English Language Development Tutoring, Workshops & Events @ UTSC
For more information, see https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/ctl/english-language-development-support

Reading and Writing Excellence (RWE) program

The Reading and Writing Excellence (RWE) program is a 4-week co-curricular program that matches you with a dedicated writing tutor who will support your academic language and writing development. The purpose of such individualized tutoring is to help you prepare for university expectations and to continue expanding your skills during your time at UTSC (if you participate in RWE multiple times). Your progress is a collaborative effort between you and your friendly, highly qualified RWE writing instructor who has your best interests at heart, and who only wants to see you excel in your time in university.

Visit our site for more details: uoft.me/RWE

For more information, please contact us at: rwe.utsc@utoronto.ca

Describing the RWE process - 40 daily minutes reading, 20 writing, and regular 30 minute tutor meetings leads to improved academic reading & writing

Academic Reading for English Language Learners

Reading is particularly challenging in a language that you are still learning. You might be tempted to look up every unfamiliar word, for example, but doing so means that you lose the sense of what you have read up to that point, and you need to return to the beginning.

You might find it useful to skim your reading before reading carefully; while you skim, look at headings, subheadings and the first sentences of paragraphs in order to familiarize yourself with the content in a preliminary way. You may find you can guess the meaning of less important words after skimming instead of looking them up. The first two handouts below, SQ3R and Targeted Reading of Academic Articles, are designed to help you with this process.

The 3rd handout, Critical Questions for Proactive Reading, helps you formulate questions about your text, a step that you will also find in SQ3R. Asking these types of questions is likewise very important to Critical Reading, the 4th handout.

The SQ3R method: survey, question, read, recite and review
Practicing Targeted Reading of Academic Articles
Critical Questions for Proactive Reading
Reading Critically

Academic Vocabulary and Grammar

Verbs in Academic Writing
Prepositions