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will demonstrate ability to write unified, coherent, adequately-supported multiparagraph essays of 350 words. Students will be able to incorporate a variety of sentence
structures.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
At the completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Write 400-500 word compositions with a clear main idea and well-developed, coherent
content on a variety of topics, including social issues and current events.
2. Organize content by using paragraphs with a clear focus and relevant support.
3. Write on a variety of topics using description, narration, comparison, cause and effect
analysis, or classification when appropriate to support a main argument.
4. Use a variety of general vocabulary and some low frequency words specific to the
content.
5. Use a variety of compound and complex sentences.
WHAT WE WILL DO: [optional-can be modified]
In this course we will do a lot of readings and writing. We will write 400-500 word
compositions with a clear main idea and well-developed, coherent content on a variety of topics,
including social issues and current events.
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:
1. Instructor feedback on student writing
2. Text exercises, including reading comprehension and rhetorical analysis
3. Explicit instruction on focus, development, rhetorical styles, and grammar and mechanics as
necessary
4. Pair and group discussions and feedback
MATERIALS:
1. Textbook: Read to Write by Gillie, Mumford & Ingle (McGraw-Hill)
2. Instructor-prepared handouts
GRADES:
Grades will be based on the following:
1. Five graded in-class writing assignments:
25%
2. Weekly out-of-class writing assignments, including compositions, responses to reading, short
responses to questions, and summaries:
30%
3. Quizzes on assigned reading and grammar and punctuation:
10%
4. Other homework exercises
10%
5.
Final exam:
25%
A letter grade will be assigned based on the following categories: 90-100% = A,
80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, below 60% = F. Students who choose
the Credit/No Credit option will receive CR for an average of 70% and above,
or NC for an average of 69% or below.
Course expectations: [Optional – can be modified]
I expect you to be present in every class meeting and participate actively in class activities. You
must come to class on time and complete your homework before class begins. This is a four-unit
course, so you will have to spend approximately eight hours a week doing homework and
preparing for class.
Attendance policy: If you miss class often, regardless of the reason, you will not learn the material
covered by the course. For that reason, there are no excused absences in this course. If you miss
more than three class meetings/six hours of class, you may be dropped from the class. When
you are late to class, I will add up the number of minutes you miss. Each fifty-minute period will
count as an hour of class. If you miss class, contact a classmate or me to find out what the
homework is. I expect you to complete the homework even if you miss class.
When students are late, unprepared, or distracted, they can’t learn and they don’t let other students learn, so
we must all do our part to create a good learning environment. This includes respecting and supporting other
members of the class, doing our share of the work in groups, staying on task, speaking English, and listening
to the instructor or other students when they are speaking to the class. Telephones and beepers must be
turned off and put away before class begins.