English for Foreign Students
English for Foreign Students (ENFS) is a comprehensive testing, academic
advising, and instructional program which assists the university's
foreign students who have language-related difficulties. EPI administers
this program for the university. A student visa cannot be issued for
only ENFS courses. ENFS courses are not available to EPI students.
All newly admitted graduate students who are non-native speakers of
English are required to take an English language proficiency examination
administered by EPI before registration. This examination, consisting of
a writing test and an oral interview, is designed to identify those
students who need additional work on written and/or spoken English.
Shortly after the examination, EPI makes recommendations to the students
and to their academic advisors regarding appropriate study loads and the
need (if warranted) for supplementary English courses. (This examination
is administered at the beginning of each Fall and Spring semester.)
There are three ENFS courses: Spoken Communication in English,
Written Communication in English, and Oral English for International
Teaching Assistants. USC students may enroll in these courses during
normal university registration. The fee for taking an ENFS course is the
standard per credit charge for USC students. (Non-USC students may also
enroll in these courses. For information on enrolling in these courses
as a non-USC student, please contact EPI at
epi-info@epi.sc.edu.) Below is
a description of ENFS course offerings.
Course Descriptions
- ENFS 072: Spoken Communication in English (offered Fall
and Spring semesters)
This course is designed for international students at the university
who require additional help with their listening and speaking skills
in English as a second language. Special attention is given to
English pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, and conversational
conventions used in academic and professional settings.
As part of the course, the students participate in such activities
as guided discussions, debates, oral reports, and presentations.
Students are also taught strategies for overcoming pronunciation and
accent barriers.
- ENFS 075: Oral English for Foreign Teaching Assistants
(offered Fall semester only)
This course is designed to prepare international graduate
students to communicate effectively with undergraduate students as
teaching assistants. The course focuses on strategies for effective
spoken communication in the USC undergraduate classroom, especially
pronunciation.
- ENFS 082: Written Communication in English (offered Fall
and Spring semesters)
This course is designed for international students at the
university who require additional help with their writing skills in
English as a second language. The focus of the course is on
strategies for writing appropriate American academic English at the
graduate level.The course includes work on sentence structure and
practice in writing organized paragraphs, essays and papers for
academic purposes. Students work on class assignments, articles,
critiques, theses and/or dissertations.
Although the scope of the course varies a great deal, depending
on the students who enroll in the course, the two main components of
the course remain the same: 1) emphasis on recognizing differences
in writing styles across cultures, and 2) individual conferences on
the students' writing assignments from their other classes.
Credit
These courses are graded courses with an audit option. Grades in ENFS
072 and 082 are based on classroom participation and attendance. ENFS
075 includes an exit exam. Enrollment is through normal university
registration. Students only receive grades and credit if they register
through normal university registration. Class size is limited.
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