Content Standard 1

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC ENGL 1101 Course Objectives #1, #2, #3; ABAC ENGL 1102 Course Objectives #1 and #4; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #1)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to manage various stages in the writing process—including collecting data; developing a single focus; using a thesis to organize thoughts; supporting generalizations with pertinent facts and explanations; adjusting diction, tone and voice for a specific readership; and editing carefully for effective style as well as standard usage, grammar, and mechanics—to produce cogent, rhetorically effective essays.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert essay develops clear, thoughtful, and significant ideas with a keen awareness of audience.  In addition,

• it offers fresh, thoughtful, logical, detailed, relevant, and interesting development;
• it possesses coherent and effective organization that enhances the development;
• it employs varied, readable, and skillfully constructed sentences;
• it incorporates fresh, precise, economical, and idiomatic diction;
• it has few or no deviations from the grammar and conventions of Standard English; and
• it uses correct format.

Minimally Acceptable Proficiency--

The minimally acceptable essay possesses most of  the following characteristics:

• it develops clear ideas, but these may be trite;
• its support will be relevant but general;
• its organization must be clear but is often mechanical;
• it may demonstrate little awareness of audience;
• its sentences may lack variety;
• its vocabulary is generally correct but unremarkable;
• it may possess occasional problems in grammar or mechanics significant to distract from the writer's purpose; and
• it may vary occasionally from correct format.

Non-proficiency--

The non-proficient essay  typically possesses one or more of the following characteristics:

• it presents confused and/or unfocused ideas with little or no concern for the audience;
• it may possess little or no organization;
• it may contain several incoherent sentences;
• it contains multiple instances of inappropriate diction;
• it contains errors in grammar and usage that are frequent and serious enough to undermine the writer's credibility; and
• it may not address the assignment or adhere to correct format.

Students will submit samples of work from freshman composition classes that demonstrate their ability to

• write various multi-draft essays;
• perform constructive peer reviews of student drafts; and
• revise their own writing after receiving suggestions, questions, and comments from fellow students as well as from their instructor.

Content Standard 2

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC ENGL 1101 Course Objective #5; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #2)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to write cogent impromptu essays that demonstrate the basic principles of organization, development, sentence structure, diction, grammar, usage, and mechanics.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert impromptu essay satisfies the following criteria:

• it has a clear central idea the related directly to the assigned topic;
• it has a clear organizational plan;
• it develops its major points logically and supports them with concrete, specific evidence or details that arouse the reader’s interest;
• it reveals the writer’s ability to select effective, appropriate words and phrases;
• it employs varied, sophisticated sentences;
• it makes careful use of effective transitional devices;
• it maintains a consistent, appropriate tone; 
• it is essentially free from mechanical errors;
• it contains no serious grammatical errors; and
• it expresses its ideas freshly and vividly.

Minimally Acceptable Proficiency--

The minimally acceptable impromptu essay possesses most of  the following characteristics:

• it has a central idea related directly to the assigned topic and presented with sufficient clarity that the reader is aware of the writer’s purpose;
• its organization is clear enough for the reader to perceive the writer’s plan;
• its paragraphs coherently present some evidence or details to substantiate its assertions;
• it uses ordinary, everyday words accurately and idiomatically;
• it generally avoids both the monotony created by a series of  choppy, simple sentences and the incoherence caused by long, tangled sentences; and
• it may contain a few serious grammatical errors and several mechanical errors, but these are not of sufficient severity or frequency to obscure the sense of what the writer is saying.

Non-proficiency--

The non-proficient impromptu essay has any one of the following problems to an extraordinary degree or it has several to a limited degree:

• it lacks a central idea;
• it lacks a clear organizational plan;
• it does not develop its points or develops them in a repetitious, incoherent, or illogical way;
• it does not relate directly to the assigned topic;
• it contains several serious grammatical errors;
• it contains numerous mechanical errors;
• it uses ordinary, everyday words inaccurately and unidiomatically;
• it contains a limited vocabulary so that the words chosen frequently do not serve the writer's purpose;
• its syntax is frequently rudimentary or tangled; or
• it is so brief that the rater cannot make an accurate judgment of the writer's ability.

Students may pass the essay portion of the University System of Georgia Regents’ Test.

Students may write at least one timed, impromptu essay that demonstrates mastery of this writing skill.

Students may pass a departmentally administered impromptu exit essay.

Content Standard 3

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC ENGL 1101 Course Objective #7; ABAC ENGL 1102 Course Objective #6; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #4)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to use computers to format, draft, revise, and edit essays.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert computer assignment meets the following criteria:

• it uses word processing technology to format papers properly, including proper use of headers, hanging indents, margins, alignment, special fonts (italics and underlining), footnotes and/or endnotes, etc.;
• if warranted, it effectively integrates tables, charts, pictures, graphs, or other visually formatted data;
• it accurately reproduces and effectively incorporates relevant facts, opinions, and interpretations from credible electronic sources, including the Internet.

