English Language Courses (ELICOS)

VIT provides international students with the English language foundation and skills they need to undertake further vocational courses or tertiary level courses, and /or gain a high level of competency in all language skill areas. VIT endeavours learning opportunities for all its students, focusing on student needs. The English Courses (ELICOS) provide an introduction to the language system and socio-cultural dynamics of language use in Australia and in the English-speaking world. VIT further endeavours to contribute to the highest quality of English education through continual appraisal and evaluation of all courses.

The focus for course content is provided by weekly themes and topics, which are used to contextualize the teaching of target language and skills. These themes/topics are determined with reference to students’ vocational and study goals and interests; these provide a framework around which the language work, particularly the skills of, Writing, Reading, Listening, Speaking, Grammar and Vocabulary building is structured.

All courses employ many forms of student engagement of tasks, such as group work, problem-solving, presentations, pair work, etc. Although these sorts of learning styles may be quite different from their home country, they provide a variety of learner strategies that enhance attention and concentration that lead to successful language learning.

Emphasis is placed on the use of authentic materials. This is reflected in:

• Extensive use of authentic materials drawn from text-types covered in the course
• Regular field trips to consolidate and extend work done in class and linked to the programs by pre-teaching and follow-up work
• Talks by outside speakers on topics relevant to the programs

Ongoing assessments are carried out regularly in all ELICOS courses and are intended to provide feedback to improve students’ understanding and performance. The end-of-course assessments measure how well the students have achieved the objectives of their course.