New partnership brings English as a Second Language program to Clemson University Graduate Students. This partnership will draw more international students to continue their studies as Tigers.

Published with permission from Clemson University: December 21, 2009 | Clemson.edu

When a university has a diverse culture, it opens the door for discussion, collaboration and great ideas. Students’ college experiences — and their lives — are enhanced by a diverse atmosphere.

Clemson University wants nothing less. One of the University’s 10-year goals is to increase its diversity while also strengthening the campus’ sense of community.

To help cultivate this culture and bring more great international students onto campus, Clemson has partnered with ELS Language Centers, an English as a Second Language program with a strong academic focus. By attending this new ELS center, students will come to Clemson to study and learn English, and many of them will finish and move into many of the University’s graduate programs.

Because ELS has global reach, Clemson will be able to expand its recruiting efforts to more students.

“This partnership allows us to get the world’s best students,” said Sean Williams, Graduate School associate dean. The Graduate School was integral in setting up this partnership.

To help pursue the vision to be a top-20 school, the University needed the language program as a resource for its international students, Williams said. More than 25 percent of the Graduate School’s 3,750 students are from another country. But cost and the amount of work it would take to build a program from the ground up were just too much.

Partnering with ELS allows the University not only to retain international students on campus but also to recruit more students from more countries than before.

“Our curriculum is academically focused,” said Tara Kelley, director of the Clemson ELS center. “We really focus on getting students ready to use English in an academic setting. Our goal is to get them ready for college or graduate school and get them to a university.”

Learning English specifically to be used in an academic setting appeals to universities and can be accepted in place of a TOEFL English competency exam, which international students take.

Increasing the diversity of students, and reaching the University’s 10-year goal, will enhance everyone’s knowledge by creating an atmosphere of question and discovery.

“When everybody looks the same, has been brought up the same, has had similar experiences, they are likely to approach problems in the same ways,” Williams said. “When you have students from different educational and cultural backgrounds working together, they look at problems in different ways because they literally see things differently and value things differently. The differences that people see create a climate where individuals begin to question each other and build understandings about the complexity of problems.”

One of the best ways to do this is to bring students in from other countries. Many of these students live on campus while others live with community and University staff members. All have the chance to participate in campus organizations, and many take advantage of the opportunity.

“It’s a tribute to the vision of Clemson University that they are looking for international scholars to enrich their experience here,” said Mark Harris, president and CEO of ELS Language Centers, during the center’s grand opening in November.

Clemson’s ELS Language Center began with 16 students this fall. Next school year there will be 50 to 65 students enrolled. That number could double by 2011, Kelley said.

Many students in Clemson’s ELS center have ties to the Clemson area, which is why they chose to come here. Several students also have conditional admittance into the University’s graduate programs; they will be fully accepted as soon as they can speak English. There are also two visiting scholars studying with ELS while working under professors and researchers on campus, Kelley said.

The ELS program is intensive. Students come in at all levels of English knowledge, Kelley said. Classes run four weeks at a time with 13 sessions a year. On students’ first day, they are tested and placed in the appropriate level. As they pass each level, they move up until they graduate.

Core classes are taken in the mornings, and intensive students take additional skill enhancement classes in the afternoon. For example, an afternoon class might be power reading, listening and note taking, American culture, and idioms or vocabulary.

“I know my students and what they need,” Kelley said. “I choose the enhancement classes by looking at who my students are and what their goals are.”

Having the center on campus allows the teachers more opportunities to get the students out into an environment where they can interact with other people and improve their conversational English, Kelley said. Teachers have taken students to the campus dairy farm, conducted learning activities in downtown Clemson and more.

Experiences like these are priceless for everyone. Being on campus is a great advantage to ELS students and is just part of what this partnership brings to the table.

“We want the world's best students,” Williams said. “In order to attract and retain them, we have to have an environment that supports them. Having a robust English as a Second Language presence is one of the key services for ensuring that international students both feel welcome here and succeed.”

Contact Tara Kelley at clm@els.edu for more information.

