Welcome to Arkansas State University!

Course Details


  • FOUNDATIONS - LOW BEGINNER

    LISTENING AND SPEAKING FOUNDATIONS 

    This course builds the foundations for comprehending and producing basic spoken English. In this course, students will practice listening to and producing words, phrases, and sentences common in high-frequency situations. Review and practice of the English phonetic system will be embedded into that oral/aural practice. Through interactive activities, they will practice appropriate verbal and nonverbal behavior for conversing in English.

    READING AND VOCABULARY FOUNDATIONS 

    This course is designed to provide students with little English education with beginning reading skills. Students will learn to recognize the written English alphabet in a variety of formats (hand written print, cursive writing, and typeface fonts) and will learn to attach the appropriate sounds to written graphemes (phonics). They will learn to quickly and automatically recognize high frequency words written in English.

    GRAMMAR AND WRITING FOUNDATIONS 

    This course is designed for international students who have had little instruction in English but are literate in their native languages. In this course, students will practice and review basic grammar structures to produce and recognize familiar and simple sentences (affirmative/negative) sentences and questions using correct syntax and word order using simple tenses (present, past, and future) including regular and some common irregular verb forms.

    In addition, they will practice, recognize in writing, and form written text in English using the alphabet and its corresponding sound system (phonics). They will correctly write high-frequency words and create simple sentences in English.

  • LEVEL 1 - HIGH BEGINNER

    Level 1 LISTENING AND SPEAKING

    In this course, students will practice and expand on their abilities to listen to, comprehend, and summarize basic social conversations in English. They will learn to listen to and identify the main idea of spoken social language and isolate specific details from those conversations.

    Speaking skills focus on giving descriptions, directions, and explanations; producing common daily expressions; and participating in dialogs using common every-day language.

    Level 1 READING AND VOCABULARY

    In this course, students will review basic decoding (phonics) and reading comprehension skills, vocabulary development, reading rate, and study skills. Students will engage in short readings designed to practice core vocabulary, literal comprehension, and grammar.

    Level 1 GRAMMAR AND WRITING

    In this course, students will practice and develop grammar concepts sufficient to create basic simple and compound sentences using correct word forms, word order, function words, simple and progressive tenses, spelling and punctuation. Writing will be declarative and descriptive in nature.

     

  • LEVEL 2 - LOW INTERMEDIATE

    Level 2 LISTENING AND SPEAKING

    In this course, students will develop intelligible speech to be applied to life skills and academic purposes. Speaking will focus on the clear pronunciation of common words and phrases. Listening skills for both formal and informal settings, including listening skills for college study will be developed in the course. Students will listen to simple sample academic lectures and will practice beginning note-taking skills based on them.

    Level 2 READING AND VOCABULARY

    In this course, students will continue to develop reading automaticity to increase reading rates and fluency. They will apply decoding and sight-word skills to make predictions and will participate in activities to identify main ideas and details of writing. Students will distinguish between facts and opinions, make inferences, and practice strategies such as using context clues and word parts to deal with unknown words and acquire new vocabulary.

    Level 2 GRAMMAR AND WRITING

    Students will engage in activities designed to solidify their grasp of grammar concepts necessary to create comprehensible, grammatically correct sentences in all tenses and types presented in previous levels. In addition, students who successfully complete this class will be able to produce a grammatically and mechanically correct paragraph on a given topic. Students will produce text using a variety of sentence structures, complex verb forms, modifiers, and punctuation.

     

  • LEVEL 3 - INTERMEDIATE

    Level 3 LISTENING AND SPEAKING
    In this course, students will develop intelligible speech to be applied to life skills and academic purposes. Students will present dialogs, and brief other oral presentations. Students will discuss topics and experience short lectures. Listening skills for both formal and informal settings, including listening skills for college study will be developed in the course. Students will listen to sample academic lectures and will practice note-taking skills based on them. Activities may include listening to authentic materials such as podcasts and videos, participating in discussions and debates, and taking notes on short presentations.

