AQCI Close Reading & Self‑Evaluation Handout: Customized close reading framework designed for B1-C1 humanities cohort (AI majors). Close reading protocols expanded from AQCI self‑assessment prompts (Argument, Question, Connections, Implications) to address key intermediate L2 learners’ challenges in judging whether they have sufficiently grasped the meaning of complex texts. This guide provides step‑by‑step close reading procedures for unpacking dense primary sources and gives structured formats for written and oral outputs requiring clear demonstration of reading comprehension beyond summarizing. This framework underpinned all close reading activities in the TIH course, including the Saussure jigsaw close reading exercises below.

Jigsaw Close Reading Exercise Set (Saussure for B1-C1 Readers): Designed for intermediate L2 humanities students majoring in artificial intelligence, the format of this exercise was designed to address their challenges in tackling a complex L2 text. Excerpts that contained key concepts from Saussure (1916) were selected for relative ease of reading, then these were split into nine shorter, conceptually manageable sections for team tasks. Students worked in groups on collaborative analysis of their respective sections before whole‑class discussion of their answers for knowledge consolidation. Then, in jigsaw format, groups presented their interpretations to peers, discussed and debated comparative meanings across excerpts, and finally collaboratively constructing a unified overview of the entire text’s core arguments. One representative worksheet of the nine total is linked here.

Elevator Pitch Speaking Scaffold and Formative Rubric Practicing Final Mock Poster Conference Skills: Adapted from Harvard Catalyst Writing & Communication Center’s elevator pitch framework (see the original framework here: [Link to external Harvard Catalyst site]), this exercise was designed to help intermediate L2 AI majors practice authentic professional/academic networking dialogues ahead of an in-class mock research poster conference. The guide breaks down a 60–120 second elevator pitch into simple components, provides a dialogue template, a clear rubric, and a checklist for student self-evaluation covering content, structure, accessible delivery, body language, and conversational follow-up skills. Beyond competence in presenting research, the activity’s goal was to build confidence in initiating casual cross-cultural English conversations with international peers, enabling learner networking and effective social interaction. Students completed recorded practice and peer feedback using this guide before the final conference and improved markedly from the midterm.

Humanities Poster‑Presentation Scaffold: Developed after midterm draft poster workshops and provision of one-on-one feedback, this guide addressed observed gaps in some students’ project analysis. The aim was to break down the higher-order analysis expectations of the assignment (providing contextual background, textual analysis, comparative connections, social‑context evaluation and creative re‑interpretation of the student-selected work) into clear components to ensure full understanding of the task. In a diverse cohort with divergent language abilities (low B1-high C1), some learners were challenged by the initial open‑ended project brief. Explicit guidelines and format modeling in this resource aimed to support lower-language level students by explicitly modeling baseline requirements and offering a clear step-by-step pathway to completing their posters. Students were not limited to this format; this guide simply offered clear goalposts for those needing additional support to ensure optimal outcomes for every student on their final projects.