Houston Community College
English 0349 Course Syllabus
Saturday - Spring 2012
Professor Martha Fields, M.Ed.
English 0349
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Martha Fields, M.Ed.
Email: martha.fields@hccs.edu
CRN #30 (82020)
Office phone: 832-618-9199
Texts and Supplies
New Directions, Second Edition, by Peter S. Gardner (required)
English collegiate dictionary (no bi-lingual dictionaries)
loose-leaf notebook paper
a flash or thumb drive
one manila folder for a comp portfolio
an email address
a highlighter marker
a red pen
Course Goals
English 0349 helps ESL students prepare for American core academic college courses.
Students learn composition (comp) skills for writing in a variety of academic classes,
such as in the humanities, social sciences, and business. ENGL 0349 is the exit-level
comp class for non-native speakers who plan to continue their education and earn a
college degree. After passing this course, students should be ready to take ENGL 1301,
freshman comp, and to successfully complete any state-mandated writing assessment
designed to measure college readiness, such as THEA.
Specific course objectives include:
 read, comprehend, and be able to discuss academic texts
 write well-written 500-1000 word essays in response to those texts
 use of a variety of rhetorical strategies (exemplification, comparison/contrast,
cause/effect, argumentative) to develop a thesis
 apply critical thinking skills in writing
 edit comps for accurate grammar, spelling, and punctuation
 expand vocabulary
 recognize the author’s tone in writing
 demonstrate ability to paraphrase and summarize
 use accurate MLA style guidelines to cite sources in-text
 demonstrate ability to address a wide variety of writing tasks (journals, essays, shortanswer and test questions, e-mail)
Compositions/Papers
Students will write 4 comps and submit them using turnitin.com. Please note that they
are due by 11:59pm on Friday (see calendar). You must submit a typed copy in class
on the next class date. There is also a midterm, and a final exam for this class. Much of
the class time is arranged as a writing workshop in which students discuss ideas for
writing, pre-write, draft, edit, and revise their work with assistance from classmates and
the instructor. One or two drafts may be written before the final draft. Only the final draft
is graded, and students do not revise further after turning in a comp for a grade. All parts
of the comp process are kept in a manila folder, called a portfolio, and turned in with the
final draft. Unless otherwise directed, students must type or word-process the final draft
(except for the midterm and final exam) in 12 point Times New Roman font, double-
spaced, and identify their work in the upper left corner of page 1 with the student’s
name, course number, professor’s name, date, and comp number.
Journal
Students will use turnitin.com to submit their journal writing as well as submit a typed
copy in class on Saturday at the start of class (9:15am is late -10 points). Each
week, the journal assignment is due by 11:59 p.m. on the Friday before class to
turnitin.com. The weekly topics are included on the course calendar in italics. Length
will vary, but in general, each journal response should be between 100-200 words. No
late journals are accepted. If the journal is not posted by 11:59 p.m. of the week that it is
due, I will not respond to it or count it for a grade. The format for responding to journal
topics is as follows, for example:
Journal # 1: In order to avoid intercultural misunderstandings, a visitor to (X
country) should know that…
Journal # 4: I agree (or I disagree) that students who are accused of plagiarism
should get an F for the assignment.
You must make sure that I understand which topic you have chosen by paraphrasing or
quoting from the topic in the topic sentence of your journal response.
Homework
Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the readings listed on the
course calendar. Most reading assignments require students to work on some
preliminary vocabulary work and answer either pre-reading questions or post-reading
discussion questions that are in the textbook. Except for the Althen article, “American
Values and Assumptions,” every student will take a turn at leading a small group by
using the following 4-step process to discuss one of the reading assignments on
the course calendar:
 identify the author and his/her credentials
 summarize the author’s purpose
 locate the thesis and main supporting details
 coordinate the discussion of “Reflecting on Content” questions
 See the reading assignment titles on the course calendar.
Quizzes
Quizzes generally cover the material from the reading assignments and vocabulary.
These reading comprehension quizzes are unannounced. Therefore, students should be
prepared for a quiz on every reading on the course calendar whether or not they are
leading a small discussion group.
Final Exam
The final exam consists of an impromptu essay based on the writing skills that are
learned in New Directions. This essay will have a persuasive purpose and is used, along
with the other work done in this class, to determine whether or not a student is ready to
succeed in college credit classes. A student who has a passing class average but who
does not pass the final exam with a 70% or higher grade will have his/her portfolio
reviewed by the Asst. Department Chair for Academic ESL.
