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Languages and Linguistics

Chair: Udambor Bumandalai
Phone: (435) 283-7443
Email: udambor.bumandalai@snow.edu

Disciplines within Department: 

English as a Second Language

Contact: Udambor Bumandalai
Phone: (435) 283-7443
Email: udambor.bumandalai@snow.edu
Program's Webpage: https://snow.edu/academics/humanities/language

The ESL Program provides an intensive English program designed for non-native English speakers whose English language skills are not yet developed enough to read, write, take notes and examinations, or do other college-level work in English. Most ESL students complete the program in one or two semesters.

Students in the ESL Program attend classes five to six hours a day for five days a week. ESL courses instruct students in basic to advanced levels of academic English skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The ESL Program also offers subjects which will help students to live and study at an American college.

Unless students have submitted a TOEFL score of 500, 173 CBT, 63 iBT (with a minimum of 15 in each section) or higher before arrival on campus, they are required to take the ESL Placement Exam at an additional cost of $25.00.  This is a one-time placement exam. Students may not take it multiple times. The score on this exam will determine where students will begin their studies.

After taking the Placement Exam, students are placed in one  of four different levels. Students who earn a score of 88 or better on the placement exam will be admitted into regular academic courses and will need to take only ESL 1051 as a prerequisite for ENGL 1010. Students may challenge ESL 1051 by taking a written essay exam that is graded by three ESL faculty members.  Students must pass this with an 85% or better by at least two of the three raters.

Outcomes:

  • Writing: Students will be able to write clearly and effectively to succeed in regular academic courses.
  • Reading: Students will be able to read effectively to obtain information to succeed in regular academic courses.
  • Communication: Students will be able to communicate effectively in classes and with instructors to succeed in regular academic courses.
  • Culture: Students will have a cultural awareness of the differences between their own home culture's instructional style and American classroom culture to be able to succeed in regular academic courses.
  • Grammar: Students will be familiar with the English tense system and be able to produce grammatically comprehensible discourse.

Foreign Languages

Contact: Travis Schiffman
Phone: (435) 283-7355
Email: travis.schiffman@snow.edu
Program's Webpage: www.snow.edu/foreignlanguages

The foreign languages taught at Snow College are Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. The study of a foreign language includes the language plus its cultures, civilization, literature, and instruction in effective communication via written and oral modes.

Foreign language majors study the language as a vehicle of personal, academic, and professional expression in a variety of contexts appropriate to the cultures where the language is spoken. They study the people who speak the language, and they investigate attitudes, behaviors, and histories through a variety of media and through interaction with native speakers, or advanced non-native speakers, and texts. Majors also read and write extensively in the foreign language.

Students often combine a foreign language major with a secondary major, thus increasing their career potential.

Outcomes:

Students who complete the recommended foreign language curriculum at Snow College achieve the following outcomes:

Interpretive Communication: 

  • Students will be able to understand the main point in short conversations, messages, and announcements that they hear in the target language. (Novice high listening)

Students will be able to understand some ideas in simple texts that contain familiar vocabulary. (Novice high reading)

Presentational Communication:

  • Students will be able to provide basic information on familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences (Novice high spoken production).
  • Students will be able to write descriptions and short messages to request or provide information on familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences. (Novice high written production)

Interpersonal Communication: 

  • Students will be able to exchange information on familiar tasks, topics, and activities.
  • Students will be able to handle short social interactions using phrases and simples sentences. They may need help or visuals to keep the conversation going. (Novice high person to person communication)
  • Students will express satisfaction with their ability to reach their communication goals.

Cultural Competence:

  • Students will be able to talk about and describe (in English) aspects of the target culture, such as food, clothing, types of dwellings, modes of transportation, buildings, and monuments.
  • Students will be able to make comparisons between their culture and the target culture and explain differences based on linguistic, geographic, historical, etc. cues.
  • Students will seek opportunities to learn about and experience new cultures outside of class.

Teaching English as a Second Language

Contact: Diane Ogden
Phone: (435) 283-7436
Email:  diane.ogden@snow.edu
Program's Webpage: www.snow.edu/tesl

The TESL Program offers training for students who want to teach English to non-native speakers of English. Students can earn an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in TESL or complete the TESL curriculum while pursuing an Associate of Arts (recommended) or Associate of Science degree.

Students who complete the Certificate of Proficiency will receive a certificate designation on their transcript and will be able to find jobs outside the United States teaching English. 

Students will continue in a program to pursue a TESOL minor, a TESOL bachelor’s degree or a master’s in a related field (i.e. TESOL, Second Language Teaching, Applied Linguistics).

Students will be able to teach English abroad it their native language or if they are competent in English (TOEFL iBT of 63 or successful completion of the ESL program at Snow College) to non-native speakers.

Outcomes:

  • Students will be able to write effective lesson plans, teach English Second Language students effectively across the curriculum and evaluate their progress.  

Programs within Department

Associate of Applied Science in Teaching English as  Second Language
Certificate of Proficiency - Teaching English as a Second Language