About the Oral English Proficiency
Program
The Oral
English Proficiency Program is the administrative unit on campus
that works with academic departments on campus who hire non-native
English speaking graduate teaching assistants. The OEPP
administers the Oral English Proficiency Test to those students who
have not yet been certified in spoken English by another approved
method (see chart below). The program offers the course
ENGL 620, "Classroom Communication in
ESL for International Teaching Assistants" for those students who
need additional instruction in English to become certified.
DEMONSTRATING PROFICIENCY IN
ORAL ENGLISH
Before being appointed to a
teaching assistant position, a student must be certified by one of
the following methods. Please note that a waiver of the TOEFL
exam by the Graduate School for admission does not
exempt a student from the requirement to demonstrate
oral English proficiency for the purpose of being offered a teaching
assistantship. A non-native English speaking graduate student
who is not admitted with a TOEFL speaking score of 27 or above or an
IELTS score of 7 or above may be scheduled by their department to
take the Oral English Proficiency Test to demonstrate proficiency in
English.
| Test |
Scores Accepted for Oral English Certification* |
|
Oral English
Proficiency Test (Prior to August 09) |
5 or 6 |
|
Oral English Proficiency Test (August
09 and later) |
50, 55, or 60 |
|
TOEFL iBT |
27 or higher on
the Speaking Section |
|
IELTS |
7 |
|
TOEFL
(Computer or paper-based test) |
Not accepted for
oral English certification |
|
Test of Written
English |
Not accepted for
oral English certification |
|
SPEAK (from other
institutions) |
Not accepted for
oral English certification |
Students should be sure to first view
the OEPP tutorial and use the
on-line practice test
to prepare for the OEPT. Students should have at
least 48 hours to review the practice materials. It is also
important that students who are newly arrived on campus have time to
rest and recover from jet lag prior to being scheduled for the OEPT.
After the student takes the test, the
test is reviewed by at least two trained raters. A student
scoring a 60, 55 or 50 is certified for oral English proficiency, and may
accept a position with direct undergraduate student instructional
contact. A student who scores a 45 or below is not certified, and is
placed on the waiting list for ENGL 620, "Classroom Communication for
International Teaching Assistants." Students who are not
certified may be hired for teaching assistantship positions that do
not involve undergraduate student contact, such as grading papers,
doing research for a professor, or computer programming. After
taking ENGL 620, students are re-assessed for oral English
proficiency and may be certified, or asked to repeat the course.
Students who would like more
information on taking the OEPT, or enrolling in ENGL 620, should
check with the graduate office of their department. All
scheduling is done between the student's department and the OEPP.
Students who would like ESL
instruction are also encouraged to consider the options listed on our list
of Community Resources in ESL.
On this page you will find information about other English language schools in our community.
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