International students expected to have teaching duties and who achieve a score of 55 or 60 on the SPEAK (from a total of 60 scored in five-point increments) are automatically certified to teach lecture, recitation, and lab classes. Those students with a score of 50 are given opportunity to demonstrate their communication skills by means of a teaching demonstration before representatives from the English as a Second Language Program and their own department, in order to determine eligibility to teach lecture, recitation and/or lab. A teaching demonstration is only at the request of the student’s department, and can be requested even for a student with a SPEAK score below 50, if the department feels that the test results do not completely reflect the student’s true abilities.
Students whose scores are below 55 on the SPEAK test are advised or even required to take Communication Skills for International Teaching Assistants (ESL 512) before being allowed to take on any teaching duties, regardless of the TOEFL score used for admission purposes. This is a graduate-level training course, offered each fall and spring, that provides instruction and practice in oral communication skills and fundamental teaching techniques. Participants in this course prepare a series of microteaching presentations, which are videotaped. The students and instructor review these presentations. Upon completion of this course, Teaching Assistants take the SPEAK test again and are reevaluated to determine competence for assuming teaching responsibilities.
Students expected to have teaching responsibilities, but whose SPEAK scores are 35 or less are advised to take Advanced Spoken English (ESL 411/412) as a precursor to ESL 512. The English Language Institute also offers a pronunciation course in the evening, to assist students who desire to reduce their accent.
It is recommended that these students be assigned reduced duties and responsibilities until they have satisfactorily completed ESL 512.
Students who cannot pass ESL 512 within two semesters (fall and spring) after entering the University will not be permitted to teach or supervise undergraduate students. The English Language Institute will communicate such failures to the academic department and work with them to help the student. Graduate Directors should work with international students to integrate them into the department and encourage them to speak the English language during the time they are registered for ESL 512. These students should be registered in the departmental course for supervised teaching.