Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner
Associate Professor
Academic Literacy and Linguistics
EMAIL: ccomeaukirschner@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: N-499M
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-8377
Dr. Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner received her Ph.D. in Literacy, Language, and Learning from Fordham University, her Master’s Degree in TESOL (Adult Track) from Hunter College, and her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Journalism from Bernard M. Baruch College. She teaches standalone and corequisite courses to English language learners and native English speakers in the following disciplines: academic critical literacy, ESL intermediate and advanced composition, critical thinking, and forensic linguistics.
Expertise
Degrees
Courses Taught
- Critical Thinking (Same as CRT 100) is designed to develop the mind and help students learn to think clearly and effectively. Through substantive readings, structured writing assignments and ongoing discussions, students will examine concrete examples from their own experience and readings and contemporary issues in the media to learn how to analyze issues, solve problems, and make informed decisions in their academic, professional, and personal lives.
- 3 CRS.6 HRS.NULL LAB HRS.CRT 100.6 (Critical Thinking for ESL Reading & Writing Proficiency (Same as CRT 100))
- This course combines Critical Thinking (CRT 100) with the highest level of ESL. Critical Thinking is designed to develop the mind and help sharpen students' ability to think clearly, logically, thoroughly, critically, and effectively. Through substantive readings, structured writing assignments and ongoing discussions, students will learn to use analytical skills in reading, writing, oral presentations, researching, and listening. Students will examine concrete examples from their own experience and readings and contemporary issues in the media to learn how to analyze issues, solve problems, and make informed decisions in their academic, professional, and personal lives.
While studying Critical Thinking, ESL students will also study advanced level reading and writing to master and apply a full range of college-level reading and writing skills including critical comprehension, flexible rates of reading, essay organization, paragraph development, sentence structure, vocabulary and word choice, content, and study strategies. Students read and respond to a variety of texts and use argumentation, narrative, and description as modes of developing ideas in writing.
Students will receive an earned grade in CRT 100.6, which is equivalent to a grade earned in CRT 100.
This is an accelerated course that combines credit-bearing and developmental content. Passing CRT 100.6 meets the reading and writing proficiency milestone requirements. Students who pass CRT 100.6 are exempt from further ESL reading and writing courses. CRT 100.6 may not be taken by students who have passed CRT 100 or are exempt from reading and writing.
Please note: Tuition for this corequisite course is charged by the equated credit (hours) not per credit. - Critical Thinking and Media Literacy is designed to help students become truth-seekers in the world of new media. Students develop a critical understanding of the nature of diverse media discourses – including aims to inform, entertain, and persuade – and evaluate their contents for veracity. This course exposes the students to two sets of basic concepts: First, epistemic concepts such as truth, falsity, knowledge, and belief; and second, media concepts, including both traditional (e.g., news, commentary, reporting) and contemporary ones (e.g., social networks, new media, fake news, click-bait). In addition, it provides them with analytical methods to interpret different kinds of media contents, as well as to write critical medial analysis.
- This three credit, 200-level course will explore the complex relationship between language and the law. The course critically considers the role of language and its power in the legal process. Three branches of forensic linguistics (handwriting, phonology, and discourse analysis) will be discussed. We will examine the work of dialectologists, creolists, and graphologists who have used linguistic evidence to interpret evidence (e.g., blackmail and ransom notes), and voice and spectrogram analysis will also be discussed. The course will also examine how linguists are involved in the legal process when they serve as expert witnesses. Prerequisite: ENG 201
