May 7th lesson

Dear students,
Today you will study the AWL 2A.

AWL 2A worksheet

AWL 2A online test

After that you will learn about reaction statements (5.1) and practice identifying topics and main ideas, so please download print 2.1 (1-6) and bring it to class.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

April 23rd lesson

Dear students,
Today you will learn about word types (2.1), and topics and main ideas (3.2). You will also try the AWL 1.B online test.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Monday April 16th lesson

Dear students,
Today we will check the answers to the AWL 1A matching homework and do exercises 1.2 (interests), 1.3 (motivations), and 2.2 (Academic Word  List) from the textbook.
If you have chosen your first portfolio article and are unsure about its appropriateness, let me see it today and I will give advice.
For homework, please try AWL 1B.

AWL 1B matching woksheet

AWL 1B online matching practice test

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

Monday April 9th lesson

Dear students,
Please print out and complete the homework below by next lesson.

AWL 1A worksheet

Alternatively, you may practice online. It is to your advantage to include your student ID when doing the exercise (as it is a record of your endeavour), but you may be anonymous if you wish. Please also check the radio button for which class you are in as I would like to monitor classes separately. You may do the exercise as many times as you like.

AWL 1A online practice test

Kind regards,
Chris Elvin

AR syllabus

Academic Reading 1

Spring 2018

Chris Elvin

Contact:before or after class, or email via CELESE website

Class blog: http://elvinar.blogspot.jp/

Required textbook:

Rose, R. (2016). Academic Reading in Science and Engineering Book 1. Tokyo: Waseda University.

Course Description

Welcome to Academic Reading 1. This course has been designed to help you improve your academic reading ability through study and discussion of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles of varying lengths related to important issues in science and engineering. Emphasis will be placed on developing a deep understanding of sentence and text structure, and on developing micro and macro reading skills, so that relevant information can be found quickly and effectively without the need for translation into Japanese. In particular, you will be urged to start understanding English in English. You will also be encouraged to read beyond the target texts to gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered. After completing the course, you should be familiar with a wide range of academic texts, be able to understand and apply a wide range of reading skills necessary to tackle such texts, and have an understanding of recent issues in science and engineering.

Course Goals

Goal 1: To Learn the first 300 words of the Academic Word List

Goal 2: To guess word meaning from context

Goal 3: To recognize technical word definitions

Goal 4: To understand pronouns and restatements

Goal 5: To understand logical connectors

Goal 6: To understand topics and main ideas

Goal 7: To develop fluency in comprehending academic texts: your portfolio.

Grading

a) Portfolio

Your portfolio should contain 3 articles*. Make sure to include the source and date of your article, and do not use articles that were published earlier than the date of the beginning of the semester. If you read an article from a website, please cite the URL, as well as printing it out. You should number the articles, and for each article, you should highlight all the academic words (those which appear in the Academic Word List 570). You should identify the technical and unfamiliar words and write a definition of these words, or translate them into Japanese. Finally, in your own words, you should write a one paragraph accurate summary of about 150 words, and a reaction statement paragraph of similar length. This means that you should not copy from the original text (not one sentence, or even part of a sentence). At the end of the semester (or earlier), you will hand in your portfolio to me for final assessment. Your portfolio should be entirely your own original work, and it should not be recycled from other courses or colleagues.

* The length of the articles that you read should be over 1000 words, with 700 words as an absolute minimum.

* Do not recycle old articles from previous semesters or from fellow students.

* Do not use the CELESE Trending Science News articles.

* Do not use English language learning websites that provide learning support.

(You may use such sites for studying English, of course).

* Choose articles which you find interesting.

* Your portfolio should demonstrate your integrity: responsibility, respect, trust, honesty, fairness, and courage.

* Each article should include its reference in APA format.

Serious willful plagiarism will be heavily penalized.

Lazy foolish copying will be punished.

Do not copy sentences. Do not copy strings of words of more than five words long. Do not copy sentences and change the words. Your summary should be in your words.

b) Science News Quizzes

There will be two tests during the semester. These tests will be based on the linked articles that are uploaded to the CELESE website on a weekly basis.

Science News Test 1 (8 points)

Science News Test 2 (8 points)

c) Intensive Reading

Students should complete five intensive reading exercises in the textbook and show them to her teacher. (5 points)

d) Academic Word List Quizzes

There will be many practice exercises for you to master the Academic Word List. At the end of the semester, you will have two Academic Word List tests.

a)  Match Academic Word List words with their definitions. (10 points)

b)  Fill in the blanks of a text with Academic Word List words that you can choose from the list provided. (10 points)

e) Final Test

This test is prepared by CELESE department and is scheduled after our final lesson as a class. For further information, and to view previous copies of the test, please check the CELESE website. (32 points)

Evaluation and Grading Criteria

a)  Portfolio: 27%

b)  Science News Quizzes 16%

c)   Intensive Reading 5%

d)  Academic Word List Quizzes 20%

e)  Final Test: 32%

Cheating:

The maximum grade for anyone suspected of cheating will be “C”.

Please do your best, be honest and diligent, and good luck!

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Chris Elvin

Welcome to Chris Elvin's Waseda University Academic Reading Blog - April 2018

Dear students,
Welcome to the course.
Please visit here every week before and after class. I will be posting regularly about the lesson content, homework assignments for you to download, and occasional changes or updates.
Kind regards,
Chris Elvin