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IFLS 011: Academic English I Foundation (Spring 2019)

Instructor

Kent Lee, IFLS, Korea University

• Mailbox: 국제관 208A
• Office & office hours: 국제관 720, by appointment
• Email: See the syllabus or textbook (course booklet)

Course info

• Course load: 2 hours/week, 1 credit
• Class locations: 국제관 (International Studies Hall)

Sections

IFLS 011-L1	MW 12.00-12.50pm	국제관 #480b
IFLS 011-L2	Tu/Th 14.00-14.50	국제관 #511

1 Course description

This course deals with academic English for your college studies, including (1) academic English writing and speaking skills, and (2) critical thinking skills. The focus will be on academic English for writing and presentation skills for your future college courses.

1.1 Readings and materials

Textbook: Course packet, about ₩8000-10,000, from a print shop near campus (probably at the 空문화사 [공문화사] print shop near the 후문, the back gate on the way to Anam Station).

2 Weekly materials & assignments

2.1 Weeks 1-2: Introduction

• Read the introductory chapters of the textbook on your own.
• Google Form #1: Fill out this form of basic information about yourself, and submit it. This counts as a minor grade. (The form works, though it won't send you a confirmation.) The link will have been sent to you by email from the Blackboard system.
• Email assignment (see the course book, §9.1)

3 Final project: Scholarship application

Imagine that you are applying for a scholarship. Your answers should be honest, but should also persuade a scholarship committee about how you are good student who deserves a scholarship. You can use some of the contents from your previous assignments for this assignment.

The final project involves two components:

1. An oral interview for a scholarship application (discussion component), and
2. A formal personal statement to apply for the scholarship, in the form of a formal academic essay; this counts is the final essay / paper.

For the essay, you can use contents from your midterm paper (in fact, you should do so) and modify them into a scholarship application essay. You can apply for a sophomore-year scholarship, or you imagine it is a couple of years in the future, and you are applying as a junior or senior; that is, you can project yourself into the future for this assignment, as long as your details about yourself and your accomplishments are realistic.

3.1 Scholarship information

3.1.1 Background

The Kentlee7 Scholarship Foundation (K7SF) is an agency that has granted awards to deserving students at several prestigious universities, and now plans to offer scholarships to undergraduate students at Korea University. This is a one-year scholarship to cover college tuition costs, and is available to students of any grade level or age.

To qualify, you must demonstrate (1) academic or personal excellence merit; (2) personal or financial need; (3) current or future potential, such as academic, scientific, practical, leadership, business or entrepreneurial potential; or (4) educational or administrative talent, for example, in proposing improvements to academic programs, policies, departments, or curricula.

3.2 Important links

• An online sign-up sheet is available for groups to sign up.
• Here are two final paper samples, for two general types of scholarships, with thesis statements and topic sentences highlighted.
• English presentation expressions guide

3.2.1 Scholarship types

There are several scholarship options available, which are described below. Each scholarship will fund one year of studies (and maybe an extra semester or summer semester) so you can focus on your studies or your project.

