ESL Program Objectives

Objectives of the Reading Module

Global summary:
Through exposure to massive amounts of written English at the appropriate level of difficulty, students will attain at least an intermediate level of comprehension when reading English prose dealing with a variety of non-technical topics.

Experiential objective:
Students will be exposed to a variety of common English words, sentence structures, idioms, collocations, pragmatic devices, topics, etc., as encountered in sources such as USA Today, easy fiction, popular magazines, etc. This rich and varied input will be made comprehensible through the use classroom discussion (Interactive Reading Technique) and individual consultation (Free Voluntary Reading). Video presentations related to reading projects may be used in various ways.

Programmatic objective:
Students will attain a level of reading comprehension sufficient to enable them to work productively in the Writing Module.

Proficiency objective (TOEFL):
Students will attain a level of reading comprehension comparable to that represented by a 46 on the reading section (part 3) of the paper TOEFL, or a 463 on the entire TOEFL.

Proficiency objective (standard IEP equivalent):
Students will attain a level of reading comprehension comparable to that of an average student about half-way through level 4 of a six-level university intensive English program.

Proficiency objective (performance measure):
Students will earn a score of at least 60% (adjusted for guessing; = 80% raw score) on one of the validated parallel versions of the Focal Skills Reading Assessment. This assessment consists of 20 paragraphs, each followed by 3 Yes/No questions, dealing with a broad range of non-technical topics. The time limit on the test is 50 minutes. Students will have an opportunity to take the Reading Assessment once every 4 weeks until they reach the target score.