Advanced English 1A
COURSE SYLLABUS
Course developer and instructor
Lincon Bilibio
Course overview
Welcome to Advanced! Together, we will lay a strong foundation for you to build your English on.
Our focus is to equip you with the skills to achieve the coveted CEFR C2 level in the future.
This course alone will not take you to C2; that is a path you must walk by yourself. Achieving
C2 requires time—both chronological and study time. But by taking this course, you will learn
strategies to get there!
Advanced English 1A is demanding, but also engaging and rewarding. We will examine how
people acquire languages, and you will learn skills to enhance your own language acquisition process.
We will work at a high cognitive level, performing both syntactic and literary analyses. You will
develop hands-on, minds-on skills needed for the 21st century. When you finish the course, if all goes
as planned, you will feel a little (or a lot) smarter than when you arrived.
Course dates
August 3–November 30, 2018.
Classes take place on Tuesdays and Fridays, from 2:00 to 4:30 PM.
Tips for success
1. Be punctual;
2. Be honest (specially to yourself);
3. Be attentive to details;
4. Be on the lookout for patterns.
Learning objectives
• Explore evidence-based, effective methods of language acquisition;
• Develop or deepen understanding of generally-applied grammar principles;
• Understand the hallmarks of written academic communication and use them to produce
simple essays.
Metacognitive goals
General Learning Outcomes Specific Learning Outcomes
Elements of a Competency Performances
(course-level goals) (class-level goals)
1.1 Explore one’s own beliefs about how learning happens.
1.2 Associate a simple model of the brain with Krashen’s
1. Gain insight into simple
affective filter hypothesis.
evidence-based models of how
1.3 Clarify the myth of multitasking.
learning happens.
1.4 Familiarize oneself with Stahl’s information processing
model.
1.5 Describe the criteria for long-term storage of information.
1.6 Identify higher-order thinking skills in Bloom’s revised
taxonomy and their role for deep learning.
1.7 Replace the notion of learning as content delivery with the
notion of learning as an active process that requires critical
thinking and self-directedness.
2.1 Define the basic elements of the skill-building hypothesis.
2. Recognize Krashen’s 2.2 Understand the five hypotheses of the monitor model.
comprehension hypothesis as 2.3 Analyze language output from people who learned English
the leading theory for second- through either hypothesis.
language acquisition. 2.4 Understand how Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow fits into
language acquisition.
3.1 Identify sources of comprehensible input.
3.2 Compare notetaking styles.
3.3 Evaluate evidence for the effectiveness of free voluntary
reading in language acquisition.
3. Learn skills that will lay a 3.4 Use Google Dictionary, Google Ngram Viewer, Thesaurus,
foundation for lifelong Wikipedia, and Wiktionary to address and solve vocabulary-
language learning. related questions autonomously.
3.5 Use WordReference, English Language & Usage Stack
Exchange, and Wikipedia to address and solve structure-
related questions autonomously.
3.6 Recognize academic, literary, and journalistic styles of
writing.
Linguistic goals
General Learning Outcomes Specific Learning Outcomes
Elements of a Competency Performances
(course-level goals) (class-level goals)
1.1 Compare prescriptive and descriptive grammar and their
implications for linguistic discrimination.
1.2 Classify verbs according to TAMV.
1. Develop a solid working 1.3 Devise a table with the 12 basic verb forms (tense +
knowledge of general aspect).
grammar principles. 1.4 Identify the five verb inflections.
1.5 Differentiate between finite and non-finite verbs.
1.6 Identify noun phrases.
1.7 Understand recursion as a formal universal.
2.1 Recognize conciseness as a guiding principle of academic
composition.
2.2 Evaluate conciseness at sentence and paragraph levels.
2.3 Recognize hypotheses and conclusions as the basic
2. Compose a simple components of arguments.
argumentative essay. 2.4 Identify simple rhetological fallacies.
2.5 Produce a well-formed argumentative paragraph.
2.6 Design introductions and conclusions to enclose an
argumentative body.
2.7 Revise and rewrite compositions after formative feedback.
Exam dates
Midterms will be held on September 25 and 28.
Finals will be held on November 23 and 27.
Grading
Passing the course requires scoring 80% or above on the final grade, which is composed by:
• 50 points (100/2) from TOEFL PBT, converted with zero as the lower bound (rule-of-thirds);
• 25 points (50/2) from Oral Performance;
• 25 points (50/2) from Written Performance.
Resources for self-directed study
For a comprehensive, interactive, and gamified review of basic grammar, visit KhanAcademy.
([Link]
For an in-depth but quick look into grammar and style, visit Queensland’s Write101x MOOC.
([Link]
For detailed writing, research and referencing advice, visit Purdue’s Online Writing Lab.
([Link]
For advanced practical knowledge on research writing and editing, visit Stanford’s SciWrite MOOC.
([Link]
List of books for free voluntary reading
Reading is arguably the best way to build vocabulary, internalize grammar principles intrinsically, and
get better at writing. Here’s a list of books that are appropriate for this level:
• Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White;
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling;
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, by Mark Haddon;
• The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway;
• The Road, by Cormac McCarthy;
• Post Office, by Charles Bukowski;
• Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut.
Bibliography
Krashen, S. (2004). Applying the comprehension hypothesis: Some suggestions. Retrieved from
[Link]
Santorini, B., & Kroch, A. (2007-). The syntax of natural language: An online introduction using the
Trees program. Retrieved from [Link]
Sinnott-Armstrong, W., & Fogelin, R. J. (2014). Understanding arguments: An introduction to
informal logic (9th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Sousa, D. A. (2011). How the brain learns (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
The University of Queensland (2018). English Grammar and Style. Retrieved from
[Link]
