Students will be allowed to choose their own English remedial course

Ashley Hurtado

In order to make remedial courses more reflective of student writing aptitude, Sacramento State will implement a new English placement technique in the fall.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Sheree Meyer said California State University faculty is no longer confident in the accuracy of the English Placement Test, because the exam assesses test-taking ability and not necessarily students writing abilities.

“The problem is that it is a single-high-stakes-timed test,” Meyer said. “Most of us who write and teach writing know that’s not how writing happens.”

Similar to many other CSU campuses, Sac State will still require students to take the English Placement Test, but will not use these scores to determine their placement in remedial courses. Through the implementation of direct self placement students will be able to choose their learning experience in remedial English.

Incoming students will complete a series of direct self placement activities. Regardless of their English Placement Test scores, they will have the opportunity to enroll in one of  two types of English composition courses, which are English 5, currently English 1A, or English 10 and English 11.

English 5 is a one-semester course for students who feel confident with their English skills, while English 10 and English 11 can be taken by students who need two semester to become stronger writers.  The material provided by English 5 and English 10 and 11 is virtually the same, Meyer said.

Students can also enroll in the multilingual version of these courses.

Another important change to the structuring and methodology of the program is the removal of the term remedial when naming these courses.

“My problem with the word remedial is that is makes it sound like they did something wrong in high school,” Meyer said. “From our (group) of students labeled remedial, some have (Advanced Placement) units, so these are not bad students.”

The university is also attempting to promote student success early on, requires students to complete remedial courses within the first year of enrollment.

Angela Stephenson, English department coordinator, said only students who place in English 10 and 11 must enroll in English remedial courses their first semester. Students who test into English 1A are not required to complete the course within the first year.

“If (students) don’t meet the remedial (course) requirement it will show up on their Student Center as a hold,” Stephenson said. “If they don’t meet the remedial requirement within the first year, they can be dismissed from the university.”

Senior business major Christina Lu said the remedial English course she took her as a freshman helped her become a more effective writer.

Lu said English was not her strongest area when she first arrived in the university and English 1A improved her writing skills by teaching her how to formulate an essay correctly.

The course gave her a strong framework in writing, allowing her to successfully complete college level English courses, and is helping her write effective proposals in a business communications course.

“It was mainly the structure I had a problem with,” Lu said. “I didn’t really know how to put my thoughts together properly.”