PLEASE POST YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT BELOW AS A COMMENT.

OVERVIEW OF CLASS ON SEPTEMBER 21st and HOMEWORK

Dear Students:

Here's a quick review of class on September 21st.

1) Greetings and Welcomes for Newcomers
2) 50-question TOEFL/GEPT-based Quiz (30 minutes)
3) Grading of quiz in class up to #17
4) Discussion of pertinent word roots... obtain, eradicate, maintain, affect...
5) Brief overview of where we are going with this class.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY:

A. HOMEWORK

For class on October 5th, please look at the two sheets I gave you in class on September 21st with the TOEFL essays on them ranked from 0 - 6. After reading over the sample essays AND typing up your original timed writing and submitting it in the POSTING ABOVE THAT SAYS "POST TOEFL ESSAY HERE", please write a 2-3 paged paper in which you address the following questions in any arrangement/order you want (i.e., not necessarily a... b.... c... d...):

a) What score would you give your essay
b) Why? What makes it qualify for that score?
c) How is it similar or different from the other essays on the two sheets?
d) Generally, what have you learned about the format and a "good" score for a TOEFL essay? OR What have you learned from this assignment?

FORMAT:
a. Length: 2-3 pages.
b. Spacing: Double-spaced.
c. Margine: 2.5 centimeter margins on all four corners of the paper.
d. Font: Times New Roman 12 pt. Font.
e. Title: Student Number, Date, Title (Paper #1: TOEFL ESSAY SELF-SCORING EXERCISE) NO NAMES ON PAPERS, ONLY STUDENT NUMBERS.

(Email me if you have a question about any of this.)

B. INFORMATION ABOUT WHERE WE ARE GOING IN THE CLASS:

a. ACADEMIC WRITING TEAMS

Graduates will form teams with undergraduates to discuss their English academic writing needs in graduate school and their fears/success/needs/feelings about writing English in graduate school in Taiwan IN THEIR FIELD. They will also offer advice and suggestions about what they like or hate about graduate school.

TEAMS WILL MEET ONCE A WEEK BOTH IN AND OUTSIDE OF CLASS, DEPENDING ON INDIVIDUAL SCHEDULES AND OUR COURSE NEEDS. (Dr. RJ will give you as much time as possible in class...) EACH TIME YOU MEET, YOU WILL EACH KEEP NOTES AND WRITE A JOURNAL ENTRY IN WHICH YOU MENTION THE FOLLOWING:

a. generally, what topics did you discuss in detail (if the case that DR. RJ did not give you a topic beforehand)
b. what did you gain from the discussion
c. how can you apply what you learned (if anything) to your own writing
d. what writing topics were discussed and how do you feel about your partner's writing?

Undergraduates will assist the graduate student throughout the semester in the writing up of an article to be published in an English-language refereed journal in their field ON RESEARCH DATA THE GRADUATE STUDENT HAS ALREADY OR IS IN THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING. This means reviewing former articles published in the target journal and To ensure quality control, Dr. RJ will be meeting with each group regularly to check the progress of the paper and the quality of group activity. OF COURSE, the undergraduates will "speak and write a different type of English" than their graduate student partners, but DR. RJ will be teaching each team effective academic writing tutoring skills and other pertinent information.

b. AWARD OFFICE

Students will be requested to practice their writing tutoring skills with students in this class and others by volunteering time in the AW@RD Writing Center. We will discuss this later, and students who are unable to assist will have the choice of performing other writing-related tasks.

GOOD LUCK AND EMAIL ME IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS!
(rejohanson@usa.net)

IF YOU WERE NOT IN CLASS ON FIRST DAY...

Hello new students,

If you weren't in class on the first day, please do the following:

1) in a quiet place write for 30 minutes on the following topic:

Do you agree or disagree that teachers should make learning fun and interesting? Please support your answer with specific details and examples.

2) After you have done the timed writing, please type your essay out into an electronic format and submit it to the POSTING on this BLOG (above) that says:

SUBMIT YOUR TYPED VERSION OF TIMED WRITING #1 HERE

3) Then, for class on October 5th, please look at the two sheets I gave you in class on September 21st with the TOEFL essays on them ranked from 0 - 6. After reading over the sample essays, please write a 2-3 paged paper in which you address the following questions in any arrangement/order you want (i.e., not necessarily a... b.... c... d...):

a) What score would you give your essay
b) Why? What makes it qualify for that score?
c) How is it similar or different from the other essays on the two sheets?
d) Generally, what have you learned about the format and a "good" score for a TOEFL essay? OR What have you learned from this assignment?

