Course Syllabus (ARW1)

Course name: Advanced Reading and Writing One

Course code: ARW1

Course description:

The advanced reading and writing course seeks to enhance students’ both reading and writing skills/sub-
skills. Additionally, the course will allow them build up their vocabulary, familiarize themselves with current
topics of world interest, fine-tune their grammar competence, and develop their critical thinking skills.
However, the main focus of the course is still reading and writing.

Course focus and teaching approach:

The Advanced Reading and Writing course serves a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it provides
students with strategies to develop and understand reading in academic contexts and, on the other,
it leads students through the whole writing process in order to enhance their academic writing
competence.

It is vital for students to be involved in explicit, strategic, and interactive practice of reading strategies and
skills and writing process steps with the constant support of the teacher.

When working with reading tasks, teachers should introduce, model, and practice the skills or strategies
before the students are expected to perform on their own. To comply with a reading task, students should
be involved in the process of arriving at an answer by analyzing the reading text, discussing with their peers
and justifying their answers.

During writing tasks, students should be trained in understanding text organization through text analysis,
in using pre-writing strategies, in making use of a specific structural or rhetorical pattern to write and
organize their ideas, and in employing techniques to write and edit their final drafts.

Course activities will also help students to build up the following:

 topic-related vocabulary
 academic skills to organize, integrate, and synthesize information through different graphic
organizers
 critical-thinking skills development

Core material:

Advanced Reading and Writing One (ARW1) course uses North Star Reading and Writing by Andrew K.
English and Laura Monahon English and published by PEARSON as the core book.
Each unit consists of:

Unit Section Purpose

(1) Focus on the topic: This section draws students’ attention to the topic and promotes making
personal connections and using background knowledge.

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 1
 (2) Focus on the reading: This section presents a variety of texts themes and develops vocabulary and
reading for main ideas, details, inferences, and organize, integrate, and synthesize information
through graphic organizers.

(3) Focus on writing: This section provides review and expansion of targeted vocabulary and grammar
structures. It also presents different rhetorical structures, leads students along the writing process
and presents a writing task integrating language and content in unit.

(4) Unit project: This section encourages students to research on unit topic, to take notes, and to
prepare project to be used for Portfolio.

Course coverage:

Advanced Reading and Writing One covers units 1 to 3 of the NORTHSTAR reading and writing book.

Supplementary Learning/instructional Material & Resources:

For the students:

 Student Self-assessment Form: The Self-Assessment form is a document that corresponds to

the learning outcomes expected for students in this course. Its purpose is to help students keep
track of their progress throughout the course’s duration. This is why learners are expected to
download the file from Chamilo at the beginning of the cycle, print it, and bring it to class every day.
You may ask for it at any point in the lesson; however, it should not be used for evaluation purposes
or formal grades.

 My EnglishLab: It is an online component for the Advanced Reading and Writing course. This
easy-to-access tool offers online extra practice exercises for students to reinforce what they have
done in class anywhere and at any time.

The link to access students’ course will be available in the students´ Intranet and Chamilo. To
register in My EnglishLab website students should use the access code provided in their books.
After registering in the platform, they should join their course by using information provided in
Chamilo.

 The Evaluation System Guide: This document provides students with clear and detailed
information on how they will be evaluated in the course and what it is expected from them. Please
make sure you go over it carefully in case students have any queries regarding the expectations of
the course and their responsibility.

 Tutorials: There are PPT files with a number of instructions, and/or suggestions on:
a) how students can access course resources in Chamillo
b) how students will be assessed during the course
c) how to access My Englishlab platform

Please go over them with your class.

For the teachers:

 The Class Progress Assessment Form: The purpose of this document is to monitor your
students’ progress in order to help you take action if needed. It is available in Chamilo through
course documents tab.

 My English Lab: This platform includes the Teacher Resource e-TEXT for teachers to have
access to a digital copy of the student book for class instruction, lesson planners, tests, video
scripts, video activities, classroom audio, unit teaching notes and answer keys. .Please, refer to
the tutorial on how to access and log in My EnglishLab platform.

My English Lab also allows communication between you and your students, assignment
organization, and monitoring and analysis of students’ progress throughout an online gradebook.

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  Useful Support Websites: There are some useful links to explore and support your classes.
Among them, you will find text and video links with additional information and links with tips for
teaching reading and writing to EFL learners.

 Tutorials: There are PPT files with a number of instructions, and/or suggestions on:

a) how students can access course resources in Chamillo

b) how students will be assessed during the course
c) how to access My Englishlab platform

Course Themes:

The course themes are of worldwide interest.