#	Name	Abbr.	Description
1	Scholastic Excellence Scholarship	SES	Merit based. This is for those who love studying, have clear ideas of why they are studying in their majors, know what they want to do in their major, and are likely to succeed after college. You should show that you have specific objectives and interest in your first major, second major, and/or minor; you have real potential and ability; and you have specific plans for success after college. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.) It may also help to show that you are a well-rounded person with skills other than being a super-geek who lives in the library.
2	Future Success Scholarship	FSS	Merit / career based. This is for those who have clear goals and potential for success, not only in college, but especially in their future careers. You need to be able to show that you are not only a good student, but that you will likely succeed in your career. You will need to argue convincingly that you have strong academic, career, leadership, and/or personal skills; specific and realistic plans and goals; and clear potential for career success. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.)
3	Financial Need Scholarship	FNS	Need based. This is for those who are good students or have strong potential, but are hindered by your own and/or your family's economic limitations (or other similar needs). Applicants must show that they have financial needs, but also need to show convincingly that they also deserve it due to their skills, abilities or potential, both in school and after college. This can include personal, academic, intellectual, career-related, or other strengths, and clear goals or objectives for your studies and life after college.
4	Senior Project Scholarship	SPS	Project / research based. This is for those who want to undertake a senior-year research project in any major. Your application should include a specific research proposal, with specific rationale, objectives, expected outcomes or results, and the likely benefits or value of your project. You should show that you know your topic well, and that you have the skills and abilities to do it well.
5	Creator Scholarship	CS	Project based. This is for those who dream of doing a creative project after college, such as making an independent movie, or writing and publishing a book or books. This scholarship will fund your senior year of studies at KU, so you can focus on your project. This is for those who have serious plans, a great idea, and genuine potential for success. It may be okay if the project may not seem directly related to his/her major, if you can justify this, e.g., if you can explain how your college skills might help with your creative project. You should show that you have specific, realistic plans for your project; a specific topic; specific objectives; some relevant experience or background; and the ability to carry out such a project. For a film, it will help if you have some clear ideas about film details, production schedule, budget, personnel and staff to hire, marketing, audience appeal, and its prospects for success. For a book or writing project, it will help to show clear ideas about the book topic, clear rationale and objectives, schedule, audience appeal, and its prospects for success.
6	Business & Entrepreneur Scholarship	BES	Merit / career based. This is for a person who wants to start a new company or business, e.g., to exploit a new niche, to offer a new product or service, or to develop a new and creative business idea or business model. This scholarship will fund your senior year of studies at KU, so you can focus on your project. The applicant needs to show that s/he has a clear, unique, original, and interesting idea; realistic plans and objectives; a strong potential and ability for such an undertaking; and has thought out the project well.
7	Inventor Scholarship	IS	Project / career based. This is for a person who wants to research, invent, develop, and maybe even market a new invention, such as a new device, a new material, or some kind of novel idea. This scholarship will fund your senior year of studies at KU, so you can focus on your project. The applicant needs to show that s/he has a clear, unique, original, and interesting idea; realistic plans and objectives; a strong potential and ability to carry out the project; and has thought out the project well.
8	Inventor-Entrepreneur Scholarship	IES	Project / career based. This is for a person who wants to create and market a new invention, and to do so needs to start a new company. This scholarship will fund your senior year of studies at KU, so you can focus on your project. This is a combination of the entrepreneur and inventor scholarships above. You can try this if you think you're a genius -- yes, you're really hot stuff.
9	Self-Improvement Scholarship	SIS	Merit based. This is for those awesome people who have overcome challenges in life (in the past few years), or have greatly improved from a mediocre student to an excellent student (academic improvement). Your story should be unique, genuine, interesting and convincing, and you also need to show that you have clear ideas and plans for your major and for life after college. (If your post-college plans seem different from your major, that may be okay, if you can justify your plans convincingly.)
10	Future Professional Scholarship	FPS	Merit / career based. This is for those who want to become teachers, professors, or researchers in their fields, or for those who want to enter other professional careers, e.g., medical doctors or lawyers . You should show success in your current studies; clear future potential and ability; and clear ideas about what you want to do and why.
11	Secondary Education Reformer Scholarship	SERF	Project based. Do you want to make a difference by advocating for changes in secondary education (middle school or high school) in your country, especially for English education in Korea? You can address specific programs, policies, or teaching practices in middle schools, high schools, or hagwons. Your ideas should involve a careful analysis of a specific aspect of the problem, and a specific proposal or solution to improve it. Your ideas should be specific, unique, well thought-out, and original (not something that anyone would think of), as well as feasible and realistic. You will need to convince skeptics who may resist changing the status quo, so your plans and arguments should be specific and convincing. The scholarship will fund your studies and allow you to spend extra time to research and promote your ideas.
12	University Education Reformer Scholarship	UERF	Project based. Do you want to make a difference by advocating for changes in your department, its program, its curriculum, or especially, how EMI (English-medium instruction, 영강) and EMI policy are implemented in the department or college (e.g., 공과대학, 경영대학...)? That's great, because the administrators at KU who are responsible for EMI really have no idea what the heck they are doing, and they desperately need your help. Your ideas should involve a careful analysis of a specific aspect of the problem (e.g., a specific problem in the department, in its curriculum, or with EMI in the department), and a specific proposal or solution to improve it. Your ideas should be specific, unique, well thought-out, and original (not something that anyone would think of), as well as feasible and realistic. You will need to convince skeptics who may resist changing the status quo, so your plans and arguments should be specific and convincing. The scholarship will fund your studies and allow you to spend extra time to research and promote your ideas.

