Program Overview:

The Program
Academic Culture and Communication (ACC) prepares and trains incoming students for the demanding programs at Carnegie Mellon and helps students develop the language and cultural skills expected of them in the US classroom. To be successful at Carnegie Mellon, students who are nonnative English speakers need to begin their academic career with a strong foundation in English. Our program is designed to prepare students for success at Carnegie Mellon by enhancing their proficiency in the areas of academic speaking, listening, reading, and writing. By honing these skills before the fall semester begins, students are better prepared to engage in academic work and take their place in the community.

This summer program also provides students the opportunity to become familiar with other students, faculty, the Carnegie Mellon campus, and Pittsburgh before the regular school year begins.

ACC addresses an audience not served by traditional ESL programs. Our program is aimed at students who have gaps in their academic fluency and yet have the foundation with English to benefit from a six-week intensive program. Most intensive ESL programs are designed for students with English fluency well below the threshold needed for academic work; unlike ACC, they cannot provide the level of instruction that would best help incoming Carnegie Mellon students prepare for the demands of graduate programs.

As a rough guide, students appropriate for ACC would most likely have the following minimum test scores:

ACC students should have a level of spoken academic fluency that is close to the threshold needed for academic work.

Why take this course?
ACC provides students with skills and practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing because communication is part of almost every phase of academic work. Attending ACC helps students both to improve their academic English skills and to practice those skills within the cultural context of a US classroom. Students who have attended our summer program in the past report that it prepared them for academic work at Carnegie Mellon, not simply through language work, but by teaching them about the types of behaviors expected of students in a US university and about the procedures of courses. We want to ensure that students have the skills they need to succeed at Carnegie Mellon and in the competitive marketplace beyond.

Attendance and Certification
During ACC, students attend classes 20 hours a week with weekly opportunities for individual tutoring. Because second language learning requires sustained, on-going practice, students need to make a commitment to attend all of the sessions. Additionally, students should plan to participate actively in classes as well as spend some time outside of class preparing assignments.

A certificate is awarded after successful completion of the program. In order to complete the program, students must participate in two presentations for Academic Speaking, complete a portfolio for Academic Reading and Writing, and fulfill the attendance requirements for each class.

TOP