English Courses and the Alternatives

Increasing numbers of students are travelling abroad for study and so find themselves in the situation where in addition to acclimatizing themselves to a new country and taking on a full course load, they also have to consider whether to take English courses. For some there is just no way around it, without an English course there is no way they will be able to articulate well enough to pass. Ironically for many people for which English is a second language the challenge is not to understand the professors, tutors and course material but rather to create essays, outlines and projects in English. Hence the increasing popularity of English courses and the plethora of English course options.

Some of these include an extra class – ESOL. Private tuition is another option for students with the time and the money. Those with less time and money might alternatively consider online English courses. In some situations an English writer may even be a possibility.

Then there are the levels of English taught. Most students will require more than simply conversational English. How much more depends largely on a student’s current ability, the length of time or portion of the degree that will be taken in English and the complexity of his or her course material and expected output. Whatever the needs, there are English courses tailored to every level from live-in home-stay immersion to specialized English courses like ‘medical English.’ Some online providers claim to offer weeks of free English courses through email. For example one prominently advertised site offers the following:

“Beginning English…This free beginning course includes 8 lessons:” Then it goes on to list the basic outline of each week’s lesson and concludes by saying, “You will receive an e-mail each week. Each lesson contains an introduction and links to learning materials on the site. The course makes for an excellent introduction to the basics of English. It can be used for self-study or also as review for your beginning students outside class.” If this and other advertised online English courses are genuinely free or not, this author is not sure, but there hardly seems enough in the course outline to suggest that a student will gain even the basics required to write high level papers.

Is there another alternative?

Apart from undertaking an English course option there is one alternative that many students are looking toward for help. Often these students are highly intelligent achievers whose only obstacle is that they cannot articulate their brilliance in their adopted language as well as they can in their native tongue. That is often particularly true for tertiary level students required to produce sophisticated writing and research results. For these students the best alternative to finding a good English course is to find a great English editor.

Finding an English editor who is reliable, trustworthy and affordable may be more difficult than finding an English course but the benefits when you do far outweigh the extra effort. A quality, high level English editor will understand the requirements of academic prose. He or she will know about citing sources properly, writing in different styles and how content should be presented for different papers. An excellent English editor won’t just tighten up a student’s English, the side benefits will include having written material edited for grammar, English, spelling and syntax. On top of that any inconsistencies in sourcing or writing format will be noted as well.

English courses are a popular option for students and professionals wanting to produce quality content for work or for school but the alternative is worthy of consideration.