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR SCORE ON THE TIMED WRITING AND HOW WELL YOU WROTE ON THE TIMED WRITING... HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR GRADE. SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE EXTRA TIME OR CORRECT ANY ERRORS. WE WANT AUTHENTIC WORK!

FYI (FOR YOUR INFORMATION): ERADICATE

Dear Students:
In class on September 21st, students asked about the word ERADICATE. Please see the following four entries I found on DICTIONARY.COM. Interestingly enough, the RAD(IX) word room is the main wordstem for the word "ROOT," which tells us why we have the word "radish" as in the red vegetable root and radical, etc.

Good luck.
Robert

1)
e·rad·i·cate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (-rd-kt)
tr.v. e·rad·i·cat·ed, e·rad·i·cat·ing, e·rad·i·cates
To tear up by the roots.
To get rid of as if by tearing up by the roots: Their goal was to eradicate poverty. See Synonyms at abolish. See Synonyms at eliminate.

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[Middle English eradicaten, from Latin rdcre, rdct- : -, ex-, ex- + rdx, rdc-, root; see wrd- in Indo-European Roots.]
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e·radi·ca·ble (-k-bl) adj.
e·radi·cation n.
e·radi·cative adj.
e·radi·cator n.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

2)
eradicate

\E*rad"i*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Eradicated; p. pr. & vb. n. Eradicating.] [L. eradicatus, p. p. of eradicare to eradicate; e out + radix, radicis, root. See Radical.] 1. To pluck up by the roots; to root up; as, an oak tree eradicated.

2. To root out; to destroy utterly; to extirpate; as, to eradicate diseases, or errors.

This, although now an old an inveterate evil, might be eradicated by vigorous treatment. --Southey.

Syn: To extirpate; root out; exterminate; destroy; annihilate.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

3)
eradicate

v 1: kill in large numbers; "the plague wiped out an entire population" [syn: eliminate, annihilate, extinguish, wipe out, decimate, carry off] 2: destroy completely, as if down to the roots; "the vestiges of political democracy were soon uprooted" [syn: uproot, extirpate, exterminate]

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

4)
eradicate

eradicate: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

Source: On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing & CancerWEB

BSU WRC: The File

BSU WRC: The File
Check out this website. It's a very good source of information on academic writing...

THE TOEFL TEST OF WRITTEN ENGLISH (TWE)

Free English Newsletters
Free English Newsletters:

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The Test of Written English® (TWE) is an essay test that gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your skill at performing academic writing tasks similar to those required of students in North American universities. This includes the ability to generate and organize ideas on paper, to support those ideas with examples or evidence, and to compose in standard written English a response to an essay question. Because the TWE® is intended to measure composition skills rather than reading comprehension skills, topics are brief and easy to read. They are not based on other reading material.

When you take the TWE® test, you will be given one topic on which to write an essay. TWE® topics are designed to be fair and appropriate for international students and require no specialized knowledge of any given subject matter.

After administration of a test, the essays are read by qualified markers who assign scores based on a six-point scale. The TWE® score is not incorporated into your total TOEFL® score. Instead, a separate TWE® score is reported on the TOEFL® score report.

This newsletter includes the following:

Types of essay test questions
Working within time limits
Parts of the Essay

~ Introduction
~ Body
~ Conclusion

Types of essay test questions:

In general, there are three types of essay test questions on the TOEFL®:

Type 1 - Agree or disagree with a statement

This type of question will ask you to read a statement and decide whether you agree or disagree with it.

EXAMPLE: Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Subjects such as art, music, and drama should be a part of every child’s education.

Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Type 2- Defend an opinion

In this type of essay question you will be presented with two points of view of a particular topic and be asked to choose one side to support.

EXAMPLE: Some people think that the family is the most important influence on young adults. Other people think that friends are the most important influence. Which view do you agree with? Use examples to support your position.

Type 3- Explain the importance of a development, invention, or phenomenon.

In this type of essay question you have to explain the reasons for or causes of something. You may also have to describe its qualities.

EXAMPLE: What is the most important product or resource in your country? Why is it important? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Time Limit:

You have 30 minutes to write the essay, and this is a major problem for many test-takers; they simply run out of time before the essay is completed and/or proofread. Use those 30 minutes wisely! A good plan is to use your time like this:

Prewriting: 3-5 minutes. This includes reading the question and knowing what you are to do, organizing your ideas, and writing a simple outline.

Writing the essay: 20 minutes. In each essay, there should be an introduction (4-6 sentences) with a thesis statement, a body (two to four paragraphs), and a conclusion (4-5 sentences).

