Student Learning Outcomes for the ESL department (first draft) – August 11, 2011
ESL-56 (cross-listed as COMM-56) Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will express facts and opinions on various topics in pair and group settings.
2. Students will identify individual gaps in their ability to verbally communicate, including
sentence structure, expression, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
3. Students will produce and present a presentation in class that contains a topic, a point of
view, and adequate support.
4. Students will present ideas in a debate situation.
ESL-55 Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will individually identify needed areas of pronunciation development.
2. Students will produce clear and effective English consonants, vowels, and consonant
clusters.
3. Students will apply native-like speaking features in various speaking contexts, including
rhythm, stress, and blends.
ESL-50 Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will write paragraphs that are mostly understandable yet may contain systematic
errors, awkwardness, and limited expression of ideas
2. Students will understand and appropriately apply the following verb tenses: simple present,
present progressive, simple past, past progressive
3. Students will understand and appropriately apply the use of basic modal structures to
express meaning
4. Students will produce writings that contain simple, compound, and complex sentences
5. Students will be able to read and comprehend a passage of text
6. Students will produce paragraphs with a clear a topic sentence
7. Students will produce paragraphs that support a topic sentence with relevant details and
examples.
ESL-51 Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will produce writing that is free of gross structural mistakes and completely
understandable, yet may contain some problematic areas, non-native features, and
somewhat limited depth .
2. Students will understand and be able to use all twelve verb tenses (some consultation of a
verb tense reference may be necessary for the less-used verb tenses)
3. Students will identify and use modals, conditional sentences, adjective clauses, noun clauses,
adverbial clauses in order to express opinions and fact.
4. Student will be able to read and comprehend a passage of text.
5. Student will be able to identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
6. Student will be able to distinguish four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and
compound-complex.
7. Student will be able to develop four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and
compound-complex.
8. Student will be able to combine sentences using all four sentence types.
9. Student will be able to develop a clear topic sentence.
ESL-62W Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will express content with, at most, minor awkwardness and mistakes that do not
significantly limit the expression of ideas
2. Student writing contains effective and clear sentence structuring
3. Student will use all twelve verb tenses , modals, and conditional sentences in order to
express opinions and facts
4. Student will effectively use adjective clauses, noun clauses, adverbial clauses in order to
express opinions and facts
5. Student will develop a clear, well-supported, and clearly organized paragraph.
6. Student will be able to read and comprehend a passage of text.
7. Student should be able to identify and correct fragments and run-ons.
8. Student will be able to combine sentences using all four sentence types: simple, compound,
complex, and compound-complex.
9. Student will be able to develop a clear topic sentence.
10. Student will be able to identify and analyze the use of rhetorical modes of writing in various
literary texts (non-fiction).
11. Student will be able to develop a clear, well-supported, clearly-organized short essay.
ESL-98W Student Learner Outcomes
1. Students will express content with, at most, minor non-native features that do not interfere
with meaning
2. Student writing demonstrates clear, varied, and effective sentence structures to express
content
3. Students will be able to effectively use the twelve verb tenses , modals, conditionals,
adjective clauses, noun clauses, adverbial clauses in order to express opinions and facts
4. Students will be able to read and comprehend a passage of text.
5. Student will be able to identify and analyze the use of rhetorical modes of writing in various
literary texts (nonfiction).
6. Student will examine the importance of purpose and audience in order to better understand
how to develop an academic essay.
7. Student will be able to identify and analyze thesis statements in literature (nonfiction) as
models for their original work.
8. Student should be able to present a clear, reasoned, well-supported, clearly organized
essay.
9. Student will be able to identify college-level sources.
10. Student will be able to integrate college-level sources in an essay as concrete support for an
idea or topic.