Connecting, Assessing and Working with ESL One-Shot Students

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has a high number of ESL (English as Second Language) students, with 20 percent of students being from outside of the United States (Fact Sheet). SCAD’s mission and values help lay the foundation for students to prepare for their professional career. Library staff achieve this with positive student-centered and results-oriented teaching. ESL students meet for a one-shot instruction and these sessions build a foundation for their major classes. Their classes do have some of the most interesting challenges with a diverse array of majors and cultural backgrounds connecting with all of them can be difficult. Even with these challenges we must not just focus on instructing but about building relationships and making sure there is a balance between ACRL’s Standards and Frameworks with the curriculum objectives. This is where the librarians must cultivate relationships with faculty and students, employ new outreach ideas such as extra help sessions, and assess how the students are learning. The unique challenges in facilitating the development of information literacy skills of ESL students have gained increasing attention, and thus would be a more interesting focus. Strategies to reach diverse ESL student population is also important, but the context of the study provides a good opportunity to study the students\u27 challenges. In this research I am determining how best to gain participation from both students and faculty, reach out through handouts and workshops, and find the best methods for assessment