Reading Course Expected Student Learning Outcomes

Below you can see the material that students need to accomplish to succeed in an ELI Reading Course. Please contact the ELI Director, Julie Mowrer, at jmowrer@hawaii.edu, if you have questions.

ESL 083 Academic Reading, Advanced

By the end of the course, at the advanced level, successful ESL 083 students will be able to:

• Expand vocabulary through practice and the use of a monolingual dictionary.
• Determine the meaning of vocabulary in 100-level texts by using context clues.
• Distinguish between definitions and any accompanying negative and/or positive connotations and use those to help determine facts, opinions, blended statements or an author’s bias.
• Use pre-reading skills to activate schemata and predict content of authentic, 100-level texts.
• Annotate effectively for active reading, increased comprehension and retention.
• Read a variety of authentic college level readings: academic prose, literary forms, journalistic articles and scientific readings, and respond thoughtfully and critically, verbally and in writing, by drawing connections between personal experience, world knowledge and/or other sources (lectures, readings, films) and the assigned text.
• Recognize organizational patterns in authentic, 100-level texts; use to increase comprehension and predict exam questions.
• Become familiar with the wording and expectations of college exam questions.
• Identify and produce summaries that include correctly written introductory sentences and accurate paraphrases of the main ideas and key details, approximately one fourth in length of the original passages, without plagiarizing.
• Identify the common types of support in arguments, their relevance or irrelevance, common argument flaws, opposing points of views, and refutations.
• Become familiar with UH Hilo databases, search engines, techniques for effective searching and other library research tools.
• Evaluate both print and online sources for their relevance, accuracy and appropriateness for a variety of research purposes and topics.
• Synthesize information from a minimum of two sources and present both verbally and in writing.

ESL 073 Academic Reading, High-Intermediate

By the end of the course, at the high-intermediate level, successful ESL 073 students will be able to:

• Correctly identify definitions in a monolingual dictionary of target words used in high-intermediate level ESL academic textbooks by using grammar, word parts, context clues, and the dictionary’s sample sentences.
• Determine the meaning of vocabulary assigned from high-intermediate level texts using word parts, grammar, punctuation and context clues.
• Expand targeted vocabulary assigned from high-intermediate level texts and academic passages.
• Use pre-reading skills to activate schemata and predict content of high-intermediate texts.
• Annotate effectively for active reading and increased comprehension and retention.
• Determine the meanings of pronouns in contexts.
• Articulate main ideas, both stated and inferred, and important details in academic, journalistic, and literary prose at the high-intermediate level.
• Recognize transition signals to determine patterns of organization and use them to predict test questions.
• Distinguish fact from opinion in reading passages from a high-intermediate level ESL textbook.
• Write a summary of an academic multiple-paragraph reading passage from a high-intermediate level reading that is approximately one third the length of the original in which the main ideas and major details are accurately paraphrased.
• Be able to identify the setting, main events, climax, resolution and theme of an ESL reader at the high-intermediate level and summarize the novel in writing.
• Respond thoughtfully and critically, verbally and in writing, to high-intermediate texts by drawing connections between personal experiences, world knowledge and/or other readings to the assigned text.

ESL 063 Academic Reading, Intermediate

By the end of the course, at the intermediate level, successful ESL 063 students will be able to:

• Use a monolingual dictionary to determine syllable breaks, primary stress, and secondary stress.
• Select the correct definition in a monolingual dictionary by using grammar, punctuation, word parts, context clues, and the dictionary’s sample sentences.
• Use grammar, punctuation, word parts and context clues to make informed guesses of target vocabulary of intermediate level reading passages.
• Expand targeted vocabulary assigned from intermediate level ESL textbooks.
• Determine the meanings of pronouns in context.
• Use grammar, word parts, and context clues to improve vocabulary quiz- and test-taking ability.
• Use pre-reading skills to activate schemata and predict content of intermediate texts.
• Identify topic sentences and main ideas; discern major from minor details in intermediate ESL textbooks.
• Recognize transition signals to determine patterns of organization in intermediate ESL textbooks.
• Write a guided summary of 8-12 sentences which paraphrases the topic sentence, main ideas, and major details from a short, intermediate level ESL academic reading paragraph.
• Be able to identify the setting, main events, climax and resolution of ESL readers at the intermediate level and summarize the novel in writing.
• Respond thoughtfully, verbally and in writing, to intermediate level texts by drawing connections between personal experiences and/or world knowledge to the assigned text.

Last updated in summer 2014.