LANG 701: ENGLISH LANGUAGE & CLASSROOM SKILLS FOR INTERNATIONAL GTAS 

3 credits | Spring and Summer Semesters 

LANG 701 is designed to help international graduate students become effective teachers by developing the language and teaching skills necessary to meet the expectations of undergraduate students at NDSU. Students gain practical experience in classroom leadership, lesson planning, and presenting lessons. Course activities, assignments, readings, and discussions focus on discourse-level proficiency in the culture and rhetoric of the classroom. Students with test scores that don’t satisfy language proficiency requirements to TA must also take an oral skills graduate course: LANG 702, LANG 606, or LANG 704. Upon successful completion of 1) LANG 701, 2) a co-requisite graduate-level oral skills course, and 3) a Mock Teaching Exam designed in coordination with their department, students are qualified to be TAs at NDSU. 

LANG  702: ENGLISH LANGUAGE TUTORIAL FOR INTERNATIONAL GTAS 

1 credit | by permission only, contact graduate coordinator 

In conjunction with LANG 701, this course is designed to help international graduate students become effective teachers by developing the language necessary to meet the expectations of undergraduate students at NDSU. Assignments and one-on-one tutorials are designed to identify individual language deficiencies and to improve on assessed needs. Can be repeated for credit. Co-req: LANG 701. 

LANG  704: LANGUAGE STRATEGIES FOR LITERATURE REVIEWS 

3 credits | spring semesters 

Linguistic strategies develop critical reading and oral skills for literature reviews and academic discourse, both for discipline-specific and cross-disciplinary contexts. Computational and corpus-based tools are used to advance each graduate student’s practical understanding of the vocabulary, themes, and rhetorical moves in their field of study and on a particular topic. Through comprehensive readings in a student-selected domain of scholarship, the student will gain expertise in a topic of research and practice in speaking professionally about the themes, trends, results and ideas that emerge from those readings. LANG 704 is multidisciplinary and designed for graduate students across a variety of language competencies. It is appropriate for both native and non-native speakers of English. 

LANG 606: ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE STRATEGIES AND SKILLS FOR PRESENTATION  

2 credits | fall semesters 

This course is designed to help non-native speakers of English speak more effectively and confidently in professional contexts such as research presentations at conferences, competitions, poster sessions, job/internship interviews, or a dissertation defense. Course includes study and practice to develop public speaking ability, effectiveness, and comprehensibility, as well as training in the application of English conventions in oral communication to improve intelligibility and speaking quality. Students will analyze qualities of effective speakers, record and analyze their own speech, give prepared and impromptu talks in class, participate in oral skills practice activities, prepare materials for relevant speaking tasks, and receive and complete peer reviews with their classmates. 

LANG 709: LANGUAGE STRATEGIES FOR RESEARCH WRITING 

3 credits | fall semesters 

Linguistic analysis, grammar instruction, and intensive writing practice will develop language skills for academic and professional writing. Within their own research area, students will develop a manuscript for publication (journal article, dissertation chapter, book chapter, or literature review). LANG 709 provides persistent practice in discourse-centered writing and grammar instruction in order to advance writing skills and English language strategies. Students will gain 1) greater awareness of the processes of writing from research; 2) recognition of the conventions, genres, and rhetorical expectations of academic writing for publication; and 3) grammatical tools for evaluating and improving writing. LANG 709 is designed to help professionalize current graduate students and familiarize them with research writing in the university context. LANG 709 is multidisciplinary and designed for graduate writers across a variety of language competencies. It is appropriate for both native and non-native speakers of English.  

Please contact Stephen Disrud for additional information.