Academic Catalog

NCEL 426: HIGH-INTERMEDIATE GRAMMAR

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 0
Hours: 5 lecture per week (60 total per quarter)
Advisory: Concurrent enrollment in ESLL 227 or NCEL 427; designed for students whose native language is not English; completion of noncredit ESL sequence or previous ESL coursework at Adult School is recommended.
Degree & Credit Status: Non-Degree-Applicable Non-Credit Course
Basic Skills, 3 Levels Below Transfer
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: None
Grade Type: Pass/No Pass Only
Repeatability: Unlimited Repeatability

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Correctly use modals in the past and present: advisability, regret, and certainty.
  • Correctly use the present perfect, simple past, and past progressive.

Description

A noncredit high-intermediate English course focusing on verb tenses, gerunds, infinitives, modal verbs in present, past, real present and future conditionals.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Correctly identify and use the following structures: verb tenses, gerunds, infinitives, modal verbs in present, past, real present and future conditionals
  2. Write original sentences, dialogues, and short paragraphs using the above-mentioned structures
  3. Recognize and edit for common sentence-level errors with the above-mentioned structures

Course Content

  1. Correctly identify and use the following structures:
    1. Verb tenses in active voice
      1. Simple present and present progressive
      2. Simple past and past progressive
        1. Separate and in combination with each other
      3. Future and future progressive
        1. Future time clauses
      4. Present perfect and present perfect progressive
      5. Past perfect and past perfect progressive
    2. Introduction to passive voice
      1. Simple present tense
      2. Simple past tense
    3. Gerunds and infinitives
      1. Gerunds as subjects
      2. Gerunds following certain verbs
      3. Gerunds following prepositions
      4. Gerunds in contrast to infinitives following stop, forget, remember
      5. Infinitives following certain verbs
      6. Infinitives requiring an object
      7. Infinitives without to: make, let, help, have
    4. Modal and modal-like verbs (review of common modal verbs)
      1. Ability
      2. Advice
      3. Necessity and non-necessity
      4. Prohibition
      5. Future possibility
      6. Assumptions (degrees of certainty)
    5. Modal verbs in the past
      1. Advisability and regret
      2. Speculations and conclusions
    6. Real present conditionals
      1. Use of if, when, whenever
    7. Real future conditionals
      1. Use of if, when, unless
      2. Use of future time clauses
  2. Write original sentences, dialogues, and short paragraphs using the above-mentioned structures with correct capitalization, punctuation, and sentence boundaries
    1. Write original sentences based on exercises from the book
    2. Write original dialogues which give a context to the structures
    3. Write original paragraphs based on models from the book or teacher-generated models
  3. Recognize and edit for common sentence-level errors with the above-mentioned structures
    1. Tense
      1. Incomplete verb form
      2. Incorrect verb form
      3. Inconsistency of tense
        1. Time markers not followed
      4. Incorrect tense
    2. Question formation
      1. Wh and yes/no questions
        1. With be verb (inversion)
        2. With do support for other verbs
          1. No do when asking about the subject
    3. Gerunds and infinitives
      1. Gerund or infinitive following wrong verb
      2. Object missing before infinitive when required
    4. Modals
      1. Modal verb form
      2. Second verb always base form

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

When taught online, ongoing access to internet connection, email software and hardware, and a working email address are required.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Quizzes and tests to assess the targeted structures
1. Fill-in-the-blank
2. Question formation
3. Providing answers to questions
4. Sentence combining
5. Original sentences in response to a task
6. Error correction
Final exam covering all of the body of knowledge
Original paragraphs
1. Based on models from the textbook
2. Based on the shared viewing of a picture, film, skit

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture
Discussion
Demonstration

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Fuchs, Marjorie, and Margaret Bonner. Focus on Grammar, 5th ed.. 2017.

Azar, Betty. Understanding and Using English Grammar, Vol. A. 2009.

Azar, Betty. Understanding and Using English Grammar, Vol. B. 2009.

Although the Azar text is older than the suggested "5 years or newer" standard, it remains a seminal text in this area of study.

Instructors must choose a textbook from the textbook list. If, however, a faculty member would prefer to use a textbook not on the list, they must contact a full-time faculty member who regularly teaches the course to explain how the adoption would serve to achieve the learning outcomes specified in the course outline of record. We encourage the faculty to share new adoptions with colleagues, solicit feedback, and suggest additions to the list of recommended textbooks.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Reading assignments
    1. Textbook explanation of grammar points
    2. Textbook- and teacher-generated texts demonstrating the targeted structures
  2. Writing assignments
    1. Textbook exercises ranging from mechanical to communicative
    2. Original sentences using the targeted grammatical structures
      1. Based on models from the textbook
      2. Based on photos, pictures, descriptions
    3. Original paragraphs
      1. Based on models from the textbook
      2. Based on the shared viewing of a picture, film, skit

Discipline(s)

English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Second Language (ESL): Noncredit