Minimally Acceptable Proficiency--

The minimally acceptable computer assignment possesses most of  the following characteristics:

• it uses word processing technology to prepare papers that generally conform  to the assigned format but may have minor errors in the use of headers, fonts, alignment, etc.;
• it reproduces generally relevant information from an electronic source, but it may do so with minor errors in accuracy;
• it may use a dated and/or superceded source or a source of limited credibility.

Non-proficiency--

The non-proficient computer assignment has any one of the following problems to an extraordinary degree or it has several to a limited degree:

• it has major errors in formatting;
• it seriously misrepresents the source; or
• it uses an outdated, suspect, or irrelevant source.

Students will complete at least one written assignment with the help of a computer.

Content Standard 4

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC Objective ?; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #3)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to read and respond to texts written in various rhetorical modes for a variety of purposes.

Expert Proficiency--

Expert readers will read and interpret a wide range of materials with a high degree of accuracy.  Specifically, they will demonstrate an ability to

• make accurate inferences about the style, purpose, and organization of a passage;
• use various contextual clues to determine the meanings of words;
• recognize important factual content, the sequences of events, and pronoun referents;
•  recognize comparative and causal relationships;
• identify the main idea of a passage or paragraph;
•  understand inductive and deductive reasoning; and
• interpret figurative language. 

Minimally Acceptable Proficiency--

Minimally proficient readers will read and interpret a wide range of materials with a basic level of accuracy.  Specifically, they will demonstrate an ability to

• make generally accurate inferences about the purpose and organization of a passage;
• use various contextual clues to determine the meanings of most words;
• recall crucial factual content, understand the general sequence of events, and understand most pronoun referents;
• generally recognize important comparative and causal relationships;
• identify the main idea of a passage or paragraph with reasonable accuracy;
•  understand the relationship between major claims and support, whether arranged inductively or deductively; and
• interpret figurative language with basic accuracy.

Non-proficiency--

The non-proficient readers will read and interpret a wide range of materials with less than basic accuracy.  Specifically, they will be characterized by one or more of the following characteristics:

• inaccurately infer the purpose and organization of a passage;
• misinterpret the meanings of several words as they are used in context;
• misunderstand crucial factual content, misrepresent the general sequence of events, and/or misunderstand important pronoun referents;
• fail to recognize important comparative and causal relationships;
• misinterpret or overlook the main idea of passages or paragraphs;
• confuse the relationship between claims and support, whether arranged inductively or deductively; and
• misinterpret figurative language.

Students may explain the main idea, purpose, and implicit meaning of an unfamiliar passage.

Students may respond to professional and academic prose through reading quizzes, response essays, peers reviews, and/or as part of writing a research paper.

Content Standard 5

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC ENGL 1102 Course Objective #2 and #5; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #4)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to locate, evaluate, incorporate, and document data from a variety of print and electronic sources into their writing.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert research-based essay is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it addresses a significant topic in a  clear, thoughtful way;
• it demonstrates a keen awareness of audience;
• it supports its assertions with logical, detailed, and relevant content;
• it employs an appropriate research method and incorporates a wide range of sources, including both print and electronic media, written from multiple perspectives; 
• it accurately represents source material;
• it effectively synthesizes material from sources written for different purposes or for different audiences;
• it maintains an effective balance of personal ideas and information gleaned from sources;
• it observes the conventions of the designated documentation style sheet; 
• it possesses a coherent and effective organization and employs a lucid, readable style;  and
• it uses fresh, precise, and idiomatic vocabulary and has few if any deviations from the conventions of Standard English.

Minimal  Proficiency—

The minimally proficient research-based essay is distinguished by one or more of the following characteristics:

• it has clear but conventional ideas;
• it demonstrates consistent awareness of audience and purpose with only minor lapses;
• its development is often rather general and may be marred by minor contradictions or inconsistencies. 
• its research is typically not thorough and occasionally inappropriate to the author’s purpose;
• it typically misrepresents the source material in minor ways and/or has a few errors in documentation;
• it sometimes relies too heavily upon quoted or paraphrased material;
• it may have trouble incorporating material from opposing perspectives. 
• its organization is basically clear though often mechanical;
• its style is unremarkable, and its sentences often lack variety.
• its vocabulary is generally correct but limited; and it may have errors in usage or grammar serious enough to interfere briefly with the writer’s purpose.

