SAMPLE ENGLISH 105 SYLLABUS

English 105: Composition for ESL Students

BASIC INFORMATION

Instructor: Elizabeth Siler, ESL Specialist

Office: Avery 220

Telephone: 335-2251

Office Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 to 11 or by appointment. If you ask for an appointment, you will be given two possible times. You are to choose one of those times. If you cannot make the office hours or the two times given, you will need to rearrange YOUR schedule to see me.

Preferred e-mail: elizabethsiler@gmail.com

Email policy: On weekdays, I check my mail once -- in the early morning. If you send me an e-mail after 6 a.m., do NOT expect an answer until the next day. I do NOT check my mail at all on weekends. So if you send me a message anytime after 6 a.m. on Friday, you will not get an answer until Monday morning. I do not open emails with attachments. I do not open emails without subject lines. I do not open emails written in languages I canÕt read – so be sure if you have your email set to a non-English format that your name and information come through in English.

Web page: www.wsu.edu/~gordonl/ESL

SYLLABUS/COURSE POLICIES REQUIREMENT

You are required to read this syllabus, ask questions, and sign the on-line course policies located at <www.wsu.edu/~gordonl/ESL>. Click on Services for Students, then on ESL Program Policies, then on General ESL Policies. You are required to read these policies carefully and then sign your name (electronically) to the bottom of the policies. In doing so, you will create a permanent record that you have read and claim to understand the policies.

REQUIRED COURSE TEXTS

All required texts are available at Crimson and Grey and are NOT available in the Bookie.

Easy Access by Keene and Adams

Longman Advanced American Dictionary (No other dictionary is permitted)

Flu by Gina Kolata

Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors by Susan Sontag

Other reading materials will be given to you by the teacher.

READING SCHEDULE

You are responsible for reading Flu and AIDS and Its Metaphors on your own. I ask that you read Flu first. Please plan on having the entire book read by the end of the tenth week of class. This schedule will require you to read 35 pages a week, starting in the first week. That means a mere 7 pages a day if you are only reading five days a week! The book Illness as Metaphor should be read by the end of the thirteenth week of class.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the end of 105, students should have:

• Knowledge and awareness of conventions of writing and how these depend on the writer's purpose and audience.
• Practice with critical thinking, reading and writing to understand and express ideas clearly.
• Awareness of and practice with writing processes in a variety of writing tasks.
• Knowledge of conventions of format, documentation, and surface features for a variety of audiences and tasks.

TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE

Please note the word tentative.

Week 1: Orientation

Week 2-4: Library Skills and Documented Essay

Week 6: First in-class essay.

Week 9: Second in-class essay.

Week 12: Third in-class essay.

Week 15: Fourth in-class essay and makeup essay (for those students who qualify – see attendance policies below).

Unless otherwise announced, the in-class essays take one full week to write. Monday and Wednesday are preparation days. The actual essay is written on Friday.

ATTENDANCE, LATE WORK, AND MAKEUP WORK POLICIES

NOTE: The ESL program does not accommodate schedules of students who have enrolled in classes that conflict with our classes (for example during summer school or via concurrent enrollment at the University of Idaho).

The ESL program and the university believe that attendance is important to promote learning. In some university classes, particularly language classes, regular attendance is very important for you to progress in your learning of the subject matter.

GENERAL ATTENDANCE POLICY

• *If you miss MORE than 4 classes in a TU/Th class or 6 classes in a MWF class, you will not pass this class. It is your responsibility to drop or withdraw if there are further absences. If your name is on the roll book at the end of the semester and you have gone over the limit of permitted absences, you will receive an F in the class regardless of the grade you have earned in the class.

• Some absences may be excused. Excused absences still count as absences towards the total allowed (see #2). The only difference between an excused and unexcused absence is that I may offer you makeup, reteach parts of the class, and accept late work in the case of an excused absence -- but not in the case of an unexcused absence.
  
• Excused absences are limited to the following reasons:

Court appearances in which you are not the defendant. Show me court papers prior to the absence.

Field trips or university-sponsored travel. Give me documentation prior to the absence.

Hospitalization. Give me a copy of your admission papers immediately upon returning to class.

Military service in the armed forces of the United States. Give me deployment papers prior to the absence.

• You are expected to be in class on time and to remain in class for the entire class period. If you arrive after your name has been called for roll, you will be counted as tardy. Two tardies will equal one absence. If you arrive after twenty percent of the class time has passed (10 minutes on MWF/ 15 minutes on Tu/Th), you will be counted as absent.

