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.

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.