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Oral English Proficiency Program (A-35.1)

Original Implementation: September, 1990
Last Revision: October 23, 2001

Background

Legislation enacted by the Texas Legislature requires that instruction at public colleges and universities be delivered in understandable English. It further requires that each University adopt policy establishing procedure for insuring that faculty members whose native language is not English are proficient in the use of the English language. Therefore, the University has established this Oral English Proficiency Program.

General Assmptions

  1. It is understood that a faculty member may use a foreign language to conduct foreign language courses designed to be taught in a foreign language.

  2. It is also understood that a faculty member may provide individual assistance during course instruction to a non-English-speaking student in the native language of the student.

Identification of Faculty members Lacking Proficiency in English

  1. Departmental chairpersons shall cause all faculty members, as defined in Texas Education Code, sec. 51.917, to specify in writing their native and primary language.

    1. Those who identify English as their native or primary language and who offer proof of that identification shall be exempt from any testing or oral language improvement program.

    2. Those who do not identify English as their native or primary language shall be required to take and pass with an appropriate score either:

      1. the Test of Spoken English (TSE-A or TSE-P) or

      2. the locally administered SPEAK test.

    3. The fact that a person has successfully completed the TSE-A and TSE-P or the SPEAK test with an appropriate score would be duly recognized, and a document attesting his success would be entered into the faculty member's personnel file, with copies sent to his/her chairperson and dean, and to the Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences and to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by the Division of Continuing Education.

    4. Those who fail to achieve an appropriate score on the TSE-A or TSE-P or the SPEAK test will be required to enroll in the Oral English Proficiency Program offered at Stephen F. Austin State University and described in this policy.

  2. For each member of his/her department whose primary language is not English, the departmental chairperson will complete and sign an oral English proficiency form which rates each faculty member's English proficiency as being:

    1. Acceptable

    2. Unsatisfactory

    The chairperson's rating shall be based on the faculty member's passing with an appropriate score the TSE-A, TSE-P, or the locally administered SPEAK test.

  3. The chairperson shall provide the faculty member with a copy of this form.

  4. The chairperson shall send a copy of this English proficiency form to his/her dean.

  5. The dean shall send a copy of this English proficiency form to the Academic Vice President.

Oral English Proficiency Program

This Program is meant to assist faculty members whose primary language is not English to become more proficient in the use of English. This Program does not carry academic credit.

  1. The Program will be of a tutorial nature.

  2. The Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences will be the dean of record.

  3. The Program will appear in the General Bulletin with a course number, a title, and a description and be listed among the offerings of the Department of Communication, with a cross-reference to the Division of Continuing Education.

  4. The bulletin description of the Program is as follows:
    Oral English Proficiency Program (Communication 098) is a program designed to assist faculty members whose primary language is not English to become more proficient in the use of English. This program does not carry academic credit.

  5. The Program will be situated in the Academic Assistance Resource Center (AARC), where there is adequate space, tutor-guided and self-help materials, and equipment for the proper conduct of the Program.

  6. The Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences will appoint a Director of the Program, among whose responsibilities are the testing of individuals, the establishing of minimum scores, and the format for individual tutorial assistance and its frequency.

    The Director of the Program will be additionally responsible for identifying the appropriate instructional materials and communicating program needs to the Director of the AARC.

    The Director of the Program, acting upon the advice of the instructor(s) of the Program, will also verify when or whether an individual has successfully completed the Program and will report the results to the Director of Continuing Education, who will make a recommendation to the faculty member's chairperson.

  7. The Director of Continuing Education will report these and subsequent decisions to the Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences.

    The Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences, in conjunction with the Director of Continuing Education, will select the teacher(s) of the Program.

    The teacher(s) of the Program may include:

    1. the Director of the Program

    2. an experienced or credentialed person from an English as a Second Language educational program

    3. an experienced or credentialed person from the Department of Communication

    4. an experienced or credentialed person from AARC, with specialization in ESL matters.

  8. The law requires the faculty member to bear the costs of the program. Because of the widely varying needs of the individual recipients of the Program, and consequently because of the widely varying amounts of time involved in satisfactory completion of the Program, the Director of Continuing Education will attempt to negotiate individual contracts involving costs of the Program which will be satisfactory to both the recipients of the Program and the instructor(s) of the Program.

  9. Successful completion of the Program will be signaled by:

    1. the passing of a locally administered version of the SPEAK test with an appropriate score or

    2. the passing of the TSE-A or TSE-P test with an appropriate score or

    3. the decision of the Director of the Program, acting upon the advice of the teacher(s) of the Program who, along with the person's chairperson, will certify a person's successful completion of the Program.

    Upon a faculty member's successful completion of the Program, a document asserting that fact will be issued by the Division of Continuing Education, with approval by the Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences, and entered into the faculty member's personnel file.

    Further notification of a faculty member's successful completion of the Program will be made to the relevant chairpersons, deans, and ultimately to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by the Division of Continuing Education.

  10. Should a person fail the Program, he/she will be required to re-enroll in the Program until he/she is able successfully to complete it by passing a locally administered version of the SPEAK test with an appropriate score or by passing the TSE-A or TSE-P test with an appropriate score or by receiving the certification of successful completion by the Director of the Program.

Summary

The normal procedure, then, for one whose primary language is not English, would be as follows:

  1. Any faculty member identified by a departmental chairperson whose native language is not English is subject to the procedures contained in this policy.

  2. The faculty member would take a locally administered SPEAK test as a means of determining his/her fluency in oral English.

  3. If the faculty member successfully completed this SPEAK test with an appropriate score, this fact would be duly recognized, and a document attesting his/her success would be entered into the faculty member's personnel file, with copies sent to his/her relevant chairperson, dean, and to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by the Division of Continuing Education, with approval by the Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences.

  4. If the faculty member failed the locally administered SPEAK test, he/she would be required to enroll in the Program.

  5. If a faculty member objected to the results of the locally administered SPEAK test, he/she could request to take the Test of Spoken English (TSE), which is offered twelve times a year and administered by Educational Testing Service at established test centers. (Teaching and research assistants apply for a test entitled TSE-A. Faculty members not designated as teaching or research assistants request the test entitled TSE-P.)

  6. A faculty member's passing the TSE-A or TSE-P test with an appropriate score would obviate his/her enrolling in the Program.

  7. The fact that a faculty member has successfully completed either the TSE-A or TSE-P test with an appropriate score would be duly recognized, and a document attesting his/her success would be entered into his/her personnel file, with copies sent to the appropriate chairperson and dean, and to Dean of Applied Arts and Sciences and to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by the Division of Continuing Education.

  8. Should the faculty member fail the TSE-A or TSE-P test, he/she would be required to enroll in the Program.

 

Source of Authority: Texas Education Code, sec. 51.917, Board of Regents, President, Vice President for Academic Affairs

Cross Reference: None

Contact For Revision: Vice President for Academic Affairs

Forms: None