eduPASS
The International Student's Guide
to Studying and Living in the USA

Chinese English French German Hebrew Italian Japanese Korean Russian Spanish

English as a Second Language

It is important to become proficient in English to make your stay in the US a good one. You will be required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) before you will be admitted to a US college or university. The school may also have additional tests for graduate students who are prospective teaching assistants.

English Proficiency Testing

All schools require the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The TOEFL tests your proficiency in English reading and writing. You may also be required to take the Test of Spoken English (TSE), which tests your speaking ability. Most schools require a score of at least 500 on the TOEFL exam for admission. A score of 600 or better will be required for fields which require a higher English language proficiency, such as journalism or literature, or at the more selective schools.

Some schools offer on-campus English as a Second Language (ESL) programs and will admit you to these programs without requiring the TOEFL exam. If you score high enough on the TOEFL exam after completing the ESL program they will admit you to the regular academic program. It is often much less expensive to study English in your home country and take the TOEFL there than to participate in a school's ESL program.

Before considering an ESL or intensive English program, it is best to take the TOEFL. It will help you determine how much additional study you need to qualify for admission.

After you arrive on campus, you will probably have to take the school's own English proficiency examination. Based on your score on this exam, they may require you to take special classes to improve your English speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. They may also have courses designed to help you learn how to write technical English in your chosen field of study, improve your study skills, and teach you job interview skills.

Information about the TOEFL can be obtained by calling 1-800-GO-TOEFL (1-800-468-6335) or 1-609-771-7100 (TTY 1-800-529-3590 or 1-609-734-9362), fax 1-609-771-7500, sending email to toefl@ets.org, or writing to TOEFL, PO Box 6152, Princeton, NJ 08541-6152 USA.

Intensive English Classes

Immersion is the best way to learn any language, especially English. American English is filled with idioms and jargon, more so than other languages. You won't be able to learn all the peculiar turns of phrase until you try living the language. If you have a choice between a casual English class and an intensive English class, enroll in the latter.

Your school may have a writing center than can help you improve your writing ability. They will review your essays with you, pointing out errors and awkward phrases. Going over your writing with a native speaker is one of the best ways to enhance your writing skills.

In addition, there are several organizations who offer intensive English language courses for a fee. The first one, ASPECT, is highly recommended.

Financial aid is not available for any intensive English language programs. You will find that it is significantly less expensive to study English in your home country than in the US.

Aspect International Language Schools
ASPECT is a leading provider of intensive English language programs worldwide. With more than 30 year-round language schools in the USA, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, ASPECT offers students the widest selection of study locations in English-speaking countries. Programs are particularly beneficial for students seeking academic preparation and English language courses prior to enrolling in a university or college. ASPECT also offers university placement services, work/study programs, high school exchange programs and other services to complement ESL courses. The ASPECT web site (www.aspectworld.com) offers information on study locations worldwide as well as course details.

A.C.E. Language Institutes
A.C.E. Language Institutes offers intensive English classes in the US and Australia.

Bridge International School

Conversa Language Center

EF International Language Schools
EF provides intensive English language courses and exam preparation courses for the TOEFL. For more information, call 1-800-992-1892 or 1-617-746-1700.

ELS Language Centers

ISES International: Online Guides for Study Abroad
This site provides a directory of ESL and intensive English programs in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

World Learning Inc.
World Learning offers intensive English language courses in the United States. There are classes on campuses in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, South Carolina, and Texas. For more information, call 1-802-257-7751, fax 1-802-258-3248, write to World Learning Inc., PO Box 676, Brattleboro, VT 05302-0676, or send email to english@worldlearning.org.

English and TOEFL Preparation Sites

English as a Second Language Home Page
This site provides a set of ESL links for international students who wish to learn English through the World Wide Web.

Interactive English Language Exercises
This site provides a set of interactive exercises in English grammar, vocabulary, and idioms.

Languages for Travelers
Contains basic information and a translation phrasebook for many language pairs.

Resources for Teachers and Students of English
This site includes information on TOEFL preparation and other resources for teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL), such as electronic mailing lists.

TEFL Professional Network
TEFL is a national professional development organization for ESL educators.

The Internet TESL Journal
TESL Journal publishes articles, research papers, teaching materials, and ideas relating to English as a Second Language.

TESOL Online
TESOL is an international professional membership organization for teachers of English as a second language. TESOL has more than 16,000 members. For more information call 1-703-836-0774, fax 1-703-836-7864/6447, write to Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), 1600 Cameron Street, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314, or send email to tesol@tesol.edu.

Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC)
For more information, call 1-607-748-9500, write to International Communications Inc, US, 3301 Country Club Road, Suite 2205, Endwell, NY 13760, or send email to usici@aol.com.

The Mining Company - English as a Second Language
This site provides information and tools for improving your English skills.

World of Culture (WOC)
WOC is intended to educate and entertain on the topic of cross-cultural communications.

Other useful sites include CMU English Server, Comenius English Language Center, Conversations for ESL Students, Dave's ESL Cafe, Englishtown, EFL Magazine, and ESL Home Page.

Professional Associations for ESL

American Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP)
AAIEP is a national membership organization of directors of intensive English programs.

International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL)
IATEFL is an international professional organization for teachers of English as a foreign language. They provide several thousand links to resources of interest to teachers and students.

See also ESL Magazine, a magazine intended for ESL educators, and the US Information Agency's English Language Programs.

Teaching Styles

You will find that teaching styles in the US are much different than those in other countries. Teaching in the US is more interactive and less dependent on rote memorization. Students regularly interrupt faculty to ask questions or offer constructive criticism of part of the lecture. This is encouraged, since professors prefer discussion and debate to passive silence. You will also notice that the students and faculty tend to dress rather informally. Faculty will have open office hours for students to come by and ask questions.

