English for International Student Programs

International undergraduate and graduate students IF:

Your first language is NOT English

You are seeking a degree at LSU**

You are an exchange student***

Graduate students will have their EIS composition course requirements determined based on the English tests that they submitted for admission, such as the TOEFL or IELTS. Departments will be notified of new graduate student placements based on their tests. If you were admitted without a standardized English test, you will take a standardized test (the LSU Michigan test) in order to be exempted from written English classes or to be placed into English courses. The Michigan test involves both an objective and a written portion. You will take this test promptly following International Student Orientation. See the International Services Office for details on international student orientation and other important information for first-time international LSU students.

**Graduate students with degrees from American universities in the United States do NOT need to take the EIS composition classes. Graduate students from the following programs will fulfill their English requirements through departmental courses and are also exempt from EIS composition courses:

• Accounting
• Kinesiology
• Chemistry
• Mathematics
• Biological Sciences
• Comp. Literature
• Chem. Engr.
• Mass Communication

**Undergraduate students who attended for 4 years (and graduated from) an American high school in the United States do NOT need to take the Michigan test or our EIS composition classes. They should take regular UWP courses.

***Exchange students are NOT required to take our EIS classes, but if they wish to enroll, THEY MUST take the Michigan test to ensure proper placement into appropriate courses.

For Undergraduate students, ENGL 1004 and ENGL 1005 are required General Education courses (equivalent to ENGL 1001 and ENGL 2000 for native speaking students).

For Graduate Students, students in all graduate programs other than those specified above are required to complete the courses mandated by their English test used for admission or the LSU Michigan Test used by those who did not have another English test score. This is a requirement of the LSU Graduate School.

Course Descriptions:

ENGL 1000 English for Academic Success (3 credit hours): Introduction to elements of academic writing, grammar, and style. For international students admitted to LSU despite low language proficiency and whose English diagnostic test results indicate the need for intensive work in college composition. Not for degree credit. Required during the first semester of residence for all such qualified international students. Graduate students graded pass-no credit.

ENGL 1004 English Composition (3 credit hours) Prereq.: ENGL 1000 or placement based on previous English tests. For international students, this is the same as ENGL 1001, with emphasis on usage and idiom problems specific to international students. Required during the first semester of residence for all international students (graduate, undergraduate, and transfer students unless otherwise exempted) who demonstrate on the placement examination need for work in English, but not at the intensive level of English 1000. Graduate students graded pass-no credit.

ENGL 1005 English Composition (3 credit hours) Prereq.: ENGL 1004 or placement by previous English tests. For international students, this is the same as ENGL 2000, with continued work on problems specific to international students. Graduate students who are placed into this course upon admission should complete it during their first semester of residence. Graduate students graded pass-no credit.

GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING COMPETENCY:
LSU graduates will conduct research-based inquiry, including articulation of complex disciplinary and interdisciplinary problems, effective evaluation and analysis of primary and secondary sources, and integration of relevant information into original discourse.

ENGL 1000 Course Goals:
Learn to recognize genre
Learn to write to a specific audience about other writings, including paraphrase, summary, and synthesis
Learn to read critically and self-edit one’s own grammar and style
Produce writing characterized by organization, unity, specific support, appropriate word choice, standard usage, and correct grammar, spelling, and mechanics
Collaborate with peers to create papers and improve writing
Learn to gather and use credible sources to inform an argument

ENGL 1004 COURSE GOALS:
Learn to position oneself as a writer and researcher within an academic community
Learn to read critically and analyze other writers’ work
Produce college-level essays characterized by organization, unity, specific support, appropriate word choice, standard usage, and correct grammar, spelling, and mechanics
Collaborate with peers to create papers and improve writing
Learn to revise and edit

ENGL 1005 COURSE GOALS:
Develop advanced grammar, diction, usage, and idiom skills
Learn to position oneself as a writer and researcher within an academic community
Learn to read critically and summarize academic writing
Learn to argue effectively and properly document sources in a research paper

Graduate Students must earn at least an 80% B- in both ENGL 1004 and ENGL 1005 to pass (they receive a “P,” not a letter grade).  Failing a course does not impact the graduate student’s GPA. 

Undergraduate students earn letter grades and their GPA is affected by their grades in the courses. Undergraduate students must earn a 70% C- to get credit for their English composition classes.

English composition courses are vital for students’ academic and professional growth.
All LSU graduates must meet General Education requirements, and academic writing courses are integral to those requirements.
Our focus in ESL composition courses is improving international students’ grammar, research, and writing skills.

