Language Arts for Success

GLE 350

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences Department of Communication Studies

Course Information

Course ID: GLE 350 Course Title: Language Arts for Success

Semester: Credit Hours: Three (3) Credit Hours

Course Prerequisites: English Composition I & II

Instructor Contact

Contact Procedure and Policy: Contact me through my FHSU e-mail address with any concerns, comments, and/or questions you might have about the course. It will be my practice to return your message within 24 hours.

Course Description

This course focuses on the effective use of language arts—listening, conversing, reading, and writing—for academic and professional contexts, purposes, and applications. Students explore, research and practice key strategies for successful academic and professional use of language arts. Additional focus is spent on semantics. Semantics is the study of meaning, as inherent at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, and larger units of communication.

Textbooks and Course Material

Hurford, James R., Brendan Heasley, and Michael B. Smith. Semantics: A Coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print. (ISBN-10: 1139463322 and ISBN- 13: 9781139463324)

Zimmerman, Thomas Ede and Wolfgang Sternefeld. Introduction to Semantics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2013. Print. (ISBN-10: 3110308002 and ISBN-13: 978-3110308006)

Open Education Resources: This course makes use of free material to supplement learning: audio, videos, articles, and e-learning sites and platforms. Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to do the following:

1. Identify and articulate basic theories and best practices for effective use of language arts for academic and professional success 2. Anticipate, describe, and apply key strategies for successful understanding and comprehension in new contexts and situations based on the use of language arts 3. Apply language arts skills and techniques to professional and academic contexts and purposes 4. Transfer learning of the professional and academic use of language arts to future, novel contexts and purposes as life-long learners 5. Edit and anticipate the use of words, phrases, sentences, and texts by evaluating for overall effectiveness in the use of language arts

Course Expectations

1. Complete assignments by the time they are due 2. Interact with and offer feedback to fellow students 3. Ask the course instructor for clarification or help when needed 4. Be courteous and respectful to other class participants

Grading: Here are the point values for each category of activities:

400: Assignments in Language Arts 75: Quizzes & Polls 75: Class Participation 100: Language Arts Textual Portfolio 100: Language Arts Audio Portfolio 100: Two Exams: Fifty Points for Each Exam 850: Total points for the semester

Grade percentage breakdown:

A: 90 to 100% B: 80 to 89% C: 70 to 79% D: 60 to 69% U: 59% and below Assignments

1. Assignments in Language Arts: Because effective communication takes practice, a significant portion of the work for this course will involve daily assignments. Many of these assignments will involve utilizing best practices for success in the language arts of listening, conversing, reading and writing. Some assignments will be spontaneous, especially for the practices of listening and conversing. 2. Quizzes & Polls: Regularly, quizzes and polls will be used to enhance and maintain the learning of and practicing of key skills and concepts. Polls serve as pre-reading, early assessment of content material. Quizzes serve as post-reading assessment of the learning of and practicing of content material. Therefore, questions and prompts that appear on polls and quizzes will be similar to, but not identical to, those on the exams. As with course assignments, these quizzes and polls intend to engage students in the practices of effective language arts use. 3. Class Participation: Weekly class participation will be marked based on the timely completion of assignments and attendance. Late assignments are accepted; but they must be completed by the newly negotiated and assigned due date for full acceptance. Non-attendance and late work will result in a reduction in class participation points for that week. A two-point reduction for an absence; a one-point reduction for late work. For each week, point reductions will not exceed the weekly five points for Class Participation points. 4. Language Arts Textual Portfolio: Throughout the semester, you need to maintain of a portfolio of your work. Your portfolio needs to include four examples of your best work from course assignments from this semester. One additional, final text-based assignment must be included among the four examples. This final assignment serves as an assessment of your learning for the semester. 5. Language Arts Audio Portfolio: Throughout the semester, you need to maintain of an audio portfolio of your work. Your portfolio needs to include three examples of your best work as in effective language arts use. These audio assignments include controlled assignments created by the instructor—like sample lectures on video. And they will include creative audio/video assignments produced by students. 6. Two Exams: Students will complete two exams for this course: mid-term and final. These exams will cover similar material from the quizzes and polls, typically skills-based techniques and theoretical concepts.

Disability Statement: Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact me as soon as possible so that we can discuss class requirements. I advise all students to review the many policies listed at this FHSU site: http://www.fhsu.edu/policies/student-affairs/ Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty. It is a claim that the ideas or words you have written are yours, when in fact they are not. A second form of academic dishonesty is to intentionally provide an incorrect citation. Other examples of academic dishonesty include handing in a paper purchased from an individual or agency; submitting papers from living group, club or organization files; and using another’s computer program or documents. FHSU’s policy on academic honesty can be found at this link: https://unicat-web.fhsu.edu/Catalog/ViewCatalog.aspx? pageid=viewcatalog&catalogid=12&chapterid=248&topicgroupid=1481&topicid=2124&loaduseredits=F alse