Authentic
Reading  

Grammar
FROM Context  

Written by
ESL Teachers  

A Support 
System  for
ESL Teachers
Using the 
Series 
  
  
  
  
 

The four textbooks in the Looking Ahead series are designed to prepare students to be successful in their academic courses in U.S. colleges and universities: reading academic texts and materials, understanding academic assignments, applying effective study skills, and responding to assignments in written language that is appropriate for the academic context.  Each book "looks ahead" to the next in the series, and together as a group they look ahead to the writing students will do in their degree programs.  Five core concepts lie behind the series:   
          1. Students need to work with a range of authentic writing tasks to prepare for their academic writing in the many different courses they will take in their college/university careers.  
          2. Students are best served by working with authentic readings at all proficiency levels.  
          3. For academic success, students need to be both fluent and accurate writers who can handle a variety of writing tasks. Grammar instruction needs to be based on the ways that structures work together in academic writing, and students need multiple opportunities over a period of time to learn to use the language of academic writing.  
          4. ESL materials are best written by experienced classroom teachers who are currently working with students similar to those for whom the materials are intended.  
          5. Textbook materials are just a script for teachers and students to use for their own purposes--and to bring to life in many different ways.  For a series to be successful, it must provide support for teachers to help them achieve the potential of the materials and of their students.    

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Authentic Writing 

Rather than teaching the "comparison-contrast essay," Looking Ahead chapters stress the aims and the means of writing.  Thus each chapter has an "-ing" orientation that is based on academic writing assignments (e.g., Investigating, Explaining, Summarizing, etc.).  Students learn how to make use of modes such as definition, classification, contrast, cause-effect in order to fulfill the expectations of authentic writing assignments.  Additionally, the Looking Ahead series works with academic research in every chapter rather than focusing on it in just a single chapter because research is at the heart of all academic writing.  Indeed, research is much more than reading a library article and involves many different ways of gathering and using information.  
          Consequently, students at the lower levels of Looking Ahead interview experts and design surveys as well as learning to use the computerized card catalog at the library.  By the time students are working in the upper levels of Looking Ahead, they are synthesizing primary and secondary source material in ways appropriate for academic writing.  
   
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Authentic Reading as Background to Authentic Writing 

To help students understand the types of writing required in university courses, Looking Ahead includes authentic academic assignments in every chapter. These assignments come from a variety of academic disciplines and demonstrate the kinds of assignments students may expect in academic assignments across the curriculum.  While the students do not actually carry out these assignments, they have opportunities to analyze and respond to them in writing or in class discussion.  For example, they might write about the kinds of research and writing that would be required to carry out a particular assignment.  
          Authentic readings are used throughout the series because inauthentic, made-up reading materials do not prepare students for the real thing when they encounter it in their academic studies; in addition, authentic texts give the students opportunities to see how English grammar really works.  Each chapter in the Looking Ahead series has a "reading theme," the point of which is to give students appropriate information about the topic that will allow them to become familiar with vocabulary, ideas, and issues within that topic.  Second, the theme-based readings are for different audiences and purposes, allowing students to see how a single topic can be written about in different ways.  Finally, students write about what they read; in some cases, they use only what they have read in Looking Ahead, and in other cases they extend their knowledge about the topic through surveys, interviews, and work on the World Wide Web or the library.  
          Because many of the students who use textbooks in the Looking Ahead series have had significant life- and school-experience in the U.S., the authentic readings throughout the series are a special benefit.  The materials fit their experiential background and are respectful of their prior knowledge and experience.  In other words, because many of the students who use these texts have substantive cultural and educational background, and because they have broad background information about the issues in the readings, they can approach the readings with self-confidence.  Moreover, the authors' experiences in pre-testing their materials has been that while their students may struggle with some of the readings, they are able to take meaning from them, and they appreciate the maturity of those readings.   

