ALS 1370 - Academic Communication for Multilingual Students

Fall. 3 credits. S/U grades only (no audit).

Permission of instructor required.

I. Arnesen.

The course introduces multilingual students to the academic expectations necessary for successful undergraduate careers at Cornell University. Students will research and write about a series of global issues (inequality, climate change, and food policy) as they consider their roles as international students in a dynamic, diverse academic environment. Students will acquire strategies for applying critical reading, writing, speaking, thinking, and language skills to both academic and global contexts. Practicing components of each skill area will enable students to develop a general foundation for oral and written communication as scholars and as global citizens.

Outcome 1: Developing an understanding of:
• critical thought and analysis in a global context
• U.S. academic culture
• university classroom expectations

Outcome 2: Practical Skills and Techniques for:
• developing strategies for reading, understanding, and interpreting scholarly texts
• examining academic texts for rhetorical and structural language features
• writing with theses, organization, arguments, evidence, and clear language
• accurately citing source material
• listening effectively to lectures and taking relevant notes
• participating in class discussions
• giving short academic presentations
• revising and sharing work