Welcome to the English & ESL Department
The English & ESL Department at Los Angeles City College offers a variety of transfer-level courses in literature, composition, creative writing, and linguistics.
The Credit ESL (English as a Second Language) Program offers low-intermediate through advanced classes for non-native speakers of English.
Announcements
Calling all English Majors!
The English/ESL Department's English Major Social is coming up. Mark your calendars:
November 18th, 1 pm to 2 pm, in Jefferson Hall 316
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Come meet your fellow English Majors and Professors.
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Free Pizza and Book Giveaways!
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Thinking about becoming an English major or just want to check it out? Stop by!
For Spring 2025 a new science writing course!
English 103, Special Topic: “Science Writing” (Spring 2025: Class Number 21750)
This course is thematically organized on the topic of scientific writing, exploring critical thinking through the lens of the scientific method. This course helps students prepare for writing in science disciplines, and it satisfies Composition & Critical Thinking Requirement (IGETC Area 1B, CSU Area A3). Enrollment priority provided for STEM majors.
Please email Dr. Wendy Witherspoon, @email, for a permission code to enroll.
Creative Writing Associate of Arts Degree
The English & ESL Department proudly announces the launch of its Associate of Arts degree in Creative Writing this fall.
This degree is ideal for students aspiring to careers requiring creativity, artistry, and a command of language.
Check out our Creative Writing page for more info:
Composition Courses
The English & ESL Department offers the general education English courses you need to earn an associate degree as well as to transfer to a four-year bachelor's program. To learn more about English 101, 102, and 103, visit this page.
Flexible Schedules
We offer a variety of courses to meet the needs of our students:
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In-person classes at our LACC campus
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Remote synchronous classes on Zoom
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Asynchronous classes with instruction on Canvas
Students can attend face-to-face or online classes that are scheduled for every day of the week, except Sundays, and from as early as 8:00AM until 10:00PM.
Writing Support for All Students
The Writing Center, located in the Administration Building (room 100), provides assistance to all writers on campus, in every subject, at any stage of the writing process. The ESL Center in JH 318 serves students enrolled in ESL classes at LACC.
LACC Creative Writing Club (CWC)
If you are working on something creative or just curious about creative writing, please join LACC’s Creative Writing Club! Run by students for students, this is a chance to learn and grow in your writing journey.
The club is currently gathering submissions for its first self-published club anthology! Poems, songs, short stories, and nonfiction are all welcome.
This semester, we will meet every Wednesday at 2:30 PM starting September 25th in Jefferson Hall 316. (If construction closes the building, we will Zoom our meetings until it is safe to return to the classroom.) Attendance is not required every week. To join, simply stop by our meeting and sign up.
If you have any questions, email Faculty Advisor Professor John Lynch at LynchJJ@lacitycollege.edu. Come on by! No experience necessary!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
All freshman students are required to take one of the following composition courses: ENG 101, ENG 101z, or ESL 110. It is recommended that students take these courses in their first semester. To prepare for transfer to a UC or CSU, students must also take either ENG 102 or ENG 103 depending on their major and/or transfer school.
For students interested in an English degree, we offer both an Associate in Arts (AA) and an Associate in Arts for Transfer (AA-T). The AA-T guarantees acceptance into a Cal State School. We also offer Certificates of Achievement in Creative Writing and Linguistics.
We offer a number of scholarship awards to students taking English or credit ESL coursework. As for employment opportunities, we encourage students with excellent core writing skills to consider applying to work at our Writing Support Center; the application can be found here.
In addition to our transfer-level composition courses, we offer a number of exciting creative writing, literature, linguistics, and credit ESL classes. Many are offered on a rotating basis, and you can find out when we’re offering a class by contacting our department.
Our faculty includes professors who have published poetry, nonfiction, fiction, and critical work, award-winning screenwriters, and linguistics experts. Their bios are available on our English Faculty and Staff page and our Credit ESL Faculty and Staff page.
An expertise in languages, critical thinking, reading, and writing is critical to all college paths. When you pursue and complete an English or Linguistics degree a number of career opportunities become available, from advertising director, to screenwriter, to corporate copywriter, to college professor! For more information about salary, growth, and careers, visit our English, Creative Writing, Linguistics (English / ESL) and Linguistics (Modern Languages) Pathways pages.
Students are encouraged to submit their creative writing to The Citadel, LACC's longstanding literary journal. Since 1962, The Citadel has published creative work by students and has fostered community growth and engagement. Students are also welcome to submit original creative work to the English & ESL Department's Annual Writing Contest. The English & ESL Department also facilitates a speaker series, The LACC Book Program, which brings notable writers and scholars to campus to interact with students and engage with topical issues.
Get Help on Zoom
For students not on our LACC campus, we invite you to log into Zoom to ask us any questions you may have about our program, classes, and services.
Mondays to Fridays: 8:30AM to 11:00AM and 1:00PM to 3:00PM
Mission Statement
The LACC English and ESL Department is committed to educating our diverse student population and preparing them for the multifaceted challenges of today’s world through methods of critical thinking, reading and writing.