Course Description

ESL 400 is a composition course designed to prepare you for the kinds of writing assignments you will encounter in college level classes. Major assignments will consist of four multiple-draft essays completed outside of class and three essays completed in class. Because these assignments will be based on readings, course assignments will help you to improve your ability to analyze sophisticated pieces of writing, to write essays in the style and form required in college, and generally to bring your writing skills up to college level. So that you become skillful in writing complex sentences, we will also practice sentence combining. While we will address some grammatical topics in this class, ESL 400 is not a grammar course. You are now expected to know the basic grammar of written English, and in this course you should strive to become adept at identifying and correcting errors in your own work before submitting assignments to me.

Introductory Notes Learning another language requires intensive effort, and learning to write fluently requires extensive exposure to written English. You will not become effective writers without doing lots of reading and writing. If you want to succeed in this class and go on to be successful in English 100 and other college-level courses, you must make work in the English language your first priority. That means not only completing the assignments for this class but also reading extensively in English and using English as much as possible. I am not asking you to neglect your native language, but while you are still developing fluency in English, you must immerse yourself in this language if you want to make progress. As students of ESL 400, you should now have reading skills at least equivalent to those of students who have completed Reading 830. If you have not taken reading classes beyond ESL 857 (formerly Reading 843), then I strongly urge you to enroll this semester in a reading class appropriate to your level. Students with weak reading skills risk failing ESL 400 because the assignments for this class require you to be able to analyze challenging texts. In this class you're expected to: • Attend class daily. • Come to class on time. • Come to class prepared to write. Bring a draft of the essay on which you are currently working so that, if time permits, you may work on it in class. • Submit a rough draft for each essay completed outside of class. • Submit all drafts on time. • Participate in peer review of essays written outside of class. • Make time to confer with me regularly during office hours, so that we can discuss your work. • For each draft submitted, make a copy for yourself to keep so that you can continue to work on this essay while I am reading the other copy. •Turn in all rough drafts along with the final version of each essay. • Use a word processor to complete the final draft of each essay completed outside of class. • Make sure that each paper you submit is your original work. There will be disciplinary action for plagiarism.