Writing LANE 213

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Education

King Abdulaziz University

Department of European Languages and Literature

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Title: WRITING I                            

Course Code: LANE 213                                                      

Prerequisite: NIL

Date: SECOND SEMESTER 2015

Number of credit hours: 3 hrs.

Building: 112/ 4^th floor/ Room 589

Instructor: Mr. Al Qarni Mohammed

E-mail: msalqarni@kau.edu.sa

Mobile: 0544241188                                   

NOTE – By unanimous agreement of the department council, information in this Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of any teaching period.

I- Course Description:

This course aims at preparing students to learn and practice basic skills in writing. It introduces students to the basic formats of English paragraphs. It is specifically intended for new entrants at the High Beginning to Low Intermediate level. Designed by Heinle Cengage Learning and National Geographic Learning Corporation, this course offers a wide variety of ideas and general topics serve to mediate already existent knowledge. So, students are supposed to have the needed information to practice basic writings. It also brings varieties of topics that are meant to match students’ interests. It focuses on building up knowledge based on examples of simple writing. It also provides students with most frequent and common words used in science texts. Gradually, it introduces students to academic English, which will be needed at a later stage of their study at the department. Chapters teach various writing skills, including, but not limited to, how to write an introduction, the construction of the thesis statements, as well as detailing general ideas. On the other hand, the textbook is loaded with examples of simple writing attempts. Students exercise to evaluate, reflect, and express their opinions in comparison to their writings. Another approach in this course is to provide students with new vocabulary and terminology that are used academic settings. It offers strategies to help students in words choice, the constructing short, compound, and complex sentences. It also introduces students to different formats of academic English texts (e.g. journal articles, newspapers columns, and magazines, reports, etc.). Like most Communicative base Language course, grammatical features are taught implicitly. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate an acceptable level of writing competency required for Writing II.

A- Rationale:

The ability to write, understand, and analyze texts is a core knowledge in any given language. Students need working knowledge of a language before they can start exploring the descriptive knowledge of the grammatical structures, sound system, and lexicon. The ability to write and express one’s self is regarded the last and most complicated among other language learning skill. In fact, the ability to write deemed to be a sign of high level of proficiency. While working to improve their writing skill, students need to be exposed to different kinds of written texts. Hence, writing tends to be carefully guided to promote autonomy in language learning. Students in this stage will consciously acquire awareness of how English language is written? How does it differ from their mother tongue? How paragraphs and essays are usually constructed? And most importantly what are the basic principles and convention in English writing? Of course these topics will be introduced in a moderate amount and according to their ability to understand and interact. 

B-Course Objectives:

 By the end of this course, students are expected to:

1. Write an effective introduction.
2. Able to differentiate between general and specific details.
3. Write a simple thesis statement.
4. Identify key words, phrases, and points.
5. Summarize main ideas.
6. Define the tone of writers.
7. Building outlines for their writing.
8. Share their ideas in peer and group work.
9. Able to recognize different types of writings.
10. Able to read and gather information for their writing.
11. Able to write a complete independent paragraph.

C- Course Contents to be covered:

 D- Evaluation:

E- Required texts:

Keith S. Folse, Elena Vestri Solomon, and David Clabeaux. Great Writing 3: From Great Paragraphs to Great Essays. USA: Heinle Cengage Learning, 2015.

F- General course requirements and policy:

1- Aligning with the university rules and regulations, attendance is mandatory. Absenteeism affects students grading criteria. Students who are frequently absent may or will receive DN grade. Legitimate official alibies are the only accepted ones.

2. Class timing must be observed closely. Since the teaching period is 50 minutes per class, students have to report to class on time.

3- Students will receive a copy of the course syllabus at the beginning of the semester.

4 - Students are required to bring to class in addition to the textbook, a notebook and to jut down new or important information. They are also encouraged to bring an English-English dictionary such as Longman Dictionary or Word Power English – English –Arabic Dictionary.

5- Class participation is highly encouraged and appreciated by teachers. It is also considered toward grading at the end of the semester.

6- Students are expected to behave politely and respectfully and conduct themselves in accordance to the best academic practices and conventions. Misbehavior is not appreciated and will be subjected to the university rules.

7- Honesty is obligatory act in the classroom. Dishonesty, plagiarism, and cheating acts  will not be tolerated in any aspect of classwork.   

 G- Additional sources for teaching English as a second or foreign language:

www.usd.edu/engl/ESL.html

http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~jonb/

www.english-to-go.com/eslresources.htm

www.eslcafe .com

www.englishclub.com

http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks

www.livetutoring.net/teachers.htm   

www.English.com

www.toefl.org

www.owcp.net/clc

www.tnis.net

www.easyenglish.com

www.tfel.net

THANK YOU