Courses

The Academic English Program offers four courses for UW students: 

• ENGL 102: Essentials of College Reading & Writing
• ENGL 103: Writing From Sources
• ENGL 104: Essentials of College Communication
• ENGL 105: English for International Teaching Assistants (ITAs)

Who the Courses Are For

The academic English courses (ENGL 102-104) are open to any student who speaks English as a second language and who wants to improve their academic English skills. They cover a wide range of necessary skills, including critically analyzing and responding to readings, developing research questions, making claims, grammar and academic vocabulary, note-taking and effectively leading class and small group discussions. 

ENGL 102–104 also satisfy English language proficiency requirements for new undergraduate and graduate students. See undergraduate and graduate student requirements. 

ENGL 105 is designed specifically for graduate students who will be international teaching assistants at the UW.

Please note that the ENGL 102 and ENGL 104 requirements for our AEP program can also be satisfied through successful completion of our Graduate School Preparation Program.

Credits

ENGL 102–104 are credit courses and can be counted toward undergraduate degree requirements. Grades are factored into the undergraduate GPA. 

ENGL 102 and 104 are considered general electives, while ENGL 103 is a writing course that can help fulfill the Writing (W) requirement. 

Students don't earn credit for ENGL 105, but the course counts toward full-time enrollment.

Course Placement

ENGL 102–104

Students who have not yet met the UW ELP requirement are placed into ENGL 102, 103 or 104 according to standardized test scores submitted to UW Admissions or the Graduate School. Learn more about placement.

If you're required to take AEP courses, you must take one each quarter until you successfully complete the course sequence. 

ENGL 105

Some graduate students who will be international teaching assistants at the UW are required to take ENGL 105. Students with a speaking subscore of 26+ (TOEFL iBT) or 7.0+ (IELTS) are exempt from the ENGL 105 requirement. To learn more, see Memo 15: Conditions of appointment for TAs who are not native speakers of English.

Course Schedule

View UW Time Schedule