Procedures for the Evaluation and Certification of the English
Fluency of Undergraduate Instructional Personnel
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Pennsylvania English Fluency in Higher
Education Act, the following procedures for the evaluation and certification
of English fluency in the classroom of all undergraduate instructional
personnel (as defined below) shall be effective immediately and supersede
previous school or University procedures.
I. Undergraduate Instructional Personnel
All persons hired on or after July 1, 1997, as members of the Standing
or Associated Faculties, Academic Support Staff, graduate and professional
student teaching staff, or as tutors, or for other undergraduate instructional
duties (including, for example, leading laboratory or discussion sections
or holding office hours), regardless of rank or title, in the Schools
of Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science, or Nursing,
the Annenberg or Wharton Schools, or the Graduate Schools of Education
or Fine Arts, must be evaluated and certified as having met the University's
standard of English fluency in the classroom before completion of
the hiring process. In addition, all individuals who hold appointments
elsewhere in the University and who are to be engaged in the teaching,
tutoring, or other instruction of undergraduates must also be evaluated
and certified before appointment. Only members of the Visiting Faculty,
instructional personnel whose entire undergraduate instruction (including
office hours) will be conducted in a language other than English,
and graduate students who have no direct instructional contact (including
office hours) with undergraduates (e.g. some graders or research assistants)
are exempt from this requirement.
II. Standard of English Fluency in the Classroom
To be certified by the University of Pennsylvania as "fluent in the
English language in the classroom," a speaker must always be intelligible
to a non-specialist in the topic under discussion, despite an accent
or occasional grammatical errors. General and field-specific vocabulary
must be broad enough so that the speaker rarely has to grope for words.
Listening comprehension must be sufficiently high so that misunderstandings
rarely occur when responding to students' questions or answers. While
teaching, the speaker should be able to use transitions to show the
relationships between ideas, and to set main points apart from added
details. When asked an ambiguous question, the speaker should be able
to clarify the question through discussion with the student. When
asked to restate a main point, the speaker should be able to paraphrase
clearly. When challenged, the speaker should be able to defend his
or her position effectively and appropriately.
Prospective instructional personnel, regardless of rank or title,
who do not meet the above criteria shall not be certified and may
not be assigned to any undergraduate instructional responsibilities.
IV. Evaluation and Training
Department chairpersons shall certify to their Dean, or to the Dean's
designee (generally, the Undergraduate Dean), and the Dean shall certify
to the Provost, the English fluency in the classroom of all prospective
undergraduate instructional personnel (except those prospective graduate
teaching assistants whose native language is other than English and
are not certified on the basis of scores on the Test of Spoken English
or the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, as provided below). Department
chairpersons and deans shall certify only those prospective instructional
personnel whose English fluency in the classroom has been evaluated
using one or more of the means of evaluation listed below and has
been found to meet or exceed the standard set forth in Section II,
above.
The following methods of evaluation may be used as the basis for
a departmental certification:
- A score above 55 on the ETS Test of Spoken English (TSE).
- A score of Superior on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview
- Academic presentation and discussion (such as a colloquium,
lecture, seminar, or scholarly conference presentation) evaluated
by two or more members of the standing faculty and/or the English
Language Programs staff.
- Extended, in-person discussion with two or more members of
the standing faculty, and/or English Language Programs staff of
the candidate's past and future research interests and teaching
plans or experience.
- Observation and evaluation of teaching performance in the classroom
by two or more members of the standing faculty and/or the English
Language Programs staff.
- Videotape of classroom teaching or academic presentation evaluated
by two or more members of the standing faculty and/or the English
Language Programs staff. In order to facilitate the certification
of all prospective graduate teaching assistants who are fluent
in English in the classroom, schools and departments outside of
SAS are strongly encouraged to adopt the existing teaching fellowship
policy of the School of Arts and Sciences, and to require that
prospective teaching assistants whose native language is other
than English take the Test of Spoken English prior to appointment
to undergraduate instructional duties:
"In order to hold an appointment as a teaching assistant
in the School of Arts and Sciences, a student whose native language
is not English must submit scores from the Test of Spoken English
(TSE)," (1989-91 Graduate Admissions Catalog, p. 58).
Prospective graduate teaching assistants whose native language
is other than English who have not taken either the Test of Spoken
English or the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, or who score
below 270 on the TSE or below Superior on the ACTFL, will be referred
by their department chairperson to the English Language Programs
for professional evaluation of their English fluency in the classroom.
(Registration deadlines for evaluation by the English Language
Programs are May 1 for the Fall term, November 1 for the Spring
term, and March 1 for the Summer Term, except for those prospective
teaching assistants from abroad who are participating in the summer
International Teaching Assistants Program or for whom departments
have made special arrangements with the Director of English Language
Programs.)
