Course Description

ESL 828 focuses on various activities designed to help students become more effective in writing in English. These activities include reviewing selected grammatical topics, working on the organization and development of both paragraphs and essays, analyzing, summarizing and writing responses to readings, reviewing of peers' paragraphs and essays, and developing vocabulary.

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 ESL 400 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 828, you should now have reading skills at least equivalent to those of students who have completed Reading 825, and you should be enrolled in Reading 830 or a higher reading course. 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. In this class you're expected to: • Attend class daily. • Come to class on time, and remain until the end of class. • 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. • Make time to confer with me during office hours about your work. • Finish your homework before class begins. • Submit a rough draft for each essay completed outside of class. • Participate in peer review of essays written outside of class. • 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. • Proofread and correct your own work. • Make sure that each paper you submit is your original work. There will be disciplinary action for plagiarism. • Save all graded work in a manila folder to be collected at the end of the semester.