Current Courses on Campus
This page lists our current (credit-bearing) course offerings for current UMass Amherst students by category and semester.
Graduate students can enroll in any of our 100-level ESL courses.
To enroll in a course, please visit SPIRE and search "English as a Second Language." Enroll as you would in any other university section course at UMass.
PLEASE NOTE: There are NO prerequisites on ANY of our courses.
On Campus ESL Courses
FALL 2023
ESL125 Techniques of Oral Communication (3 credits)
In this course, students will gain confidence in speaking English in the university setting by practicing speaking in a variety of academic contexts, including informal interactions with other students and staff/faculty, effective communication with professors during office hours, participation in class discussions, and delivery of class presentations.
ESL126 Vocabulary & Comprehension of Academic English (3 credits)
In this course, students will work on increasing their knowledge and production of highly frequent academic vocabulary found across academic disciplines. They will also improve their reading fluency and comprehension of university-level texts through practicing close reading techniques and performing fluency exercises aimed at improving more automatic word recognition.
ESL128 America through Academic Readings (3 credits)
In this course, students will explore various key topics in American life through academic readings to hone both their reading comprehension skills and to develop a deeper understanding of culture and context.
ESL129 Oral Comprehension of Academic & Professional Genres (3 credits)
This course emphasizes the mastery of listening skills and note-taking with a focus on current topics and controversial issues presented in academic and professional lectures, as well as other oral genres.
LLC125 Intercultural Communication: Language & Identity (4 credits- Gen. Ed. SB, DG)
We live in an increasingly globalized world, where living and working with people from various cultures is nearly an everyday occurrence. These interactions, combined with ever-growing opportunities for students to explore and study in foreign settings, make it important to master effective ways to engage and learn from these experiences. This course will engage students interested in developing intercultural competence with an eye towards fostering diverse and vibrant communities that coexist peacefully.
On Campus TESOL Courses*
FALL 2023
LLC320 Foundations of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
The course is designed to present an overview of the field of how additional languages, with an emphasis on English, are learned after a first language has already been acquired. In this course, core concepts of language learning will be explored along with a historical perspective of teaching approaches based on those core concepts.
*PLEASE NOTE: ALL TESOL courses are ONLINE asynchronous courses even for currently enrolled on campus students. To enroll without the UWW fee, please select the university section of the course.