Texas Public Universities, Placement Rules
Beginning in the Fall 2003, the Texas legislature instituted new rules for developmental
students called the Texas Success Initiative (TSI). Under TSI rules, most new students
must be tested for placement (with THEA, ASSET or COMPASS) and placed into
developmental courses if they do not score high enough to demonstrate college
readiness. Successful completion of developmental coursework, ENGL 0349 and GUST
0342 (or an appropriate test score), enables students to advance to ENGL 1301.
Classroom Policies
Placement in ENGL 0349 is based on not only test scores and previous coursework but
also on the in-class assessment during the first weeks of the term. A student who is not
qualified to stay in this class will be notified and advised to take the appropriate class.
Students who fail to follow the teacher’s recommendations for course placement will be
referred to the college counseling department.
In class work should be written in a dark pen or pencil on college-ruled 81/2 x 11 inch
paper. Out of class work must conform to APA standards documentation style (see page
131 in the New Directions text book) for formatting and citation and be in Times New
Roman 12-point font.
Students are expected to arrive on time to class. I will mark you absent for any time
missed after the class is scheduled to begin. If you return from a break, leave early, or
fall asleep in class, I will mark you absent for the time you miss. If you are absent from
class, you are responsible for contacting me about the missed work. When students are
absent on the day of a scheduled in-class assignment, any work for that day must be
emailed by the start of class time. Also, any missed work cannot be submitted at a later
date, re-submitted, or made up in any way. NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED!!! THIS
POLICY APPLIES TO ALL ASSIGNMENTS!!! There are no make-up tests or quizzes
and there will be no extra credit assignments given, but I will drop the lowest test/quiz
grade for each student at the end of the semester.
NOTE: All cell phones and electronic devices must be turned off and out of sight when
the class is in session. If you have an emergency and must have a phone handy, please
tell me before class begins.
College Grading System
Students may earn an A, B, C, F, or IP in this class. IP means “In Progress” and is given
to the student who makes a good-faith effort to complete the work of the class but is not
ready to advance to the next level and could benefit from another semester in 0349. If a
student receives an IP, he/she must repeat ENGL 0349. However, if the student is
repeating 0349 for the second time and not passing, the final grade will be F.
The W grade is given to the student who exceeds the allotted number of absences (8
hours) before the last day for Administrative Withdrawals. An F is given to students who
do not make a good-faith effort to successfully complete work in the class and to those
who take 0349 for the second time but fail it. Students are responsible for completing the
process to drop a class if they wish to stop attending. See the “Last Day to Withdraw”
date in the HCCS Schedule of Classes.
Tutoring and the Language Assistance Center (LAC)
You are encouraged to take advantage of the student services at your campus. Tutors
are available to assist you with any reading/writing assignments that you need help with.
You may make an appointment in advance or drop in (if no one has an appointment
when you arrive). Prepare yourself before you see a tutor to ask specific questions in
order to use your time together well. Reminder: the tutor is not your editor and will not
write papers for you. In addition, online tutoring is available at: www.askonline.net
Each campus has an LAC where you can use a computer to work on grammar software
such as “Guide to Grammar & Writing”(grammar.ccc.commnet.edu), online resources,
and word processing. No appointment is needed to use an LAC; however, if a teacher
schedules a class there while you are visiting the lab, you might be asked to leave.
NOTE: Unless otherwise directed by the teacher, students must pay for all copies
printed in the LAC. Lab aides manage the labs and are there to assist you with technical
questions about the computers.
English 0349 Grading Formula
The final grade is calculated as follows:
Comps 1 & 2
20%
Mid-term Essay
15%
Final Exam
15%
College Grading Scale
90—100
A
80—89 B
Comps 3 & 4
30%
Homework, Journal & Quizzes
20%
70—79 C
60—69 IP or F
Academic Dishonesty
Students are expected to do their own work. The instructor can not help a student unless
she knows who is authoring the assignments. Copying another person’s words without
giving credit to the source is considered cheating and called “plagiarism.” All other forms
of cheating as defined by the Student Handbook are penalized as plagiarism: a grade of
0 is recorded for all forms of academic dishonesty that appear in ANY of the work done
in this class. Repeated problems with academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary
action, including being asked to leave the class and/or referral to the Academic Dean of
Instruction.