Useful information about the ESL Composition Program
The ESL Composition Program is a post-admission writing program for students whose English writing proficiency may make it difficult for them to successfully compete in regular university courses with American and other English-speaking students. Placement in ESL Composition is determined by direct assessment of a writing sample obtained after admission to OSU. Most students who place in the program have already achieved a TOEFL score of at least 500 (or 173 on the computer-based TOEFL) or a Michigan Test score of 80. Depending on the level of development of their expository writing skills in English, students may be required to take one to three ESL Composition courses. Undergraduates may be placed in English 106, 107, or 108.01. Graduate students may be asked to enroll in English 106G, 107G, or 108.02. Undergraduates who complete the ESL Composition sequence proceed to English 110, First-year Composition in the English Department. Graduate students often write their Master's or Ph.D. exams or theses soon after meeting their ESL Composition requirements.
The ESL Composition Program staff includes a permanent core of experienced full-time teachers and administrators in addition to a number of graduate teaching associates (GTAs) and lecturers. Because the program's goal is to teach expository writing as a means of communication as well as self-expression, both writing process and product issues are addressed in class sessions. The relationship between language use and rhetorical purpose is also emphasized. Tutorial sessions, offered a number of times each quarter in every course, provide students with an opportunity to discuss their own response to a current writing assignment as well as their progress as language learners and writers.
The ESL Composition Program hires a varying number of new GTAs each year based on staffing needs. Basic minimum qualifications include:
- completion of at least one year of graduate study in a field relevant to ESL writing instruction (foreign/second language education, English education, English, applied linguistics, linguistics)
- completion of English 881.03, an OSU graduate course in ESL composition teaching methods
or
equivalent graduate coursework in second language composition theory and pedagogy at another university
- completion of either English 772 or Linguistics 602.01, graduate syntax courses at OSU
or
equivalent graduate coursework in the structure of English or language analysis at another university
- achievement of an advanced level of proficiency in expository writing (the equivalent of a Test of Written English or TOEFL Essay score of 6 on a 1- 6 scale), as demonstrated by a writing sample and attested to by former instructors
- certification of oral proficiency in English. This is a State of Ohio requirement for all nonnative speakers of English who apply for teaching associateships at state-supported post-secondary institutions in Ohio. To comply with this regulation, submit a TSE score no more than two years old to the Spoken English Program (60 Arps Hall) or make an appointment to take the SPEAK Test, which is administered by the Spoken English Program.
GTAs receive complete tuition remission as well as a monthly stipend. To be considered for a GTAship in the ESL Composition Program, submit a letter of interest, a resume, a writing sample (preferably an academic paper), and at least two letters of recommendation. Please include a list of relevant graduate coursework completed.