Unit 1 – Prodigies
Unit 2 – Overcoming obstacles
Unit 3 – Medicine

Course Advance:

Please refer to the respective Suggested Teaching Schedule. Make sure you read the additional notes
provided.

Learning Outcomes:

The learning outcomes of the Advanced Reading and Writing course focus on helping students develop
both reading skills/subskills and strategies so that they can understand extended reading selections
pertinent to their proficiency level. Moreover, the learning outcomes aim at students’ producing different
well-organized written texts from different genres.

Evaluation Criteria:

Outcomes for Advanced Reading and Writing One (ARW1)

The learning outcomes for this course have been uploaded in the E-classlist for due grading. Please choose
the one from the e-class list outcomes menu to evaluate your students.

The two major areas you will be focusing on for evaluation are Reading and Writing.

In-class continuous assessment:

The in-class continuous assessment consists of four (4) mandatory learning outcomes: 2 writing outcomes,
and 2 reading quizzes.

Students will be assessed according to their performance in complying with writing tasks in a specific
rhetorical pattern or genre in order to comply with a communicative purpose. Moreover, students’ will be
assessed in their understanding of a reading passage by using specific reading strategies/skills. Reading
and writing tasks to evaluate both reading and writing objectives are to resemble tasks practiced in class.

Writing objectives: These are the writing outcomes for the course. Please, prioritize the ones with the
asterisks (*) and choose two of them for evaluation purposes.

 Identifying and writing the topic sentence and controlling idea of a summary paragraph
 Planning your paragraph using a web map
 Identifying and correcting sentence fragments and complete sentences
 Writing a summary paragraph*

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 3
  Editing and revising writing for content, language, and conventions
 Writing a report based on a website research*
 Brainstorming ideas using listing
 Identifying and writing the topic sentence, supporting and concluding sentence in a biographical
paragraph
 Using a paragraph organizer to plan a biographical paragraph
 Recognizing appropriate support in a paragraph
 Writing a biographical paragraph*
 Editing and revising writing for content, language, and conventions
 Writing a biographical essay about a famous person who overcame an obstacle based
on a website research*
 Writing a comparison-contrast paragraph*
 Identifying the introduction, body, and conclusion of an opinion essay
 Using an essay organizer to plan an opinion essay
 Writing an opinion essay
 Identifying the parts of an effective introduction
 Editing and revising writing for content, language, and conventions
 Writing a report on two genetic testing companies based on a website research*

Writing objectives (W1 and W2) in the course are evaluated using a score scale from 0 to 3 points.

Evaluation of students’ written production considers aspects such as task and topic compliance,
organization, flow of ideas and lexical and grammatical accuracy. However, when students’ production
is assessed, it is important to consider that some incorrectness in language use on the part of a student
should not be necessarily conducive to a failing grade unless it has a negative effect on communication.

The rubrics to assess writing outcomes are detailed below:

SCORE CRITERIA TASK DESCRIPTION

Topic and task The student effectively addresses topic and task.
The student’s response to the task is well organized and well developed with
Organization
appropriate explanations, exemplifications, and/or details.
3 Flow of ideas The student’s ideas flow cohesively and coherently and in progression.
Grammar and The student consistently uses vocabulary and grammar structures for the level
vocabulary with a high degree of accuracy.
The student addresses topic and task, though some points may not be fully
Topic and task
elaborated.
The student’s response to the task is well organized and well developed with
Organization
sufficient support.
2 Flow of ideas
The student’s ideas flow cohesively and coherently sometimes and at others
may not.
Grammar and The student has some errors in vocabulary and grammar structures for the
vocabulary level with a high degree of accuracy in more basic structures.
Topic and task The student addresses topic and task superficially.
The student’s response to the task is inadequately organized and developed
Organization
with insufficient support.
1 Flow of ideas The student’s ideas often do not flow cohesively and coherently.
Grammar and The student uses easier vocabulary and grammar structures accurately but
vocabulary errors are significant in more advanced structures.

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 Topic and task The student does not address topic and task at all.
Organization The student’s response to the task is not organized or developed.
0 Flow of ideas The student’s ideas do not flow cohesively or coherently.
Grammar and The student uses vocabulary and grammar structures with serious and
vocabulary frequent errors.

Reading objectives: The following are the reading objectives for the course. Please, prioritize the ones
with the asterisks (*), and select two of these for evaluation purposes.

