The Naval Postgraduate School has an established on-campus ESL program. We continue to utilize an ESL instructor on staff from DLI (ELC). She is teaching both a speaking and writing course (see course description below). Also she manages an ESL lab which consists of eight workstations and network compatible ESL program software.

IT1600 Communications Skills for International Officers (3)

This is a three-hour a week course that is designed for first quarter officers who need to refresh or improve their speaking and listening skills. Speaking activities include pronunciation practice, impromptu exercises, group discussions, and organized briefings. Reading and writing skills are addressed in the speaking and listening activities. Grammar is not taught, but troublesome constructions will be covered and practiced in exercises. Materials include the use of handouts, audio, video, computer software programs and the Internet.

The ESL Instructor on staff will conduct a speaking and listening proficiency interview with each incoming international student to determine the individual's need to attend the course.

IT1700 Academic Writing for International Officers (2)

This is a two-hour a week course that is designed for third or fourth quarter students who need academic writing instruction before starting their thesis work. The course focuses on paragraph organization, rhetorical styles, coherent and cohesive forms, troublesome grammatical structures, punctuation, and documentation. Students will write several drafts in the different rhetorical styles as out of class assignments. Writing software programs may be used as a means of self-study for part of the class. Students will maintain a portfolio of drafts for the class.

A student's writing score from the TOEFL determines the need to attend this course. If the score is 4.5 or under (out of the 6 point scale), a student attends the course.


Language Laboratory
The interactive computer language lab, which opened up in January of 2000, consists of four-computer stations within NPS. One location, the ESL classroom, has two positions, while the other two are located in the Knox Library on campus. Presently the software includes one multi-leveled, interactive program, called Dynamic English, and two pronunciation programs: Pronunciation Power and Pronunciation in American English. The lab includes two downloaded programs from the Internet providing a writing site to complement the text used in IT1700 and an additional listening site with comprehension exercises for general lab use.

The lab, with its two locations, provides both computer-assisted and self-study English instruction for the international students. In the near future the ESL lab will be centralized with four more positions added for a total of eight. At the same time, a grammar software program, Focus on Grammar, and reference software, NTC’s EFL Bookshelf, will be installed to total five ESL software programs in the lab.

The new lab facility will encourage students to take advantage of the lab as a self-study tool since it is dedicated space accessible at night and on the weekends.

Curriculum
Curriculum, developed by the ESL Specialist, is primarily based on commercial texts of writing, listening and speaking, along with information and articles from authentic materials, such as newspapers, journals and the Internet. A few exercises from the Academic and Technical Writing modules (American Language Course) are used in writing exercises or as handouts. The commercial texts and authentic materials fulfill the academic standards for language depth and level at NPS. In addition to handouts and exercises in the writing course, students have a reference text for course work and an ESL dictionary.

Raimes, Ann. Key for Writers/A Brief Handbook

Hornby, A. S. Oxford ESL Dictionary: for Studying American English

The text includes a complementary online site for writing exercises related to style, structure and mechanics.

Course work in two software programs in the ESL lab, Pronunciation Power and Pronunciation in American English, have been added to IT1600 to address individual students’ needs. Students complete assignments as outside work.

Curriculum for IT1600 and IT1700 are updated and modified quarterly to meet the students’ linguistic level and language needs.