Academic Support Courses

Academic Support Courses

Undergraduate Students

The ELI offers two semester-long courses for fully admitted undergraduate students who are non-native speakers of English and who need additional language support in order to succeed as students at The University of Alabama (UA):

  • Undergraduate Academic Speaking (ELC 110) – 3 credit hours

  • Undergraduate Academic Writing (ELC 111) – 3 credit hours

The need for students to enroll in one or both of these courses is determined by their test scores or sub-scores on standardized English-language proficiency exams that are used for UA admissions purposes. These exams include TOEFL iBT, TOEFL PBT, IELTS, PTE, and DET.

Students may be required to take one or both of these support courses, concurrently with other undergraduate courses, during their first semester of enrollment at UA. Each course carries 3 credit hours that is typically counted as elective credit.

Graduate Students

The ELI offers two eight-week courses for fully admitted graduate students who are non-native speakers of English: Graduate Academic Speaking (ELI 528) and Graduate Academic Writing (ELI 529)

These two non-credit courses, which are free of charge for enrolled graduate students, are designed to assist non-native English speakers who may need support in terms of their listening/speaking and/or writing skills in English. 

These courses are offered each Fall and Spring semester and meet for 3 hours per week, generally starting at 8:00 am. The Graduate Academic Writing class is offered during the first half of the Fall and Spring semesters (August–October and January–March). The Graduate Academic Speaking class is offered during the second eight weeks of each semester (October–December and March–May).

Graduate Academic Speaking Syllabus PDF

Graduate Academic Writing Syllabus PDF