I really like the way that you helped me and I’m very thankful. I like these kinds of interactive consultations a lot. It’s been a good semester. All my doubt today is over with.
About Coaching
The English Language Center (ELC) offers Individual Language Coaching to meet the speaking and writing needs of Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and scholars who use English as an additional language.
Due to the varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds within the university community, the abilities and needs for meeting speaking and writing requirements may vary significantly between those who use English as an additional language and those who use it as a first language. To address these needs, ELC coaches are well acquainted in supporting a wide range of typical speaking and writing styles among multilingual speakers of English.
Coaching sessions are collaborative, with clients and coaches working together to identify goals, address challenges, and build strategies for success in academic, professional, and everyday communication.
Types of Appointments
We offer different types of appointments to best match clients’ needs and goals.
Speaking appointments focus on language issues in academic or conversational spoken English. These appointments may also center on listening practice. Pronunciation feedback may be given but will not be the focus of the appointment.
Writing appointments focus on language issues such as clarity, grammar, punctuation, word choice, tone, and word order. Clients may schedule writing appointments at any phase of the writing process. Law students should schedule writing appointments with ELC staff.
Pronunciation appointments focus on pronunciation issues in academic or conversational spoken English. These appointments should be scheduled with ELC staff.
Vanderbilt Students who are applying to the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Programs may schedule appointments with ELC staff for coaching on any phase of their applications. These appointments should supplement rather than replace advising provided by the VU Career Center.
Students enrolled in the ELC's self-paced resources—Academic Communication for Post-Docs, Academic Communication for Scholarship Fellows, EBP (English for Business Purposes), and TEFL Intro (Teaching English as a Foreign Language Introduction)—may schedule an appointment with an ELC staff member to discuss resource content.
Logistics
Eligible clients may schedule up to three (3), cost-free, 50-minute coaching sessions per week. To ensure fair access for everyone, back-to-back appointments are not allowed.
Sessions are available from 8 am to 9 pm, Monday through Friday while classes are in session (excluding summer sessions).
All sessions are virtual. If, for reasons of accessibility, you require in-person sessions, email the ELC at elc@vanderbilt.edu with your request.
Scheduling and coaching sessions occur on WCONLINE. Eligible clients may create a free account on WCONLINE using a valid Vanderbilt University email address.
Employees of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are not eligible for Individual Language Coaching, except when they are enrolled in a self-paced course offered by the ELC. Additional requests may be considered on a ‘by-permission’ basis.
Session Conduct Guidelines
Clients and coaches are expected to conduct themselves with the same professionalism and respect that would be expected in any workplace or academic setting. Comments or questions of a personal nature, such as those about someone’s appearance, romantic life, or other private matters, are not appropriate, even if intended as a compliment, and will not be tolerated. All interactions should maintain a respectful and inclusive environment where everyone feels safe, valued, and able to focus on the coaching session.