English As A Second Language

MacDuffie welcomes students whose native language is not English. Applicants must have an intermediate mastery of English and a desire to acquire a more sophisticated understanding and usage of the language. Each new student is given an English assessment test which is evaluated by the Chair of the World Languages Department and the Chair of the English Department. Based on test performance and other information contained in the application, students are placed in either mainstream or ESL courses.

There are three levels of ESL – ESL II, ESL III, and ESL IV.  Non-native speakers of English must successfully complete either ESL IV or English 12 to graduate from MacDuffie.