English as a Second Language Courses (ESL)
For more information, see the index for English as a Second Language Program.
ESL 1100 - Preparatory English Nonnative Speakers of English (3, with petition)
Instruction for nonnative speakers of English preparing for ENG 1101. Focus on application of rules of standard English grammar and U.S. composition patterns. Involves application of appropriate computer software and a variety of written activities. Students who do not pass the eWrite text are placed in this course. Students write five to seven in-class compositions and may be required to attend weekly session at the ESL Tutoring Center and ESL Computer Lab. Classes meet four days per week. Note: This course will not substitute for any general studies requirement and will not be used in meeting minimum degree requirements.
ESL 1102 - Listening/Speaking VI Advanced
Academic focus: listening strategies for academic lectures, such as anticipating and organizing information; understanding connecting words and pronoun referents; recognizing analogy, quotations, and paraphrasing. Skill-building exercises include listening for main ideas, making inferences, listening for specific information, summarizing, and recognizing vocabulary in context. Speaking focuses on delivering oral presentations, engaging in academic discourse. Computer Lab requirement.
ESL 1104 - Reading VI Advanced
Helps the students be ready for academic reading. Vocabulary building through brainstorming, vocabulary lists, and close exercises that help learners guess the meaning from context and see regularity in the language. Introduces students to the lifestyles, attitudes, customs, and traditions of Americans. Reading Lab requirement: one hour per week.
ESL 1106 - Grammar VI Advanced
Review, expansion, and practice of auxiliaries and phrasal verbs, gerunds and infinitives, introduces adverbs and adverb clauses, noun clauses (subjects and objects), unreal conditionals and other ways to express unreality, and the subjunctive, inverted and implied conditionals. Includes in-depth analysis of sentence structure: sentence types, sentence fragments, parallelism of gerunds and infinitives, sentence and fragments, writing direct and indirect speech, and avoiding run-ons and comma splices. Independent CD-based exercises on topics covered in 1106 – two hours per week.
ESL 1108 - Writing VI Advanced
Focus on essay construction. Emphasis is placed on coherence, unity, and writing well-developed and well-organized essays. Explores different rhetorical patterns (chronological order, logical division of ideas, cause-effect, comparison/contrast, etc) as means to the end in fulfilling academic writing assignments. Study of different ways to organize and present ideas for different groups of readers. Emphasis on writing as a process, with frequent group work to generate ideas and practice peer editing. Writing Lab requirement: one hour per week.
ESL 1111 - Research Writing Skills
This course is designed for advanced students who have successfully completed Level VI. The objective of the course is to build upon the skills learned in previous levels and better equip the students with college-level skills in writing and research. Students will engage in writing research- based papers to learn, understand, and use proper citations (APA or MLA) as well as write reflectively and paraphrase/summarize. Students will utilize on-campus library resources and gain knowledge pertaining to reliable and unreliable resources. Upon completion of this course, students will have the ability to write research papers and essays free of plagiarism on both the graduate and undergraduate level.
ESL 1112 - Oral Communication Skills
This course is designed for advanced students who have successfully completed Level VI. The objective of the course is to intensify the listening and speaking skills learned in previous levels and better equip the students with both academic and professional speaking skills. In this course, students will listen to content-based academic lectures. Students will learn to take notes more effectively and to respond critically to those lectures through debates and discussions. Students will also learn how to conduct research, write presentation outlines, and give presentations more effectively. Upon completion of this course, students will have gained greater confidence in their ability to speak English in any situation presented to them and to succeed in their major fields in college.
ESL 1113 - Critical Analysis Skills
This course is designed for advanced students who have successfully completed Level VI. The objective of the course is to intensify the skills learned in previous levels and better equip students will college-level skills. Students will be reading content-based materials featuring American History, American Literature, and Sociology. Students will learn more academic vocabulary and further develop critical thinking skills to effectively respond to those materials through paragraph writing, summarizing, paraphrasing, and classroom discussions. Upon completion of the course, students will have gained greater confidence in their ability to read, comprehend, and analyzer college-level materials and to succeed in their major fields of study.