About iELF
The Illinois English Language Forum (iELF) is a project by the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to meet the needs of NNS learners and their teachers by providing resources on academic English and culture.
Background
International Student Enrollment
Enrollment of international student population at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has been steadily increasing in the past couple decades. In the Fall 2013 semester, 9,421 international students comprised about 22% of the student population. In addition, UIUC hosted 1,906 international scholars in the 2012-2013 school year. It is likely that the university will continue to experience these upward trends.
Many international students, as well as postdoctoral and visiting scholars, are eager to improve their English language skills, particularly in academic use.
Read more about our needs assessment.
Currently Available ESL Resources
On the UIUC campus, there are only two units—The Writers Workshop in the Center for Writing Studies and the ESL Service Courses in the Department of Linguistics—where students can receive academic English assistance; both units have limited capacities.
Advanced-level resources on academic English are very limited and surprisingly difficult to find on the Internet. Websites are often narrow in focus making it difficult for learners to seek out good quality materials in one location. Most websites are difficult to navigate and not designed with learner interaction in mind; most importantly, materials are out-of-date and do not reflect current research on language learning.
Description of Project
iELF will feature short engaging lessons, using video and audio, on reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, and on English grammar. The website will also have lessons and resources on academic culture and English used in specific fields of study. Read more about the iELF project description.
The iELF project is an inter-institutional endeavor with collaboration with individuals, TESL programs, and institutions around the world. Learn how to get involved in the iELF project.
Questions? Comments. Ideas.
The iELF project managers would love to hear from you! Contact Randall Sadler at rsadler@illinois.edu or Susan Faivre at sfaivre@illinois.edu.