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English for Academic Purposes & U.S. Culture for International Students

SUNY Oswego offers language and cultural support for our international students to help ensure success in the classroom and beyond.  

 

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English For Academic Purposes

This program is for undergraduate and graduate students as well as exchange students hoping to improve and develop their academic English skills. Each three-credit course counts as an Arts and Science elective towards graduation in most undergraduate majors. Students with lower incoming ESL scores have priority in registering for EAP courses. If there are available seats, the EAP classes will be made available to other international students.

 

US Culture for International Students

This one credit course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of American culture for international students to ease their transition into a completely new academic and social environment.

Undergraduate Degree Requirements

Minimum required score to enroll in undergraduate degree programs (Will be recommended to take 1- 3 EAP courses)

  • TOEFL iBT = 71
  • IELTS = 6.0

You are ready to take all academic courses 

  • TOEFL iBT = 79+
  • IELTS = 6.5+ 

* Students also have the opportunity to register in SUNY Oswego's Summer Intensive English Program to improve their academic English skills. Coursework will be eligible for college credit.

Course Descriptions

ENG 101 Composition I - International
  • This course is designed to develop fundamental writing skills, especially for those students with little experience in writing.
  • The course emphasizes sentence, paragraph, essay structure  as well as standard American conventions of grammar, punctuation and spelling.
ENG 102 Composition II - International

  • This course is designed to instruct the student in rhetorical modes and the basic techniques of expository prose, in critical reading, and in research methods.

ENG 103 Critical Academic Listening

  • Develops listening comprehension through staged practice with academic lectures, focusing on main ideas, details, and note-taking strategies.

  • Builds skills in recognizing lecture structure, discourse markers, idioms, colloquial language, and verbal cues like intonation and emphasis.

  • Prepares students to identify lecture purpose, scope, and organization, and to summarize key content confidently and accurately.

ENG 104 Critical Academic Reading

  • Strengthens academic reading, critical thinking, and research skills through advanced texts related to students’ fields of study.

  • Teaches reading strategies, vocabulary-building techniques, and analysis of different academic source types and structures.

  • Emphasizes evaluating source quality, supporting arguments with reliable evidence, and understanding the importance of proper citation.

ENG 105 Academic Spoken English

  • Develops fluent, coherent, and spontaneous speech through rhetorical strategies and critical engagement with complex topics, including logical fallacy practice.

  • Enhances interactive speaking skills for academic settings, such as negotiating, persuading, and synthesizing ideas in debates and roundtable discussions.

  • Builds effective presentation skills using academic language and visual aids, with instruction on organizing content and designing slides.

GST 270 U.S. Culture for International Students
  • This one credit credit bearing course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of American culture for international students attending an American college to ease their transition into a completely new academic and social environment.
  • The course is recommended for first semester Freshman and exchange international students.
  • The course is designed to develop the following skills for success in students' academic and social life in the United States:
  1. The knowledge of campus resources to utilize for academic and social success;
  2. understanding of general American academic standards and expectations, including integrity policies and plagiarism;
  3. interpretation of American (informal and formal) cultural communications and social scenarios appropriately;
  4. comparison of American political system and its place in world;
  5. knowledge about American education, culture and society in order to perform successfully in the American classroom and at campus events;
  6. evaluation and response appropriately to cultural diversity particularly across the issues of class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, religion, and race;
  7. understanding of Americans’ belief in freedom of choice; good understanding of American Holidays and traditions.

*All students who take EAP or GST270 classes will be assigned a secondary advisor for support in ESL related academic challenges or challenges in communication with faculty due to language proficiency or cultural differences for the rest of their academic journey at SUNY Oswego.

Office

Division of Extended Learning

337 Sheldon Hall
Oswego, NY 13126

Contact

Phone: 315-312-2270
Email: [email protected]

Hours

8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Monday-Friday