Southern Oregon University

• 2007 - 2008 Catalog

ELS Language Centers is the oldest private, campus-based intensive English language program in the world. Students at ELS are people whose first language is not English and who wish to improve their English either in preparation for an American college or university experience or for use in a professional atmosphere. ELS provides such additional services as academic advising, housing placement, and real-life experience through its Contact America! program. All English skills are taught in dynamic classes that employ communicative methodologies. A multimedia laboratory is available for individual practice in listening comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

ELS Courses

See Course Prerequisites Policy

Lower Division Courses

ELS 110 Masters Modules

4 credits

Enables English learners to express themselves adequately in the majority of routine school or work requirements. Students will be able to understand connected discourse on a variety of topics, comprehending and using inference, idioms, and colloquialisms in conversations with native speakers. Completion will ensure comprehension of short lectures on academic topics, as well as the ability to synthesize information from a variety of social, academic, and professional sources. Students will be able to read mainstream literature with good understanding, taking detailed notes as needed. They will also be able to summarize, paraphrase, and quote appropriately from oral and written resources. Students will be able to express written opinions and hypotheses with ease. Prerequisite: Completion of ELS 109 or an evaluation of ELS 110 on the ELS placement test.

ELS 111 Masters Modules

4 credits

Enables English learners to participate in discussions on a wide range of abstract topics, delivering well-structured presentations on topics of personal, professional, and academic interest. Students will be able to comprehend authentic information with increased ease, such as radio talk shows, debates, and public lectures, while distinguishing between formal and informal speech. They will be able to scan written material for main ideas and supporting details and will be able to comprehend a wide variety of literary and non-literary styles. Students will be able to take notes from lectures and write cohesive reports and papers from notes. Prerequisite: Completion of ELS 110.

ELS 112 Masters Modules

4 credits

Ensures students can satisfy the requirements of a broad variety of everyday, school, and business situations. Completion will ensure that students can discuss personal special-interest fields with competence and ease, as well as supporting opinions and hypothesizing, tailoring their language to the audience, or discussing highly abstract and unfamiliar topics in depth. Students will be able to understand the main ideas and nuances of most speech in standard dialect and will be able to follow the essentials of extended discourse in academic and professional settings, lectures, meetings, speeches, and reports. Students will be able to comprehend texts containing hypotheses, argumentation, and opinions that include grammatical patterns and vocabulary ordinarily encountered in academic, professional, and recreational reading. Students will be able to write clearly on practical, social, and professional topics and will be capable of writing most types of informal and formal correspondence, such as memos, social and business letters, short research papers, and business reports in areas of special interest. Students will be able to effectively use a wide variety of rhetorical styles and analyze and synthesize information into a written academic format. All students who complete ELS 112 will have taken the Michigan ELI College English Test (MELI-CET) and the Michigan Listening Comprehension Test (LCT) and will have scored at a level equivalent to or better than iBT 68 TOEFL or CBT TOEFL 190. Prerequisite: Completion of ELS 111.