HomeMy WebLinkAboutALP-064
Rev. Spring 2025
Bergen Community College
Division of Arts & Humanities
Department of ESL & World Languages
Course Syllabus
ALP- 064: American Language III: Reading
Information About Course and Instructor:
Semester and year: Spring 2025
Section Number: ALP-064-xxx
Meeting Times:
Location:
Instructor:
Office Location:
Phone:
Office Hours:
Email Address:
Departmental Secretary: Esma Gecir (201)447-7168
Course Description:
ALP-064 American Language III: Reading emphasizes reading for academic purposes and
prepares advanced English language learners for reading in college-level courses enabling
students to understand and evaluate academic reading materials.
3 lec., 3 non-degree credits. Prerequisite: ALP-054 Pre or Co-requisite: ALP-061/062
Student Learning Outcomes:
As a result of meeting the requirements of this course, students will:
● Use reading strategies and critical thinking to understand and respond to academic texts
● Apply study skill techniques to understand and recall information from texts
● Understand and use college-level vocabulary
● Demonstrate information literacy skills and research techniques
Means of Assessment: To determine the extent to which students have achieved the learning
outcomes of the course, teachers will evaluate:
● Participation in discussions in pairs, small groups and as a whole class
● Homework assignments
● Reader response journals
● Multiple choice, short answer and essay quizzes and tests
● Summaries and paraphrases of texts
● Research project
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At the end of the course, all students take a course-wide Reading Comprehension Final Exam.
Students will read a passage and answer approximately 34 multiple choice questions. Practice
final exams will be made available ahead of the exam to acquaint the students with test format
and content.
Course Content:
This course reviews and introduces students to reading and research strategies that students
need at an advanced level of English:
1. Identifying purpose of reading.
2. Previewing texts to gain an overview of content and organization.
3. Recognizing how new information is related to prior knowledge or experience.
4. Identifying signal words (finally, furthermore, in addition) that provide clues to
organizational formats such as time order, compare/contrast.
5. Drawing conclusions and make inferences based on explicit and implied information.
6. Summarizing and paraphrasing texts
7. Determining the meaning of unfamiliar words by using context clues, a dictionary, a
glossary, and structural analysis (roots, prefixes, suffixes)
8. Recognizing and understanding collocations (phrases and word groups)
9. Identifying a research topic and using appropriate search strategies to obtain
information
10. Choosing appropriate sources from a variety of databases and evaluate the information
in them for their relevance and appropriateness to their need.
11. Using information in an ethical and legal manner.
Course Texts:
Pakenham, Kenneth J. Making Connections 3 – 4th edition. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
978-110-866-2260
Supplementary Reading/Choose one from the list below:
McBride, James. The Color of Water. Penguin Putnam, 1996. 1-57322-578-9
OR:
Marcus, Cybil. A World of Fiction 2. Timeless Short Stories. 3rd edition. Pearson. 2014.
978-0-13-304617-5
OR:
“Popular Reading” Section in the library: The section has a lot of popular and current titles
on different topics and genres. Consult a reference librarian at the front desk to help you locate
the section. Students can choose a book on the topic that appeals to them.
OR:
Penguin Readers / Cambridge Readers / Oxford Readers:
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These books are located in the same section in the back of the library. Consult a reference
librarian to help you locate the shelf with these books. Please, choose LEVEL 6 only.
Research Assignment:
Students should complete a mini-research assignment (5% of the total grade).
The assignment involves the following steps:
1. Library visit.
2. Doing research during the library instruction class guided by the librarian. (topics will be
provided during the class visit)
3. Filling out the research guide form with the information they found.
4. Submitting the form to the instructor.
Grading Policy:
A student’s final grade for the course is based primarily on his/her performance on the
required work for the course (homework, reading tests, research project, etc…), class
participation, and on his/her overall mastery of the material covered in the course. Students
need to pass Reading Final Exam (30% of the total grade) and complete all other requirements
in the course in order to pass the class.
Sample grading policy
Class participation and attendance: 15%
Quizzes and Tests: 50%
Research project: 5%
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.
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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.
Plagiarism Policy:
Students are responsible for their own work. Bergen Community College is committed to
academic integrity-the honest, fair, and continuing pursuit of knowledge, free from fraud or
deception. Behavior that demonstrates a lapse in Academic integrity includes Plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty and may be a violation of U.S. Copyright laws.
