Version: 14 January 2015
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY NOTICE
FROM SOUTHEASTERN’S GENERAL CATALOGUE:
Students entering Southeastern are required by the Board of Regents to demonstrate proficiency in English and
mathematics as part of the requirement for associate and baccalaureate degrees. Students who pass English 102 or
its equivalent with a grade of D or better will meet English proficiency requirements.
General Policy:
To pass English 102, you are required to satisfactorily complete all course requirements and to submit for
independent assessment a passing English proficiency portfolio containing three samples of writing done during the
course, an essay exam completed during the final exam period, and an initialed checklist confirming that you read
and followed these directions. Your proficiency portfolio must pass the independent assessment for you to
earn a passing grade for English 102. This is not an assessment of your final exam alone, but a comprehensive
evaluation of the entire folder you submit, including your previously graded course papers.
English Proficiency Assessment Moodle Site:
This notice and other important proficiency materials, including a list of the current semester’s exam readings,
suggestions for how to prepare for the exam, a sample proficiency exam, and model student documents, will be
made available electronically following the midterm withdrawal deadline on the “English Proficiency
Assessment” Moodle site. You must visit this Moodle site prior to the conclusion of your English 102 class this
term.
Portfolio:
The portfolio is a folder containing multiple samples of your best writing for English 102. The purpose of the
portfolio is to allow university graders other than your classroom teacher to judge your writing proficiency using a
variety of your best work. The portfolio—except for the exam—will be collected by your teacher during your last
class meeting, and then forwarded to the proficiency graders for independent assessment following your
completion of the exam during exam week. Your portfolio must be submitted before or during the final course
period. For online courses, portfolios are due before the start of the final exam.
Folder specifications:
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Use a light-colored, non-glossy, double-pocketed folder with your “W-number” and teacher’s code name
written clearly at the top of the folder’s cover.
Make sure that neither your name nor your teacher’s actual name appears anywhere in the portfolio.
Remove them from drafts with white-out or a black marker.
Place two “Revised Course Papers” and your “Food Memoir” in the right-hand pocket. Place your
completed “Proficiency Exam” and your initialed “Portfolio Checklist” in the left pocket.
You must initial each item on your “Portfolio Checklist,” confirming you have read and followed all
directions in preparing, compiling, and submitting your portfolio.
Portfolio contents:
Two Revised Course Papers: The two papers that you select should represent your best writing completed for
English 102. Clean, typed revisions, containing no comments or marks by your teacher or other readers, must be
stapled on top of at least one prior draft. This prior draft must show evidence of being read by your teacher (e.g.,
written comments and/or a grade), and possibly other readers. Critical, analytical, and argumentative essays of
roughly 3-5 double-spaced pages using MLA page formatting are required. Both writing samples must be on
different writing assignments (not two versions of the same assignment). You may not submit short exercises or
papers that only summarize a work. Do not include extremely lengthy research papers of more than 8-10 pages.
Version: 14 January 2015
Both essays must integrate and document sources effectively and include corresponding “Works Cited” pages with
multiple entries following current MLA guidelines. At least one paper must show evidence of library research
involving secondary sources beyond the course textbooks or primary texts.
Independent Writing Assignment—A Food Memoir: This “Food Memoir” assignment is intended to allow you to
show the quality of writing you can produce working more independently from your teacher than in the two course
papers you submit, but still provide more opportunity to plan, develop, and revise your work than in your upcoming
Proficiency Exam.
For this assignment, write a brief (two double-spaced pages) but substantive “food memoir.” The outline for a
Memoir Essay can be found in Chapter 1 in Word and Image. Memoirs are a kind of writing used to narrate and
analyze significant experiences in our lives, including those concerning foods. A good food-related memoir, like
any memoir, is a kind of history that captures distinctive moments in the life of the writer and the larger society.
The memory might be connected to an observation about culture or the way food fits into society in general.
Sometimes it is more sociological, about family and family traditions. Sometimes it is more psychological and
about a special food or meal that means something to just you. In any case, the story you tell must include or be
followed by analysis. This paper is to be 2 pages and should be aimed at telling both a good story and then
explaining to the reader why that story is important. Your narrative must make a clear and focused point in a
thesis, and the topic should be significant to your audience. The final essay should contain multiple paragraphs and
university-level prose.
