Listening/Speaking Course Expected Student Learning Outcomes
Listed below are the skills students should master by the end of each course. Please contact the ELI Director,
ESL 081 Listening and Speaking, Advanced
By the end of ESL 081 , at the advanced level, successful students should be able to demonstrate the following language skills:
Listening: All conversations and academic lectures are based on advanced and 100-level texts and authentic materials.
- Identify and comprehend main ideas and supporting details in academic lectures of longer-lengths, using authentic vocabulary and presented at a natural pace
- Identify complex numerical information and dates
- Use abbreviations and symbols in note taking consistently and accurately
- Recognize signal words and phrases that introduce organizational structures within lectures, new concepts or vocabulary
- Take and organize notes of longer-length authentic academic lectures and informal listening passages using a variety of appropriate outlining techniques introduced in advanced level texts
- Use information from academic and informal listening passages to both create and take tests and quizzes that include objective and subjective questions, make inferences, summarize, discuss and debate
Speaking: All conversations and academic lectures are based on advanced and 100-level texts and authentic materials.
- Interview classmates using self-created questions; present interview results to group
- Express opinions and support them with examples and facts; agree and disagree with others using techniques introduced in advanced texts
- Communicate with professors or other professionals by phone to set up appointments for which to later conduct interviews; present interview results to the class
- Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar in speaking at the advanced level
- Use information from authentic academic and informal listening passages to summarize orally and discuss and/or debate critically
- Participate in whole class and small group discussions by using appropriate discussion strategies such as keeping the discussion going, turn-taking, asking for clarification or confirmation, paraphrasing, keeping the discussion on topic, and trying to reach a consensus
- Speak comprehensibly at the advanced level
- Prepare and give well-organized and well-delivered 8-12 minute presentations, both in groups and individually, on academic subjects requiring research, with and without visuals
- Debate on local and global issues
ESL 071 Listening and Speaking, High-Intermediate
By the end of ESL 071 , at the high-intermediate level, successful students should be able to demonstrate the following language skills:
Listening: All conversations and academic lectures are based on high-intermediate level texts and authentic materials.
- Identify and comprehend main ideas and supporting details in academic lectures of medium-length, mostly authentic vocabulary and presented at a pace slightly slowed by pausing and repetition of key points
- Identify numerical information and dates
- Use some abbreviations and symbols in note taking
- Recognize signal words and phrases that introduce new concepts or vocabulary
- Take and organize notes of medium-length academic lectures and informal listening passages using a variety of appropriate outlining techniques introduced in intermediate level text
- Use information from academic and informal listening passages to answer questions, infer and summarize
Speaking: All conversations and academic lectures are based on high-intermediate level texts and authentic materials.
- Interview classmates using wh- questions; present interview results to group
- Express opinions; agree and disagree with others using techniques introduced in high-intermediate texts
- Give advice
- Make phone calls of 2-4 minutes.
- Conduct interviews of 5-10 questions of persons outside class.
- Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar in speaking at the high-intermediate level
- Use information from academic and informal listening passages to summarize orally and discuss
- Participate in whole class and small group discussions by using appropriate conversation and turn-taking skills
- Speak comprehensibly at the high-intermediate level
- Organize and give 5-10 minute presentations on academic subjects, using limited notes and appropriate visuals and high-intermediate presentation skills
ESL 061 Listening and Speaking, Intermediate
By the end of ESL 061 , at the intermediate level, successful students should be able to demonstrate the following language skills:
Listening: All conversations and academic lectures are based on low-intermediate to intermediate level texts and authentic materials.
- Identify and comprehend the main idea and supporting details of short academic lectures with some simplified vocabulary and presented at a pace slowed by pausing and repetition
- Use stressed words to identify key details from conversations and short lectures
- Use intonation to make inferences
- Identify numerical information and dates
- Comprehend and follow directions on simplified maps
- Take notes using a partial outline of short academic lectures and informal listening passages
- Use completed outlines to answer questions and summarize
Speaking: All conversations and academic lectures are based on low-intermediate to intermediate level texts and authentic materials.
- Introduce self and classmates.
- Greet and respond to greetings
- Ask and answer wh- and y/n questions
- Make statements; agree and disagree with others’ statements
- Ask for clarification with techniques introduced at the intermediate level
- Make short phone calls of 1-3 minutes seeking specific information.
- Conduct simple interviews
- Ask for and give directions using common phrases introduced in intermediate-level texts
- Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar in speaking at the intermediate level
- Participate in whole class and small group discussions
- Speak comprehensibly at the intermediate level
- Organize and give presentations of 3-8 minutes on academic subjects, using notes and intermediate level presentation skills