Attention WSU varsity athletes: If you plan extended absences due to scheduled out-of-town athletic events, the ESL program recommends that you take the class during a semester when you are not actively playing your sport. Athletes are also encouraged to take the Tu/Th section of the class (if one is available) to accommodate scheduled absences around weekends. If, for some reason, you must take the class during a semester when you will have extended absences due to participation with your team, please see me within the first four days of class to discuss how the attendance policy will affect your grade in this class.

SICKNESS POLICY

You may get sick during the semester. Please note: only hospitalization counts as an excused absence for illness (see above). This is the definition of "hospitalization": admission into a hospital for in-patient treatment of illness or injury. In all other cases, this is the procedure I want sick students (those not requiring hospitalization) to follow:

• If you have symptoms that indicate you have a communicable illness (fever etc.), do not come to class.
• Save your available absences (see the General Attendance Policy above) and use them wisely to ensure that you have days available to use if you become sick.
• Have the email and telephone number of two other students in the class. I recommend you get this contact information in the first week of class. Contact these students -- not me -- in the event of illness to get copies of materials and stay current with the class.
• If work is due to be turned in on a day when you are absent due to illness, turn that work in via email or Google documents. The work must arrive in my email box prior to the beginning of the class hour in which it is due. No late work will be accepted due to illness.
• When you return to class, you are expected to have "caught up" by first talking to another student in the class. If you have any further questions about the material you missed while you were sick, you may contact me during office hours -- but I will not reteach the class or make special appointments to discuss the class with you. I have the right to ask for the name of the student you contacted to find out about the class.
• Absences due to sick days also count towards the total of absences. If you use up all your absences because you are ill, you will need to drop or withdraw from the class.

MAKEUP WORK POLICY

• I will routinely give one makeup assignment in the last week of class. You may use that to replace one missed in-class writing. If you miss two in-class writings, you will not be able to make up one of them.
  
• It is your responsibility to know the last drop and withdrawal dates for a given semester. This information is available at http://www.registrar.wsu.edu/Registrar/Apps/AcadCal.ASPX If you use up all your drops and withdrawals, the ESL program will not assist you in petitioning the university for an exception.

PARTICIPATION AND PREPAREDNESS: POLICY

I also assign F grades for lack of preparedness. If you come to class unprepared for the work we will do in class that day, you may get an F for preparedness for that day. You will be notified of the F by email with copies to all program administrators. Here are some examples of reasons (this is not a complete list) why I give Fs: the student was told to have a book ready to use in class and did not have that book; the student was told to have work ready to turn in and did not have that work; the student was confused and disruptive in class; the student was seen doing his/her homework work for the class (or homework for another class) in class. If you receive three Fs for preparedness, you will fail the class. BE PREPARED.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

THIS CLASS ADHERES TO THE POLICY OUTLINED ON THE GENERAL CLASS POLICIES. THAT POLICY IS RESTATED HERE:

As an institution of higher education, Washington State University is committed to principles of truth and academic honesty. All members of the University community share the responsibility for maintaining and supporting these principles. When a student enrolls in Washington State University, the student assumes an obligation to pursue academic endeavors in a manner consistent with the standards of academic integrity adopted by the University. To maintain the academic integrity of the community, the University cannot tolerate acts of academic dishonesty including any forms of cheating, plagiarism, or fabrication. Washington State University reserves the right and the power to discipline or to exclude students who engage in academic dishonesty.

You are expected to know and adhere to the rules on academic honesty as outlined in the WSU student handbook. In particular, you are expected to demonstrate adherence to rules on plagiarism, multiple submissions, and falsification of records.

You are expected to have read and asked your teacher questions about the rules regarding plagiarism, paraphrase and citation outlined in your class handbook. It is your responsibility to address any questions to the teacher.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

The following are ESL program policies with respect to violations of academic honesty:

• If a first violation occurs within the first half of the term (prior to the midterm grade period), you will be failed on the work. You will have a conference with the teacher and, at the discretion of the teacher, with Dr. Nancy Bell or Dr. Lynn Gordon. You will be given a chance to rewrite the paper, in accordance with whatever rewrite policy is in effect at the time the violation of academic honesty occurred.
  
• If a violation occurs a second time (regardless of when it happens in the class), you will be failed in the class. There will be no opportunity to rewrite. You will be reported to the Office of Student Affairs.
  
