English as a Second Language (ESL)

Non-native speakers of English applying for admission to IU South Bend should contact the Office of International Student Services for information regarding admissions requirements.

Students who are admitted to IU South Bend through the Office of International Student Services are required to take ESL Placement Exams. The purpose of the ESL Placement Exams is to determine to what extent students are linguistically prepared for university work. Students requiring additional instruction are placed into ESL courses. Exam dates are given to students who are admitted to the university.

The ESL Placement Exam has two parts, given on the same day. The ESL Placement Written Exam measures academic reading and writing. Students write an essay in response to the ideas in a reading (a few paragraphs) from a university textbook. Students have 75 minutes to read the paragraphs, then plan, write and proofread an essay. The readings contain topics to which everyone can relate. There is a choice of two readings, but students only write one response. Dictionaries are permitted but no other documents are allowed. During the ESL Placement Oral Interview, students converse with an interviewer for about 15 minutes about a topic with which the students are familiar. The interviewer may ask questions or make comments during the conversation.

Results of the ESL Placement Exams are made available to staff in the Office of International Student Services and to faculty and staff advisors. Results are also entered in OneStart and may be interpreted as follosw:

IUSBA Test Component Scores and ESL Course Equivalent

Students taking the ESL Placement Exams may also be placed in the following non-ESL courses:

IUSBA Test Component and English Department Course Equivalent:

Students should meet with their advisors to find out the results and schedule the required classes. Results of the ESL Placement Written Exam indicate placement into one of the following courses: ENG-W 031/ESL, ENG-W 130/ESL, ENG-W 130, ENG-W 131, ENG-G 013 or, in the case of some graduate students, exemption from the writing courses in the ESL Program. The ESL Placement Oral Interview indicates placement into one of the following course: LING-L 100, ENG-G 020 or exemption from the speaking courses provided through the ESL Program. The courses are described in greater detail below.

The ESL Program offers the following composition courses for non-native speakers: ENG-W 031/ESL, ENG-W 130/ESL and ENG-G 013. For a complete description ENG-W 130 and ENG-W 131 (mentioned above), see the English department course list. The ENG-W 031/ESL and ENG-W 130/ESL courses offer instruction to students who need to develop the composition skills necessary for ENG-W 131, required for all undergraduate degrees at IU South Bend. Finally, a research-oriented ESL graduate-level composition course, similar to the undergraduate ENG-W 131 course, is available as ENG-G 013.

SBENG: Course Sequence for Undergraduate Students

SBENG: Course Sequence for Graduate Students

SBORL: Course Sequence for Undergraduate Students

SBORL: Course Sequence for Graduate Students

The ESL course(s) into which the student is placed and subsequent courses in the course sequence are all required.  If a student thinks that he or she has been misplaced, the advisor or the student can contact the ESL Director to consider whether the student should seek an appeal.

ESL courses are designed as support courses. They help students become linguistically prepared for the demands of academic coursework at the university level. They prepare the students for the other (non-ESL) courses they will take while studying at IUSB. Therefore, incoming students who are placed into two ESL courses will be automatically enrolled in their prescribed ESL classes before classes begin. Students should work with their advisors to plan their schedule around their ESL courses.

ESL students will be automatically registered into their ESL classes until they are done with their ESL sequence. For example, a continuing student who passed W031/ESL will be pre-enrolled in W130/ESL.

Prerequisites for registration include placement exam results or a passing grade in the prior level. Continuing students will be enrolled in their next ESL classes before grades are assigned. However, if a student does not receive a passing grade or receives a “W-030” grade, the students will automatically be removed from the next level and they will be automatically pre-enrolled in the class they failed to pass.

Please be advised that all students must complete the prescribed ESL course sequence following assessment and before registering for W131 at IU South Bend. Requests to transfer in W031/ESL, W130/ESL, or W131 credit will not be honored until the full course sequence of ESL classes has been completed at IU South Bend.