Cheryl Comeau-Kirschner
Associate Professor
Academic Literacy and Linguistics
EMAIL: ccomeaukirschner@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: N-480M
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 co-requisite courses to English language learners and native English speakers in the following disciplines: academic literacy, developmental and ESL writing, critical thinking, and forensic linguistics.
Expertise
Teaching techniques and learning techniques, Teaching adult learners, Second-Language Acquisition, Second Language Writing, Literacy, Linguistics
Degrees
Courses Taught
- This introductory college level reading course emphasizes improved reading comprehension through the practice of literal, inferential and critical reading skills, vocabulary development, writing, flexible reading rates, and study skills. A variety of materials is used to enrich students??A? basic understanding of reading.
- This advanced reading course is designed to help students master a full range of college-level reading and related skills, including critical comprehension, vocabulary, writing, flexible rates of reading, and study strategies. A variety of college-level materials is used.
- 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.
- This advanced level course emphasizes writing and reading skills; however, oral skills are not neglected. In writing, students focus on introducing, developing, supporting, and organizing their ideas in expository essays as well as in narrative and descriptive writing.
- This intensive writing course for ESL students focuses on basic components of effective writing, including paragraph development and structure, sentence structure, word choice, and content. Students read and respond to a variety of texts and use argumentation, narrative, and description as modes of developing ideas in writing.
- This course combines CRT 100 and ESL 95. As a CRT 100 course, this class 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. As an ESL 95 course, this is an intensive writing class for ESL students, which focuses on basic components of effective writing, including essay organization, paragraph development, sentence structure, word choice, and content. Students read and respond to a variety of texts and use argumentation, narrative, and description as modes of developing ideas in writing. To pass this course and continue on to English 101, students must receive a passing score on the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing (CATW).
CRT 100.6 may not be taken by students who have passed CRT 100 or ESL 95 or are exempt from 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