Editing: 5 minutes. Use the final 5 minutes to check your spelling, punctuation, grammar, and word choice.

Parts of the Essay

Introduction:
The introduction should start on a general level with brief lead-in statements and gradually focus in on the specific topic of the essay. Think of it as an inverted triangle, with general statements at the beginning and more specific statements at the end. In the introduction, the reader should find the main idea of the essay expressed in the thesis statement. The reader should be able to tell what specific points about the main idea will be discussed and in what order they will be developed. The lead-in statements could (1) make a striking assertion, (2) use a split anecdote (a story that is begun in the introduction and is finished in the conclusion), (3) use an interesting detail, statistic, or quotation, or (4) ask a provocative question. The introduction should make the reader want to continue reading.

Remember:
i) Start with a general overview of topic and lead-in statements
ii) Finish with a thesis statement (which includes points of argument)

Body:
The body is the 'heart' of your essay. It will support the views you stated in your thesis statement. A good TOEFL® essay will have two or three (sometimes even four) well-written paragraphs in the body. Each body paragraph should provide clear examples to support your thesis statement. Be sure to use transition words and phrases such as on the one hand/other hand, however, although, in contrast, first, in addition, finally, and so on.

Each body paragraph should begin with a topic sentence. This topic sentence should be a major point of argument that supports the thesis statement. Primary support sentences are general statements that support the topic sentence. The secondary support sentences, that support the primary support sentences, provide specific details, quotes, statistics, or real-life examples. Each paragraph should end with a concluding sentence that briefly summarizes the ideas presented in the paragraph. Here is an outline:

Body Paragraph 1 (develops first point of argument)
Topic sentence
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support

Body Paragraph 2 (develops second point of argument)
Topic sentence
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support

Body Paragraph 3 (develops third point of argument)
Topic sentence
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support
Primary Support
Secondary Support

Conclusion:
The structure of the concluding paragraph can be thought of as a regular triangle with specific statements at the beginning and more general statements at the end. Thus, the beginning should include a summary statement that recaps the thesis, a sentence that restates the major points of argument, and a wrap-up statement. The conclusion could also contain the end of a split anecdote that would finish the story begun in the introduction. The wrap-up statement could contain insights of the essay writer, encourage the reader to take action, emphasize the importance of one of the points of argument, or create a solid sense of finality.

Remember:
i) Start with specific statements (summary/paraphrase of thesis statement)
ii) Conclude with more general wrap-up statement(s)

Additional comments:
Read the essay question carefully, and do exactly what the question asks you to do. Don't go off-topic (i.e.: write about something not related to the question)! If you practice a lot and follow the above advice carefully, you'll have a much better chance of writing a good essay.

Good luck!

Free English Test Online for TOEIC and TOEFL | English Grammar | Learn English Language | ESL/EFL Forum

Free English Test Online for TOEIC and TOEFL | English Grammar | Learn English Language | ESL/EFL Forum

TOEFL Essays,Sample Essay Topics

TOEFL Essays,Sample Essay Topics: "Essay rating of 6

Essay rating of 6 on the TOEFL

I do strongly support the idea that teachers should make learning enjoyable and fun for the students. This I support with the following reasons.

First let us take the psychological component of a student. A child or student will be more receptive, to anything including studies, if the subject matter is presented in an interesting and enjoyable manner. If not there is every likelihood that the student will be unwilling or will reject the matter presented as he considers studying is a burden on him.

My second point is that the present day student faces tremendous amount of distraction such as interesting television programmes, drugs, distractions from opposite sexes and many more. To get the student away from all these and to get him interested in studies there is obviously no other way than to make learning interesting.

The present day students are also pressured with tremendous amount of competition from other students. With this mounting pressure on them coupled with the hugh expectation of the parents, it will lighten the burden on the young students with a more acceptable form of presentation that is in an enjoyable and fun manner.

Retention is another factor that should considered important. Any presentation which is given an interesting or enjoyable manner can be retained well by the students. If the subject matter presented is uninteresting then there is strong likelihood the student will forget the subject matter presented in days or even hours.

When presenting a subject the teacher should create a desire amongst the student to crave for knowledge on the subject and this can certainly be obtained if the subject matter is presented in a fun and enjoyable manner.

It can also be said that the present day communication system is so advanced and these are ample teaching aids and techniques to make teaching fun and enjoyable. So why not utilise the opportunities to the full so that the student at the receiving end can benefit to the full.

Last but not least I wish to say that by making teaching fun and enjoyable the life expectancy of both the students and the teachers can be extended.

