BIRMINGHAM (AL.) -- Educators who specialize in teaching English to some of the brightest scientists and academics in the country -- international visa graduate students and post-doctoral fellows -- are planning the first Higher Education Roundtable at this fall’s southeastern regional meeting of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Sept. 26, 2008, in Birmingham, Ala.

“These students represent a unique population among post-secondary students,” says Grace Canseco, English as a Second Language (ESL) Program Director at the Emory University Graduate School, a co-sponsor of the roundtable. “They are well-educated, highly motivated, and already accomplished when they come to us. For example, international visa students earn half or more of all U.S. doctorates in engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, physics, and economics.”

Yet, because many of them complete undergraduate English instruction in overseas universities, they may or may not posses the higher-order language skills required for advanced studies and careers in research or academia, explains Dr. Julia Austin, director of educational services at the Graduate School of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB.) “Students must take the TOEFL English test to enter a U.S. university, but this minimum standard does not accurately predict their success when it comes to making professional presentations or writing a thesis, dissertation, or research article for publication. Today, students must be as successful at communicating their science to the outside world as they are at creating it inside the lab.”

Emory and UAB are among a leading group of graduate schools at universities who have developed supplemental assessment, English, teaching and writing support courses for visa students and post-doctoral fellows. In the past, the two institutions have met in the spring with their instructional teams to share effective strategies, techniques and resources. Because these meetings have been so productive, they decided to open up their networking and presenting session and invite educators from all over the South to participate.

The 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday roundtable features panel discussions on: Issues in Graduate Level Testing; Writing Assessments & Support Courses; and Oral Language Assessments & Support Courses. In addition, it will offer staggered discussion groups on Teaching Oral English to Graduate Students, Teaching Academic Writing to Graduate Students, and Preparing International Teaching Assistants. Colleagues are invited to bring ideas and materials to share.

The 2008 SETESOL will be held Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 25-27, 2008, at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC) with pre-conference institutes on Wednesday, Sept. 24. For more information about the 2008 SETESOL Conference, visit www.amtesol.org. For more information about the roundtable, contact Jennifer Greer at jlgreer@uab.edu. or by phone @ 205-996-6355. Here's the Rountable Schedule.