FAE FIRST YEAR INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

ENG 101

The central basis of ENG 101 is to introduce students to an academic approach to thinking, reading, speaking and writing in an integrated, meaningful manner such that they are able to apply the skills learnt to their departmental studies. In addition, the ENG 101 course aims to further develop the students’ linguistic accuracy and range in English. To this end, the following objectives represent the attainment expectations for ENG 101.

Academic Thinking

By the end of ENG 101 students should be able to:

• question information / texts / ideas / others in a meaningful manner;
• analyse and check their own thinking, views, cultural conditioning and perspectives in relation to outside information;
• identify the main point of an academic text / argument;
• identify supporting points in an academic text / argument;
• evaluate the validity of a basic argument / position through challenging basic ideas, assumptions and evidence apply information from one context to another;
• distinguish facts from unsupported opinion;
• take a position / construct a basic argument of their own;
• categorise and select information by distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information;
• justify their position / argument with evidence;
• justify their position / argument through addressing counter arguments.

Academic Reading

By the end of ENG 101 students should be able to:

• identify the purpose of academic and other texts;
• define their own purpose in reading the text and adjust their style of reading accordingly;
• identify the writer’s purpose and its influence on the text;
• identify the intended audience for the text and its influence on the text;
• apply their own experience / knowledge to their understanding of a text, before, while and after reading;
• utilise knowledge of cohesive devices, at sentence, paragraph and text level, to understand the text;
• utilise appropriate vocabulary development techniques to cope with challenging texts;
• identify academic register;
• identify qualifying (hedging) language in academic and other texts;
• identify inferences;
• annotate / underline / take referenced notes from a text in order to assist analysis of the text and use of information later;
• outline a text through analysis of the overall structure / individual paragraphs / information chunks.

Academic Discussion / Presentations

By the end of ENG 101 students should be able to:

• ask appropriate questions accurately;
• actively and critically listen to the instructor and other students;
• actively participate in focussed discussions of texts / ideas / arguments;
• structure their contributions to be relevant to the focus of the discussion;
• identify main points and supporting points in discussions / debates;
• distinguish between fact and opinion in discussions / debates;
• plan a presentation / mini lecture or seminar based on course readings;
• summarise information from texts to a suitable format for presentation and discussion;
• present information / argument in an engaging and organised manner to an audience;
• present information / argument in coherent, accurate language.

Academic Writing

By the end of Eng 101, students should be able to:

(pre-writing)

• carefully analyse a given title / task / question;
• consider specific information and counter viewpoints in detail before planning an essay;
• decide on a suitable focus / thesis for their writing which specifically addresses the title / question;
• decide what is relevant, necessary and appropriate for the task and their focus;
• select the main ideas and subordinate ideas that are to be presented to support their focus;
• order the ideas to present a logical viewpoint that is justified and presents a specific answer / conclusion;
• revise their plans / outlines following consideration and feedback.

(use of a source)

• select suitable information from a text for inclusion in their writing;
• distinguish between information to be summarised, paraphrased or quoted;
• make notes for incorporation into writing assignments;
• summarise, paraphrase or quote appropriately;
• contextualise a quotation / re-presentation in their writing;
• use a consistent reference format (e.g. MLA or APA).

(writing)

• clearly indicate a specific focus in their writing and maintain that focus throughout the essay / answer the question;
• present a clear argument / position throughout their writing and move beyond mere reporting / description / narration;
• structure their essay to present their ideas clearly and in a logical sequence;
• present a fully developed argument (utilise definitions, explanations, examples, summaries, analysis etc. where appropriate);
• structure paragraphs so that they have a clear purpose, are fully developed and link logically to previous and subsequent paragraphs;
• avoid factual inaccuracies / irrelevancies / repetitions / illogical statements / over-generalisations in their writing;
• avoid plagiarism.

(post-writing)

• review / edit their own writing;
• discuss their writing with others and consider feedback;
• revise their writing following feedback;

Linguistic Accuracy and Document Formatting

By the end of ENG 101, students should be able to:

• demonstrate better fluency in the use of academic style and register;
• demonstrate a broader range of general academic vocabulary;
• incorporate instructor feedback to improve in problematic areas of grammar—
• • use of articles;
  • use of prepositions;
  • use of tenses;
  • subject-verb, gender, number agreement;
  • sentence fragments (sentences with no verb / subject or subordinate clauses presented as sentences e.g. “Because …”);
• show improvement in writing mechanics—
• • spelling;
  • punctuation;
• present assigned work in a fashion which conforms to the instructor’s requirements: e.g. typed and double-spaced, with margins, clear, necessary information, bibliography etc.