GRADING CRITERION FOR THE WRITTEN TOEFL TEST

TOEFL Test Score,Writing Section: "TOEFL Scoring Guide

A.
The TOEFL Writing Portion Scoring Guide

Score of 6
A typical essay at this level:
• effectively addresses the writing task
• is well organized and well developed
• uses clearly appropriate details to support a thesis or illustrate ideas
• displays consistent facility in the use of language
• demonstrates syntactic variety and appropriate word choice, though it may have occasional errors

Score of 5
A typical essay at this level:
• may address some parts of the task more effectively than others
• is generally well organized and well developed
• uses details to support a thesis or illustrate idea
• displays facility in the use of language
• demonstrates some syntactic variety and range of vocabulary, though it will probably have occasional errors

Score of 4
A typical essay at this level:
• addresses the writing topic adequately but may slight parts of the task
• is adequately organized and developed
• uses some details to support a thesis or illustrate an idea
• demonstrates adequate but possibly inconsistent facility with syntax and usage
• may contain some errors that occasionally obscure meaning

Score of 3
A typical essay at this level may reveal one or more or the following weaknesses:
• inadequate organization or development
• inappropriate or insufficient details to support or illustrate generalizations
• a noticeably inappropriate choice of words or word forms
• an accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/or usage

Score of 2
A typical essay at this level is flawed by one or more of the following weaknesses:
• serious disorganization or underdevelopment
• little or no detail, or irrelevant specifics
• serious and frequent errors in sentence structure and usage
• serious problems with focus

Score of 1
A typical essay at this level:
• may be incoherent
• may be undeveloped
• may contain severe or persistent writing errors

Score of 0
Off topic (i.e., provides no evidence of an attempt to respond to the assigned topic), in a foreign language, merely copies the topic, consists of only keystroke characters, or is illegible, or nonverbal.

B.

10 Tips for the TOEFL Essay

1) Read the statement carefully and make sure you understand it. Always decide on what you are going to write before you start. Make a list of your main points.

2) It should be easy to identify the introduction, development and conclusion. Each section should have at least one separate paragraph.

3) Type or write in a clear, large script.

4) Address the entire question or statement, not just part of it.

5) Learn the rules of English punctuation and use them. Each sentence should start with a capital letter and end with a period, question mark or exclamation point.

6) Write short, simple complete sentences. This style sounds strong in English
.
7) Do not begin sentences with the conjunctions and, or, but or with because.

8) Make sure that each sentence has a clearly identifiable main subject and main verb and that they agree in number and tense.

9) Use a variety of sentence structures; at least one question, passive voice sentence, conditional sentence, complex sentence, etc.

10) Use specific examples or reasons to support your ideas. Stories or examples from your personal life are best. Remember, no one is checking up to see if these stories are true.

PLEASE SUBMIT SCHEDULES TO RJ!

DEAR STUDENTS,
Please submit three different one-hour blocks (you will only do one one-hour block a week) in which you can serve as a tutor in the AW@RD Office for students who require assistance with their writing. If you are unable to participate as a tutor, of course, we understand your other time pressures... And please discuss this with RJ after class.
I know that time is very valuable, and I greatly appreciate your decision to enroll in this course. Let's share the wealth! RJ

PLEASE SUBMIT SCHEDULES TO RJ!

DEAR STUDENTS,
Please submit three different one-hour blocks (you will only do one one-hour block a week) in which you can serve as a tutor in the AW@RD Office for students who require assistance with their writing. If you are unable to participate as a tutor, of course, we understand your other time pressures... And please discuss this with RJ after class.
I know that time is very valuable, and I greatly appreciate your decision to enroll in this course. Let's share the wealth! RJ

Hello students! Welcome to this course. Please click here to listen to Dr. RJ describe the new division of the NDHU Language Center, THE ACADEMIC WRITING AND RESEARCH DIVISION.

ASSIGNMENT #1 (September 14, 2004)
(PART A)
Brainstorm your interests in academic writing and write about it in a short essay of 2-3 pages (typed, double-space, 2.5 cm. on all corners of the page) the following questions in any particular order or organization pattern (i.e., you don't have to answer each questions one-by-one).

1) Who are you? Where are you from? What is something unique about you?
2) Why are you in this class? Why are you interested in taking this course on academic writing?
3) What do you hope to learn in this class? What are your strengths? Your weaknesses?
4) What do you hope to share with/teach us in this class? (e.g., a particular skill on the computer or a teaching method...)
5) Have you ever assisted others in their writing? What skills might you be able to offer others who are learning to write academic English for their studies?

Thanks, and enjoy the class.
Robert