English as a Second Language (ESL) courses
ESL courses are courses in English as a Second Language. The core credit-level ESL courses offered at Concordia are designed to help students whose first language is not English develop their written and oral communication skills for academic purposes.
Overview
The Department of Education offers a sequence of two intensive 6-credit courses in ESL for academic purposes to non-native speakers of English who are accepted by Concordia University but who must upgrade their reading and writing skills.
Two 3-credit courses in ESL oral communication are also available for students whose mother tongue is not English and who would like to improve their pronunciation and academic speaking skills.
If English is not your mother tongue and you wish to take a Credit ESL course, you are required to take the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
Registering for ESL courses
All students interested in taking a credit ESL course must complete the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
Who can register for ESL courses
- Registration priority for credit ESL courses goes to students who have been admitted with ESL requirements based on their English proficiency test scores, and should be taken within the first academic year.
- Any student admitted to a Concordia degree or certificate program whose first language is not English may register if their ConCEPT placement test score indicates that the student would benefit from our ESL courses.
- Credit ESL courses are not normally open to independent or visiting students, but may be given registration overrides when ample space is available. please contact the ESL Coordinator: Nina.Padden@concordia.ca
- Independent students who are visiting students through CREPUQ, students in the Senior Non-Credit Program, or Concordia graduate students/staff taking optional courses may write the placement test.
ESL courses as electives for credit
The number of ESL credits applicable to a degree or certificate program varies by faculty:
- Students in the Faculty of Arts and Science can count a maximum of 6 credits of ESL as part of their program.
- Students in the John Molson School of Business, the Faculty of Fine Arts, or the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science should consult their degree program worksheets or their faculty advisor.
ESL Courses
Browse the ESL courses that cover reading and writing skills for academic success and oral communication courses available for students looking to improve their speaking fluency.
Written communication courses
This course helps non-native-speaking students develop the language skills necessary for academic work through an integrated program of grammar, vocabulary, reading, and writing. The coursework will enable students to build a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures and apply them to essential university tasks such as paraphrasing, expository writing, and processing academic texts.
Prerequisite: Placement by the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
This course helps non-native-speaking students strengthen their English language skills and apply them to high-level academic tasks such as critical reading, synthesizing, and integrated writing assignments. Attention will be paid to analyzing patterns in written English and making appropriate language choices as well as identifying, integrating, and referencing appropriate academic source material.
Prerequisite: ESL 202 or placement by the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
Oral communication courses
This course helps students develop the oral skills necessary for speaking and listening in an English-speaking academic environment. The focus of the course is the improvement of students' overall pronunciation skills, including native-like production of English speech at the level of individual sounds, words, and sentences, as well as the development the listening skills necessary for effective oral communication. This course includes a multimedia language lab component.
Prerequisite: Placement by the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
This course helps students achieve greater intelligibility and fluency by practicing oral communication skills in meaningful discourse, as part of communicative activities and public speaking assignments. Emphasis is placed on the learning of speech phenomena at the discourse level such as production of native-like stress, rhythm, intonation, and speaking rate.
Prerequisite: ESL 205 or placement by the Concordia Comprehensive ESL Placement Test (ConCEPT).
The ConCEPT placement test
Concordia's ESL placement test is called ConCEPT, and it's a theme-based test drawing on lecture and reading material characteristic of first-year undergraduate courses in terms of linguistic difficulty.
The test is aligned with the performance objectives of our ESL courses. For students accepted with ESL requirements, the ConCEPT is a “second look” at productive skills in English. A strong performance can potentially exempt you from one or more of the ESL courses assigned according to the English proficiency score submitted at the application stage. These ESL courses are listed in the "Deficiencies" section of your Offer of Admission.
Requirements
The ConCEPT is required for all students who plan to take the ESL courses. While it is possible to pre-register for ESL courses before taking the test, the ConCEPT must be completed by all students. Failure to complete the ConCEPT may result in deregistration from ESL courses.
You should take the test at the earliest opportunity after admission so that there will be time to adjust your class schedule if your test results exempt you from ESL. The ConCEPT test can be taken only once, and any required ESL courses should be taken in the first academic year.
IELTS or TOEFL scores cannot exempt you from ESL courses. The ConCEPT is the sole way of testing out of ESL courses after admission.
Testing fees
There is a test administration fee of $23.90 which must be paid in advance either online or in person at the Birks Student Service Centre.
Make an appointment to take the ConCEPT
If your Offer of Admission specifies ESL course requirements, log into your Student Centre and select “Event Web Registration” in the “Personal Information” section. Then, select “Register for Events” to choose “ConCEPT Test." Choose the date of your appointment from the list of available dates.
If you see “There is no event for you to register at the moment,” you may lack the necessary permissions to enter an appointment request. In this case, send an e-mail with your name and Concordia ID number to education.esl@concordia.ca.
After you sign up
Students with confirmed appointments are given access to an online practice exam approximately 5 days prior to their scheduled test date. The purpose of the practice test is to familiarize students with the test interface and the types of tasks they will encounter on the real test. No other preparation is required or recommended.
If you have a disability and require an accommodation, please make arrangements through Concordia’s Access Centre for Students with Disabilities (ACSD).
What to bring
When you go to the test, you must have the following items or you will not be permitted to write the test:
- Identification which has your name, date of birth and photo on it. Acceptable identification is a valid Concordia student ID card (not a Continuing Education ID card), passport, citizenship card, permanent resident card, health insurance card or driver's permit.
- Your Concordia netname and password.
- Proof of payment (only for students who pay the test fee at Birks). If paying in person at Birks, print your appointment e-mail and attach the stamped receipt from Birks.
Test duration
The entire test procedure (including sign-in and instructions) usually takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes. There is no break, and you will not be permitted to leave the room during the test.
Test results are sent via e-mail within 5 business days of the test. Please keep the e-mail for your records as the results are not available in your Student Centre.
How to interpret your ConCEPT results
All students who take the ConCEPT are given placements for both written communication (ESL 202 and 204) and for oral communication (ESL 205 and 206).
If you are not sure which courses are required and which are optional, consult your Offer of Admission. The maximum number of ESL courses that you may be required to take should be listed in the "Deficiencies" section of your admission offer letter.
Your ConCEPT result report indicates your starting levels for written communication and for oral communication.
- For example, if you are placed at the ESL 202 level, you must start with ESL 202, complete ESL 202 successfully, and then take ESL 204.
- If you are placed in ESL 204, you are exempt from ESL 202 and need to take only ESL 204.
Oral communication courses are optional for most students. The John Molson School of Business requires ESL 205 for students who place at that level but does not require ESL 206.
In case of poor results
A weak performance on the ConCEPT will not affect admission to the University, but students with low results should reach out to the ESL coordinator for advice on handling their course load in the first semester.
Contact
Get in touch if you need more information about the ESL courses and the ConCEPT placement test.
ESL Coordinator
Nina Padden
nina.padden@concordia.ca
514-848-2424, ext. 2453