İZMİR UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
ACADEMIC READING & WRITING SKILLS I
Instructor
Name:
Extension:
Office:
Office hours:
E-mail:
1.0. Course Identification
Course Title: Academic Writing & Reading Skills I
Program: Faculty of Administrative Sciences
Course Code: ENG 109
Number of Credits: 3
ECTS: 4
2.0. Course Policies
2.0.1. Absenteeism
According to the Rules and Regulations of Izmir University, students are required to attend 70
% of classes. It is very important that students attend regularly. Not only will attendance and
participation figure into their final grade, but it will also enable them to continuously build on
their knowledge base. If a student is unable to come to class, it is his/her responsibility to keep
up with the material covered during his/her absence.
2.0.2. Preparation
Students must bring all the relevant learning materials to class. They must also have their
assignment ready to turn in at the beginning of class on the day they are due. Being absent the
previous week is NOT accepted as an excuse for failure to turn in an assignment or for coming
to class unprepared. It is each student’s responsibility to keep up with class activities.
Therefore, late submissions are NOT accepted.
3.0. Student Behavior Statement
Students are required to conduct themselves in a respectful manner. Any behavior that shows a
lack of respect for the instructor or other students will not be tolerated.
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4.0. Academic Honesty Statement
Cheating on assignments and tests is a violation of University rules. Plagiarism, or other forms
of academic dishonesty, is not accepted and tolerated. If plagiarism is found in your
assignment, your instructor will follow the procedures on academic dishonesty. The sanctions
for academic dishonesty and / or cheating on tests range from deduction / cancellation of marks
to applying penalties imposed by the relevant articles in the Law on Higher Education.
5.0. Academic misconduct
More specific but not exhaustive examples of acts and behaviors that fall beneath this category
are as follows:

Impairing the orderly conduct of a class and thus hindering the learning of others or
interfering with execution of the lesson (e.g. disrupting class, improper questioning of
instructor’s decisions concerning the execution of the lesson or evaluation of student
performance)

Impairing the orderly conduct of an examination and thus hindering the performance of
others

Attempting to give/receive or giving/receiving unauthorized help that lead to an unfair
advantage on exams and any work or assignments submitted for assessment, i.e.
cheating or collusion

Plagiarism, i.e., the intentional use of ideas and words of another without proper
acknowledgement, referencing or citation

Refusing to follow the instructor’s directives and instructions

Tampering with exam results or other official documents

Failure to return borrowed books
5. 0. 1. Formal action
If the behavior or act continues despite informal action, formal action is taken. The Vicedirector informs the Director within two (2) days following the recurrence of the behavior for
the third time. The Director sets up a disciplinary committee comprising the Director and two
other instructors within two (2) days following notification. The student in writing is called to a
disciplinary interview where s/he is reminded once again of the code of conduct required and
of the expected standard of action. The committee advises the student to abide by the rules,
regulations, procedures and practices of the SFL.
Should the act or behavior still persist or in cases of gross misconduct, the Director sends
official notification to the Dean of the Faculty to which the student is enrolled and requests
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SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
disciplinary action as described in Article 54 of Law 2547 on Higher Education and The Law
on Student Discipline in Higher Education to be taken. The Dean may initiate an investigation
in accordance with the timescale indicated in the fore-mentioned documents to determine
whether there has, in fact, been a breach of discipline and whether disciplinary action is
warranted. If such action is found to be warranted, an appropriate sanction will be proposed by
the Dean in accordance with The Law on Student Discipline in Higher Education and by the
University Executive Board.
6.0. Assessment
All assessment tools are prepared in accordance with the aims and objectives indicated in the
syllabuses and aim to measure the extent to which these aims and objectives have been
achieved. Thus, they aim to measure the students’ knowledge base and their performance in
basic academic skills.
6.0.1. Exams
There are two different exams during a term: Midterm and Final exam. Test specifications of
the exams are published one week prior to the exam on the IZU SFL website
(http://www.izmir.edu.tr/ydyo/ ).
6.0.2. Written assignment
The aim of this assignment is to evaluate:

