UCI Freshmen’s New 3 Rs: Remedial Reading and ‘Riting

As he finishes his first year at UC Irvine, Tanapol Sirithavee has aced advanced mathematics, but he struggles with basic grammar.

Even though he was an honors English student in high school, Sirithavee, who grew up speaking Thai at home in Monterey Park, failed the university’s writing exam for entering freshmen. He is stuck on subject-verb agreements and verb tenses.

“My high school didn’t really stress grammar,” said Sirithavee, who is 19.

More than half of UC Irvine’s freshman class failed the university writing test, commonly known as “Subject A.” The idea is to see whether they know the conventions of the English language and have the basic reading and writing skills needed to do university-level work.

Educators heaped criticism on the school system after California State University recently released numbers showing large numbers of students needing remedial help. But even at the eight University of California campuses that offer undergraduate studies, there are legions of students who can’t pass such a test without extra help. With 54% of its entering students needing remedial help, the Irvine campus ranks second, below UC Riverside.

The reason is obvious: “More than half of our students grow up in families where English is not the first language,” said John Hollowell, the director of writing programs at UC Irvine. An estimated 65% of all students enrolled at UCI were born outside the United States, most in Asian countries.

Each campus has a remedial program to help those who have failed to master what they should have in high school. Hundreds of freshmen enroll every fall in these classes at all UC campuses because they have not met the “Subject A” requirement, either by passing the essay exam given to high school seniors each May or by scoring well on other standardized tests.

After the students take Subject A, some university campuses require them to retake the test to meet the requirement. UC Irvine students, however, will fulfill the so-called Subject A requirement by successfully completing a remedial composition course. Some, such as Sirithavee, have been classified as English as a second language students and must first pass an ESL class before taking the Subject A course, Hollowell said.

Under rules set down by the Academic Senate, if freshmen--except for ESL students who are given extra time--don’t satisfy the university writing requirement in three quarters, they can be placed on academic probation and eventually expelled. But university officials said that rarely happens because most students are eager to meet the requirement.

Despite the troubles in writing, those students have reached a level of competence in other subjects that shows they can handle university-level work, several UC officials said.

“We’re helping an entire first generation of nonnative English speakers become successful at the college level,” said Robin Scarcella, the director of English as a second language programs at UCI. “Once they’ve made it into the university, it is our responsibility to help them.”

UC Berkeley, the most selective campus, had 491 freshmen this past fall who failed the test. UCLA had 732 of these “Sub-A” students, as they are sometimes called.

Assessing these students, university officials said some are recent immigrants who learned English relatively late in life. Others were born in the United States, but raised in homes and communities where English is far from the dominant language.

Scarcella and other university officials blame California’s public schools for failing to teach these students to write. Even worse, she said, is that schools are giving passing English grades, convincing them that they are achieving.

“Then you come to UCI and you have somebody saying you don’t have the English skills you need,” Scarcella said. “They feel deceived and tricked and they want to know why someone hasn’t told them before.”

It’s no longer fashionable for high school teachers to lecture in class, said John Briggs, the director of UC Riverside’s Subject A program. So these students have little exposure to proper English.

“It’s considered impolite,” he said, for teachers to correct a student’s grammar in class. And, he said, many high school teachers are reluctant to assign essays because of the time it takes to grade them. A typical English teacher has 40 students in each of five classes, amounting to 200 papers per assignment. So, their students get little practice.

“All of this,” Briggs said, “jeopardizes the University of California careers of some students every year.”

UC officials, for reasons of funding and stature, are careful to avoid the R-word. But students and faculty know what it is.

“We redefine it and say we aren’t offering remedial course work, but, of course, we are,” said George Hanson, head of UC San Diego’s Subject A program.

The debate over such remedial programs is a hot topic across the country. The trustees of the City University of New York last month decided to phase out remedial courses by 2002 and bar admission to students who cannot pass exams in reading, writing and math.

California State University trustees considered and then rejected such an idea a few years back, opting instead for an aggressive effort to help public high schools teach students the basic skills before they get to college.

So Sirithavee knows he is playing catch-up as he crams his ESL class into his full-time course load.

Immigrating to the United States six years ago with his family, Sirithavee expected college course work to be more difficult than high school classes, he said. And he knows his English is improving.

“Teachers are good, and they’re really helpful,” he said. “I just need to pass the course.”

Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss contributed to this report.

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The Subject A Examination

High school seniors get two hours to read a brief passage from a book, and write an essay during the exam offered on the second Saturday of May each year at locations around the state. The topics change every year. In 1987, they were asked to read a two-page passage from Harvard anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn’s book, “Mirror for Man,” which explains the influence of culture on how people think, feel and behave.

