English as a Second Language > Courses

ESL Courses offered through the Department of Linguistics:

We offer a number of graduate level courses in American English for nonnative speakers. The content of our courses reflects the interests and needs of international graduate students and scholars. Classes are limited to 15 students each to ensure that each student has interaction with the instructor. Our instructors use a communicative teaching approach, which means that students will use English in the classroom to communicate meaningfully, in the kinds of situations that they will face in their graduate studies and everyday life. Improvisation, quick thinking, and interaction are favored over memorization and rote drills. Authentic materials and language samples are used throughout the course. Students will be asked to complete short homework assignments and preprare a final project for the course. Please visit our course schedule to see which courses are currently being offered.

Courses may be taken for credit, or may be audited. Students are strongly encouraged to select the P/N (pass/no credit) grading option if taking the course for credit. For more information about registering and auditing courses, see our frequently asked questions page. Please note that our courses are open only to Northwestern graduate students and employees: spouses and undergraduates may not attend. All of our courses are free for auditors. In addition, all Ph.D. graduate students and some masters students who wish to register for classes can receive tuition credit for ESL classes. If you are not sure whether your program provides tuition credits for non-degree courses, please check with your advisor before registering for one of our courses.

Click on any of the links below to learn more about individual courses.

Linguistics 380: Spoken English for Nonnative Speakers (Series of three separate
    courses, offered in the fall, winter, and spring)

Linguistics 381: Written English for Nonnative Speakers (Offered in the spring)

Linguistics 480: American Academic Culture (Offered in the winter)

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