A Survey of Academic Needs for Advanced ESL

The American Language Institute, University of Southern California, recently conducted a study of their students' assessments of both what academic skills they expected to need in order to successfully complete their studies, and a self-assessment of their success in using English in varied social and business settings. The study revealed: There is a clear distinction between the academic skills needed by graduate and undergraduate students; many students were concerned over their inability to read complex academic material; some of the skills assessed were major-specific and, although students felt quite comfortable in some language settings, their confidence decreased sharply in those settings requiring creative language skills.