Your teacher will help you develop general strategies for completing your narrative, as well as provide ample
opportunities to plan, draft, and revise your assignment during the term. However, please understand that your
teacher cannot respond to, correct, or grade your narrative prior to its submission in your English Proficiency
Portfolio. Again, the purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to work independently to plan,
develop, and revise an important piece of writing.
The Proficiency Exam: The purpose of the open-book proficiency exam is to demonstrate your skill at
independent, critical reading; writing a timed essay on a prompt related to that reading; developing an argument
that integrates information drawn from the reading; and documenting your sources using MLA style. About 10 days
before classes end, you will be assigned a selection of readings from your course text and a general theme
connecting those readings. You will be directed to prepare to respond to an argumentative prompt related to that
theme, using the sources you were given to help develop your argument. A list of the exam readings from your
course text will be made available electronically via the “English Proficiency Assessment” Moodle course site. The
exam is written in a “blue book” that you will purchase and bring to the Freshman English exam or place in your
proficiency portfolio when you submit it to your teacher during your last class. You must bring both your blue
book and the assigned exam readings to the scheduled exam meeting. You may also have a dictionary and pen
or pencil.
Portfolio Evaluation
A minimum of two trained graders other than your teacher will judge your portfolio’s proficiency. A
minimum of four graders will have agreed in cases where a portfolio is failed. A portfolio is judged
“proficient” if it demonstrates that the student has met the stated goals of English 102, follows all
directions described in this “Proficiency Notice,” and satisfies the criteria for “credit” described on the
“Freshman English Grading Scale.” This is not an assessment of your final exam alone, but a
comprehensive evaluation of the entire folder you submit, including your previously graded course papers.
Version: 14 January 2015
SAMPLE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY EXAM
THIS IS NOT YOUR FINAL EXAM. YOUR 102 TEACHER WILL PROVIDE
YOUR EXAM AT 8AM ON THE MONDAY OF FINALS WEEK.
General Directions:
The purposes of this proficiency exam are to demonstrate your skill at independent, critical reading, writing a
timed essay on a prompt related to that reading, developing a claim that integrates information drawn from the
reading, and documenting your sources using MLA style.
This is an open-book exam. Use your copies of the assigned readings to integrate direct quotes, paraphrases, or
summaries of the sources into your response. You may also use any notes you have prepared and your English 102
course texts and a dictionary. No other books are permitted. Write your response in your blue book. Be sure to
write your university W-number and your teacher’s code name on the cover of your blue book. No other
identifying information should appear on your essay. You have 2 hours to complete this exam.
Assigned Sources: (Available in Moodle following the withdrawal deadline)
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Topic Cluster 1: Bodies (entire cluster, including related images), pages 537-552
Henry Louis Gates—“In the Kitchen” (including related images), pages 632-638
Theme: Our Bodies, Ourselves
Respond in your blue books to one of the following two questions:
1. The readings and images assigned for this exam combine to suggest that the things we do to our bodies as
expressions of cultural, social, and individual identity can stem from both positive and negative motives, as well as
lead to both positive and negative results. Discuss an example drawn from your own personal experiences to
analyze some of the complex personal, social, and cultural motives and consequences at play in our efforts at
body enhancement and modification. Use at least two of the assigned readings (which you may quote,
paraphrase, or summarize) to develop your claim. Take care to integrate your sources into your essay effectively,
and to document your use of all sources (including images) in appropriate MLA format. You do not need to include
a Works Cited list.
2. The assigned readings for this exam address the topic of “body image” from multiple points of view: as a cultural
construction with powerful implications for physical and emotional health; as a tool for working out some of life’s
emotional and intellectual problems; as an expression of personal and cultural identity; and more. Adopt one of
these perspectives from the readings to offer a thoughtful commentary on the collected images assigned for
this exam (the Rolling Stone covers on pp. 545-6; the images on tattoos and body piercing on pp. 551-2 and
on hair, pp. 637-8). Be sure that you reference specific representative images in your commentary, and that you
use at least one of the assigned readings (which you may quote, paraphrase, or summarize) to develop your claims.
Take care to integrate your sources into your essay effectively, and to document your use of all sources (including
images) in appropriate MLA format. You do not need to include a Works Cited list.