UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

Language, Writing, and Cultural Exchange| English 111E is designed for students who were educated outside of U.S. school systems or have completed partial K-12 schooling in the United States and who are learning English as an additional language. In this course, multilingual students build a foundation of university academic writing, language learning, and culture-oriented literacies to successfully integrate in their new community. ENGL 103E offers a balanced developmental approach that highlights the synergies among language proficiency, writing knowledge, and intercultural competency. The course focuses on study topics like meanings of culture, relationships between language and culture, identity, politics, language and power, economic behavior, adaptation to new environments, etc. In working with these topics, students reflect upon challenges arising from ethnocentrism and develop reflective awareness about the value of ethnorelativism. In addition to two major writing projects, students complete periodic reflective journals and/or video blogs through which they further explore course topics and campus resources, engage in the writing process, and practice oral presentation skills.