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Intensive Academic English

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The English Language Institute offers Intensive Academic English classes to prepare you for success at the undergraduate or graduate level.

Our 8-week intensive program classes meet 5 days a week, 4-5 hours per day, at six levels of proficiency from beginning to pre-university. Enrichment classes may include topics related to film, American culture, TOEFL preparation, and other specialty areas of interest to our students.

Sample Weekly Schedule

Full-time students begin classes at 9:00 a.m. and end classes around 2 p.m. The weekly schedule is subject to change, depending on enrollment and classroom availability.

AREA OF FOCUS HOURS PER WEEK
GRAMMAR 5
READING 5
WRITING 5
LISTENING & SPEAKING 5
ELECTIVE (OPTIONAL) 1
TOEFL PREP (OPTIONAL) 1

Session Dates
Fall I 2023 August 9 – October 6
Fall II 2023 October 18 – December 15
Spring I 2024 January 10 – March 8
Spring II 2024 March 20 – May 17
Summer 2024 June 5 – August 2
Fall I 2024 August 14 – October 11
Fall II 2024 October 21 – December 18


Conditional Admission

International students who meet all admission requirements except for the English proficiency requirement may be admitted to UT with conditional admission. This means that you will first enroll in the English Language Institute (ELI), where you will attend English classes designed to help you develop English proficiency and prepare you for UT.

You will begin a degree program when you attain the required score on the institutional TOEFL, which is offered at no additional cost at the end of each ELI session, or when you complete ELI’s highest level and receive a letter of recommendation from ELI.


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Computer Laboratory

The computer lab is an important part of each student’s program. Students can use the lab for email, online browsing, preparing documents, or designing presentations.

Student Placement

At the beginning of each term, students are assigned to levels according to their ability in each language skill area based on placement test results and instructor evaluations of student proficiency.

Student Support and Guidance

Instructors serve as advisors and are available to support with issues such as homesickness and acculturation. Students are also assisted in applying for admission to US colleges and/or universities.

TOEFL iBT

Students are given the opportunity to participate in a TOEFL elective that prepares them for the TOEFL iBT. This assessment is recognized internationally as evidence of language proficiency for university entry.

Part-time English Study

We also offer classes on a part-time basis for non-native speakers already in the USA. No visa or I-20 is issued for these students.

Student Orientation

An orientation program begins each term to help students acclimate to attending class in the USA. Social, cultural, and educational activities are organized during the term. Students participate in luncheons, celebrations, field trips, among other activities. Most of these activities are included in the ELI tuition and maintenance fee; attendance is required.

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Curriculum: 

  • English Structure and Usage (Grammar)
    • Low Beginning  – Students learn the most basic structures of English as a ground for later study.
    • High Beginning – Students communicate more quickly, specifically, and accurately using basic forms, especially improving use of verbs and new vocabulary.
    • Low Intermediate – More complex grammar including Infinitives and gerunds, reflexive and possessive pronouns, modals, passives, and complex sentences.
    • High Intermediate – Conditionals, perfect tenses, adjectives; comparatives, participles, adjective clauses
    • Low Advanced – Creating more complex sentences; noun clauses, phrasal verbs, adjective clauses
    • High Advanced – Refinement of previous skills; taught in context of Reading/Writing combined course.
  • Writing and Composition Skills in Multiple Rhetorical Modes
    • Low Beginning – Identify subjects and verbs and write simple sentences; use punctuation and capitalization; spelling.
    • High Beginning – Sentence types; write paragraphs using topic sentences, controlling ideas, and supporting ideas with examples, details, explanations, and definitions.
    • Low Intermediate – Longer paragraphs with more complex topics; genres of writing; spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
    • High Intermediate – Multi-paragraph essays in different genres while developing appropriate vocabulary. Use simple research.
    • Low Advanced – Increase amounts of external sources as support for short essays. Exert more control on language, coherence, and tone.
    • High Advanced – Create essays dealing with a variety of abstract and complex ideas, using a variety of organization patterns at the paragraph and essay level, with increasing emphasis on argument and response writing. Use and analyze external sources to support writing.
  • Academic Reading Skills and Vocabulary Development
    • Low Beginning – Read and understand basic texts in English..
    • High Beginning – Identify the topic; quickly find information; understand connections
    • Low Intermediate – Read about unfamiliar topics; understand synonyms, antonyms, and pronouns; understand vocabulary in context; use word forms, word roots, and word parts
    • High Intermediate – Academic reading with increasingly complex and  topics; evaluate; increase reading speed; understand visual presentations
    • Low Advanced – Read and write effective summaries. Build understanding of complex readings and judge content.
    • High Advanced – Read authentic university-level material, building understanding of complex readings. Create effective summaries; understand and be able to explain cultural references or expressions.
  • Speaking Fluency and Listening Comprehension
    • Low Beginning – Understand basic speech about everyday life; answer basic conversation questions; improve spoken vocabulary; talk about likes and dislikes.
    • High Beginning – Use common phrases; give examples; ask and respond to basic interview questions; answer with complete sentences. Ask and answer deeper conversational questions. Give opinions (with reasons).
    • Low Intermediate – Understand longer listenings and discuss familiar and unfamiliar topics. Improve vocabulary. Predict a topic and organization of a talk. Note-taking. Begin to discuss non-personal topics with classmates based on information from listenings and personal interests; be able to agree and disagree, criticize and complain.
    • High Intermediate – Make detailed notes with more information and some abbreviations; identify organization of a listening. Explain simple topics in an organized format. Give your opinion with reasons about familiar and unfamiliar topics. Ask for clarification. Fix errors when speaking, when prompted.
    • Low Advanced – Understand academic listenings about unfamiliar and complex topics. Present more complex topics to the class and field questions about presentations. Discern fact from opinion. Organize notes in a graphic organizer.
    • High Advanced – Speak without long pauses about university-level topics for 2-3 minutes with time to prepare notes. Interrupt politely; ask and respond to questions on academic topics; use evidence from research to support your opinion; use comparisons/contrasts, suggestions, and definitions to explain your points. Use correct stress and intonation.

Elective classes vary from term to term, may include games, conversation, and TOEFL preparation.

Daily assignments are given for all classes except elective classes. Students are tested frequently and grades are scaled using a traditional A, B, C, F system. A grade of NP (No Promotion) is given to students who have not improved enough to go on to the next level of study. Students receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the term.

Tuition Cost

$3,080* for each 8-week session

*New pricing coming January 2024