Freshman English Composition
Overview
"Freshman English Composition" is a 2-semester, 4-credit,
required course. It is mainly concerned with improving and enhancing
learners' writing ability in English as a foreign language (EFL). One
assumption upon which the course rests is that the students should bring to
their roles as EFL learners a strong competence of the full range of EFL
abilities--including listening, speaking, reading, and writing--resulted from
intensive and extensive learning activities. Another philosophy of the course is
that active participation and language use are crucial for the successful foreign
language writing. Although writing ability is the focus of the course, the Whole
Language Approach and 4-skill integration are adopted because the 4 skills
are believed to support and enhance one another. Moreover, since the
resources on the Net are abundant, the Internet will be comprehensively
integrated into this course. Learners' practice, involvement, and use of the
language via face-to-face and the networked multimedia are heavily
required. Learners must change their passive learning habits/attitudes to
being more active participants for this course.
Objectives
In very broad behavioral terms, the students who complete this course
should be able to understand and improve the following skills/abilities in EFL
writing:
1. Usage/mechanics.
2. Strategies.
3. Organization.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Styles.
Sentence structure.
Paragraph basics.
Genre.
Instructional Activities
I. In-Class Activities
1. Presentation/Discussion of Writing Guidelines:
Different units in the textbook and a lot of writing-relevant topics and
guidelines will be presented and discussed during the meetings. The textbook
and the information on the http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ &
http://www.criterion.com.tw/ websites will be the major resources for the
presentation and discussion. After each presentation, the students are
required to participate in a online discussion MSN or Yahoo! Messenger.
2. Writing Practice:
The students are required to practice writing 6 essays online during one
semester (see the tentative schedule). They must logon
the http://www.criterion.com.tw/ & http://criterion-cs.ets.org/ for detailed
information and finish the essays as assigned.
3. Peer/Group Review:
A peer/group review will be held after each essay practice. Several
sample essays provided by the students or the website will be selected for this
activities. For better outcomes, the students are organized in 3-4 groups. The
students are required to take turns (in groups) offering suggestions or
comments on the essays.
II. Activities after Class
1. Online Listening Practice:
The students are strongly recommended to practice online listening-cloze
drills every day. A listening log for any drill is required as an assignment
every week (about 15-17 logs for the whole semester). The drills are created
on http://moodle.club.tw/moodle/ website. Grace period for the make-up of
each log is one week. The procedures for this homework are:
1) Register for the website.
2) Log onto the "Cloze-Dictation Drills for High-Intermediate Level
(pw: cda)".
3) Choose a drill.
4) Do the listening-cloze seriously.
5) Keep a listening log.
6) Submit the log on the e-Campus website.
7) Check weekly grade.
2. Keeping a Journal Blog:
The students are required to keep a learning blog for this course on the
eclass website or apply for a free blog from the Net (e.g.,
https://www.blogger.com/start). Any themes or topics related to their
learning and writing are acceptable for this homework.
3. Teacher/Students Conferencing:
The students (in groups) are required to attend a conference at least once
each semester. The conference will be held by the instructor and teaching
assistants. The purpose of the conference is mainly for the discussion of
students' writing issues or any learning problems. Person-to-person meeting
can be arranged, if necessary.
Exams
No mid-term exam is required for this course, but there will be a final
examination. The examination will include topics related to writing and the
cloze-dictation drills.
Evaluation Criteria for Papers & Performances
Written papers and performances will be evaluated on the basis of:
1. Clarity of presentation and development of ideas.
2. Accuracy of information, logic, and consistency of argument.
3. Relevance of criticism, analysis, and rationale.
4. Correct grammar, spelling, and syntax.
5. Appropriate and accurate citations.
6. Punctuality. (Grades will be deducted for late papers.)
Evaluation of Participation
1. Attendance: Faithful attendance (at both weekly meetings and T/S
Conferences) is strongly expected unless the students are ill or a
family/official emergency arises. Email or talk to the instructor in
person about reasons so he can decide whether to excuse an absence.
The students are expected to arrive in class/conference on time. There
are many classes in which essential information is demonstrated and
presented, followed by their practice on writing, so it is critical that
they attend and arrive promptly. Therefore, their grades can be
influenced by attendance. A zero score will be given to the attendance
part for being absent without official permission 3 times or more. A
bonus will be given to the students who are never absent during the
whole semester.
