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)