Houston Community College Gulfton Campus
Intensive English Program
ESOL 0353 (CRN _68266__), Advanced Reading 4, Spring 2011
3 hours lecture, 2 hours lab: 80 hours/semester, 16 weeks
Room and campus___115,Gulfton___, Days and times _T/Th 2:00- 4:30pm______
Instructor: Dean Jackson Phone: 713-718-7760
Email: Dean.Jackson@hccs.edu
Learning Website ______________________
Office hours and location: _By arraignment before or after class.__________________
Course Description:
0353 is a continuation of ESOL 0350. This course is designed to further develop critical reading
skills for college-bound students. The skills gained in ESOL 0350 are further refined to guide
students towards mastery of deduction, inference and figurative language.
Course Prerequisites:
A passing grade in ESOL 0350, or (for students new to Intensive English) an evaluation into 0353
on the placement examinations.
Course Statement of Purpose:
ESOL 0353, Advance Reading, seeks to prepare students for college level academic or
workforce study by accomplishing the following objectives:
1. Enable students to read moderate-length texts (2-3,000 words) and decode rhetorical
structures such as causation, comparison & contrast, definition, classification, and
favored vs. unfavored opinions.
2. Give students the opportunity to read extensively from authentic academic sources as
well as high-school-level literature and popular publications.
3. Introduce students to a vocabulary of approximately 2 – 3,000 words, taken largely from
authentic academic English sources.
4. Develop students’ skills in critical research, using the Internet and college libraries.
Course Outcomes:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
After taking ESOL 0353, Advanced Reading, the student should:
1. be able to correctly identify the main idea of the major segments of a moderatelength academic text, and distinguish between thesis and supporting details and
argument in the text.
2. be able to recognize and use randomly-selected items from an academic word list
that reflects an estimated vocabulary size of 3,000 words.
3. be able to find and read several articles from newspapers and magazines on a
predetermined them, as well as to write an accurate summary of their contents.
4. be able to find and read a work of fiction of short to moderate length, and write an
accurate summary of the plot and characters in the work, as well as to identify
vocabulary which needs to be studied.
5. be able to identify at least 10 written sources from either a library or the Internet that
provide useful information about a predetermined topic, as well as to evaluate their
usefulness and credibility.
Learning Objectives leading to the Course Outcomes above:
Students will:
1.1 Recognize the meaning of words from a target vocabulary of 2,000-3,000 words, based on the
General Service List (cf. http://bauman.com/gsl/html) and the Academic Word List
(http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/awl-headwords.aspx);
1.2 Identify synonyms and antonyms of target vocabulary words;
1.3 Identify vocabulary words derived from known words by modifying the word form of the target word.
2.1 Understand important details from a passage of 1,000-1,500 words;
2.2 Identify the main idea of the passage and restate it in the student’s own words;
2.3 Identify specific details and supporting facts in the text.
3.1a Select advanced-level readings from Department’s collection or list of guided reading books or
passages;
3.1b Alternatively, read a common book selected by the instructor for the entire class or for a group
within the class;
3.2 Summarize content of reading passages in a reading log;
3.3 Evaluate the significance, clarity and interest of the selected reading passages.
4.1 Read a work of short fiction of 10-30 pages by a recognized English-language author;
4.2 Summarize the main ideas and significant details of the story in a reader’s log.
5.1 Identify at least 10 academic sources from a library or online source related to a specific topic
selected by students or assigned by the instructor;
5.2 Evaluate the sources for their pertinence to the topic;
5.3 Evaluate the sources for their credibility as sources of information.
16-Week Calendar, subject to revision as needed:
Date
Objectives
Week 1
Introduction to the course;
Unit 1 : World Health in the Twenty-First Century
Skills and Strategies: Identifying Continuous ideas
Week 2
Unit 1, Ctd.
Skills and Strategies: Cause and Effect
Unit 1 Ctd.
Week 3
Main Reading: “Better Health for Everyone”
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Course Material
Pp 1-17
Pp 18-36
Pp 41-53
Unit 1 Test;
Unit 2 : Living in a Multicultural Society, Introduction
INTRODCTION OF READING PROJECT
Unit 2 Ctd.
Skills and Strategies: Identifying Main Ideas and Unfavored and Favored views
Unit 2 Ctd.
Main Reading: “The Challenge of Diversity”
Pp 57-73
Unit 2 Test
Unit 3 : Aspects of Language
Introduction and Definition/Classification
Unit 3 Ctd.
Skills and Strategies: Tables and Illustrations
Pp 111-127
Unit 3 Ctd.
Comparison and Contrast
Unit 3 Ctd.
