photo by Alejandro Andreatta

photo by Alejandro Andreatta

photo by Alejandro Andreatta

photo by Alejandro Andreatta

Welcome to English for Multilingual Students

The English for Multilingual Students Program offers courses for undergraduate and international graduate students for whom English is not the first language. These courses help students develop English proficiency for academic and professional contexts.

Undergraduate Courses

Four levels of lower division academic English provide instruction and practice in reading and writing for various purposes and audiences in the American academic community. Instruction also focuses on strategies for developing academic vocabulary and grammatical accuracy in writing. Students placed into the EMS undergraduate courses through the English Language Placement Exam (ELPE) or the Analytical Writing Exam (AWPE) complete these courses prior to taking courses in the Writing Program. All EMS undergraduate courses confer credit toward degree.

Notice to New Undergraduate Students:

If you have been placed in an EMS course, we recommend that you enroll in the appropriate course during your first quarter.  Enrolling as soon as possible will provide you the best chance of getting into a course. Some courses may be impacted; students are urged to use the course wait lists and observe the course crash policy. See our Undergraduate FAQs page for details.

Graduate Courses

The graduate EMS Program includes both writing and oral skills courses for international graduate students in all disciplines. Students are placed into EMS courses through the written and oral English Language Placement Exam (ELPE), administered every quarter prior to the beginning of classes. Students also place into oral skills classes through the TA English Language Exams required of all prospective international Teaching Assistants whose home language is other than English.

EMS graduate courses include two levels of writing and two levels of oral skills for academic and professional purposes. The Program also offers a workshop course specifically for international TAs who are not yet certified for teaching. In addition, it offers a tutorial course for individual and small group focus on areas of academic English or English pronunciation.

For more information on courses, examinations and answers to frequently asked questions, please see our links for undergraduate courses or graduate courses.

 

English Language Placement for International Entering Freshmen and Graduate Students:

Undergraduates please see this announcement.
Graduate students please see this page.

Announcements

The English for Multilingual Students Program (EMS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is currently recruiting for Lecturer positions. Read more

Deaprtment graduate advisors are invited to submit names of graduate student TAs, both incoming and continuing students, for the TA English Language Evaluations. This year's evaluations will take place over four days, from Wednesday, September 7 through Monday, September 12. Lists are due Friday, August 26, 2022. Read more

The 2022 Graduate ELPE for new incoming international graduate students will be offered on Friday, August 12, 2022. Read more

The English for Multilingual Students Program (EMS) at the University of California, Santa Barbara invites applications for a pool of qualified temporary lecturers for both full-time and part-time positions to teach undergraduate writing courses in EMS for the upcoming openings. Screening of applicants is ongoing and will continue as needed. The number of positions available varies from quarter to quarter, depending on the needs of the program. Positions may range from 33% to 100% time. Read more

  1. Recruitment

If you have been placed in an EMS course, we recommend that you enroll in the appropriate course during your first quarter.  Enrolling as soon as possible will provide you the best chance of getting into a course. Some courses may be impacted; students are urged to use the course wait lists and observe the course crash policy. See our Undergraduate FAQs page for details.

Features

  1. June 9, 2023

How and when will the ELPE be administered for Fall 2023?

The English for Multilingual Students (EMS) Program will be administering an online placement process for all new international freshmen. You will be taking the exam online on the UG ELPE 2023 web site. Read more.