Description of courses
The English Language Support Program offers language courses to assist international student with reading, writing and speaking skills. The meeting times and locations of these courses can be found in Mizzou’s schedule of classes.
Students learn the grammatical patterns and sentence construction used in academic writing and focus on improving sentence-level grammatical accuracy in the writing of coherent, well-developed paragraphs.
Students learn how to write clear and well-developed multi-paragraph academic essays using various methods of organization through the process of planning, drafting, revising, editing and peer reviewing. Students also learn to work with sources. Grammatical structures relevant to the methods of organization are reviewed and practiced.
Students develop vocabulary and reading strategies required to comprehend academic textbooks and literature in various fields of study.
This course emphasizes the development of fluency and intelligibility in spoken English. Through individual and group activities, students work on improving pronunciation, practicing conversation strategies and delivering oral presentations. Enrollment in ELSP_4400 is restricted to graduate students and scholars who have attained a satisfactory score on the TOEFL.
Grading and credits
ELSP courses are graded A–F and count toward a student’s GPA. Each course grade appears on a student’s university transcript as a three credit-hour course.
Enrollment
Enrollment in an English Language Support Program course requires consent of the department. Students who are interested in taking ELSP 0100 (Grammar and Composition I), ELSP 0200 (Reading and Vocabulary) or ELSP 0300 (Grammar and Composition II) are required to take the Mizzou English Language Exam, which is administered during the week prior to the start of classes in the fall and spring semesters. This exam is required of all new international undergraduate students, including transfer students. The exam results are used to determine placement in appropriate English language courses. Students may register for the exam by emailing elsp@missouri.edu.
Graduate students who are interested in taking ELSP 4400 (Oral Communication) will have a brief oral interview to determine their eligibility for enrollment. Appointments for the oral interview can be made by emailing elsp@missouri.edu.