ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAMS

Study English in a group setting

Our group English language classes are offered through the Department of Linguistics for eligible students of The Graduate School and postdocs. For more information on who may enroll, see our eligibility page.  Members of the general public should visit our resources page for more information on where to learn English in the Evanston and Chicago area.

Courses are designed for students at intermediate and advanced levels of English proficiency. Course instructors have earned advanced degrees in linguistics, TESOL, or speech-language pathology, or are advanced Linguistics PhD students with specific training in applied linguistics for English language teaching. Class size is limited to 15 students per class. 

Open Enrollment Group Language Courses

View our  yearly course schedule of open enrollment group courses for the current academic year. All open enrollment courses are also listed on CAESAR.

LING 380 courses support a variety of spoken English skills and topics:  Academic Presentations, Conversation and Fluency,  Improv for English Communication, Pronunciation, and Speech Acts and the SPEAK Test. LING 381 (Academic Writing) covers written academic English.  For additional writing support for graduate students, we encourage you to visit The Graduate Writing Place or contact your department.

 

Proficiency-based Enrollments

Integrated Academic Skills (Concurrent enrollment in Linguistics 380, 482, 483) Special sections of Linguistics 380 are reserved for first year international PhD and MFA students, based on their placement score on the Versant test. This comprehensive curriculum includes group, individual, and online language support services during fall and winter quarters of students’ first academic year at Northwestern. Click here to visit the Integrated Academic Skills page.

Linguistics 480 is offered in collaboration with the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence, and is open by departmental nomination only, for international PhD and MFA graduate students seeking to fulfill TGS’s English Proficiency Requirement.  Departments may nominate students in spring quarter, and they will be selected for participation according to the criteria stated in the 480 Information Sheet. The course culminates in a teaching demonstration that is evaluated toward fulfillment of TGS’s English Proficiency Requirement. The course is offered only during summer quarter, and has a strict participation and attendance policy. Please contact Dr. Julia Moore with any questions.

ELP services are offered as non-credit courses. If you are a student, these courses will appear on your transcript: the possible grades are "satisfactory" and "unsatisfactory". Although you will receive a grade, the grade will not affect your GPA. Because these courses carry zero-credit, they will also not affect your course load.  Postdoctoral fellows will be enrolled unofficially as auditors, but will still have access to the Canvas course site.  All courses are free to eligible participants. All participants must register for group classes through the English Language programs online registration process. No walk-ins are accepted.