Dr. Loretta Kasper

ESL 91 D05E--Fall, 1999

INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGLISH AND THE INTERNET

COLLABORATIVE INTERNET PROJECT

Office: C-219

Phone: 368-5373

Class Meets: M, T, Th 12:40-2:50PM

COURSE TEXTS:

Interdisciplinary English by Loretta F. Kasper (publisher: McGraw-Hill)

ALL STUDENTS ARE REQUIRED TO BUY THIS BOOK. YOU WILL NOT BE ADMITTED TO CLASS WITHOUT YOUR TEXTBOOK.

The following book is suggested as a grammar reference. It will be available in the college bookstore: Understanding and Using English Grammar by Betty Azar (blue book).

COURSE INTERNET HOME PAGE:

The ESL 91 Home Page can be found on the Internet at

https://members.tripod.com/kccesl/ESL91home.html

On this page, you can find the course syllabus, a schedule of assignments, and links to many different language learning resources. Please visit this page regularly and use the resources provided on it to practice grammar, listening, reading, and writing.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION:

Regular attendance and participation is required. Excessive absence and/or lateness will result in a failing grade. You are expected to be in class ON TIME every day. Class begins promptly at 12:40PM. You will be considered excessively absent if you miss more than eight hours of class--please note that this is eight HOURS not eight classes (each class is 2 hours).

In addition, if you are late 3 times, it will count as ONE absence.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The theme of this ESL 91 course will be "Interdisciplinary English and the Internet."

In this course you will be reading and writing about the variety of academic disciplines represented in your textbook.

During the first week of classes, you will each choose a discipline to study in-depth for the semester. You may choose from any of the 10 subjects in your textbook. The discipline you choose is called your FOCUS DISCIPLINE. You will read, research and write about topics of interest in your focus discipline.

You will work with classmates who have chosen the same focus discipline. As part of our Internet collaborative project, you will also work with students at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. You will use the Internet to communicate with your partners in Buffalo and to find information for your research projects.

Each student in the course will be given an Internet account from the college. As soon as you get your Internet accounts, you will set up e-mail accounts with YAHOO. These accounts are free and will allow you to send messages to each other and to your partners in Buffalo. You will also be able to send me your essays, as well as ask questions that may come up as you do your research.

READING AND WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Reading: You will be assigned readings in your textbook. In addition, you will read texts that you find on the Internet. There will also be texts placed on reserve in the college library. You must keep up with the reading or you will not pass the course.

Writing: You will be doing a great deal of academic writing in this course. Your written assignments will report on the reading and the research you have done in your focus discipline.

You will be doing several drafts of each written piece. You will work with your classmates and with me to improve your writing. Writing assignments will be collected and graded every week.

PLEASE NOTE: YOUR ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE HANDED IN TO ME ON THE DAY THEY ARE DUE.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT NOR READ LATE ASSIGNMENTS.

READING AND WRITING EXAMINATIONS:

You will be reading college-level material and you will be writing academic college level papers. The readings and the exercises are designed to prepare you both for college-level assignments and for the two reading assessment exams you will take in December.

The English Departmental Test gives you two reading passages and then asks you questions related to each one and to both together. The Nelson-Denny Test is a multiple-choice test. It gives you a number of reading passages, each one followed by several multiple-choice questions.

As part of your focus discipline study, you will be writing several research papers and a longer research project. These pieces will form your writing portfolio. The writing portfolio is very important because you must receive a passing score on your portfolio to pass the writing portion of this course.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are excessively late or absent, or if you do not hand in your assignments on time, you WILL NOT be allowed to submit a portfolio and you will fail writing.

You must pass both reading and writing to advance to ENG 93. If you pass only one of these portions, you advance to ENG 92. If you do not pass either one, you must repeat ESL 91.

CONTACTING ME:

If you have any questions, you may come in to see me in my office, C-219, call me at 368-5373, or e-mail me at esl91@yahoo.com.