The English for Multilingual Students Program offers courses for undergraduate and international graduate students for whom English is not their 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 Entry Level Placement in English (ELPE) or the Collaborative Writing Placement (CWP) 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 Entry Level Placement in English (graduate ELPE), administered every quarter prior to the beginning of classes. Students also place into oral skills classes through the ITA 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.
EMS Course Placement
Undergraduate Students
UCSB requires incoming freshman students whose home language is not English to satisfy the Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) before arriving or take our Entry Level Placement in English (ELPE).
Undergraduates, please see this announcement for information regarding the next ELPE.
Graduate Students
UCSB requires graduate students whose home language is not English to meet proficiency requirements in spoken and written English. Non-exempt students must take the Entry Level Placement in English (Graduate ELPE).
Graduate students, please see this page for information regarding the next ELPE.