students’ acquisition of academic writing skills,

their ability to make use of and reflect on feedback, and

the progress they demonstrate through drafting within the writing process.
Students are expected to submit one such process-oriented assignment for evaluation each
semester. The task is indicated in the instructional program and details as well as deadlines are
published on the IZU SFL website (http://www.izmir.edu.tr/ydyo/ ) and announced in class.
This assignment is evaluated by the relevant class instructor according to rubrics provided by
the Administration.
6.0.3. Class performance grade
The Class Performance Grade (CPG) is the average of the grades given by the class instructors
on a 1-100 scale. This grade reflects the students’ performance in the classroom and activities
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SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
assigned to the students by the class instructor. Students’ performance on the classroom
activities is followed up by the class instructor(s) in accordance with the rubric provided by the
Administration and an overall class performance score is assigned. Students are graded based
on their preparation for class, i.e. homework and materials, their performance in class, i.e.
readiness to learn, attentiveness, participation in tasks and activities, as well as on their
speaking skills.
6.0.4. Calculations and criteria for success
Students’ final grade is calculated as follows:
10% of Class Performance Grade
20% of grade on written assignment
30% of the Midterm Exam score
40% of the Final Exam score
Students with a total of 60 (59.50) pass the course. Students with a total score of 59.49 or
below are required to repeat the same course until they pass. Letter grades are assigned as
follows:
AA: 90-100
BA: 85-89
BB: 80-84
CB: 75-79
CC: 70-74
DC: 65-69
DD: 60-64
FD: 50-59
FF: 0- 49
6.0.5. Objecting to an exam result
Students may object to the grade they have received on a specific test within 5 (five) days
following their of the test result. To do so, they must submit a petition to the Directorate
requesting that their exam documents be reviewed. Should an error in grading be detected, the
grade will be corrected with approval from the instructor and the School Executive Board.
Students may not object to an instructor’s evaluation of their performance.
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SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
7.0. Course Materials
In this course, the following textbook will be used:
Hewings, M. (2012). Cambridge Academic English: Upper intermediate level. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
The course instructor will provide each student with a textbook at the beginning of the
semester.
8.0. Course Description
8.0.1. Course Objectives
READING
Objectives:
By the end of this course, students will have

interacted effectively with different texts of different genres in order to draw
appropriate meaning from texts by practicing the following comprehension strategies
and reading skills:
o distinguishing between discourse genres and various text types,
o scanning by looking for key words, headings, dates, numbers etc.,
o skimming by reading quickly the first/last paragraphs and first/last sentences of
paragraphs,
o identifying the relationships between the ideas by sequencing them in an
academic text/ essay/ article by focusing on details, the logical progression of
ideas and the text organization,
o inferring meaning by raising awareness of connotations, implied meaning as
well as the writer’s choice of vocabulary,
o recognizing reference words by raising awareness of backward and forward
referencing and avoiding repetition by using that (of) and those (of),
o identifying main points and supporting details in a reading text,
o understanding APA references by focusing on footnotes, reference page and intext citation,
o predicting and previewing to anticipate the content, language and purpose of a
text by looking at titles, headings and visuals,
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SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
o understanding implicit meaning in an academic text/ essay/ article by focusing
on the consequences and reasons,
o guessing the context of an academic text by looking at the title, headings and
words highlighted or underlined.
LISTENING
Objectives:
By the end of this course, students will have practiced
 listening for the gist of a factual text by focusing on opening sentences, listing signals, and
content words,
 recognizing word order patterns,
 taking precise and detailed notes,
 identifying and evaluating information presented to support a position,
 understanding relationship between ideas,
 listening for details and scanning for specific information of a factual text by focusing on
key words and relevant vocabulary items,
 identifying the organization in a speech by understanding lecture aims and outlines in a
lecture by focusing on the introduction of a lecture and the organization of a lecture.
WRITING
Objectives:
By the end of this course, students will have

written a well-organized paragraph with a definition of key term or terms, examples
and explanations by paying attention to unity, coherence, cohesion and writing relevant
main idea, supporting detail and concluding sentences by using line charts, graphs,
figures and tables,

gained confidence in written communication by practicing
o composing a four-paragraph informative essay by differentiating describe, discuss
and defend types (Cambridge Academic English, Upper Intermediate Book, page
20),
o maintaining cohesion by using cohesive devices by practising linking parts of texts
(Cambridge Academic English, Upper Intermediate Book, page 24) and using verb-
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SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
noun collocations (Cambridge Academic English, Upper Intermediate Book, page
25),
o drafting/ outlining an essay by analysing describe, discuss and defend types of
essay,
o reporting information from a written or spoken source by using reporting verbs and
paraphrasing,
o writing up a list of references and synthesizing information from a variety of oral /
written sources to support claims with evidence by using APA reference and in-text
citation,
o including quotations in an essay by using APA reference and in-text citation,
o identifying and practising the structure, organization and lexico-grammar of an
essay that aims to describe a problem and objectively evaluate the possible
solutions,
o using appropriate register by analyzing language use to gain insight into formal vs.
informal lexis and structures and hedging.
SPEAKING
Objectives: By the end of this course, students will have gained confidence in

expressing facts and opinions by asking and answering questions,

developing a clear argument, expanding and supporting his/ her point of view about a
lecture,

using cautious, politically and socio-linguistically correct language and appropriate
register by using hedging.
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