 Make and confirm predictions

 identify main ideas, details, and specific information*
 make inferences in a text*
 guess word meaning in context*
 identify main ideas in a chronology
 identify details to construct chronology*
 infer the meaning of idioms and expressions from context
 recognize positive redundancy
 categorize main ideas
 identify different types of supporting details*
 infer degree of support
 use a timeline to organize sequence of events

You may want to use one of the reading selections in the book (textbook – reading #2’s) or similar activities
of your own that require the type of reading skills students are expected to develop for the level. Students
should be evaluated only after they have done previous practice of the skill. The e-TEXT in My Englishlab
platform contains reading passages (achievement tests section) you could use to prepare your quizzes.

The first quiz is to be scheduled before the midterm exam and after completing the first unit of the course
(around Day 5). The second quiz is to be scheduled after the midterm exam and after completing the
second unit of the book (around Day14).

These quizzes examine reading subskills or strategies. The quiz modality consists of a 360-390 word-count
length text with 5 questions in a multiple choice format. The reading quizzes should focus on different skill
integration formats such as:

Example: Identify….

 The main idea of the whole reading passage and main ideas within paragraphs.
 The main idea of the text, details and specific information.
 The main ideas of a text, details and inferences.

The grade will be awarded according to the following scale:

5 or 4 correct answers = 2 points

3 or 2 correct answers = 1 point
1 or 0 correct answers = 0 points

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 5
Standardized Exams:

Formal written evaluation is done through the standardized written examinations provided by the Academic
Department at the end of the course.

Students’ grades will depend on how many points they obtain in the exam. The conversion will be done as
follows:

 Midterm Written Exam:

It examines reading subskills, organizing ideas using graphic organizers and writing paragraphs practiced
during the first half of the course.

It consists of 3 sections.

 Section 1: Reading comprehension (multiple choice format)

 Section 2: Organizing information (graphic organizer completion)
 Section 3: Writing (well-organized paragraph or essay writing)

The scoring scale goes from 0 to 3 points.

100 – 80 = 3
79 – 70 = 2
69 – 60 = 1
59 or under = 0
 Final Written Exam:

It evaluates reading skills, organizing ideas using graphic organizers and writing paragraphs/essays
practiced during the second half of the course.

It consists of 3 sections:

 Section 1: Reading comprehension (multiple choice format)

 Section 2: Organizing information (graphic organizer completion)
 Section 3: Writing (well-organized paragraph or essay writing)

The scoring scale goes from 0 to 4 points.

100 – 90 = 4
89 – 80 = 3
79 – 70 = 2
69 – 60 = 1
59 or under = 0
59 or under = 0

The duration of both midterm and final exam is 60 minutes. On exam day you are expected to spend the
first 30 minutes of class on unit review and you are to allot the remaining 60 minutes for the exam.

You may find further information regarding the standardized exams in the Exam Teacher`s guide.

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 6
Portfolio: (equivalent to ALP in other courses)

Students will prepare a Portfolio which will reflect the quantity and quality of their work. Samples in portfolio
should document level of achievement and attainment of course outcomes

Some components of the Portfolio might be:

1. Outcomes reflection
2. Outlines, graphic organizers, brainstorming lists.
3. Vocabulary Log
4. Writing tasks and assignments: essays, rough drafts, writings corrected by the teacher.
5. Reading quizzes
6. Research on selected topics

The score scale goes from 0 to 3 based on the following:

SCORE CRITERIA
The portfolio is neat and eye appealing. All contents evidence students’ adequate
performance for the level in both reading and writing skills. Organization lets the
3 reading run smoothly. It contains all required pieces and shows extra effort with
additional pieces. It demonstrates self-reflection.
It is neat and attractive. Most contents evidence students’ adequate performance for
2 the level in both reading and writing skills. It is organized. It contains most required
pieces. It contains adequate self-reflection.
It is not neat. Few contents show evidence of students’ performance in both reading
1 and writing skills. It is not organized. It does not contain any evidence of reflection
0 Portfolio was not submitted.

Please explain Portfolio requirements and its evaluation to the students at the beginning of the course.

It is suggested you set specific dates for portfolio submission. You may want to schedule the portfolio
presentations after completing each unit of the course so that your students and you feel at ease when
submitting and correcting it, respectively. Remember to keep track of these submission and any feedback
you provide your students.

Useful support Websites

The following is a list of useful links to support your lesson. Feel free to assign them as homework for class
discussion.

