ESL Program Objectives

Objectives of the Writing Module

Global summary:
Through guided writing practice and associated reading, students will attain at least a high-intermediate level of proficiency when writing English prose on topics that are familiar to them.

Experiential objective:
Students will produce large amounts of personal writing, using word processors, on topics that they know and understand. They will also read materials, either self-selected or chosen by the teacher, at a level of difficulty calculated to advance their acquaintance with written English, and some writing may be related to these readings. Students will receive daily feedback from their instructor(s), using the Focused Rewrite Technique.

Programmatic objective:
Students will attain a level of writing proficiency sufficient to enable them to work productively in the Immersion Module.

Proficiency objective (TOEFL):
Students will attain a level of proficiency in written English comparable to that represented by a 49 on the structure and written expression section (part 2) of the paper TOEFL, or a 497 on the entire TOEFL.

Proficiency objective (standard IEP equivalent):
Students will attain a level of writing proficiency comparable to that of an average student who is beginning level 6 of a six-level university intensive English program.

Proficiency objective (performance measure):
Students will earn a score of at least 70% on one of the validated parallel versions of the Focal Skills Writing Assessment. This assessment consists of 12 C-Test paragraphs, each containing 10 completion items, dealing with a broad range of non-technical topics. The time limit on the test is 40 minutes. Students will have an opportunity to take the Writing Assessment once every 4 weeks until they reach the target score.