Academic Catalog

NCEL 436: ADVANCED 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)
Prerequisite: Appropriate placement through Foothill College's placement model (i.e., guided self-placement) or successful completion of two Level 3 courses, credit and/or noncredit: ESLL 226 or NCEL 426 AND ESLL 227 or NCEL 427.
Advisory: Concurrent enrollment in ESLL 237 or NCEL 437 recommended; intended for students whose native language is not English.
Degree & Credit Status: Non-Degree-Applicable Non-Credit Course
Basic Skills, 2 Levels Below Transfer
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: None
Grade Type: Pass/No Pass Only
Repeatability: Unlimited Repeatability

Student Learning Outcomes

  • Compound/Complex Sentences: Write well-formed compound and complex sentences that express original ideas.
  • Paragraph Writing: Write cohesive paragraphs composed of varied sentence structures.

Description

Continuation of NCEL 426. An advanced noncredit English grammar course focusing on clause and phrase structures.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Identify and correctly use a variety of clauses and phrases in order to describe concrete and abstract ideas.
  2. Identify and correctly use all tenses and aspects.
  3. Write original sentences and paragraphs using the targeted structures in a variety of contexts.
  4. Recognize and edit for common sentence-level errors in regard to clauses and phrases and for broader paragraph-level errors.

Course Content

  1. Identify and correctly use a variety of clauses and phrases in order to describe concrete and abstract ideas
    1. Adjective clauses
      1. Relative pronoun as subject
      2. Relative pronoun as object
      3. Relative pronoun as object of the preposition
      4. Using whose, where, when
      5. Use of commas: essential vs. non-essential
    2. Adjective phrases
      1. Deleting relative pronoun and be verb in adjective clauses
      2. Deleting relative pronoun and adding -ing to base form of verb in adjective clauses
    3. Adverb clauses
      1. Purpose and reason
      2. Time
      3. Contrast
      4. Conditionals
        1. Real: present and future
        2. Unreal: present and past
      5. Result
        1. So... that, such... that
    4. Adverb phrases
      1. Time
      2. Reason
    5. Noun clauses
      1. After verbs and adjectives
      2. Embedded question/statement in a statement
      3. Embedded question in a question
      4. Quoted speech
        1. Punctuation
      5. Reported speech
        1. Sequence of tenses
        2. Report an imperative
        3. Report a question
  2. Identify and correctly use all tenses and aspects
    1. A brief review of tenses and aspects
    2. Passive voice
      1. With a variety of tenses
      2. Participles used as adjectives (-ed, -ing)
  3. Write original sentences and paragraphs using the targeted structures with correct punctuation in a variety of contexts
    1. Sentences
      1. Sentences using correct tense and aspect
      2. Sentences containing more than one independent clause
        1. Using FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to connect sentences
      3. Sentence connectors that connect two independent clauses
        1. In addition, furthermore, moreover
        2. However, nevertheless
        3. Therefore, as a result, for this reason
      4. Sentences containing independent with dependent clauses
        1. Adjective clauses
        2. Adverb clauses
        3. Noun clauses
      5. Sentences containing independent clauses with phrases
        1. Adjective phrases
        2. Adverb phrases
    2. Paragraphs
      1. Descriptions of a person or place using adjective clauses and phrases
      2. Narratives about personal, historical, or cultural events using adverb clauses and phrases, conditionals, and quoted and reported speech
      3. Writer responses
  4. Edit for errors in tense, sentences, clauses, and phrases
    1. Sentence and clause fragments
    2. Run-on sentences
    3. Comma splices
    4. Verb complementation
    5. Double subjects or no subject
    6. Parallelism

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:

Textbook- and teacher-generated exercises (from mechanical to communicative)
1. Recognition of grammatical structures
2. Fill-in-the-blank
3. Sentencing combining
4. Question/answer formation
5. Reducing clauses to phrases
6. Transformation from quoted to reported speech
7. Paragraph writing using targeted grammatical structures
8. Error correction
Textbook and teacher generated tests
1. Fill-in-the-blank
2. Sentencing combining
3. Question/answer formation
4. Reducing clauses to phrases
5. Transformation from quoted to reported speech
6. Paragraph writing using targeted grammatical structures
7. Error analysis
Comprehensive final exam covering all of the course content

Method(s) of Instruction

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

Lecture
Discussion

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Azar, Betty. Understanding and Using English Grammar, 5th ed.. 2016.

Azar, Betty. Understanding and Using English Grammar, Vol. B, 5th ed.. 2017.

Elbaum, Sandra. Grammar in Context 3, 7th ed.. 2019.

Maurer, Jay. Focus on Grammar 5, 5th ed.. 2017.

Although one of the above texts 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 "Representative Texts" list above. 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 explanations of targeted grammatical structures
    2. Textbook- and/or teacher-generated texts that demonstrate the use of target structures
    3. Student-found newspaper articles that contain the targeted structure
  2. Writing assignments
    1. Textbook exercises that move from mechanical to communicative exercises
    2. Original sentences using the targeted grammatical structures
    3. Original paragraphs using the targeted grammatical structures

Discipline(s)

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