UNIT 1

MAKE INFERENCES

 Assumptions
http://www.shoreline.edu/doldham/101/HTML/Assumptions.htm
 Differences between Inferences and Assumptions
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/distinguishing-between-inferences-and-assumptions/484

READING SKILL

 Quotation marks
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm
 “How do I embed a quotation into a sentence?”
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/quotations/

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 7
GRAMMAR

 Modals – Review (Theory)

http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/modalrev.html
 Modals – Review (Practice)
http://usefulenglish.ru/grammar/modal-verbs-exercise-eight

WRITING STRATEGY

 Topic sentence and Controlling ideas

https://www.seattlecentral.edu/faculty/dloos/ESL4B/Writing/topicsentences.htm
 Paragraphs + Topic sentence
http://www.flinders.edu.au/slc_files/Documents/Blue%20Guides/Paragraphs.pdf
 Examples of Topic Sentences and Controlling Ideas
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-topic-sentences.html
 Controlling ideas – Exercise
http://www.rit.edu/ntid/rate/sea/processes/paragraph/practice/ideas
 Summary
http://www.lbcc.edu/WRSC/documents/SummarizingParagraph.pdf
 Sentence Fragments: Exercise
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm
 Rules for finding and fixing fragments
http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/fragrules.htm

UNIT 2

MAKE INFERENCES (Inferring the meaning of idioms)

 Idioms and expressions

http://www.macmillandictionaries.com/MED-Magazine/February2008/49-LA-Idioms.htm
 Idioms: Grammatically & Figurativeness
http://www.theroundtable.ro/Current/Language/Claudia_Leah_Idioms_Grammaticality_and_Figurative
ness.pdf

READING SKILL

 Avoid Redundancy in Writing

http://wssa.net/wp-content/uploads/Avoid-Redundancy-in-Writing.pdf

GRAMMAR

 Gerunds and Infinitives (theory)

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/gerunds.htm
 Gerunds and Infinitives (only theory)
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/627/04/
 Gerunds and Infinitives (only practice)
http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/

WRITING STRATEGY

 Supporting Ideas – Practice

http://moodle.citylit.ac.uk/file.php/1/Study%20skills%20work%20sheets/writing/intermediate/Microsoft
%20Word%20-%204%20Paragraphs%204.6%20Paragraph%20Development%20-
writing%20topic,%20supporting%20and%20concluding%20sentences.pdf
 Basic Paragraph Structure
http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html
 Topic sentence in a nutshell
http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/topic-sentences-and-supporting-details

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 8
  Biographical paragraph
http://www.phschool.com/atschool/ahon09/pdfs/AHON_WW_unit_3.pdf

UNIT 3

MAKE INFERENCES

 Writing Skills: How to express your point of view

http://access-socialstudies.cappelendamm.no/c319365/artikkel/vis.html?tid=366430
 Identifying the writer’s purpose and point of view
http://literacyonline.tki.org.nz/Literacy-Online/Teacher-needs/Reviewed-
resources/Reading/Comprehension/ELP-years-5-8/Identifying-the-writer-s-purpose-and-point-of-view
 What is reader positioning?
http://johnwatsonsite.com/MyClassNotes/Topics/Reader%20Positioning/ReaderPosition.html

READING SKILL

 Timelines: Tools and Apps

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/01/15-great-timeline-creation-web-tools.html
 Seeing Time: Understanding Timelines
http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/Weblessons/seeingtime/index2.html
 Chronology
http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/writing/history/considerations/chronology.html

GRAMMAR

 Past Hypotheticals
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/condition2b.html

 Past Unreal Conditionals: Exercises

http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/pastconditional.html

WRITING STRATEGY

 Tree map
https://lessons.engrade.com/essaytreemap
 How to write an opinion essay
http://www.murphycentre.ca/trudy/English3201/HandoutWritingtheOpinionEssay.htm
 An Opinion Composition
http://www.eoioviedo.org/anacarmen/opinion/opinion.pdf
 Opinion essay
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/socsci/books/content/projects/bkd_ms/rwp_u1_1.pdf
 How to write a good hook
http://bid4papers.com/blog/hook-for-essay/

Other useful websites for learners

 Sentence Outline
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu./~wilkins/writing/Assign/so/sent_outline.html
 Thesis Statement
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/thesis.html
http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/scthesis.html
 Writing essays
http://www.bestessaytips.com/developing_outline.php

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 9
  Sample essays (Various types)
http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/essay%20types.htm
 Essay Topics
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/02/lp249-03.shtml
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/archives/writing_bug.shtml
 Activities
http://eolf.univ-fcomte.fr/

Websites for teachers: Enhancing Writing Lessons

 ABC’s of the Writing Process

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/
 How to write Academic English
http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
 Different Writing Styles
http://eleaston.com/writing.html
 Principles of Composition
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/composition.htm
 Online dictionary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
 Writing Lab and Forum
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

ARW1_CS_JDDA_Sep16 Page 10