HomeMy WebLinkAboutALP-007Revised Spring 2016
Bergen Community College
Division of Humanities
Department of ESL and World Languages
Course Syllabus
ALP 007: Foundations Writing
Semester and year:
Course and Section Number: (e.g. ALP 007- xxx))
Meeting Times and Locations:
Instructor:
Office Location:
Phone:
Departmental Secretary: (optional)
Office Hours:
E-mail Address:
Course Description
ALP-007 American Language Foundations: Writing is a course in writing for academic
purposes for English language learners with little or no prior exposure to English. It provides
students with instruction in the spelling of English and practice in writing sentences and
paragraphs.
3 lec., 3 non-degree credits. Pre-requisite or Co-requisite: ALP-004/005
Course Texts and/or Other Study Materials:
1. Longman Academic Writing Series 1 (2nd edition) by Linda Butler
ISBN: 0-13-199557-X (Pearson Longman)
AND
2. Word by Word Picture Dictionary (2nd edition)
by Steven Molinsky and Bill Bliss
ISBN: 0-13-189227-4 (Pearson Longman)
AND
3. Word by Word (Beginning Vocabulary Workbook with Audio CD)
by Steven Molinsky and Bill Bliss
ISBN: 0-13-189229-0
Student Learning Outcomes:
As a result of meeting the requirements in this course, students will:
Use pre-writing techniques: discussion, diagramming.
Use a combination of simple and compound sentences in narrative, descriptive, and process
paragraphs.
Write paragraphs with topic sentence, supporting sentences and concluding sentence.
Demonstrate beginning competence in using grammatical structures: simple present, past and
future tenses and verb forms; subject pronouns, possessive adjectives, and object pronouns;
adjectives and adverbs; word order.
Demonstrate beginning competence with mechanics: format, punctuation and capitalization.
Use vocabulary from the General Service List.
Means of Assessment
To determine whether students have achieved course goals, teachers will evaluate:
In -class and at-home writing assignments in sentence form and paragraph form;
Pre-writing strategies and editing.
At the end of the course, all students take a course-wide final examination. The final exam is a
level wide in-class essay. Students will write one of the following essay types: process,
description, or narration. The final exam counts toward 30% of the final grade. Practice final
exams are made available to acquaint the students with test format and content.
Special Features of the Course (if any) [to be designated by the instructor]:
E.g. the use of learning technologies in the course (Internet, PowerPoint, Moodle, etc.)
Grading Policy (to be designated by the instructor)
A student’s final grade for the course is based primarily on his/her performance on the required
work for the course (homework, writing assignments, and tests), class participation, group work
and on his/her overall mastery of the material covered in the course. Sample grading policy:
Homework and Class participation: 20%
Chapter Tests: 50%
Level-wide Final Exam: 30%
Grade Breakdown: A 90-100
B+ 86-89
B 80-85
C+ 76-79
C 70-75
D 65-69
F 64-below
Attendance Policy: (to be designated by the instructor) Sample:
Students are expected to attend class regularly and punctually. Attendance will be taken at each
class session. If students occasionally arrive late, they should enter quietly, and not disturb the
class. If students miss class, they should find out what they missed. It is probably a good idea
for students to exchange telephone numbers with other students as a way to find out about
missed classes.
Poor attendance will affect a student’s grade. If a student’s absence exceeds one and a half times
the number of weekly meetings, the student’s grade will be lowered by one full letter grade. If a
student is absent excessively, the student can expect to fail the course. Lateness counts, too. Two
late arrivals will equal one absence.
Statement on Accommodations for Disabilities
Bergen Community College aims to create inclusive learning environments where all students
have maximum opportunities for success. Any student who feels he or she may need an
accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the Office of Specialized
Services at 201-612-5269 or via email at ossinfo@bergen.edu for assistance.
Student and Faculty Support Services
ELRC (English Language Resource Center) Room E-156 201- 612-5292
http://www.bergen.edu/elrc
The Sidney Silverman Library – Reference
Desk
Room L-226 201-447-7436
http://www.bergen.edu/library
Sample Course Outline & Calendar (to be designated by the instructor)
Note to Students: The following Course Outline and Calendar is tentative and subject to
change, depending upon the progress of the class.
Week(s) Topic/Activity/Assignments
1 Introducing Yourself
What is a sentence? What is a paragraph?
The Writing Process
2 & 3 Describing a Morning Routine
Basic Sentence Patterns
The Simple Present
Adverbs of Frequency/ Prepositions of Time
Rules for Capitalization
4& 5 Writing About People
Introducing the Topic Sentence
Adjectives
Rules for Capitalization
6 & 7 What is going on?
Topic Sentence and Supporting Sentence
The Present Progressive: Action and Non-Action Verbs
8 & 9 Writing about a Place
There is/ There are
A, An, The
Prepositions for Describing Location
Prepositional Phrases in Sentences
Topic Sentence and Supporting Sentences
10 & 11 Remembering an Important Day
Organizing Ideas
Compound Sentences
Using Commas
The Simple Past
Past Time Expressions
Supporting Sentences and Concluding Sentences
12 & 13 Memories of a Trip
Concluding Sentences
Before and After as Prepositions
Past time clauses
14 Looking Ahead
Expressing Future Time with future time expressions
15 Final Writing Test