 

3.3 Assignment evaluation criteria

3.3.1 Oral interview / discussion sessions

These will be conducted in Week 14 and/or Week 15, in groups. Each group will play the role of committee members who interview applicants; and each group will play the role of applicants being interviewed. Each person will have at least two minutes to give a short statement about why s/he deserves the scholarship, followed by 1-2 minutes for questions from the committee.

(A) For interviewers

• You need to develop and ask good questions to determine which applicants would deserve a scholarship.
• You may receive a minor ten-point grade for your effort as an interviewer, and/or for filling out a brief form to evaluate the candidates.

(B) For applicants

• Persuasive explanation, details, and examples – enough to persuade a scholarship committee to at least seriously consider your application;
• Clear goals for future studies and career; an understanding of what you are studying and what specifically you want to focus on; evidence of maturity, self-awareness, sense of purpose, and reasonable goals and plans
• See the grading criteria in the Appendix for major presentation / discussion assignments.
• Your interview score will be an individual grade for your performance only, though you will interview with a group of applicants. This score is the major discussion / presentation grade for the course.

3.3.2 Final essay

This essay counts as the final paper for the course. There will be no in-class exam during Week 16. Specific criteria include:

• Good contents & development of ideas; in-depth discussion and explanation;
• Persuasive explanation, details, and examples – enough to persuade a scholarship committee to at least seriously consider your application;
• Clear goals for future studies and career; an understanding of what you are studying and what specifically you want to focus on
• At least two English sources cited (additional sources in other languages are okay)
• In-text citations and end references / works cited section
• A semi-formal citation / referencing system like Chicago Manual footnote + works cited format should be used; or a more formal system like APA, MLA, or Chicago parenthetical in-text citation style.
• See the general grading criteria in the Appendix for major paper assignments (these are the same as for the midterm).
• Paper length: At least 2 full pages (double-spaced)
• Due date: Week 15, on Blackboard

3.3.3 Grading criteria

• The grading criteria for the final paper are on p. 168-169. You should use a cover / title page and paper format as shown in p. 157-159.
• The grading criteria for the in-class interview / discussion task are as follows. Each person receives an individual score. A few categories like #3 and #4 may overlap, depending on your type of scholarship (I may average your score across both categories, depending on how relevant they are for your topic). Also, I recently fixed some errors in this table.

1.	Rationale, goals, objectives	Clear rationale & explanation for your application, e.g., specific objectives, goals, and personal potential; clear focus
2.	Contents	Sufficient overall contents & preparation; enough good contents for a two-minute personal statement
3.	Support	Sufficient details & explanations about your strengths, abilities, e.g., your personal and/or academic strengths, skills, accomplishments, and your future potential.
4.	Details	Sufficient details & explanations about your plans, objectives, e.g., your personal and/or academic strengths, skills, accomplishments; a persuasive explanation of your potential in carrying out your plans. For projects, this can also include, for example, details about your project, plans, rationale, feasibility, etc.
5.	Clarity	Clear explanations, easy to understand follow; clear wording & vocabulary
6.	Organization	Well-organized and structured, good flow; flow indicated by intro, transition words & expressions; clear intro and conclusion
7.	Speaking & vocal delivery	Clear, audible voices; clear speaking & delivery; good vocal volume & intonation; the presentation quality indicates adequate rehearsal and preparation; no excessive fillers, pauses (uh, um), pauses, unfinished sentences; good pace
8.	Interaction with audience	Eye contact, body language, posture, etc.
9.	Value	Overall personal, social, artistic, academic, practical, commercial, and/or scientific value & benefit of your application and/or project and/or plans; creativity and originality; feasibility of your plans or project
10.	Effectiveness	How effective is your talk; its persuasiveness and informativeness. I will also consider (1) how well you answered questions from the audience or interviewers; and (2) how audience members evaluated your presentation.