Class sizes tend to be smaller in the US than in other countries. Although first-year students may have a few large classes, most classes are small, with 15 to 45 students. The large lectures will often have small recitation sections run by teaching assistants or faculty. Recitation sections review the material presented in the main lecture, supplement it with additional material, and provide an opportunity to ask questions.

Your grade in most classes will be based on your scores on tests, quizzes, and assignments. If the class has a recitation or discussion section, active participation can improve your grade. The better the professor and teaching assistants know you and your work, the better they will be able to assess your progress.

Unless the professor has indicated that collaboration is expected, you should do all of the work on your own. Collaborating with fellow students on individual assignments is considered cheating. Studying with others is ok, but assignments should be completed individually. Likewise, quoting a text word for word without properly attributing the source is plagiarism. Cheating and plagiarism is grounds for failing a class or even expulsion from school.

Toilets

The most important phrase you should learn is "Where can I find a toilet?". If you need to visit the toilet, nearly any word will do. All of the following words will work: men's room (women's room), restroom, lavatory, toilet, bathroom, little boy's room, potty, head, john, and water closet. The last four are less common, but will probably be understood. The words "loo", "earth closet", and "usual offices" will generally not be understood by Americans. The word "outhouse" is understood to mean a toilet located outdoors, such as a portapotty, not the English meaning (farm building). If you ask for the cloakroom, you will be directed to the place where you hang or check coats, not the restroom.

There are no public toilets on the streets in the US. Public toilets can be found in hotels, bars, restaurants, museums, department stores, gas stations, airports, train stations, and bus stations. Some businesses may reserve their restrooms for the use of their patrons.

In many airports, toilets and urinals do not have a flush handle, but instead flush automatically when an infrared sensor determines that you have left. If you don't see anything that looks like a flush handle, step away from the toilet and see if it flushes after a few seconds.

British English and American English

British English and American English have significantly different vocabulary and usage. Do not assume that because you a proficient in British English that American English will be easy. For example, in American English the phrase "pass out" means to distribute or to lose consciousness, not the British English meaning of to graduate. Some words might even have completely opposite meanings. For example, "to table a measure" means to postpone consideration in the US, not to commence discussion, and "public school" means a school operated by the city or state government, not a private school. The word "school" can be used to refer to colleges and universities, not just grammar school. In American English the abbreviation "s.o." stands for "significant other", a spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, not sex offender. Additional sets of confusable words can be found in the English-English Dictionary.

English usage among Americans will often differ from the grammar you learn from books. There are considerable dialectal variations across the country. Many Americans will not follow some of the prescriptive rules of grammar they learned in elementary school. Rules that prohibit split infinitives and ending a sentence with a preposition are often ignored. American English is an evolving language, not carved in stone.

When someone says "thank you", the customary response is "you're welcome". "You're welcome" doesn't have the same meaning as in British English.

You will find it handy to carry a small pocket dictionary with you. There is also a free Webster's dictionary and thesaurus on the web. NTC publishes a series of books about American idiomatic expressions, which you can find in most large bookstores. You will find these books helpful.

For a dictionary of words related to financial aid and admissions, please look at this site's glossary.

Common Usage Errors

The type of errors international students make depends a lot on the structure of their native language. For example, Japanese visitors often have trouble with determiners like "a", "an", and "the" because articles are largely lacking in Japanese. Some Japanese students omit articles entirely. Others try to compensate by including too many.

Try to avoid double negation. The resulting interpretation may be the opposite of what you intended. Double negation is also difficult to understand. It is better to be direct.

Other very common types of errors made by nonnative speakers of English are illustrated in the following table.

Type of ErrorExample ErrorsCorrect Form
Problems with auxiliary verb sequences, especially involving tense agreement. She should have talk to him. She should have talked to him.
Wrong choice of preposition. The female dog was on heat and ready to mate.
The car was covered in snow.
The female dog was in heat and ready to mate.
The car was covered with snow.
Missing determiners. She is good woman.
What is answer?
She is a good woman.
What is the answer?
Disagreement between determiner and noun, especially with regard to number. He has many wonderful toy. He has many wonderful toys.
Irregular verbs, nouns, and adjectives, such as think/thought, go/went/gone, drive/drove/driven, send/sent, and child/children. He sended the childs home to their parents. He sent the children home to their parents.
Subject-verb agreement errors. The questions on the test was difficult.
The passage through the hills were narrow.
The questions on the test were difficult.
The passage through the hills was narrow.
Commonly confused words, such as to/too/two, except/accept, effect/affect, which/that, then/than, piece/peace, and its/it's. Reuniting the dog with it's master was a peace of cake. Reuniting the dog with its master was a piece of cake.

Conversations

People from India tend to speak too quickly and mellifluously. Some Americans will have difficulty understanding you, because it will sound like one continuous stream of syllables to them. If you are having trouble communicating, try to enunciate and articulate each word independently of the others.

It is important to maintain eye contact during a conversation. Looking away is a sign of embarrassment or boredom.

Americans dislike silence in a conversation, and will feel awkward and uncomfortable if there are long pauses. If you fall silent in contemplation, they will feel the urge to fill the silence with chatter.

Home | About this Site | Site Map | Ask the Advisor | Admissions | Financial Aid | Visas | Travel2US | English
Culture | Housing | Transportation | Money | Shopping | Shipping | Safety | Health | Families | Fun | Resources

Copyright © 1998-1999 by FinAid Page, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last modified: February 03, 1999 08:48:43 EST