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Many ESL and bilingualstudents at our universities face problems in the transition from "special" programs, in which they listen and interact in settings with trained language specialists, to university courses, in which they are taught by professionals in other areas.Research in discourse analysis has acquainted us with the need to view language as it is actually used before developing materials to teach its usage. This article presents a brief review of literature available to most ESL professionals regamling the skills associated with listening, and provides an overview of one successful approach.

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This chapter describes a successful means of introducing returning, older students to online education in a university setting. After presenting basic background from the literature on retention within online classes, the case is presented in detail as to how 16 fearful learners became confident and successful through the instructor’s taking time for preparation, establishing a sense of achievement using the technology, creating interconnections with peers, and demonstrating the usefulness of the virtual class over the face-to-face class. The author hopes that by describing in detail the case and the principles found, future educators can prepare their traditional students for the culture of virtual learning environments, thus expanding options for their programs while addressing university administrative concerns about student retention.