ELL 36 - ELL Writing Support Level 3

Credits: 1-5
For current students in ELL 3 , 30 , 31 or 38 who want to improve their writing skills, and especially for students who have stronger speaking/listening skills than reading/writing skills for their level. This is a pass/no credit course.

Enrollment Requirement: ELL 20 , 21 or 28 ; and instructor consent.

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

Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
b. Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
c. Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).
d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

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

a. Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic.
c. Link ideas within categories of information using words and phrases (e.g., another, for example, also, because).
d. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
e. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.

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 clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
With guidance and support from peers and others, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 at this level.)
With some guidance and support, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.
Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

a. Apply Reading standards from this level to literature (e.g., “Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text”).
b. Apply Reading standards from this level to informational text (e.g., “Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point(s)”)

*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.