For Graduate Students

The goal of the English Language Support Program (ELSP) is to support and enrich the experience of international students who use English as an additional language. 

In line with Laney Graduate School’s mission to support the success of all students through the fostering of diversity, equity, and inclusion, we aim to offer high-quality language instruction that advances the communicative skills of multilingual graduate students.

Interested in English language support?

Please read the information below and then fill out our ELSP interest form. 

For students entering Fall 2024

Some graduate school programs refer their incoming international students for language assessment. The results are used to recommend coursework that can help you thrive in your first year of graduate school. 

All other new graduate students and Emory postdoctoral fellows can elect to participate in ELSP courses and workshops to advance their English language capabilities.

Speaking Support

Speaking support focuses on improving both fluency and accuracy and centers around the completion of academic tasks, such as giving various types of presentations (for specialist and non-specialist audiences) as well as participating in discussions across a wide range of topics. Participants have multiple opportunities to practice communicating information from their own fields of study. Some example offerings include:

  • Serving as a teaching assistant in a US context (Workshop) 
  • Communication skills for intermediate speakers (Course)
  • Communication skills for advanced speakers (Course)
  • Seminar in professional communication (Course)
  • Small Talk in a US Context (Workshop) 
  • Talking about your research (Workshop)
  • Expanding your academic vocabulary for oral communication (Workshop)
  • Developing professional body language & voice for online communication (Workshop)

Writing Support

Writing support is designed for participants who exhibit some of the qualities of clear and purposeful academic writing and yet may need direct instruction on key concepts, such as audience, purpose, academic style, rhetorical moves, and cohesion, along with consistent writing practice and feedback from a language specialist.

  • Fundamentals of graduate writing (Course)
  • Advancing your graduate writing skills (Mini-Course)
  • Laboratory in graduate and professional writing (Course)
  • Online tools to improve your academic style & word choice (Workshop)
  • Grammar choices for graduate & professional Writers (Workshop)
  • Writing an abstract (Workshop)

Ongoing Support