Bridge to Credit through Content-Driven ESL Skills Development - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Bridge to Credit through Content-Driven ESL Skills Development & Academic Support

Cybele Higgins, ESL Faculty, Lane Community College Casey Reid, Writing Faculty & Writing Center Coordinator, Lane Community College 2018 GED Summit, Tigard, OR

What: College Transition ESL Bridge to WR 121

• 10-20 of WR 121 students co-enrolled in ESL College Transition Level language skills

classes; remaining 6-16 WR 121 students entered WR 121 through other routes

• ESL students: international & immigrant
• ESL language & study skill building = co-requisite support for WR 121
• ESL courses: Reading & Writing and Oral Skills

○ Outcomes-based (OALS & CCRS) ○ WR 121 course content driver for language skill building

• Writing Center provides embedded tutor for both classes
• Students present their research findings in a final mini-conference

Why: Exigence for the Collaboration

Students...

• get a jump on academic career;
• economize educational costs, reducing credit hours by 4-10 quarter hours;
• develop academic English language and study skills in challenging but scaffolded

environments with purpose; and

• choose LCC because of the Bridge (which enhances both transition to college and student

recruitment).

Process: Collaboration

• Niche for a bridge program identified by ESL & International Programs; call for collaboration sent

to departments with 100 level transferable credit courses

• Courses for collaboration identified, incl. Ethnic Studies 101 - F 2017; Writing 121 - W 2018
• Course outcomes, assignments, and activities reviewed by both ESL and content faculty
• Mutual access to instructional materials (e.g., via shared Moodle)
• Weekly meetings to discuss upcoming week and debrief student concerns
• Cybele attends WR 121 classes
• Incorporate vocabulary and other content from WR 121 materials into ESL classes
• Incorporate ESL class ideas and concepts into WR 121 materials
• Embedded Writing Coaches to help explain connections between classes and provide feedback

and support inside and outside of class

Merge Points: ESL Level F + WR 121

College Transition ESL Builds Foundation to WR 121

Major Assignments:

• Summary-Analysis-Response work in ESL RW & Oral Skills classes builds to WR 121

Research Reflection & Analysis (3) and ultimately to final Community Report

• Problem-Solution work in ESL RW & Oral Skills classes builds to WR 121 findings and

recommendations in final Community Report

• All work in ESL classes and WR 121 builds to Community Presentation

College Transition ESL Building Blocks

Instructional bricks build students’ strong foundation:

Study skills & academic expectations in the American education system (e.g., active learning, critical thinking, research & synthesis); library tour for how to use library database for credible research & meet reference librarians; MLA Format; academic vocabulary from WR 121 reading/lectures in reading, writing, listening & speaking practice; summarizing, paraphrasing & quoting; discussion group strategies; pronunciation, intonation, eye contact & grammatical accuracy in weekly key terms individual presentations; integrated language skills development, including complex reading comprehension questions, group presentations & synthesis of sources on readings/videos around college writing expectations using OER Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence; grammar to write (e.g., reporting verbs, noun clauses, noun phrases, adverb clauses/phrases w/”as” to introduce sources, passive voice, identifying/ non-identifying relative clauses, definitions & appositives, unreal present & past conditionals); key word/idea emphasis & strategic pauses; word stress w/color vowel chart; group presentation strategies in organization & passing to the next speaker; daily peer feedback for writing prompts, individual summary presentations, group presentations & essays; reading strategies; vocabulary comprehension strategies (e.g., root word meanings, affixes & word families); impromptu & planned speaking & writing prompts using key vocabulary & content from ESL & WR 121; multiple drafts of individual essays & presentations for Summary-Analysis-Response & Problem-Solution, building to final Community Presentation Sample of Integrated Skills: Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence - Ch. 3 - Constructing the Thesis and Argument -- From the Ground Up Sample of Vocabulary: Academic Vocabulary Record - Week 4: Conducting Primary Research

Results for ESl Students

• ESL RW & Oral Skills - all ESL students passed in W 2018; all students on track this F 2018;

most passed in F 2017 with ES 101

• WR 121 - all ESL students but one passed in W 2018; all but one passed ES 101 in F 2017
• Writing Center use up - 82% of ESL students returned the next term and became frequent

users

• Hiring & campus connections - ESL students hired into student worker positions, including

Peer Mentors and Writing Coaches, indicating students made a strong connection with the campus

• Friendships - ESL students developed friendships with American and non-ESL class

students

Grades for Bridge Students 2017-2018

F 2017 A B C D F Same Cohort W 2018 A B C D F

ESL RW 10 3 1 2 WR 115 2 3 2 ESL Oral Skills 13 1 2 WR 121 3 2 ES 101 13 2 1 Other classes 22 9 1 1 1 P 3 NP 2

W 2018 A B C D F

ESL RW 6 6 3 ESL Oral Skills 13 1 1 WR 121 7 5 2 1

Showcase: Community Conference

• Research report presentations by Bridge and non-Bridge students
• Conference program with research abstracts, student bios, and concurrent sessions:

Community Conference Presentation Program Winter 2018

• Audience includes all students, researched community members, and college employees
• Sample Presentations

○ Chinese Students in the United States by Kana ○ Inventors Community by Zurab ○ University Students with Anxiety Disorder by Roshal

Findings for College

• Merge points between Writing Department & ESL Department final

level in ESL continuum

• Informing larger interdepartmental discussion about all of the writing

courses in four departments at Lane, credit and non-credit: ESL, ABSE, ALS, and LLC

Sharing Among Institutions and Q & A

We’d like to hear about you. Do you have...

• Existing ESL or ABS Bridge to Credit collaborations at your

institution?

• Potential Bridge collaborations?
• Questions for us?

Take-Aways

Please share a take-away that can be implemented in your educational setting:

• pieces/chunks of ideas? More?
• short- vs. long-term?

○ today - key players, programs, and/or departments? ○ in the near future - key players, programs, and/or departments? When?

Thank you!

We’re excited about our students’ success towards reaching their academic, employment, and life goals and our College Transition ESL Bridge to Writing 121 Program and its continuing development. Thank you for participating in our session! We wish you the best for ongoing or future Bridge collaborations at your college.

Cybele Higgins, ESL & Curriculum Development: higginsc@lanecc.edu Casey Reid, WR 121, Writing Center & Embedded Tutors: reidc@lanecc.edu