Talalakina Ekaterina V., Yakusheva Irina V. Academic Skills through Cases in American Studies

Екатерина Талалакина, Ирина Якушева. — Издательский дом Высшей школы экономики, 2011. — 145 с. — ISBN 978-5-7598-0919-7. — Edited by N. Anthony Brown.The book "Academic Skills Through Cases in American Studies" is targeted at upper-intermediate and advanced ESL students aiming to master academic skills such as reading, speaking, and writing parallel to foreign language acquisition and country studies. The book can be used both as a supplement in an American studies course and as core material within a combined academic skills building course. Skills training is designed around the study of eight topics addressing American society, values, business, religion, political parties, legislation, civil rights, and immigration. The authors of the book, Ekaterina V.Talalakina and Irina V.Yakusheva, are professors at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and are renowned for their expertise and experience in the fields of both academic skills training and TESOL. This book presents a novel approach to combining language, culture, and academic skills studies.‘Academic Skills through Cases in American Studies’ is aimed at ESL college students at the Intermediate-high through Advanced levels of language proficiency. It is designed around eight country-specific (U.S.) cases that develop academic skills tested on international exams. The book covers major topics in the areas of academic reading, speaking and writing. Thus, the targeted learning outcome is two-fold: 1) to explore topical issues in American studies and 2) to master key academic skills. The content of the articles in each unit is selected according to the language needs of students
majoring in economics, sociology, political science, and the like.
The book can be used both as a supplement to a course in American Studies or as a separate curriculum within an academic skills course.American Society
Case: Abercrombie Elite Recruitment
ReadingSkills: Main Ideas and Supporting Details
SpeakingSkills: Discrimination Debate
WritingSkills: Paragraph Structure and Pre-Writing Strategies
American Values
Case: Facebook Raging Transparency
ReadingSkills: Implied Main Ideas and Inferences
SpeakingSkills: Privacy Debate
WritingSkills: Essay Structure
Business in the US
Case: Starbucks Monopoly Tactics
ReadingSkills: Transition Signals
SpeakingSkills: Monopoly Debate
WritingSkills: Patterns of Organization
Religion in the US
Case: Studying Creationism at Schools
ReadingSkills: Fact and Opinion, Bias
SpeakingSkills: Separation of Church and State Debate
WritingSkills: Cause and Effect Essays
American Parties
Case: The New Tea Party
ReadingSkills: Context Clues and Figures of Speech
SpeakingSkills: Third Party Debate
WritingSkills:Comparison and Contrast Essays
American Legislation
Case: Guns on Campus
ReadingSkills: Purpose and Tone
SpeakingSkills: Right to Bear Arms Debate
WritingSkills: Argumentative Essays
Civil Rights in the US
Case: Same-Sex Marriages
Reading Skills: Interpreting Graphics
Speaking Skills: Equality Debate
Writing Skills: Paraphrasing
Immigration in the US
Case: Anchor Babies
Reading Skills: Critical Reading
Speaking Skills: Immigration Debate
Writing Skills: SummarizingUnified Glossary of Topical Vocabulary
Unified Glossary of Modifiers
Unified Glossary of Legal Vocabulary
Unified Glossary of Useful Phrases for Debate
Unified Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
Appendix
List of American States Abbreviations
List of Transition Signals
Essay Check-List
Acknowledgements