Department Chairpersons and Deans (or the Dean's designee)
may, on the basis of departmental evaluations, either certify
to the Provost that prospective faculty members or other undergraduate
instructional personnel are fluent in English in the classroom,
or refer them to the English Language Programs (ELP) for further
evaluation. The Department Chairperson or Dean may find it useful,
especially where the native language of prospective faculty
members or instructional personnel is other than English, to
consult with the Director of the English Language Programs regarding
the advisability of further evaluation before certification
of English fluency.
IV. Further Evaluation and Training
Prospective instructional personnel who are not certified under
Section III, above, shall be referred to the University's English
Language Programs for further evaluation. Such evaluation may
include individual interviews, the Test of Spoken English, a formal
performance test administered by ELP, or other means. It should
be borne in mind that native English speakers may also be referred
at the discretion of the Department Chairperson or the Dean, to
the English Language Programs for further evaluation before certification
of English fluency.
Though it is anticipated that most graduate students whose
native language is other than English will not be sufficiently
fluent in the use of English in the classroom to undertake undergraduate
instructional responsibilities during their first year of graduate
enrollment at Penn, those receiving scores from 220 to 260 (inclusive)
on the Test of Spoken English may be certified by means of an
English fluency performance test administered by the English
Language Programs, or be able to acquire fluency in English
in the classroom by enrolling in ELP's summer International
Teaching Assistants Program.
In the case of graduate students, the Director of ELP (or
designee) may place the candidate for instructional responsibilities
in the ELP's International Teaching Assistants Program, ELP's
intensive English language and cultural familiarization courses,
or alternative programs appropriate to the student's needs.
Graduate students placed in any of the above programs must be
re-evaluated by ELP before the Director may certify to the Provost
that they are fluent in English in the classroom.
Appeals of certification decisions made by Department Chairpersons
may be directed to the appropriate Deans and appeals of certification
decisions made by Deans or by the Director of English Language
Programs may be directed to the Provost.
V. Deadlines for Certification and Reporting
In the case of appointment to the Standing or Associated Faculties,
all submissions to the Provost's Staff Conference or Mini-Conference
for appointments in SAS, Wharton, SEAS, Nursing, ASC, GSE, or
GSFA (and for any faculty members in other schools who will ever
teach undergraduates) shall include in the required documentation
a certification by the Dean stating that the candidate's fluency
in the English language in the classroom has been evaluated and
found to meet or exceed the University's standard of fluency.
The Dean's certification shall also include a brief description
of the means used to evaluate such fluency and the results of
such evaluation. (The Provost's Memorandum of October 13, 1988,
outlining required documentation for Provost's Staff Conference
submissions will be updated and reissued to reflect this requirement.)
In all cases, including graduate teaching assistants and academic
support staff, the certification of fluency must be approved
by the Provost before final approval of the appointment in the
school or department and prior to the start of the term for
which the individual is first hired for undergraduate instructional
duties (specifically, by September 1 for the Fall term, by January
1 for the Spring Term, and by May 1 for the Summer term).
Each Dean shall report to the Provost, no later than August
l of each year, that all faculty and other undergraduate instructional
personnel (as defined in section I, above) hired since the Dean's
previous certification have been evaluated for English fluency
in the classroom prior to their appointment and were found to
meet or exceed the University's standard of fluency.
VI. Monitoring and Reporting of Complaints
Each school shall put in place, no later than the start of the
Fall 1991 term, one of the following procedures for the on-going
monitoring of English fluency in the classroom of all undergraduate
instructional personnel:
- A systematic program of classroom observation by faculty
members or English language specialists.
- Inclusion of questions about the instructor's English fluency
on student course evaluations. (Student evaluations may also
be supplemented by peer, alumni, or other teaching evaluation
mechanisms.)
- Other monitoring mechanisms proposed by the Dean and approved
by the Provost.
In addition, each school shall ensure that all complaints regarding
the English fluency of instructional personnel are reported (with
the chairperson's evaluation of the complaint) to the Dean and
Undergraduate Dean, and by the Dean (with a description of the
resolution of the complaint) to the Provost, via the Deputy Provost
in the case of faculty, and via the Vice Provost for Graduate
Education in the case of graduate students.
VII. Review of English Fluency Standards and Procedures
These standards and procedures will be reviewed periodically by
the Provost's Council on Undergraduate Education, and in the light
of Pennsylvania Department of Education regulations, when issued.
It should also be noted that each school, at its option, may institute
English fluency requirements more stringent than the minimum standards
outlined above.
Please feel free to contact the Office of the Provost or the
Director of English Language Programs should you have questions
regarding the above.
Prospective graduate teaching assistants with questions regarding
the evaluation or certification of their English fluency in
the classroom should consult with their department or graduate
group chairperson, or the English Language Programs staff (21
Bennett Hall, 898-8681).
(Source: Office of the Provost, 1989)
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