Junior here. Currently taking an AP English class but I’m planning on taking dual credit English next year instead of AP. I was in English as a second lang and English basic skills development freshman year because I didn’t speak English at all (new to the US from a third world country where very few people speak Eng). However, I practiced during the school year and summer to enroll in honors Eng sophomore year and the teacher recommended me to take AP Lang. I find AP Lang quite easy (compared to Physics C and other stuff) and have an A plus in it but since I do not speak English, common rhetorical devices and vocab words are new to me so I have to look everything up and translate. I feel like I am only getting good grades but my skills aren’t developing as much since I have to use help from the internet for a lot of stuff. I did the same thing for my other classes (translate) but since they are math/science classes, a lot the vocab words and concepts overlap in my language. I am thinking about majoring in STEM and English isn’t really one of my interests so will it look bad if I take Dual Credit Eng next year for transferable state credit or should I take AP again to show colleges that I am pushing myself even though I am still a new English learner?
Yes, take the class that is best for you, not what will look best to colleges. And I don’t think it will matter. My S19 took ‘regular’ English 12 after taking AP language arts sophomore and junior year, and I don’t think it affected his admissions or merit awards. It’s just one class. Admissions officers are looking at the rigor of the schedule as a whole.
If you are still doing this much translation, you need to have a nice long chat with the ESOL team at your school, and get help with good strategies for improving your vocabulary. A really well designed English for Academic Purposes class might be what you need rather than more content classes. I know it can be tough to break the translation habit. My pre-college ESL students use https://learnersdictionary.com/ first, then other resources if needed.
Dual enrollment classes are not automatically “lower” than AP classes. They are real college classes, while AP classes are high school classes that lead to exams that demonstrate whether or not the student has gained the equivalent knowledge expected in a college class.
How comfortable were you, when writing the lead post here? Because it’s quite well done. Did it take you hours of extra caution? Or really, just a bit of extra effort (that you’re starting to find annoying?)
Because putting in this care is exactly the point of stretching to improve. It’s often the sort of care that does impress those in the academic world. It reflects your drives and standards. Relying on outside resources (eg, common media, print or visual, etc,) IS the way many learn a new language quickly or fill in the gaps (the common usage, expanding vocab and more.) I’ve done it myself.
Add to that, many of us who’ve learned several new languages in a short time frame recognize that there is a time gap between when you first learn a new aspect of the foreign language and when it becomes comfortable, near automatic, a reliable tool in your pocket. We used to jokingly say a minimum of 6 weeks. frustrating period, sure, but the results come.
I agree with @happymomof1. DE is not necessarily a lower level, it’s a different nature of courses. It can make logical sense to adcoms that you try the college courses. Just be sure the actual choice of class is relevant and also logical- not a course so simple that it leaves adcoms asking, “Why?”
I don’t know your grades or scores, but if you’re targeting the appropriate level of matches and safeties, I think the DE can be fine.
@lookingforward I was pretty comfortable writing this post and it took me less than 5 minutes because I wasn’t checking for grammar/mistakes but when I write longer essays it takes me hours and I have to search up proper vocab/phrases to ensure that I am doing everything right. It’s not like I find the extra effort annoying (I am completely willing to work harder) but I have to give this extra effort for every other class because everything is written in English and I have to look up phrases/translate a lot of stuff so I thought that maybe Dual Credit is a safer choice since I am good at maintaining high grades/doing great in exams that have enough time (school finals/unlike collegeboard exams).
I feel like I am comfortable speaking English but my writing isn’t as smooth as others taking AP Lang so I assumed that colleges will find it bad if I took AP Lang and Lit with good scores but still can’t write a stellar college essay.