Plagiarism is defined as the act of taking someone else’s words, opinions, or ideas and claiming
them as one’s own. Examples of plagiarism include instances in which a student:
● knowingly represents the work of others as his/her own
● represents previously completed academic work as current
● submits a paper or other academic work for credit which includes words, ideas, data or
creative work of others without acknowledging the source
● uses another author’s exact words without enclosing them in quotation marks and citing
them appropriately
● paraphrases or summarizes another author ’s words without citing the source appropriately
Source: Bergen Community College Catalog, 2016 (page 9)
Academic Integrity Statement:
Academic Integrity is a standard of conduct in the BCC Student Code of Conduct:
https://bergen.edu/wp-content/uploads/StudentCodeofConduct2016_EngVer12062016.pdf
The College defines academic integrity as “the honest, fair, and continuing pursuit of
knowledge, free from fraud or deception. Students are responsible for their own work. Faculty
and academic support services staff will take appropriate measures to encourage academic
honesty.”
Examples of behavior that demonstrate a lapse in academic integrity include: copying another
student’s work, doing the work for someone else, sharing answers during an exam, plagiarism,
and unethical use of technology for acquiring information from the Internet.
NOTE: If any of your work, all or in part, is plagiarized, that is copied from any source without
proper citation, or there is any reason to suspect that it is not your own, it will not be accepted,
and you will receive 0% for that assignment.
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Accessibility Statement
Bergen Community College is committed to ensuring the full participation of all students in its
programs. If you have a documented disability (or think you may have a disability) and, as a
result, need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this class, complete course
requirements, or benefit from the College’s programs or services, contact the Office of Special
Services (OSS) as soon as possible at 201-612-5270 or www.bergen.edu/oss. To receive any
academic accommodation, you must be appropriately registered with OSS. The OSS works
with students confidentially and does not disclose any disability-related information without
their permission. The OSS serves as a clearinghouse on disability issues and works in
partnership with faculty and all other student service offices.
Student Support Services
Bergen Community College provides exemplary support to its students and offers a broad
variety of opportunities and services. A comprehensive array of student support services
including advising, tutoring, academic coaching, and more are available online at
https://bergen.edu/currentstudents/.
Sidney Silverman Library Online Resources: Guides BY SUBJECT - LibGuides at Bergen Community College General Search and Databases: Library | Bergen Community College
Include a Course Outline and Calendar:
Note to instructors: There are 4 thematic units in the book. Each has 4 to 5 readings. It may be
challenging to cover all the units and all the readings. So you can pick and choose what units/readings
you want to cover in your class.
Week Topic/Activity/Assignments Learning
Outcomes
Assignments
1
Introduction to the course
Topic: Global Health
Identifying Main Ideas
1/2/3 Textbook
Reading 1
Skills &
Strategies
Diagnostic
Reading/Writing
5
2
Topic: Global Health
Showing Cause & Effect Connections
Working with Sources: Annotating
Sources
1/2/3 Textbook
Reading 2 or 3
Skills &
Strategies
3
Skills and Strategies: Managing
Unknown Vocabulary
Working with Sources: Avoiding
Plagiarism/Learning to Summarize
In class Discussion of Short Story #1
1/2/3 Textbook
Reading 4 or 5
Skills &
Strategies
The World of
Fiction
Quiz 1
4
Topic: Multicultural Societies
Skills & Strategies: Continuing Ideas
Working with Sources: Avoiding
Plagiarism/Learning to Paraphrase
1/2/3/4 Textbook
Reading 1, Unit II
Skills &
Strategies
Research Skills
Test 1: Unit I
5 Topic: Multicultural Societies
Skills & Strategies: Recognizing and
Understanding a Point of View
Working with Sources: Avoiding
Plagiarism
Research Assignment: Introduction
Library Visit
1/2/3/4 Textbook:
Reading 2 or 3,
Unit II
Skills &
Strategies
Research skills
Library Visit
6
Topic: Multicultural Societies
Skills & Strategies: Reduced Relative
Clauses
Working with Sources: Learning to Cite
Sources
1/2/3/4 Textbook
Reading 4 or 5
Skills &
Strategies
Working with
Sources
Quiz 2
7 In-Class Discussion of Short Story #2
The World of
Fiction
Textbook
Test 2: Unit 2
8
Topic: Sustaining Planet Earth
Skills & Strategies: Problem-Solution
Texts
1/2/3 Textbook
Reading 1, Unit 4
Skills and
Strategies
9 Spring Break-No Classes
10 Topic: Sustaining Planet Earth
Skills & Strategies: Graphic Material
1/2/3 Textbook
Reading 2 or 3
Quiz 3
6
11
Topic: Sustaining Planet Earth
Skills & Strategies: Nominalization in
Subjects
1/2/3/4 Textbook
Reading 4 or 5
Research Project
Due
12
Practice Test 1
13 Review
1/2/3 Test 3: Unit 4
Practice Test 2
14
Review
Make-Up Assignments
1/2/3 Final Exam
15
Personal Conferences
Semester Ends
Possible Note to Students: This Course Outline and Calendar is tentative and subject to
change, depending upon the progress of the class.
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