Preparing Adult ESL Students for College and University Success Dr. Vicki L. Holmes Director, English Language Center

Who are our students? Immigrants? Sojourners? Professionals? Highly educated in their native language? Uneducated in native language? Teenagers? Breadwinners? Seniors?

What do students want? Better job? Respect? Better life for their families? Acculturation? Education? Own a business?

How can we help? ENGLISH

Myths about learning English

I can do it in a few months Risk taking Internal motivation Immersion Language attitude Native language

I can learn everything from my books and my teacher

I am an adult; I should not make mistakes or I am too old to learn English

Once I get into college, I won’t need to learn anymore English

ESL academic students…need to know Reading is not a passive skill Listening is not a passive skill Writing is something you do all the time Speaking/participation is expected Team work is critical Higher education has its own culture You need to know the rules Technology is part of the process

Reading is not passive How much will you read in college? 50 to 75 pages per course per week/ 300 pages per week (textbook) How can you improve your reading comprehension? SQ3R & 3Rs Should you use your dictionary while reading? Is learning vocabulary critical for college success?

How many words? 88,000 word families in English 2,000 high frequency words words like because, of, am, eight, get, work College work requires 10,000 to 15,000 words Average educated native speakers know and can use about 20,000 words

Listening is not a passive skill Language learning begins with listening Krashen – input hypothesis/comprehensible input

Good listening is active Students must do something with what they hear/listen with a pencil in hand answer questions solve problems make diagrams write down key words write questions look for main ideas

Listening Resources

What kind of writing do college students do? Summaries/paraphrases Thesis driven essays – freshman comp Timed writing – essay exams Lab reports Critical reviews of literature/articles/text Case studies analyses Project reports Reflective writing

What skills are needed? Linguistic – sentence accuracy Structure – logical organization Critical thinking – ability to tease out an argument

What kind of written errors do professors least tolerate? Global errors 1.word order ( for the test after school I study ) 2.Sentence structure – clauses ( embedded ideas) 3.Verb tense and form – unnecessary shifts 4.Conditionals and modals

Errors professors tolerate Local errors which do not affect meaning 1.subject-verb agreement 2.Articles 3.Word form and choice 4.Prepositions 5.Singular and plural count nouns

ESL student writing support Writing Center Academic Success Center Tutors Library classes and help desk Office of Student Conduct

Participation is expected Pair and group work/student driven learning Team projects - business model collaborating and task based learning working with diversity negotiating compromising communicating

Culture of higher education Carnegie units Majors – college/divisions Advising Terms – exam schedules Time management Grading Meeting professors

Technology Student enrollment system Webcampus/blackboard ing professors Researching on-line Word processing Designing graphics/PPT

Thanks!