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Grammar FROM Context 

The ultimate goal of Looking Ahead is for students to become both fluent and accurate writers.  The Looking Ahead editors and authors have carefully selected grammar content that is essential for successful academic writing and reading.  The grammar component does not cover all the details of English grammar but provides explanations, examples, and exercises tightly focused on the ultimate goal of the ESL learner using the books.   
          Looking Ahead is built on a plan that gives students experience at learning and using the grammar of written English in a spiral pattern that keeps returning to the same vitally important topics at all four levels.  At each level, a student works on the grammar topic with materials and activities appropriate to her/his language proficiency.  Spiraling of grammar allows students to have multiple opportunities to work with the fundamentally important areas of grammar for academic writing.  Students have many opportunities to learn the skills and knowledge and to see how the grammar works at ever more advanced and sophisticated uses as the students move closer to entering their degree studies.  
Each book has a Grammar and Language Reference (GLR) section, making the purchase of a separate grammar handbook unnecessary.  
          While grammar activities are found in the chapters, explanations and examples are pulled together in a unified reference section for the convenience of the user.  A unique feature of the Looking Ahead series is that the examples given in the GLR are authentic—so that the GLR in a particular book will have examples taken from the readings in that book or from academic materials appropriate to students at that proficiency level.  Students can see how a particular item of grammar functions in authentic writing rather than in simplified, made-up examples.  

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The Looking Ahead Authors and Editors 

The books were written by experienced ESL teachers who have taught composition and grammar at different proficiency levels in academic preparation ESL programs in the U.S.  In addition to work with non-resident visa students, these teachers have had extensive experience teaching composition to students who are residents of the U.S. and who have graduated from U.S. high schools.  
          Looking Ahead Book 1: Learning About Academic Writing is by Sharon Cavusgil.  Sharon teaches in the ESL Program in the Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA.   Because of its urban setting, over half of the ESL students in this program are U.S. high school graduates who are permanent residents or citizens of the U.S.  She is the author of a content-based textbook aimed at students at the same low intermediate level as Book 1.  
          Linda Robinson Fellig wrote Looking Ahead Book 2: Learning About Academic Writing.  Linda teaches in the ESL Department at Community College of Philadelphia, where most of the students are U.S. residents or citizens who are preparing to enter degree programs at the college.  In addition to teaching ESL at the College, Linda works to coordinate programming between area high schools and the College.  She had published several textbooks prior to working on Looking Ahead and brought her experience as a professional writer to the team.  
          Looking Ahead Book 3: Developing Skills for Academic Writing was written by Elizabeth Byleen.  Liz teaches in the ESL Program at the University of Kansas.   For her master's degree, she designed a program for Vietnamese students who were residents of Kansas and who wanted to attend the University of Kansas.  A version of that paper is on the WWW at http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/issue1/bytitle.htm.  
          Looking Ahead Book 4: Mastering Academic Writing was written by Christine Holten and Judy Marasco.  Christine teaches in the ESL program at UCLA.  Judy is a part-time teacher at UCLA and at Santa Monica College.  Judy's experience as a part-time teacher, working in two different settings, gave the Looking Ahead team insights into the special needs of teachers with such demanding work.  
          The editors of Looking Ahead are Pat Byrd and Joy Reid.  Pat teaches teacher preparation courses and ESL in the Department of Applied Linguistics & ESL at Georgia State University, where she has worked closely with Sharon Cavusgil to implement changes in the grammar/writing curriculum.  Pat has published several textbooks, the most recent being Problem/Solution: A Reference for Writers (with Beverly Benson).   Joy teaches ESL and teacher preparation courses in the English Department at the University of Wyoming.  Former president of TESOL and the author of a widely respected series of composition textbooks, Joy's special interests are in the teaching of composition and the application of learning style theory and research to classroom teaching.   As background to Looking Ahead, Pat and Joy published Grammar in the Composition Classroom.    

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Support for Teachers Using Looking Ahead 

Looking Ahead was written by ESL teachers for other ESL teachers.  As a result, the series was planned to include not only the four textbooks but also other types of support for teachers.  This support includes   

• a printed Instructor's Manual that will be free for teachers who adopt one or more of the books in the series 
• a video of CNN presentations on the content for each chapter in each book that will be free for teachers who adopt one or more of the books in the series 
• information in the Instructor's Manual about using video in the ESL composition/grammar classroom 
• a WWW site that provides both additional information in an expanded Instructor's Manual and also interactive communication with the authors and the editors through email and live chat sessions 
• a discussion list for teachers who are using the materials to share ideas with each other and to discuss the materials with the authors and the editors 
• special sessions and get-togethers associated with the International TESOL Convention and Exposition and with other TESOL events for teachers using one or more of the Looking Ahead textbooks to meet the authors, the editors, and each other 
• workshops at other times and locations to provide opportunities for the editors and authors to meet face-to-face with ESL teachers who are using or are interesting in knowing about the Looking Ahead series of textbooks

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