Transition with Purpose: Pathways from English Language to Academic Study

116 ACTIVITY 9: ASSIGNMENT ANALYSIS OBJECTIVE: APPLY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE GAINED IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES TO A TYPICAL ACADEMIC WRITING ASSIGNMENT. TASK: ANALYZE A TYPICAL ACADEMIC WRITING ASSIGNMENT HANDOUT. Through their English language classes, students have acquired many of the learning skills that are needed to successfully complete academic classes. Sometimes, however, students don’t realize that they have these skills because the assignments may look different from an assignment given in an English language class. The reason for this difference is that language class assignments are designed primarily to support language development while academic assignments are designed primarily to support learning content as well as critical thinking about that content. ANALYZE AN ASSIGNMENT Review the assignment on page 118. This is a typical assignment in Freshman Inquiry class at Portland State University. STEP 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: WHAT DO YOU KNOW? 1. As a class, brainstorm a list of some common activities from your upper-level reading and writing classes in the IELP. 2. One of the best strategies you can use to approach a new assignment is to review the document to see what is familiar to you. Try highlighting only the verbs that tell you to do something or that direct the actions needed to be successful to complete the assignment.  A list of verbs to look for can be helpful and there are many such lists online. Here is a good example : Assignment Prompts: What do you really mean? Look at the verbs in this document. Which ones do you recognize from previous assignments that you have had? 3. Look at the assignment sheet from FRINQ. Name 5 things you understand/recognize about this assignment. STEP 2: ANALYZE THE ASSIGNMENT Based on the courses you have taken in the IELP and the academic skills you have practiced as you have developed your English skills, you should be able to answer the following questions about this assignment given in the Freshman Inquiry (FRINQ) theme The Work of Art, even though you haven’t read the texts.