An excerpt of the passage:

“Why do so many Chinese dislike milk and milk products? Why during World War II did Japanese soldiers die willingly in a Banzai charge that seemed senseless to Americans? Why do some nations trace descent through the father, others through the mother, still others through both parents? Not because different peoples have different instincts, not because they were destined by God or Fate to different habits, not because the weather is different in China and Japan and the United States. Sometimes shrewd common sense has an answer that is close to that of the anthropologist: ‘because they were brought up that way.’ By ‘culture’ anthropology means the total life way of a people, the social legacy individuals acquire from their group. Or culture can be regarded as that part of the environment that is the creation of human beings.”

The Assignment:

“How does Kluckhohn explain the differences and similarities among the world’s peoples? What do you think about his views? Use examples from your own experience, reading or observation in developing your essay.”

Subject A Scoring Guide

The categories below describe the characteristics typical of papers at six different levels of competence. All the descriptions take into account that the papers represent two hours of reading and writing. Students must score a 4 or better to pass.

6--A 6 paper commands attention because of its insightful development and mature style. It presents a cogent response to the text, elaborating that response with well-chosen examples and persuasive reasoning. The 6 paper shows that its writer can usually choose words aptly, use sophisticated sentences effectively and observe the conventions of written English.

5--A 5 paper is clearly competent. It presents a thoughtful response to the text, elaborating that response with appropriate examples and sensible reasoning. A 5 paper typically has a less fluent and complex style than a 6, but does show that its writer can usually choose words accurately, vary sentences effectively and observe the conventions of written English.

4--A 4 paper is satisfactory, sometimes marginally so. It presents an adequate reasoning to the text, elaborating that response with sufficient examples and acceptable reasoning. Just as these examples and this reasoning will ordinarily be less developed than those in 5 papers, so will the paper’s style be less effective. Nevertheless, a 4 paper shows that its writer can usually choose words of sufficient precision, control sentences of reasonable variety and observe the conventions of written English.

3--A 3 paper is unsatisfactory in one or more of the following ways. It may respond to the text illogically; it may lack coherent structure or elaboration with examples; it may reflect an incomplete understanding of the text or the topic. Its prose is usually characterized by at least one of the following: frequently imprecise word choice; little sentence variety; occasional major errors in grammar and usage, or frequent minor errors.

2--A 2 paper shows serious weaknesses, ordinarily of several kinds. It frequently presents a simplistic, inappropriate or incoherent response to the text, one that may suggest some significant misunderstanding of the text or the topic. Its prose is usually characterized by at least one of the following: simplistic or inaccurate word choice; monotonous or fragmented sentence structure; many repeated errors in grammar and usage.

1--A 1 paper suggests severe difficulties in reading and writing conventional English. It may disregard the topic’s demands, or it may lack any appropriate pattern of structure or development. It may be inappropriately brief. It often has a pervasive pattern of errors in word choice, sentence structure, grammar and usage.

Editor’s note: The percentages of students who failed UC’s English proficiency exam are higher than the numbers who take Subject A. Some students who fail do not need to take the course because they scored highly on AP or SAT II tests, or took a composition course at a community college.

Source: University of California

Los Angeles Times

Unprepared for College

To demonstrate proficiency in reading and writing needed for college-level work, freshmen at University of California campuses must pass the university’s “Subject A” examination, or score 3 or better on the Advanced Placement English test or a 660 or higher on the SAT II English Writing exam. Students can also satisfy the requirement by passing a English composition class at a community college before enrolling at the university. The percentage of freshmen who failed the test last fall at all UC campuses:

1996

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Number of freshmen % of freshman class UC Berkeley 499 15.9% UC Davis 1,195 34.6% UC Irvine 1,504 49.6% UCLA 706 21.1% UC Riverside 726 55.5% UC San Diego 526 21.1% UC Santa Barbara 1,267 41.4% UC Santa Cruz 215 13.1% UC Systemwide 6,674 31.0%

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*

1997

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Number of freshmen % of freshman class UC Berkeley 491 16.3% UC Davis 1,307 41.0% UC Irvine 1,411 54.2% UCLA 732 22.7% UC Riverside 1,187 61.8% UC San Diego 783 26.1% UC Santa Barbara 1,520 45.1% UC Santa Cruz 729 40.9% UC Systemwide 8,160 36.9%

*--*

Number and percentage of freshmen entering University of California campuses who did not pass Subject A writing composition requirement before enrolling.

*--*

Year Number Percentage 1987 7,160 37.7% 1988 6,873 35.0% 1989 7,168 39.5% 1990 6,307 35.0% 1991 5,473 31.3% 1992 6,101 33.1% 1993 5,734 31.4% 1994 7,278 37.7% 1995 6,423 31.5% 1996 6,674 31.0% 1997 8,160 36.9%

*--*

Source: University of California