Faculty of Extension, English Language Program at the U of A has had
credited English for Academic Purposes courses for quite awhile. We
have mainly Bridging students (conditional acceptance through open
studies that entitles these students to taking 2 additional credited
courses)who predominantly need listening, reading and writing skill
improvment since they have not,at the time of registration,
successfully passed an English proficiency test.
I just completed drafting a report on ESL/EAL academic literacy needs
based on several previous committee reports, EAP instructor input and
research from our English Language Program at Extension and second
language writing research for the Writing Task Force, a committee
co-chaired by Betsy Sargent. Betsy has added tons of valuable info and
dovetailed the report to suit the WTF's purpose (to create a writing
centre). I'm not sure if the report is available on-line yet, but it
should be soon.
In the meantime, the Journal of Second Language Writing has a whole
issue (Volume 13, Issue 3) dedicated to Writing Centre support. I found
the reading valuable in that it is both accessible and tunes one into
the major issues/items to be addressed. The journal is available
on-line.
Our Faculty of Extension website lists general info about ESL 140, 145
& ESL 550 (tailored to grad students who need additional support). The
latter is based on a referal system and is not that successful since
those referred demonstrate skills markedly lower than their TOEFL
score, tend to be mature students who are already certified in their
own countries and/or tend to feel resentment at having been sent to
upgrade. At most we only get 1 or 2 of these students per term. They
take ESL 145 & then have supplemental tutoring every week.
I think reading our report would be best. However, I do feel a very
strong need to say, everytime I read anything about how to help ESL/EAL
students, a need to say that my best advice (and I hope I don't offend
anyone but it needs to be said) is to hire an ESL specialist to set up
a program, course, etc. since second language acquisition is an
independent field of study. glo
uoting Margaret Procter <[log in to unmask]>:
> Hi, Julie-Ann --
>
> If you have the resources to offer specialized instruction to
> non-native speakers, you might as well use them! One course won't do
> everything, but I agree with Leslie and Rob that a content course
> would be your best starting point. Elaine Khoo
> ([log in to unmask]) at our U of T Scarborough campus could tell
> you more about the credit courses taught there -- labelled
> Linguistics rather than ESL, and also avoiding the number 100 and the
> adjective "remedial." They're described at
> http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/courses/calendar/Languages_and_Linguistics.html#Languages_. Elaine also offers a summer institute and ongoing support during the year: see http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/%7Etlsweb/ELD/ELDgoals.htm. And there's a strong WID initiative at that campus, with outreach to the whole range of
> faculty.
>
> Margaret
>
>
> Julie-Ann Stodolny wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Saint Mary's is currently looking into resurrecting an "ESL 100" course,
>> which seems like it will focus on how to write an academic essay in
>> English (with particular emphasis on plagiarism). I don't have a TESL
>> background, so I'm just wondering if any of you have any educated
>> thoughts on whether this would be useful or not. As a bit of
>> background, Saint Mary's does have a TESL centre, but it is
>> geared towards students who will register in the university the
>> following year (i.e. a prep school), not for students already attending
>> the school. As well, all SMU students have to take one half-year English
>> literature course (no composition is taught in it).
>>
>> Any thoughts that you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank
>> you!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Julie-Ann
>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------
>> Julie-Ann Stodolny
>> Director, The Writing Centre
>> Saint Mary's University
>> Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3
>> (902) 491-6201
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
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>>
>
> --
> Margaret Procter, Ph.D.
> University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
> 15 King's College Circle, Toronto ON M5S 3H7
> 416 978-8109; FAX 416 971-2027
>
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.utoronto.ca/writing
>
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>
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> http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>
>
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
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For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
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