Cultural Understanding and English Language Learning
Designed To Help International, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students Successfully Integrate Into Campus Life
The ENGG course sequence are designed to help international, culturally and linguistically diverse students successfully integrate into campus life while also fine-tuning their language skills. These on-campus classes are for enrolled students and students at the final level of their English studies.
These courses provide regular DU undergraduate credit that counts toward graduation. As part of the Common Curriculum at DU, most students must complete a foreign language requirement. Students must complete 4, 8, or 12 language credits to fulfill the requirement based on their assessment scores.
Similarly, non-native English-speaking international students directly admitted to the University will take the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) during orientation, placing them in a Common Curriculum language requirement.
This language requirement will help improve English language skills while also teaching what it means to be part of a US American institution of higher learning. Students identified through the ELPA as needing no further English language training will be required to enroll in a 4-credit class focusing on U.S. culture. Students identified as needing additional training in writing or speaking will be required to take eight credits: a 4-credit course in the skill where further assistance is needed, and the culture course mentioned earlier.
Students identified as needing both writing and speaking will be required to take 12 credits: the writing, speaking, and culture courses. Students conditionally admitted to the University will take all three courses as their final level in the English Language Center.
Featured Courses
ENGG 1100
Exploring US Culture
About this Course
Designed as a foundational course for international students, this course examines the dynamic nature of US culture. While acquiring a language is the first step for successful integration into a nonnative country, it is only the beginning. Once the language is acquired, one must learn the dynamic and pluralistic nuances every culture has. Students are introduced to the pluralistic nature of contemporary American values and reflect on how these values interact. Students are also given the opportunity to locate their cultural identity and role in the greater multicultural community at DU.
ENGG 1080
Speaking Strategically
About this Course
Designed as a foundational course for international students, this course prepares students to effectively communicate orally for a variety of academic purposes. Through the use of content selected by the instructor, students learn to synthesize information from a variety of different sources, deliver a critical and comprehensible prepared presentation, initiate successful oral discussion strategies during classroom discussions, and critically contribute to a variety of academic conversations. Students are also expected to demonstrate the ability to critically listen and respond to sustained lectures or speeches. This course must be taken concurrently with Exploring US Culture.
ENGG 1090
Writing that Matters
About this Course
Designed as a foundational course for international students, this course prepares students to effectively communicate through writing for a variety of academic purposes. Through the use of content selected by the instructor, students learn to synthesize texts, critically respond to a variety of source materials, critically write in a way that contributes to the greater academic discussion, and analyze written texts of various genres and styles according to author purpose, audience, and ways of reasoning or logic. This course must be taken concurrently with Exploring US Culture.