4 Using sources

4.1 Finding sources

Sources are used for adding support to the ideas in your papers, and for helping to develop your ideas. Sources can be classified into three general types.

type	characteristics	usability	examples
General / popular sources	Written by non-experts, and thus, maybe not reliable or credible Written for a general audience (educated, non-educated, youth, etc.) The information or ideas may be of poor quality Published often for commercial / money-making purposes or such Sources may be absent, not cited, or only cited very informally	Generally not valid for college papers; most often, these should not be cited or used for college papers.	Trade books (most commercially published, popular books like those sold in book stores) Popular periodicals (commercial magazines, smaller newspapers) Common Internet sits, blogs, etc. Common reference works (dictionaries, encyclopedias) Popular media sources & materials
Professional sources	Written by experts: academic experts, business experts, government experts, professional experts from professional fields, researchers, etc. Written for an educated audience (college level readers or above) More credible information Published for professional, informational, or persuasive purposes Some citation of sources, often in a semi-formal style	Can and should be used in college papers, as these are of better quality, and many college students can understand and meaningfully use them in their college papers. These are especially used in papers in the first two years of college (before students are ready for full academic sources).	Reputable news outlets, especially those known for investigative journalism, and professional analysis & commentary (these are news sites & periodicals that have a strong international reputation, or at least a strong reputation nationally, for objective, professional journalism, reporting, and analysis) Professional trade magazines / journals, which are written by and for those working in particular professional fields Trade books written by experts (e.g., academic, government, or professional experts) for educated readers Government reports and records; official reports & records from government agencies, international organizations, and major companies Business news outlets (websites, periodicals) Periodicals for business analysis & case studies Reports, official web sites, official publications, etc., from government agencies, international agencies, and major companies White papers (a report by a government or business, or other authoritative report, giving information or proposals on an issue) Science & tech news outlets (websites, periodicals) Professional film critics
Academic sources	Written by academic experts (professors, researchers, doctoral students) Written for other academic experts in the field Written in a scholarly or technical style Consist of original research by the authors, and thus, probably reliable or worth citing Published for scientific and academic purposes by academic publishers Sources are cited using a formal citation style	Probably too difficult for most college students to read, understand, or use meaningfully in their college papers; 3rd or 4th year students might be able to handle some easier academic sources	Scholarly / research articles from academic research journals Research & technical reports from institutes or government agencies Research monographs (books that summarize research on a topic and present the author's original research) Edited volumes of research papers (collections of research articles in book form, like an anthology) Doctoral dissertations, master's thesis Conference papers

4.1.1 Professional sources

Below are examples of some professional sources that may be useful for your final papers.

News outlets

1. New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
2. Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com
3. Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com
4. Time Magazine http://www.time.com
5. McClean’s http://www.macleans.ca
6. BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news
7. Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de
8. El País (Spain) http://www.elpais.com
9. Le Monde (France) http://www.lemonde.fr
10. Reuters http://www.reuters.com
11. Associated Press http://www.ap.org

Science and technology news sources

1. Wired http://www.wired.com
2. New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com
3. Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com
4. Science News http://www.sciencenews.org
5. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com
6. CNET http://www.cnet.com (technology)
7. Wired.com http://www.wired.com

Business news & analysis

1. Forbes https://www.forbes.com
2. Harvard Business Review http://www.hbr.org
3. The Economist http://www.economist.com
4. Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com

Professional trade journals

1. The Chronicle of Higher Education https://www.chronicle.com
2. Inside Higher Ed http://www.insidehighered.com
3. Times Higher Education https://www.timeshighereducation.com/
4. Observer https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer (psychology)
5. Food Technology http://www.ift.org/food-technology.aspx
6. World Landscape Architecture https://worldlandscapearchitect.com/
7. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com

Language education

• English Today https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-today

Film experts & links

Some of these links themselves are not professional sources, but they may lead you to relevant experts or sources on film.