• If a first violation occurs on the final work in the class, or at any time after week 7 of a regular term or week 3 of summer school, you will fail the class. There will be no opportunity to rewrite. You will be reported to the Office of Student Affairs.

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR DISABILITY

Students with Disabilities

I am committed to providing assistance to help you be successful in this course. Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disability. Please go to the Disability Resource Center (DRC) during the first two weeks of every semester to seek information or to qualify for accommodations. All accommodations MUST be approved through the DRC, located in the Administration Annex Bldg, Room 205. To make an appointment with a disability counselor, please call 335-3417.

Because your primary source of help in any of our courses should be your teacher, the ESL program encourages you to use your teacher's office hours extensively. Your teacher is the best person to give you appropriate help and direction, since your teacher determines how assignments are handled, prepared, and graded.

If you work with a tutor (for example in 102, 302, the Writing Center, the SALC or with a private tutor), follow these guidelines:

• Tutors can help you with approaches to a paper. For example, you could discuss questions such as: How can the paper address the assignment? What are some ways to develop ideas? What are some good examples?

• Tutors can help you think about structure of the paper. For example, you may want to discuss the overall organization of a paper.

• Tutors can direct your attention to problems in your paper. A tutor can point out general issues of grammar and mechanics. For example, a tutor can tell you that you have problems with articles. The tutor can point out a few places in your paper where you have trouble with articles. The tutor can provide you with some guidelines or reference works for using articles.
  
• However, it's also important to understand what tutors should not do. As a student, you should not expect or allow a tutor to change your writing or suggest alternate ways of phrasing a paper; provide any type of editing, dictation, or rewriting; change even a word or a comma on your paper.

Ultimately, you are responsible for the work you submit in this class -- for every word and punctuation mark you put in your papers. Students want to be academically honest -- and I am committed to help students to understand these important issues of academic honesty. Therefore, Ie are providing the following information that relates to using tutors:

The Washington Administrative Code states that cheating "includes . . . communicating improperly with others . . . during . . . the preparation of assignments for classes" (WAC 504-25-310). One way to "communicate improperly" is to communicate with a tutor and receive too much assistance (improper communication) from the tutor.

If language usage in a paper suggests that you have received inappropriate assistance with that paper, I will challenge that assignment. In challenging the assignment, I may ask you to explain the work or to replicate similar work. If the challenge provides evidence that you have had inappropriate help with the assignment, I will determine appropriate penalties in consultation with the ESL program administrators (Gordon/Siler/Bell) I may report this kind of cheating to the Office of Student Affairs.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

English 102: This is a 1-credit course of tutorial support for student writing assignments.

Some of the students enrolled in this class are required to also take English 102 at the same time. Please read this checklist carefully to ensure that you know what to do:

The following people are NOT required to take English 102:

• Persons who placed into 104, took 104, passed 104 and are now in 105.

• Persons who placed into 101 but who have opted to take 105 instead.

• Faculty, graduate students, and exchange students who are just taking this class for enrichment and will not use the class to get a degree of any type through WSU.

• Persons who placed into 105 without 102 being required.

However, if you were placed into 102 at the same time you were placed into 105 or 101, you must take 102.

All students should check their enrollment on the Internet within the first two weeks of class and ask two questions:

1. Were you automatically enrolled in 102?

2. Do you need to take 102 (see above)?

If you were automatically enrolled in 102 and you are required to take it, then you must go to CUE 305 to arrange a time and a section.

If you were automatically enrolled in 102 and you are not required to take it and you do not wish to be in the class, you must see the program administrator for Writing Programs in CUE 302 to arrange a drop from the class. You must do this in the first two weeks of class. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Avery Microcomputer Lab: All English 105 students have paid a lab fee to use the services of the Avery Microcomputer Lab. An orientation will be scheduled during the first two weeks of the semester.

GRADE/ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION

4 IN-CLASS ESSAYS: 80%

1 DOCUMENTED ESSAY: 20%

Grades are calculated as follows:

4.0 to 3.85 A

3.84 to 3.7 A-

3.69 to 3.3 B+

3.29 to 3.0 B

2.99 to 2.7 B-

2.69 to 2.3 C+

2.29 to 2.0 C

1.99 to 1.7 C-

1.69 to 1.3 D+

1.29 to 1.0 D

Below 1.0: F