Every year, ELS Language Centers encourages its teachers and other staff to send proposals for presentations at professional conferences. At the annual conference for TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), ELS is among the organizations with the most number of presentations accepted. In this way, ELS helps lead the profession of English as a Second Language. The ideas range from ways to help international students to meet more Americans to more "academic" topics. Below is a summary of one such presentation.

Presented by: Susan Matson, Director of Curriculum
ELS Presents: Arab Student Perceptions of IEP Experiences
Summary of Presentation at TESOL 2008, New York, New York

The presentation had two components. The first involved the use of an extensive survey for international students which was developed by ETS to examine the skills needed for academic success at the university level. The second involved an extension of the skills-related survey that included several questions about adjustment in IEPs, created by the presenters and given to IEP students only.

The project generated responses from 318 IEP-undergraduate bound students, 49 IEP graduate bound, 49 undergraduates, and 25 graduates. The results were used to rank the tasks, with 1 showing the task considered most important by each respective student group.

The presenters feel that the findings from the survey have several implications. Among them are (1) creating initial orientations for Arab speaking students that help them understand the skills truly needed for university success; (2) counseling Arab speaking students on the results of this survey so that they can fully appreciate the importance of reading and writing, relative to listening and speaking; and (3) creating curricula that does facilitate this success.

Other findings were strong agreement from both undergrad and grad bound students that the teacher is responsible for the student’s success (61.8 and 60.8 percent, respectively); and a similar level of agreement in terms of asking friends for help in preparing for tests. While two-third of undergrad bound students feel that they had a good understanding of American university academic expectations before coming, only about half (52.2%) of graduate bound students felt the same way.

The presenters feel that with a fully informed teaching faculty, one that makes some effort to better understand the needs and capabilities of Arab speakers, Arab students will better see the good intentions of IEP faculty in helping students—students of all kinds—succeed in their planned university studies. It may also be that some students may not adapt to the relatively rigorous requirements of an IEP program or a university program, and may return to their countries without having fully realized their potential.

Many other recommendations for better serving these students remain to be developed by IEPs and all interested stakeholders.

If you would like to know more about these presentations please contact Susan Matson at smatson@els.edu.

Regina Brown has worked for ELS for twenty-six years. She began as an instructor in St. Paul, Minnesota, moved to Philadelphia, where she taught, became a student advisor, and is currently the center’s Director. The ELS center, housed in a beautiful custom-designed building, recently celebrated its twenty-seventh anniversary as part of Saint Joseph’s University campus life. Regina and her staff welcome students from around the globe, including visiting scholars from the governments of Turkey, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

For those students whose goal is to attend an American university program, ELS' mission is clear: to create a stimulating atmosphere that meets students’ needs and to facilitate a smooth transition to matriculation at Saint Joseph’s University. Integrating international students into campus life takes several tacks.

Monthly International Student Meetings

All campus stakeholders attend, including representatives from undergraduate and graduate admissions, the MBA program, the Center for International Programs, and even the university’s IT group. A full range of issues is discussed. University offerings are presented on a regular basis as many ELS students go on to study at Saint Joseph’s. An ELS student advisor works closely to assist students with the application process.

EPIS: English Program for International Students

Students receive conditional admission and an I-20 form through the university. This simplifies the visa process for students and families. Once they have completed ELS Level 112 (the highest level) and receive a letter of recommendation, students begin university coursework. In some cases, a student begins college work concurrent with ELS study (typically for one semester prior to full matriculation).

Student Activities

A language exchange program offers a no-cost partnership between ELS students and those who are studying modern languages at the university. Other students participate in off-campus activities, including volunteering in hospitals or speaking at local schools. During the fall 2008 term, for example, twenty-five students from eight countries participated in a program that paired them with students in Saint Joseph’s International Management program. Small groups designed a week-long trip to the students’ home countries, journeys that included business opportunities, tourism, shopping, transit, etc. The students worked in English as the IM students were not fluent in other languages. The students had just a few weeks to plan; all participated in the final presentations.