Academic English
Introduction to Academic English
First Semester 2010
Graduate Diploma in Social Sciences
Nepā School of Social Sciences and Humanities
Instructor: Sarah Shepherd Manandhar
Course Description and Objectives
This course is designed to provide students with a basic introduction to all aspects of Academic English. The course will review common writing conventions, advanced grammar points, and vocabulary from the Academic Word List developed by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University of Wellington. In addition, the course will introduce students to all elements of the writing processes, from writing basic sentences to engaging the academic literature in one’s own work. Students will also be expected to improve their reading, note taking, and critical thinking skills, in order to best prepare them to be engaged readers and writers. The class will emphasize on cumulative learning and students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of preceding lessons in each class in order to achieve the final goal of becoming proficient academic writers.
Course Requirements
Students should remember that the key to learning any language is practice, and therefore the course requirements for this particular course are strict.
Class Attendance and Participation: Classes will meet for 90 minutes twice a week. Students should be present and engaged in class every day. Participation in classroom discussions is mandatory, and in addition to attendance, accounts for 10% of the final grade. Students will be expected to give occasional presentations. The presentations scores will be considered part of each student’s participation grade.
Writing Journal: Students will be expected to keep a writing journal where they must write a short entry each and every day. The journal will not be graded based upon the quality of the students work, but will instead be used as a means to provide students with a way to practice writing freely. Successfully completing all required entries in the journal will account for 30% of the students’ final grade.
Writing Assignments: Students will receive two graded writing assignments a week. They will account for 30% of the final grade.
Vocabulary and Grammar Exercises: Students will be provided with exercises to improve their understanding of important vocabulary and grammar structures in academic English. These exercises will account for 10% of the final grade.
Final Paper: A 1,000 word essay will be due at the end of the semester. Students work will be graded based upon their understanding and use of all previously taught concepts. The final essay will account for 25% of the final grade.
Note: Students will also be able to meet with the instructor during office hours when extra assistance is needed.
Detailed Course Outline
Week 1
Class 1: Class Introduction, Introduction to Critical Reading; Understanding what we read, Assignment of first vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 1 A
Class 2: Grammar Review: Nouns, The Reading Process: SQR3 and KWL, Discussion: Identifying Well Written Works, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 1 B
Week 2
Class 3: Grammar Review: Articles, Student Presented Mini-Lesson: Nouns, An Introduction to Presentation Skills, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 1 C
Class 4: Grammar Review: Subject Verb Agreement, Student Presented Mini-Lesson: Articles, Introduction to Academic Writing, Assignment of peer review groups, and peer review of Class 3’s writing assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 1 D
Week 3
Class 5: Grammar Review: Run on Sentences and Sentence Fragments, Mini-lesson: Subject Verb Agreement, Critical Reading: Summarizing, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 2 A
Class 6: Grammar Review: Present Tenses (Part 1 - Present simple, Present Continuous, have got and have, present perfect continuous), Mini-lesson: Run on Sentences and Sentence Fragments, Critical Reading: Taking Notes, Peer Review of Class 5’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 2 B
Week 4
Class 7: Grammar Review: Present Tenses (Part 2 - verb + ing and verb + to), Mini-lesson: Present Tenses (Part 1), Writing: Editing and “Noticing”, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 2 C
Class 8: Grammar Review: Past tenses (Part 1 - Past Simple, Past Continuous, for and since), Mini-lesson: Present tenses (Part 2), Introduction to the writing process BOPFRED, Peer Review of Class 7’s writing assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 2 D
Week 5
Class 9: Grammar Review: Past Tenses (Part 2 - Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous), Mini-lessons: Past Tenses (Part 1), Critical Reading: Identifying Evidence, Points of View, and Arguments in What We Read, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 3 A
Class 10: Grammar Review: Future Tenses (Part 1 - Present tenses for future, going to do, will/shall), Mini-lesson: Past Tenses (Part 2), Writing: Brainstorming for New Ideas, Peer Review of Class 9’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 3 B
Week 6
Class 11: Grammar Review: Future Tenses (Part 2 - will be doing, will have done, when and if), Mini-lesson: Future Tenses (Part 1), Critical Reading: Identifying Biases and Weak Evidence, Vocabulary Review
Class 12: Grammar Review: Tense Consistency, Mini-lesson: Future tenses (Part 2), Writing: Revising vs. Editing, Peer Review of Class 11’s assignment, Vocabulary Review
Week 7
Class 13: Grammar Review: Modals (Part 1 - Ability, Permission, possibility and certainity), Mini-lesson: Tense consistency, Writing: Organizing Our Ideas, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 3 C
Class 14: Grammar Review: Modals (Part 2 - necessity, will, would, should, shall, may have been, could have been, must have been), Mini-lesson: Modals (Part 1), Presentation Skills: Analyzing the Audience and Presentation Preparation, Re-assignment of Peer Review Groups, Peer Review of Class 13’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 3 D
Week 8
Class 15: Grammar Review: Pronouns and Antecedents (Part 1 - Personal, Demonstrative, Possessive, Interrogative), Mini-lesson: Modals (Part 2), Writing: Transitions; Putting Paragraphs Together, Student Presentations, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 4 A
Class 16: Grammar Review: Pronouns and Antecedents (Part 2 - reflexive, reciprocal, indefinite, relative), Mini-lesson: Pronouns and Antecedents (Part 1), Critical Reading: Making Our Own Evaluations, Student Presentations (Continued), Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 4 B
Week 9
Class 17: Grammar Review: Using the Passive Voice, Mini-lesson: Pronouns and Antecedents (Part 2), Writing: Objectivity, Passive Voice, and Emotion in Academic Writing, Student Presentations (Continued), Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 4 C
Class 18: Grammar Review: Modifiers, Mini-lesson: The Passive Voice, Writing: Doing Research, Peer Review of Class 17’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 4 D
Week 10
Class 19: Grammar Review: Independent and Dependent Clauses, Mini-lesson: Modifiers, Writing: Keeping Our Writing Clear and Concise, Discussion of articles of students’ choice, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 5 A
Class 20: Grammar Review: Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses, Mini-lesson: Independent and Dependent Clauses, Writing: Presenting Our Own Arguments, Peer Review of Class 19’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 5 B
Week 11
Class 21: Grammar Review: Parallel Structures, Mini-lesson: Restrictive and Non Restrictive Clauses, Writing: Citing Theory, Discussion of articles of students’ choice, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 5 C
Class 22: Grammar Review: Elliptical Clauses, Mini-lesson: Parallel Structures, Writing: Using Footnotes, Endnotes, and In Text Citations, Peer Review of Class 21’s assignment, Assignment of vocabulary list: AWL Sublist 5 D
Week 12
Class 23: Grammar Review: Conjunctions and Prepositions, Mini-lesson: Elliptical Clauses, Writing: Hedging and Guarded Stances, Discussion of articles of students’ choice, Vocabulary Review
Class 24: Review of all grammar lessons, Min-lesson: Conjunctions and Prepositions, Presentations: Visuals, Voice, and Gesture, Peer Review of Class 23’s assignment, Vocabulary Review
Week 13
Class 25: Final review of all grammar lessons, Writing: Formatting a Bibliography, Student Presentations
Class 26: Grammar and Vocabulary Quiz, Student Presentations
Week 14
Class 27: Final Review, Peer review of final paper
Class 28: Final Paper Due, In Class Wrap Up