Course Outline for English 215
Support with Writing and Reading

Effective: Fall 2021
SLO Rev: 02/06/2020
Catalog Description:

ENGL 215 - Support with Writing and Reading

18.00 - 54.00 Hours

May be repeated 99 time(s)
This noncredit course provides whole group, small group, laboratory, and individualized support with writing and reading assignments. Students meet regularly with an English 215 instructor during one of three open hours, as well as with WRAC tutors and WRAC English/ESL instructors, on a customized learning plan. Students will improve their academic reading skills, and/or their composition or sentence-level writing skills. This course is free and students may repeat this course until mastery of the skills is met. This course is intended to assist and prepare students to be successful in college-level credit coursework.
1501.00 - English
Pass/No Pass/Satisfactory Progress
Type Hours
Laboratory 18.00 - 54.00
Total 18.00 - 54.00
Measurable Objectives:
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. read in an engaged, active style;
  2. pre-read material in order to form questions that promote comprehension, recall and critical thinking;
  3. recognize writing structures in order to improve focus and comprehension in reading and writing;
  4. apply pre-writing methods to generate ideas;
  5. write academic papers that are appropriate to audience and purpose;
  6. respond accurately and thoroughly to the assignment;
  7. proofread effectively.
Course Content:
  1. Active reading strategies for comprehension, critical thinking and recall
    1. Understand metacognition and think alouds
    2. Learn how to talk to the text and annotation
    3. Understand the difference between summary and analysis
  2. Practice to understand essay structure
    1. Introduce an essay topic and generate a working thesis
    2. Practice building formatted body paragraphs
    3. Learn how to introduce and analyze textual evidence
    4. Organize a conclusion 
  3. Pre-writing and outlining strategies
    1. Brainstorm an essay topic
    2. Organize body paragraphs using introductory ideas, including thesis arguments
  4. Identifying audience and purpose
    1. Learn academic writing techniques, which include tone, syntax, and rhetorical devices
  5. Using the assignment to guide reading and writing
    1. Identify main ideas from a text 
    2. Find evidence to support arguments
  6. Improving sentence control and applying proofreading strategies
    1. Identify major mechanical errors, such as subject-verb agreement, fragments, and run-ons
    2. Revise work to improve sentence-level fluency
Methods of Instruction:
  1. Class and group discussions
  2. Computer-based interactive curriculum
  3. Demonstration/Exercise
  4. Independent Study
  5. Practice/Demonstration
  6. Written assignments
  7. Distance Education
Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
  1. Bring a complete draft of a research paper to next meeting
  2. Annotate a reading assigned for an English class
  3. Revise an essay according to instructor specifications
  4. With tutor assistance, generate questions to ask the instructor during class time or office hours
  1. Attendance
  2. Demonstration of practice and skills
  3. Successful completion of English 115 learning plan
Upon the completion of this course, the student should be able to:
  1. read in an engaged, active style;
  2. identify areas of weakness in writing;
  3. develop strategies for revising and improving writing.
Textbooks (Typical):
  1. Wilson, Paige (2017). The Least You Should Know about English: Writing Skills, Form A (Least You Should Know about English: Writing Skills) (13th). Cengage Learning.
  2. McWhorter, Kathleen T (2008). The Writer's Selections: Shaping Our Lives (5th). Cengage Learning.
  • USB drive and/or cloud-based service like Google Drive
Abbreviated Class Schedule Description:
Support with reading and writing. Students meet regularly with an English 215 instructor, as well as with WRAC tutors and WRAC English/ESL instructors, on a customized learning plan. This course is free and repeatable. This course is intended to assist and prepare students to be successful in college-level credit coursework.