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Empowering GW
International Students
with tools to improve academic writing, research and oral communication.
Who We Are
The Columbian College’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Program at the George Washington University prepares undergraduate and graduate students to meet academic expectations for communication at the university level. Our courses and specialized resources help hundreds of international students each year from across GW to improve their writing, research and communication skills.
Through small classes, faculty provide individualized attention to students, as well as multiple opportunities for feedback and revision. The EAP Program also plays a key role in the university's efforts to engage the global perspectives of the GW community by creating teaching resources to help faculty support international students. We strongly believe that GW's international students are crucial to global engagement in our campus teaching and learning environments.
EAP at a Glance
Mission
The EAP Program’s mission is to help socialize international students who speak English as a second or additional language into the GW academic discourse community and prepare them for success in their coursework and professional careers.
Courses
The core courses offered by the EAP Program focus on academic research and writing, while elective courses target oral academic communication and other critical academic literacy skills.
Methods
Our instructional practices are grounded in the fields of TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages), applied linguistics and writing studies. Our pedagogical approach draws on academically purposed content and materials using a task-based approach.
"While I am bilingual, I never really learned to write well. I struggled in completing writing assignments, feeling overwhelmed as I began them, staring at a blank page. But EAP provided helpful tools to get the writing process started and done ... After one semester, I gained confidence I had all the writing tools to tackle my dissertation without fear!"
Ligia E. Aranda
MPH ‘14, Global Health