Non-proficiency

The non-proficient essay is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• its thesis is unclear;
• its development is vague, incoherent, or contradictory;
• it demonstrates little or no awareness of audience and/or  purpose; 
• it presents little research or inappropriate research;
• it seriously mishandles sources and/or has serious errors in documentation, including plagiarism; and it may quote excessively. 
• it may have an inchoate organization, a number of incoherent sentences, or frequent, distracting errors in usage, grammar or vocabulary.

Students will write at least one research-based assignment that uses and documents print as well as electronic databases and sources.

Content Standard 6

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC Sophomore Literature Course Outcomes #1 and 2; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #5)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to use their knowledge of genres, movements, and conventions to interpret works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and/or drama.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert literary analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it exhibits a keen sensitivity to the nuances of both literal and figurative language;
• it posits clear, original, and insightful relationships between language and theme, central idea, or dominant impression;
• it accurately assesses the effect that genre has upon several elements of at least one work, including language, style, characterization, and/or structure of a literary work;
• it accurately assesses the impact of one or more literary movements upon multiple elements of a work; 
• it identifies meaningful deviations from the conventions of genre or literary movement;
• it may discover patterns of dissonance as well as of unity in literary works;
• it is well organized; uses fresh, precise, and idiomatic vocabulary; and has few if any deviations from the conventions of Standard English.

Minimal  Proficiency—

The minimally proficient literary analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it recognizes important instances of figurative language and accurately interprets literal language;
• it makes clear if occasionally trite connections between language and theme, central idea, or dominant impression;
• it points out one or more connections between literary genre and the language, style, characterization, and/or structure of a literary work;
• it discusses at least one way in which a literary work reflects the concerns of a literary movement; 
• it discovers at least one significant pattern of repetition in a literary work; 
• it is cogently organized, uses everyday words accurately, and its errors in sentence structure, grammar, or the conventions of Standard English are not serious enough to hamper communication significantly.

Non-proficiency

The non-proficient literary analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it may ignore or misrepresent important instances of figurative language or seriously misinterpret literal language;
• it may make vague or contradictory connections between language and theme, central idea, or dominant impression;
• it may fail to point out one or more connections between literary genre and the language, style, characterization, and/or structure of a literary work;
• it may not discuss at least one way in which a literary work reflects the concerns of a literary movement; 
• it may fail to discuss at least one significant pattern of repetition in a literary work; 
• it may not be cogently organized, it may use everyday words inaccurately, or its errors in sentence structure, grammar, or the conventions of Standard English are  serious enough to hamper communication significantly.

Students will write at least one in-class or out-of-class essay that performs a literary analysis of one or more works.

Content Standard 7

General statement of knowledge and/or ability

(See ABAC Sophomore Literature Course Outcomes #6 and 7; VSU Core Curriculum Content Standard #5)

Performance Standards

 Guidelines for evaluating performance

Assessment Methods

Activities used to assess student performance

Students will be able to use their knowledge of a variety of cultural and historical contexts to interpret works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and/or film.

Expert Proficiency--

The expert literary analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it accurately places a literary work within at least two different contexts, including philosophical or religious concerns, national or regional awareness, expressions of cultural identity, and/or experiences of cultural conflicts;
• it specifically and accurately contrasts social and political visions competing in the same and/or different works;
• it cogently analyzes some of the ways that literary works comment upon social traditions, institutions, and assumptions;
• it recognizes multiple ways in which at least one literary work resists or promotes social change; 
• it is well organized; uses fresh, precise, and idiomatic vocabulary; and has few if any deviations from the conventions of Standard English.

Minimal  Proficiency—

The minimally proficient cultural and historical analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it places a literary work within at least one context--including philosophical or religious concerns, national or regional awareness, expressions of cultural identity, and/or experiences of cultural conflicts--with basic accuracy;
• it identifies some conflict of social and political vision present in the same and/or different works;
• it offers some discussion of at least one way that literary works comment upon social traditions, institutions, and assumptions;
• it recognizes at least one way that at least one  literary work resists or promotes social change; 
• it is clearly organized, uses everyday words accurately, and its errors in sentence structure, usage, and the conventions of Standard English are not serious enough to hamper communication significantly.

Non-proficiency

The non-proficient cultural and historical analysis is distinguished by the following characteristics:

• it may not place a literary work within at least one context--including philosophical or religious concerns, national or regional awareness, expressions of cultural identity, and/or experiences of cultural conflicts--with basic accuracy;
• it may not identify some conflict of social and political vision present in the same and/or different works;
• it may not discuss at least one way that literary works comment upon social traditions, institutions, and assumptions;
• it may not recognize one way in which at least one literary work resists or promotes social change; 
• it may have serious organizational problems, use everyday words inaccurately, and/or its errors in sentence structure, usage, and the conventions of Standard English may be serious enough to hamper communication significantly.

Students will write at least one in-class or out-of-class essay that includes some analysis of cultural and historical context.