English as a Second Language

The English as a Second Language program is part of the Division of Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. The objective of the program is to prepare students whose first language is not English for their program of academic study. This program is only for international students who have not received a passing score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Along with academic English, the students enrolled in this program will learn about the culture of the United States. Upon arrival, the ESL student will take a placement test to determine which level he/she will place in the following courses: beginning, intermediate or advanced speaking, listening, reading, grammar and writing. As a student successfully completes the advanced level of any of the skills, he or she may begin taking appropriate undergraduate courses.

Courses

ESL-011: Beginning Writing

Credits 3
The Beginning Writing Course teaches basic sentence structure through prewriting techniques. English writing organization as well as basic grammar will be addressed through writing. By the end of the course, the students will be able to identify and write topic sentences within a coherent paragraph. Prerequisite: Placement by examination.

ESL-012: Beginning Reading

Credits 3
This course is two-fold: vocabulary development and reading strategies development. The focus on vocabulary includes everyday idioms, understanding vocabulary within context and an introduction to roots and affixes. Students will also focus on reading strategies such as making inferences, improving reading speed and making predictions. Prerequisite: Placement by examination.

ESL-013: Beginning Listening

Credits 3
This course entails basic listening strategies, such as listening for the main idea and some details of a lecture, understanding the lcoal dialect of English and understanding everyday fast speech. The students will be able to listen and produce the correct consonant sounds of American English. Prerequisite: Placement by examination.

ESL-014: Beginning Grammar

Credits 3
This course focuses on the tenses of English. Also included is a review of the following parts of speech: prepositions of direction, conjunctions, comparative adjectives and adverbs and factual conditionals with if. Prerequisite: Placement by examination.

ESL-015: Beginning Speaking

Credits 3
This course details the ability of the student to utilize everyday English in conversational skills. Student will learn how to check for understanding and how to agree and disagree with a speaker within the culture of the American classroom. Prerequisite: Placement by examination.

ESL-021: Intermediate Writing

Credits 3
Writing short multi-paragraph essays is the focus of this course. Students will continue paragraph development from the beginning writing course and progress to writing a five or more paragraph essay. Prerequisite: ESL 011 or placement beyond.

ESL-022: Intermediate Reading

Credits 3
Building an academic vocabulary is stressed in this course. Students will learn English phrasal verbs and how to use an English-English dictionary and thesaurus. Students will build on the reading skills from the beginning reading course. Prerequisite: ESL 012 or placement beyond.

ESL-023: Intermediate Listening

Credits 3
Students will continue to develop their understanding of fast speech, but in this course, it is within a lecture context. Students will be able to hear and pronounce the vowels of American English. Prerequisite: ESL 013 or placement beyond.

ESL-024: Intermediate Grammar

Credits 3
This course continues developing the grammar skills of the beginning grammar course. More attention is given to grammar within an academic context. Prerequisite: ESL 014 or placement beyond.

ESL-025: Intermediate Speaking

Credits 3
This course builds on the conversational skills learned in the beginning level course. A variety of situations, from personal to academic, will be addressed. Prerequisite: ESL 015 or placement beyond.

ESL-031: Advanced Writing

Credits 3
The focus on this course is on preparing the student for academic writing. Writing for exams, article summaries and research papers will be highlighted. Prerequisite: ESL 021 or placement beyond.

ESL-032: Advanced Reading

Credits 3
Reading academic texts critically is utilized in this course. Discourse analysis is also taught and discussed. Development of reading skills from the previous levels will continue. Prerequisite: ESL 022 or placement beyond.

ESL-033: Advanced Listening

Credits 3
This course focuses on taking notes during lectures and checking for understanding of academic lectures both in detail and on a global level. Prerequisite: ESL 023 or placement beyond.

ESL-034: Advanced Grammar

Credits 3
The grammar learned in this course is strictly through academic speaking and writing. The students will put academic items learned in the previous courses into context by using English grammar items in academic speaking, listening, and writing. Prerequisite: ESL 024 or placement beyond.

ESL-035: Advanced Speaking

Credits 3
Presenting academic speeches in English is the primary focus of this course. Students will also hone their classroom speaking skills for asking questions and working in pairs, small groups, and whole class discussions. Prerequisite: ESL 025 or placement beyond.