The following skills are the learning outcomes of this course:
READING
Students will practice smart reading skills to:
- comprehend texts fully (identifying main/supporting ideas, identifying tone, purpose, and audience, recognizing patterns of organization and cohesive devices, guessing meaning from context, text annotation)
- critically evaluate texts by identifying inferred meanings, arguments, and attitudes, thereby making critical judgments
- use texts as support in writing by evaluating and synthesizing information from multiple texts
LISTENING
Students will practice while listening and note-taking:
- for specific purposes
- to identify main ideas, supporting ideas/details, as well as implied ideas
- to recognize the relationship between a recording/video and a reading text
- to reflect on and react to ideas in a recording/video
- to evaluate ideas in a recording/video to use them as support in their own writing
WRITING
Students will:
- analyze sample academic texts to distinguish features of academic writing
- analyze writing prompts and produce relevant responses that address a given prompt fully
- write coherent, logical, organized, and well-developed extended paragraphs free from logical fallacies
- identify relevant information from different texts to synthesize them by paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting directly
- incorporate citations accurately and effectively in writing and give correct references in APA style
SPEAKING
Students will practice communicating effectively in academic contexts by:
- participating in whole class/group discussions to express and justify their opinions
- reacting to different ideas to agree/disagree/refute/justify
- analyzing and synthesizing information from different sources to justify their opinions