2. Frequency of participation in whole-class activities (at least once a class
meeting; will depend on class size)
3. Quality of contributions to group work--individual accountability,
promotive interaction, use of clarifying questions, illustrations, shared
information, elaboration of ideas, etc.
4. Sharing materials or ideas with members during the class.
Grading
All written papers and performances will be evaluated on a scale of
scores (0-100) or letters (A, B, C, ....). Final grades will be determined on the
basis of numerical equivalence of weighted grades on the performances. The
following are the proportion of the activities or assignments for the course:
1. Attendance & T/S Conference
2. Journal Blogs
3. Listening Logs
10%
15%
15%
4. Writing Practices (On Criterion) 35%
5. Peer/Group Review Activities
10%
6. Final Exam
15%
7. Bonus (Book Review Competition) 5% (2nd semester)
Assigned Grade Score Equivalent
A+
A
90-above
85-89
AB+
B
BC+
C
CF
80-84
76-79
73-75
70-72
66-69
63-65
60-62
0-59
Textbooks
Savage, A. & Mayer, P. (2005). Effective Academic Writing 2. Oxford
University Press.
In addition to the required textbook, web-based resources will be
comprehensively used for this course. The major websites for this course
are http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ and http://www.criterion.com.tw/. The
students are required to visit the sites frequently.
Tentative Schedule (1st Semester)
Week
Topic
Homework
1
Course Description; Grouping; Introduction to "Basics"
2
Topic I; Online essay writing practice (Criterion Demo)
Listening Log 01; Learning Blog
3
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 01
Listening Log 02; Learning Blog
4
Topic II; Peer/Group Review on Essay 01
Listening Log 03; Learning Blog
5
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 02
Listening Log 04; Learning Blog
6
Topic III; Peer/Group Review on Essay 02
Listening Log 05; Learning Blog
7
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 03
Listening Log 06; Learning Blog
8
Topic IV; Peer/Group Review on Essay 03
Listening Log 07; Learning Blog
9
T/S Conference
Listening Log 08; Learning Blog
10
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 04
Listening Log 09; Learning Blog
11
Topic V; Peer/Group Review on Essay 04
Listening Log 10; Learning Blog
12
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 05
Listening Log 11; Learning Blog
13
Topic VI; Peer/Group Review on Essay 05
Listening Log 12; Learning Blog
14
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 06
Listening Log 13; Learning Blog
15
Topic VII; Peer/Group Review on Essay 06
Listening Log 14; Learning Blog
16
Topic VIII; Online discussion
Listening Log 15; Learning Blog
17
T/S Conference
Listening Log 16; Learning Blog
18
Final Exam
Tentative Schedule (2nd Semester)
Week
Topic
Homework
1
Course Description; Grouping;
2
Topic IX; Online Discussion
Listening Log 01; Learning Blog
3
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 01
Listening Log 02; Learning Blog
4
Topic X; Peer/Group Review on Essay 01
Listening Log 03; Learning Blog
5
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 02
Listening Log 04; Learning Blog
6
Unit 1; Peer/Group Review on Essay 02
Listening Log 05; Learning Blog
7
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 03
Listening Log 06; Learning Blog
8
Unit 2; Peer/Group Review on Essay 03
Listening Log 07; Learning Blog
9
T/S Conference
Listening Log 08; Learning Blog
10
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 04
Listening Log 09; Learning Blog
11
Unit 3; Peer/Group Review on Essay 04
Listening Log 10; Learning Blog
12
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 05
Listening Log 11; Learning Blog
13
Unit 4; Peer/Group Review on Essay 05
Listening Log 12; Learning Blog
14
Brainstorming; Online essay writing 06
Listening Log 13; Learning Blog
15
Unit 5; Peer/Group Review on Essay 06
Listening Log 14; Learning Blog
16
Unit 6; Online Discussion
Listening Log 15; Learning Blog
17
T/S Conference
Listening Log 16; Learning Blog
18
Final Exam
Reminder:
1. Course Waiving
2. Learning Passport
Online Conference (if the course meeting is cancelled because of
H1N1 Flu):
1. The course will be delivered on the "Co-Life" website.
2. Please link to http://colife.nchc.org.tw/ and apply for an account by using
your email account.
3. Follow the instructor's instructions to logon to the course.