ELL 040 - English Language Learning Level 4

Credits: 1-15
Intermediate level of ELL. Students prepare for academic or work readiness with contextualized study of content. Students work on all language skills plus information literacy, tech skills, and project-based learning. This is a pass/no credit course.

Prerequisite: ELL 003 , 030 , 031 or 038 ; and placement test; and instructor’s permission.

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a topic or subject area.
Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.
Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain, or describe.
Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
Describe how reasons support specific points the author makes in a text.
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.
c. Use linking words and phrases to connect opinion and reasons.
d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

a. Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
c. Use linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.
d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
Produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
With guidance and support from peers and others, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
With guidance and support, use technology to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Speak more fluently with increased vocabulary and improved pronunciation, intonation and word stress.
Know the differences between formal and informal speech.
Use your conversational skills to actively participate in class, other classes and outside of class at work, home, and within the community.
Enhance your active listening skills.
Improve your ability to manage conversations, recognize when listeners don’t understand and be able to provide clarification, have a positive attitude toward speaking and an increased confidence in speaking, as well as be self-motivated, independent learners.

*The outcomes will be adjusted in depth and intensity depending on the credits for which the classes are offered. More intensity and depth can include: multi-level cohort activities, class projects, guest speakers, field trips, and expanded language development and application in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Program Outcomes
We are now using the Career and College Readiness Standards from the National Reporting System. When students are ready to leave our program in level 6, they can do the following:

In Reading
Cite evidence from the text to analyze and draw inferences
Summarize
Use context to determine meaning
Analyze how texts are organized
Determine points of view
Understand graphs, charts, diagrams, maps
Delineate and evaluate arguments
Compare and contrast texts
Be familiar with affixes and roots
Understand similes and metaphors

In Writing
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task and audience
Write to inform, explain, examine and convey ideas
Write arguments with reasons and evidence
Write narratives
Introduce and develop a topic
Create cohesion and clarify relationships between ideas
Revise, edit, rewrite
Do short research project drawing on several cited sources

In Speaking & Listening
Actively participate in conversations
Analyze arguments
Build on the ideas of others
Express opinions clearly and persuasively
Work in groups to discuss, pose, and answer questions
Contribute relevant comments and observations
Evaluate soundness of speakers’ reasoning and sufficiency of evidence
Adapt speech to formal/informal circumstances
Give clear, effective presentations integrating multi-media

By the time you leave level 6, you should have control over these parts of grammar:
punctuation, present, past, future, continuous, present perfect, past perfect, modals, gerunds, infinitives, questions and negative statements, pronouns and prepositions, active and passive voice
compound and complex sentences.

College-wide Outcomes

Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.
Written Communication - Written Communication encompasses all the abilities necessary for effective expression of thoughts, feelings, and ideas in written form.