A Case Study of the English Language Center :: Research Papers

A Case Study of the position Language Center Three blocks away from the fuss of Market Street, the main thoroughfare of Drexel Universitys campus, an unassuming building nestles in a quiet neighborhood. The street, lined with narrow sidewalks and trees, gives one a feeling of coziness and safety. other than the faint sounds of city traffic, tranquility presides over this neighborhood scene. At 229 North 33rd Street stands a long, rectangular, light-colored brick building two stories high. The low special K shrubs at the edge of the building and the grassy areas spotted with trees to either side of the entrance give one the sense that this building belongs to the neighborhood. Looking up at its facade, one would not think that inside this modest structure lies a microscopic view of the mankind as it could be in the next millennium-a world where countries from all corners of the globe come together in harmony, a non-politicized world where borders, political divisions separa ting ethnic groups, dissolve and give rise toboundaries, permeable areas that encourage the acknowledgment of and mutual respect for linguistic and cultural diversity. What is this place? Who are the inhabitants? Walking up the first appearance steps lined with black iron railings, one outright encounters an outer glass door inscribed with the outline of an umbrella-shaped image encasing the letters AAIEP. Above the umbrella stand the words American Association for International English Programs (AAIEP) and underneath, English Language Center, Foreign Language Center, and ESL Writing Center. These words only begin to frame what goes on inside this building. On the other side of the entranceway lies a safe haven--a place where people from around the globe to come together to learn English, a place where words are transformed into spoken speech communication. except more goes on at 229 North 33rd Street than just the learning of English in the traditional sense of learni ng a language or the teaching of specific skills reading, writing, listening, and speaking. At Drexels English Language Center (ELC), students learn about American culture as well. While knowledge of vocabulary, syntax, and grammar give ear to enhance ones linguistic ability, they do not necessarily promote communicative competence or the appropriate use of language in situations of everyday life. Because the rules and norms of language cannot be separated from culture, developing communicative competence enables a student to use a language for a wide range of social and communicative purposes (Schiffrin 323).