Adult English Level 5  

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ELP: Level 5 / NRS: Level 6

This course is for learners with advanced English language proficiency, who have successfully completed Ventures 4 or have tested out of the National Reporting System (NRS) high-intermediate level. Ventures Transitions is for students who have academic, vocational, or employment goals.

Level Goals: This course is designed to sharpen the skills needed to achieve academic, vocational, and employment goals, with a focus on language function, context, and appropriacy. 

Level Objectives: Through individual and group activities, students will practice:

●  analyzing multiple written and spoken texts of varied lengths, text types, and registers to determine key ideas and their support, compare and contrast facts, make inferences, summarize, and cite evidence from them 

●  writing formal, evidence-based, multiple-paragraph texts of a wide range of genres and rhetorical styles (e.g. explanatory, argumentative) and text types (e.g. college admission essay, action plan)

●  delivering individual and group oral presentations of varied, formal and academic content and rhetorical style, and supported by summarized evidence from multiple sources

●  recognizing thought group boundaries; identifying and producing connected speech in semi-controlled and open oral tasks 

●  analyzing and determining the meaning of vocabulary based on contextual clues: word formation, word families, word definitions, and punctuation; recognizing, defining, and using academic words from various written and spoken texts

●  reviewing verb tenses, recognizing pragmatic uses of modals, and using a wide range of formal and informal transition words and phrases common in oral and written discourse

●  participating in various spoken interactions (e.g. small talk, discussions, job interviews), based on listening notes or other sources of evidence

Assessment: Students’ performance will be assessed based on their participation in classroom activities, homework, and performance in formative and summative in-class assessments. 

Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Analyze multiple written and spoken texts of varied lengths, text types (articles, lectures, talks), and registers (formal and informal); identify and compare key, explicit and implicit information (ideas, details, factual evidence, and other support) and summarize or cite it in follow-up tasks.

2. Write formal, evidence-based, multiple-paragraph texts of a wide range of genres, rhetorical styles, and text types relevant to their academic and workplace interests (e.g. college application, problem/solution and opinion essays).

3. Deliver source-based, individual and group oral presentations of varied content and style based on learners’ academic and workplace interests (e.g. education and jobs, small talk across cultures).

4. Determine thought group boundaries in short lectures and conversations; recognize and produce natural speech phenomena (reductions, contractions, blending, linking) in semi- controlled and open oral tasks.

5. Analyze and determine the meaning of vocabulary based on contextual clues: prefixes and suffixes, roots, word definitions, and punctuation marks (e.g. parentheses); recognize, define, and use academic words from various written and spoken texts (e.g. articles, online texts, lectures).

6. Review simple and complex verb tenses (past, present, future), recognize pragmatic uses of modals (e.g. should have, could have, might have) and use a wide range of formal and informal transition words and phrases common in oral and written discourse (e.g. to show contrast, add ideas and information).

7. Participate in various spoken interactions (e.g. small talk, discussions, job interviews) on topics such as jobs, school applications, personal professional growth, based on listening notes or other written or oral sources of evidence.