The EIS office is located in Allen Hall Room 210-A
Our coordinator is Albert S. Camp
The email address is esl@lsu.edu 
The office phone is 225-334-2062

Albert Camp received a BA in Applied Linguistics in 2006, a MA in French Linguistics in 2010, and a PhD in French Linguistics in 2015. His dissertation, L'essentiel ou Lagniappe: The Ideology of French Revitalization in Louisiana, focused on efforts to revitalize French in Louisiana through Louisiana's public school systems. His academic interests include many areas of Phonetics, Phonology, and Sociolinguistics (particularly: language change, language contact, language shift, language revitalization, and language acquisition). He is currently the coordinator of the ESL Writing Program.

Chase Faucheux earned a B.A. in Linguistics from Tulane University and an M.A. in Linguistics from LSU.  In 2013 he earned a Diploma in Translation, German-English, from the Chartered Institute of Linguistics, London UK.  Prior to joining the English Department's ESL Program, he taught for a number of years in the English Language and Orientation Program.

Brittany Helfrich obtained her Bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in Secondary Education from Louisiana State University in 2013. She then obtained a Master's in English with a concentration in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2015. She began her teaching career at Tulane University working with the Panama Bilingue program which involved hosting groups of English teachers from Panama for 4-5 months at a time. She continued working with Panama Bilingue at Southeastern Louisiana University until 2019. Brittany joined the English for International Students program at LSU in 2021.

Teresa Iverson has a Bachelor's in English from the University of Wisconsin, Riverfalls, and a Masters in Literature from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Michelle Sands holds a B.A. and an M.A., both in English, from Tulane University. Before joining the EIS faculty in 2024, she taught in the Intensive English Language Program at the University of New Orleans. She has also taught English for international students at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Syracuse University, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. 

To comply with Louisiana state mandate, the Graduate School requires oral proficiency evaluation and certification of international graduate students* on TA2 or TA3 assistantships.

*Includes those from all countries, including Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Puerto Rico, Viet Nam, etc., as well as naturalized citizens, U.S. residents, and those whose first language is not English.  

A 30-minute, one-on-one, oral interview by Spoken English Program faculty will determine possible exemption from or placement in English 1051, the spoken English course. Students who may work as a TA2 or TA3 should complete this interview during their first semester. That will avoid delays in student assistantship changes if students are required to complete ENGL 1051. Students are each permitted one Oral Proficiency Interview. 

Oral interviews take place via Zoom, usually before each semester begins.  [See the International Services Office website for important information directed to first-time LSU international students]. Students are evaluated based on a modified version of the Oral Proficiency Interview developed by the ACTFL.

The 30-minute Oral Interview offers possible exemption from/placement in English 1051. No other test is accepted.

*Students should first consult their departments and/or terms of their offers of assistantship for specific information regarding type of assistantship and any departmental oral proficiency requirement.   

Graduate students offered teaching assistantships (TA2 and TA3) must take the Oral Interview to have their spoken English comprehensibility evaluated and certified before they can assist with or teach a class or laboratory.  
Graduate assistants on any kind of assistantship (TA1, TA2, TA3, RA, and SA) from some specific colleges at LSU must also take the Oral Interview.   For example, The College of Humanities and Social Sciences requires oral proficiency evaluation of international graduate students on any kind of assistantship (TA1, TA2, TA3, RA, and SA).  
Graduate students whose departments ask for or require evaluation of their spoken English and/or listening comprehension should ask for the Oral Interview. 

Those assistants with U.S. degrees still must take the Oral Interview.

Those with prior experience as teaching assistants must still take the Oral Interview.

English 1051, the spoken English course, is a three-credit hour course graded Pass/No Credit (P/NC).  It does not affect a student’s grade point average (GPA), but it does count toward the course hours required for full-time student status.  English 1051 may be repeated for credit if necessary.

English 1051 Course Description:
The goals of English 1051 are to develop and improve general spoken English skills (pronunciation, stress, intonation, and rhythm), overall comprehensibility, and interaction skills by having students make needs assessments and participate in various tasks and activities designed to develop useful communication strategies.  Goals also include students’ learning how to help undergraduate students develop critical thinking skills by posing high-level thinking questions based on their technical presentations and getting the undergraduates to interact while answering questions.

A major component of the course is three videotaped oral presentations which require explaining, defining, or describing technical terms, concepts, principles, or processes from students’ fields of study, as well as interacting with an undergraduate audience by asking and answering high-level thinking questions based on the content of the technical presentations.  

Equally important to speaking ability are overall listening comprehension and ability to interact verbally in a clear, comprehensible, and effective manner both during the technical presentation and in spontaneous situations, for example, when asking and answering questions.

Graduate students on TA2 or TA3 assistantships whose oral interview results place them in the course must enroll the first semester of their teaching assistantship, as do any other students whose colleges or departments request/require their enrollment.

Albert S. Camp is coordinator of the Spoken English for International Graduate Assistants
Email: esl@lsu.edu 
Telephone: 225-334-2062