Main Reading: “Language Acquisition: The Early Years”
Unit 3 Test
Unit 4 : Looking After Planet Earth
Introduction
Problem/Solution texts
Pp 146-149
Pp 74-90
Pp 94-107
Pp 128-145
Pp 150-167
Pp 171-191
Week 15
Unit 4 Ctd
Skills and Strategies: Nominalization
Unit 4 Ctd
Main Reading: “Climate Changes: Managing the Global Greenhouse”
Unit 4 Test
Week 16
Final Exam Week
Week 13
Week 14
Pp 212-215
Pp 216-234
Instructional Methods:
ESOL 0353 is the final Reading course in the Intensive English curriculum. It aims to prepare
students to be able to benefit from and succeed in their future Developmental and Academic
courses in HCC and/or university work, in the areas of academic reading, academic vocabulary,
and written summarizing of textual works. As such, the methods of learning will depend partly on
lecturing by the instructor, but much more of the time will be taken up by students’ applying the
instruction through practice in “close” reading, extended reading, vocabulary work, testing on
vocabulary and reading, researching topics, and summarizing.
Student requirements and assignments:
• Good attendance, on time
• Turn off cell phones in the classroom
• Complete all homework and classwork, including lab assignments
• 70% average on all quizzes and examinations
• Research projects
Grading:
Unit Tests
Vocabulary work
Homework/Class work
Lab/ Participation
Reading Projects
45%
20%
10%
10%
15%
100%
Instructional Materials:
Making Connections, second edition, Pakenham (Cambridge University Press)
HCC Policies:
Services to students with disabilities: Students with a learning or physical disability which
might affect their performance in class should contact the HCCS disabilities counselor, Dr.
Becky Hauri, at (713) 718-7781.
Academic dishonesty: Any form of copying, cheating, or plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for
the assignment. The instructor will decide whether to permit you to make up the work, and
under what circumstances it might be made up. If you are charged with academic dishonesty,
pleading ignorance of the rules will not help you. Penalties and/or disciplinary proceedings may
be initiated by HCC officials against a student who is accused of scholastic dishonesty.
“Scholastic dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and
collusion.
Cheating on a test includes:
 Copying from another students’ test paper;
 Using materials not authorized by the person giving the test;


Collaborating with another student during a test without authorization;
Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in whole or part the
contents of a test that has not been administered;
 Bribing another person to obtain a test that is to be administered.
Plagiarism means the appropriation of another’s work and the unacknowledged incorporation of
that work in one’s own written work offered for credit.
Collusion means the unauthorized collaboration with another person in preparing written work
offered for credit. Possible punishments for academic dishonesty may include a grade of 0 or F in
the particular assignment, failure in the course, and/or recommendation for probation or dismissal
from the College System.
See the HCCS Student Handbook for further information.
Attendance: No absences are excused, and anyone who misses more than ten hours of class
(including lab) may be dropped from the class, and if so, will be dropped from all of the
Intensive English classes you are taking this semester. This can have serious consequences
for F1 students. Please let your instructor know (in advance, if possible) if you have to be
absent. When absent, you are responsible for finding out what you missed, and for asking
permission to make up the work.
Tardiness: Please come to class on time. If you miss more than ___ minutes of class, you will be
counted absent for that hour of class.
Withdrawals: The last day students can withdraw or be dropped from a class with a grade of “W”
is 14 April at 4:30 p.m. If you decide to drop, you must contact an advisor or your professor for
approval, and this must be done prior to the drop deadline of 4/14. Students who have
excessive absences after that date will receive the grade that they earn.
Three-peater policy: Students taking a course for the 3rd time must pay additional tuition.
Classroom behavior: No student is permitted to behave in a way that prevents the instructor
from teaching or that interferes with other students’ learning. Any student who behaves in this
way may be required to leave the classroom and be absent for the rest of the day. If such
behavior continues, the student may be referred to the Dean of Student Services for further
disciplinary action.
Cell phones and pagers: Such devices must be turned off in the classroom. Use of such
devices in the classroom will lead to the student’s being asked to leave them on the instructor’s
desk or to leave the room and be absent for the rest of the day. If such behavior continues, the
student may be referred to the Dean of Student Services for further disciplinary action.
Missed tests, presentations, quizzes: Please do not be absent on testing days. Presentation
and examination grades will be lowered if they are late. If you miss classwork, you cannot
receive full credit for making it up.
Late homework: If homework is one day late, the grade will go down __10___ points. Two days
late = __20___ points down. Late homework will not be accepted after the second day.
Grades: Some of your work will receive “letter grades”; some will receive percentage grades. It
means this:
A = 90-100% = Excellent work
B = 80-89% = Good work
C = 70-79% = OK work (not good, not bad)
D = 60=69% = Not passing
F = below 60% = Not passing
At the end of the semester, your grade for the course will be one of these:
A = Excellent
B = Good
C = OK
IP = Good effort, but not passing
F = Poor effort and poor work, and not passing
Tutoring is available from 1:30-2:30 TWTh in Gulfton Center 121; 9-11:00 F in Gulfton 111.
Sexual harassment policy: Sexual harassment is not tolerated in any form at Houston
Community College. See the HCCS Student Handbook for further information.