The mission of the ESL component of the Writing Program is to help non-native speakers achieve college-level proficiency in English speaking, reading, and writing. Our ESL seminars (WR 097 and WR 098) prepare students for the challenges they will face in subsequent Writing Seminars (WR 100 and WR 150) and in the courses they will take throughout their college careers.
The ESL Curriculum
The ESL course sequence--WR 097 and WR 098--teaches students to read critically, speak articulately, and write effectively. The seminars place an emphasis on grammatical knowledge as a basis for effective analytical writing. Students examine cultural differences in strategies for classroom discourse and learn the rhetorical conventions of academic English. Placement in Writing Program courses for students whose first language is not English is based upon results on the Boston University Writing Assessment. ESL students who do not advance immediately to WR 100 will be placed either in WR 097 or WR 098. Initial placement in WR 097 requires completion of WR 098 in the next semester, prior to taking WR 100. Students enrolled initially in WR 098 proceed thereafter to WR 100.
730
Commonwealth Avenue, Room 301, Boston, MA 02215 | phone: 617-358-1500
| fax: 617-358-1505 | email: writing@bu.edu
