Delaware County Community College

Course Descriptions

REA 030 - Basic and Essential Reading
REA 050 - Developmental Reading and Study Skills
REA 100 - Critical Reading

REA 015 - Essential Reading Skills I

This course is designed to establish and develop word recognition skills and improve vocabulary so that students may learn to comprehend written material at the appropriate level. Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

• Use common prefixes, suffixes and roots to determine the meaning of an unknown word.
• Pronounce vowel sounds, consonant blends and vowel combinations correctly.
• Use basic rules to syllabicate unknown words.
• Use various context clues as an aid to word recognition and word meaning.
• Use the dictionary.
• Follow written and oral directions.
• Recognize the topics and topic sentences of short paragraphs.

Credits for this course are not applicable toward a degree. Prerequisite: Reading Placement Test. Co-requisite: Essential Writing Skills I (ENG 015). 3 hours lecture,
2 hours laboratory each week 4 credits.

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REA 020 - Essential Reading Skills II

This course is designed for students who must strengthen comprehension vocabulary and study skills. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Use context clues and structural analysis as aids in determining the meaning of unknown words.
• Locate and explain topic sentences and supporting details in paragraphs.
• Recognize basic paragraph patterns.
• Outline a paragraph.
• Use the steps of a study technique.
• Use the library effectively to complete a given assignment.

Credits for this course are not applicable toward a degree.

Prerequisite: Reading placement test or successful completion of Essential Reading Skills I (REA 015).

Co-requisite: Essential Writing Skills II (ENG 020). 3 hours lecture,
2 hours laboratory each week 4 credits.

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REA 030 - Basic and Essential Reading

This course is designed for students who must strengthen comprehension vocabulary and study skills. Students will start by focusing on establishing and developing word recognition skills and improving vocabulary so that they may learn to comprehend material at the appropriate level and will progress to strategically reading paragraphs and passages. Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:

• Use common prefixes suffixes and roots to determine the meaning of anunknown word
• Pronounce vowel sounds consonant blends and vowel combinations correctly
• Use basic rules to syllabicate unknown words
• Use context clues and structural analysis as aids in determining the meaning of unknown words.
• Use the dictionary
• Follow written and oral directions
• Recognize the topic and topic sentence of short paragraphs
• Locate and explain topic sentences and supporting details in paragraphs
• Recognize basic paragraph patterns
• Outline a paragraph
• Use the steps of a study technique
• Use the library effectively to complete a given assignment
• Credits for this course are not applicable toward a degree.

PREREQUISITES: Reading placement test.

For some students depending on their writing placement English 025 may also be required.

3 Lecture Hours 3 credits.

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REA 050 - Developmental Reading and Study Skills

Developmental Reading is designed for students who need to improve their ability to understand and retain the material they read in college-level texts. Emphasis is on comprehension skills  reading strategies, and vocabulary development. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Use strategies to develop vocabulary
• State the topics and main ideas, both implied and stated, of a variety of reading materials
• Identify and use language and structural clues as an aid to comprehension in reading materials
• Use a study skills formula as an aid to academic success
• Identify and use reading strategies to resolve difficulties in comprehension
• Use prior knowledge as a connection to reading material
• Make and support inferences and conclusions by locating contextual hints and clues
• Use the library effectively to complete specific assignments
• Use paraphrasing to effectively summarize reading materials

Prerequisite: Satisfactory score on the reading placement test, REA 030, or ESL 045

3 hours each week 3 credits

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REA 100 - Critical Reading

This is an advanced reading course for students who are reading at or above the college level. It is designed to develop the student's thinking reasoning and problem-solving skills. Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to apply critical and efficient reading and inferential thinking skills to college texts and personal reading by:

• Recognizing facts, opinions, judgments, intent, attitude and tone in reading material.
• Making and supporting inferences and conclusions by locating contextual hints and clues.
• Integrating related material from several different sources.
• Evaluating persuasive techniques used in advertisements, magazine articles and editorials.
• Recognizing and evaluating techniques used in argumentation and propaganda.
• Demonstrating skill in writing summaries.
• Reading efficiently and varying pace to suit both need and material.
• Developing interpretive skills when reading selected poems, short stories, essays, and newspapers.

These credits may be used to satisfy the open elective requirement.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of Developmental Reading and Study Skills (REA 050) or satisfactory score on the English and reading placement test.

3 hours each week 3 credits

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Department Web Page

Reading Department Online:
http://www.dccc.edu/departments/reading/