• Introduction

 

Freshman English for Non-Majors (FENM) is a required course for most freshmen at Tunghai University. It is a one-year course worth six credits (beginning from 2015 academic year). Students must receive a grade of 50 or above in the first-semester FENM of before taking second-semester FENM. (How to take 113-1 Freshman English classes)

Students are placed into either a Track A course or a Track B course based on the result of the placement exam and the classes are scheduled by colleges.
A Track course, a 3-3 credit, 3-hour-a-week course without a listening lab class, is designed for FENM students who score 30 (75%) or above on the listening section of the FENM Placement Exam with a total score of 56 or above.
Track B course, a 3-3 credit, 4 hour-a-week course with a listening lab class, is designed for FENM students who score lower than 30 (75%) on the listening section of the FENM Placement Exam and also for FENM students who score lower than 56 in total on the FENM Placement Exam.

The general goal of FENM program is to provide a non-threatening atmosphere to engage students’ participation and boost their confidence in English speaking contexts. Besides, we expect to take students’ English from high school to the next level, so that they will be able to achieve fluency in a general context. To achieve these goals, FENM program focuses on all four skill: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.


Pass/Pass Rule
Freshman English for Non-English Majors (FENM) class grade is divided into two parts: exams and in-class. In order to pass FENM class, you MUST pass both parts (i.e., exams and in-class) AND achieve an average of the two with a 60 or above on a 100-point scale. The exams include the mid-term and final exams for each semester. The in-class portion of the grade includes the average of all graded assignments (e.g., quizzes, written assignments, oral assignments) and class participation for each semester. To be more specific, you MUST pass the exams portion with a 56 or above on a 100-point scale and the in-class portion with a 60 or above on a 100-point scale AND the average of the exams and in-class portions MUST also be 60 or above on a 100-point scale.

Examples:
1. exams 99 + in-class 59 = fail (in-class fail)* 
2. exams 55 + in-class 99 = fail (exams fail)*
3. exams 56 + in-class 60 = fail (average fail)
4. exams 56 + in-class 64 = pass
*For examples 1-2, students will receive a computer generated failing grade 54.

 

Listening Goals

  • to comprehend English conversations about everyday topics
  • to listen to and understand English as it is used in real life

Listening Specifics 
By the end of the FENM program, students are expected to listen to and comprehend short and simple oral passages and conversations on familiar topics. They should also be able to answer questions about the main ideas and details of oral passages. These goals will be achieved by listening to teachers and classmates speaking English in class, listening to audio files appropriate to the students’ levels in or out of the classroom, and participating in the language lab.

Language Lab 
The language lab gives the students further opportunities to listen to English speakers other than their own teachers. Language lab takes place one hour a week. Sounds Good 3 and Listen In Book 2 are the textbooks for the listening and speaking activities in the lab. Other materials may also be utilized for listening practice for culturally significant occasions. For example, during Christmas week, there will be a special lab introducing festivals and cultural activities practiced in English-speaking countries.

Students may not bring food or drinks into the lab.

 

Speaking Goals

  • to be comfortable using English for real-life communication in and outside the classroom
  • to be more confident in oral communication in various forms

Oral Specifics
To achieve these goals, students need to perform various tasks in English, such as pair work, group work, role-plays, dialogues, speeches, and plays about everyday life and other topics teachers feel appropriate. Some oral assignments will be individual, while some will be done in pairs or small groups. (Refer to the following special section about dialogues and plays.) Oral assignments are worth 15% of the total grade.

 

Reading Goals

  • to improve basic reading skills (skimming, scanning, reading for main idea, inferencing, and guessing vocabulary in context)
  • to apply basic reading skills to reading in a variety of contexts

Reading Specifics 
Reading goals will be accomplished through the use of both intensive and extensive reading. Intensive reading includes the reading of articles in the reading textbooks and other supplemental readings chosen by teachers according to students’ levels. The purpose of these textbooks is to introduce and enhance basic reading skills. Extensive reading includes the use of simplified readers (English novels and stories graded to students’ appropriate levels) to foster students’ appreciation of reading in English language.

 

Writing Goals

  • to understand the fundamental components of well-structured, comprehensible, and cohesive expository writings 
  • to apply writing strategies to composing comprehensible texts 

Writing Specifics
Students will be taught to write topic sentences, supporting sentences, and an introductory or summary paragraph that contains an introduction, supporting details, and a conclusion. Students of higher level can be taught to expand their paragraph constructing skills to develop a 3-5 paragraph essay that consists of an introduction paragraph, one to three main-body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.

In the first and second semester, the program-wide activities, Dialogue and Play, should be counted as individual writing assignments as well as oral assignments. (Refer to the following special section about dialogues and plays.) Writing assignments are worth 10% of the total grade.