1. American Film Institute database
2. List of academic film experts (not a professional source)

Other trade magazines

1. Wikipedia list of trade magazines in different fields: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trade_magazines

4.1.2 Lighter academic sources

• English Today https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-today
• English Language Teaching journal https://academic.oup.com/eltj/issue
• See http://www.riss.co.kr -- these are domestic (Korean) academic publications, but some might be more understandable.

4.2 Citing sources

Here are links to guides for various citation systems. You can use any one of these for your papers in this course. If you would like to view my Prezi presentation, the overview of citation systems, it is available here.

Style	Typical field & notes
* APA (overview)	social sciences (e.g., psychology, education, sociology, applied linguistics); for a more detailed guide, see the complete APA guide
* Harvard style	an older style for various fields, which is very similar to APA style
* MLA 7 & MLA 8	literature studies
* IEEE	engineering
* Chicago Manual, short footnote style	humanities (This is a more semi-formal citation style; end references are still required with footnotes)
* Chicago Manual (parenthetical)	humanities (This is a more formal style with Author+Year in parenthetical in-text citations) humanities

If you have a lot of media sources, you might find APA inconvenient for citing these; you might find Chicago or MLA easier to use.

 

5 Style & grammar guides

• Academic versus non-academic writing
• Korean English errors
• L2 writing problems (global issues)
• Adjectives
• Capitalization
• Commas
• Colons and semi-colons
• Connectors (transitionals)
• L2 connector errors (East Asians)
• Delimiters
• Konglish (vocabulary issues)
• Logical fallacies
• Modals
• Phrasal verb errors
• Sentence types
• Unprofessional tone

6 Readings on careers

Some general articles on careers and majors.

• College Students Overestimate Importance of Major Selection for Job Prospects
• Job prospects rise with right contacts
• 8 College Majors With Great Job Prospects
• The economic value of college majors
• In the Salary Race, Engineers Sprint but English Majors Endure
• Which College Graduates Make the Most?
• Career outlooks (US Government, Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Some articles on prospects in different fields.

• IT employment prospects: beyond the dotcom bubble
• First-year employment outcomes of psychology baccalaureates: Relatedness, preparedness, and prospects
• Why ‘worthless’ humanities degrees may set you up for life

7 Assignments & grading

7.1 Minor ten-point assignments

Minor assignments are short assignments that are graded on a ten-point scale, and include short paragraph assignments (¶), Google Forms (GF), brief presentations, and in-class tasks. This may also include a couple of in-class and/or online surveys (these are for data collection or research purposes, and you get ten points simply for doing them). A few assignments may count as two or three 10-point assignments.

7.2 Midterm

The midterm will be paragraph writing task, either in-class or at home. The writing topic will be related to one of the topics or units in the course. See the grading criteria in the Appendix for writing assignments.

• Midterm due date: ? April
• Suggested length: About one page (single-spaced)
• Sources: At least one source cited, using one of the above citation systems

However, I am so not strict about word limits; what is more important is that you have enough good contents, and your ideas are well developed (good details, explanation, etc.).

7.3 Final project

We will do a final group project, which will include group work and a group discussion project. Your grade will be based mostly on your own performance, and partly on the group’s performance. Instead of a final exam, you will write an individual final essay related to your group’s project; this will be out-of-class writing, which will be related to the final project. This will probably be turned in via the online KU Blackboard. See the grading criteria in the Appendix for major writing assignments.

7.3.1 Final presentation

See the section above on Sources -> Finding sources -> Professional sources -> Making pitches for examples and tips.

7.3.2 Final paper

The final will be out-of-class writing, based on the group project, but your paper will be an entirely individual paper. This will probably be turned in via the online KU Blackboard.

7.4 Grade scale

You will be graded according to the following framework (though this might be adjusted slightly later). See the course packet for specific grading criteria.

Attendance and participation	10%
Minor ten-point assignments	20%
Midterm	20%
Discussion / interview assignment	20%
Final essay	30%

 

8 See also

8.1 Making pitches

You may also find the following sites helpful, especially for the final discussion / presentation.

• How to effectively pitch business ideas to investors
• How to pitch to investors in 10 minutes and get funded
• How to create a great investor pitch deck for startups seeking financing