    Level 3 READING AND VOCABULARY

    In this course, students will continue to develop reading automaticity to increase reading rates and fluency. They intensify their practice of decoding and sight-word skills to quickly preview, skim, and scan texts and will participate in activities to summarize events and main ideas of written text. Students will identify significant and relative details in readings and will practice strategies such as using context clues and word parts to deal with unknown words and acquire new vocabulary.

    Level 3 GRAMMAR AND WRITING

    This course reinforces the basic structure of academic expository essays. Focus will be on the process of writing (prewriting activities, revising, editing), rhetorical formats, sentence structure, and grammar and will include the development of organization skills, expansion of vocabulary, and grammatical structures.

  • LEVEL 4 - HIGH INTERMEDIATE

    Level 4 LISTENING AND SPEAKING

    Students will listen to social and academic lectures and presentations in order to gather information and take appropriate notes. Students practice speaking skills such as voice projection in order to prepare and deliver a comprehensible and factually correct 5-minute oral presentation on an assigned topic employing appropriate visual and text-based supports.

    Level 4 READING AND VOCABULARY

    This course reinforces academic reading skills, with an emphasis on text conventions (bold print, sections headings, table of contents, glossary) vocabulary development, literal comprehension, and dictionary skills. Students will practice critical thinking skills to understand, analyze, discuss, and write responses to ideas expressed in readings. In addition, students will become familiar with parts of speech, prefixes, suffixes, and roots as aids in understanding new vocabulary.

    Level 4 GRAMMAR AND WRITING

    The course reviews and reinforces the skills required for writing cause/effect and compare/contrast academic essays. It focuses on essay expansion, modification, and the writing process. Grammar and syntax structures are explored, identified, and practiced in this course, along with academic language.

  • LEVEL 5 - ADVANCED

    Level 5 LISTENING AND SPEAKING

    In this course, students will listen to social and academic lectures and presentations in order to gather information and take appropriately detailed notes. Students practice speaking skills in order to prepare and deliver a comprehensible and factually correct 5-minute oral presentation on an assigned topic employing appropriate visual and text-based supports.

    Level 5 READING AND VOCABULARY

    This course is intended for students who have completed Level 4. In addition to print resources, materials used in the course will employ copy from the internet and will build computer-based reading comprehension skills by pointing out text conventions frequently used in internet sources.

    Level 5 GRAMMAR AND WRITING

    This course is intended for students who have completed Level 4. In this course, students will continue to practice writing a variety of essay types (persuasive, and reaction) on a variety of topics using academic language. Strategies to rephrase resource text are presented and developed by writing paraphrased versions of resource text. Writing will be used to further explore the use of grammatical structures in English. Students will perform instructor-guided internet and library searches to find credible sources to use in writing research papers with appropriate citation.


ELA is fun, effective, and designed for your individual pace. Course work and activities are designed to prepare you as quickly as possible for university and college work. Our classes focus on your needs through the guidance of expert instructors. You will quickly gain skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as increased confidence and knowledge about culture. Homework assignments, quizzes, exams, and class participation will help you learn and also prepare you as a future university student.

Levels

Our program consists of five levels plus an optional Foundations level for students with little English experience. Each level focuses on the four skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as vocabulary and grammar. Each course in these levels integrates two or more of these skills. More information about the specific skills acquired in each level can be found in our proficiency scale here.

Placement

The English Learning Academy uses the computer-based ACCUPLACER LOEP (Levels of English Proficiency) test for placement into a level in the program.

The placement test includes the following sections:

  • Listening
  • Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary
  • Grammar
  • Written Essay

Students will be placed in the appropriate level in the ELA program based on their performance on this test.

After you've completed the ESL / ELA Program

Upon completion of the program, international students are eligible to apply for entrance into undergraduate and graduate programs at Arkansas State University with no further English proficiency examination, e.g. TOEFL & IELTS.

Students must also meet any additional admissions requirements required by the program of study in which they desire to enroll.


Course Details
Apply Now
Request Information

Search A-State

Contact ELA

ELA@AState.edu

Phone: 870-972-2329

Postal Address:
PO Box 2230
State University, AR  72467

Shipping Address:
102 North Caraway Rd
Jonesboro, AR  72401