The International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) began in 1982. The purpose of the program is to evaluate and train international graduate teaching assistants whose native language is not English. UA requires all non-native English speaking graduate students who accept classroom teaching or other instructional duties to successfully complete ITAP, typically before beginning their duties. However, depending on their English proficiency, some students may be allowed to assume instructional duties while they are enrolled in ITAP. The program includes two modules: an English Language Institute (ELI) Oral Skills course (known as OS) and UA Teaching Academy training (known as Badge).

Students are registered for the ITAP Program by their departments. All registration is done through the Graduate School during the designated registration period. Departments are notified of the registration period in a memorandum from the Graduate School. The memorandum also includes general information on ITAP. Students are registered as Badge, Placement, Oral Skills, or Re-examine for Instructor of Record Permission.

Students who have never taken the ITAP course are registered as Badge, Placement, or Oral Skills. Placement students must be interviewed before enrollment in Badge or Oral Skills level.They must sign up for an appointment time to take the exam, and will be notified of their final placement within one week after the exam. The student will be notified of the date, time, and place of the ITAP course and exam. Oral Skills students are automatically given the an Oral Skills Exam as part of the class and thus do not need to be registered for the exam separately.

Students who have both successfully completed the Oral Skills course and taken the Oral Skills Exam previously are eligible to retake the Oral Skills Exam and should be registered as “Re-examine for Instructor of Record Permission.” This is for students who need to increase their level of teaching eligibility to qualify as an instructor of record according to the needs of their department.

New Students: Prior to the beginning of the ITAP courses each semester, new students can be automatically placed into one of the aforementioned modules based on their iBT/IELTS/DET speaking subtest score or placed based on oral placement test results (administered by the ELI).

PLACEMENT TEST WILL BE ONLINE by Zoom appointments, arranged by email. The interview is only 7-8 minutes, so students will be given a 10-minute slot when notified of the appointment and Zoom link. Make-up PLACEMENT TEST: by arrangement only (email marcid@eli.ua.edu to schedule a Zoom interview.)

The guidelines used in placing new students are as follows:

Note: All international students must take the Culture of Learning in US Higher Education badge in their first semester of teaching unless they are required to take the Oral Skills class. If they are required to take the Oral Skills class, they will have two semesters to complete the badge requirement.

New students who initially place into Oral Skills take a either an 8-week or 16-week class. At the end of the class, they are given the ITAP Oral Skills Exam.

Repeating Students: Students who need to repeat the ITAP course will be placed directly into it, provided their results are less than a semester old. If their results are more than a semester old, the students will be given the placement test again.

The objectives of the Oral Skills course focus on pronunciation as well as conversation skills related to the classroom.

1. The general overall objective of this course to to help students improve their communicative skills in oral English.
2. One aspect of this course deals with helping students to become aware of various aspects of English pronunciation, as well as helping them to isolate and overcome individual pronunciation problems which they may have in English.
3. The other focus of this course is on conversation management skills.
– asking/answering questions
– interrupting politely
– handling complaints
4. Students learn how conversation, especially that which takes place in the classroom, is effectely managed within the linguistic and cultural framework of English.

The Oral Skills Exam is only given to students who have successfully completed the Oral Skills course. The OS class is considered as successfully completed or not based upon class attendance and participation. The Oral Skills Exam is given four times per year: at the end of each semester to all eligible students and at mid-semester to students enrolled in the 8-week Oral Skills class or retesting for instructor of record permission. Students may only take the Oral Skills Exam once per semester.

Oral Skills Exam: This exam tests general speaking and listening proficiency in English. Examinees are asked questions and to perform tasks such as giving advice, and recommendations; describing images and graphs; and answering open-ended questions about general topics. Responses are recorded and evaluated by at least two raters. The Oral Skills Exam is rated on a scale of 20-60.

FINAL EVALUATIONS
Based on their Oral Skills Exam results as well as their ELI instructor’s assessment as to their ability to speak comprehensively as graduate teaching assistants at UA, ITAP participants are given one of three evaluations: qualified to be instructor of record, qualified to teach in other capacities, or not qualified to teach.

• Qualified to be instructor of record: The student has sufficient language skills which allow for full teaching responsibility in a lecture-type class. (Formerly called Full Pass)
• Qualified to teach in other capacities: The student has problems with certain language skills and should only be given teaching responsibility in a lab or tutorial situation where instruction occurs mostly on a one-to-one basis or in a classroom situation where a senior teacher is present. The student should not be given full teaching responsibility, nor should the student be given teaching responsibilities which involve lecturing as the mode of instruction. (Formerly called Conditional Pass)
• Not qualified to teach: The student has serious problems with certain language skills and should be given no speaking responsibility in a class, lab, tutorial, or other situations in which the student disseminates information in a formal capacity. (Formerly called No Pass)

FINAL EVALUATION SCORE RANGES

• 52-60: Qualified to be instructor of record
• 47-51: Qualified to teach in other capacities
• 20-46: Not qualified to teach

NOTES:

1. The ranges listed above should not be considered as exact cut-off points but rather as suggested guidelines for making final evaluations.
2. A student needs a 47 or above to complete the Oral Skills module. Students with an Oral Skills Exam score of 52 or above qualify to be the instructor of record. To teach in other capacities, a student needs an Oral Skills score of 47 to 51.

NOTIFICATION OF EXAM RESULTS
Placement exam and Oral Skills Exam results are posted on the Graduate School website via Slate. To display a student’s detailed results, the department must click on the student’s name. In addition to individual test scores and final ITAP evaluation, other information, such as permission to teach or conditions placed on a student’s evaluation, may be entered. Departments are responsible for conveying this information as well as exam results to their students. The ELI notifies groups of students of their overall evaluation results, but not details.

FOLLOW-UP
A follow-up observation is conducted of each student who receives a passing recommendation from the International Teaching Assistant Program’s Oral Skills Exam. At least once during the ITA’s badge-earning process, an ELI instructor will observe an ITA’s sample teaching recording and evaluate the ITA’s oral skills performance. A report is written by the instructor that observed the ITA and entered on the student’s Slate record.

LANGUAGE RESOURCES FOR ITAP STUDENTS
In order to improve their oral English proficiency, students need to speak English as much as possible out of class. Useful suggestions for improving speaking skills include:

1. Living with a native speaker or an international student of a different language group
2. Sharing office space with a native speaker or an international student of a different language group
3. Seeking opportunities to speak English outside the classroom by joining a club (UA “Get Onboard Day” is a good place to start) or volunteering in the community (Center for Service and Leadership, 1100 Ferguson Student Center)
4. Current and former ITAP students can access language-improvement materials in the ELI Study Center.
5. All international graduate students at UA can enroll in the 8-week Graduate Academic Speaking class at the ELI as well as undergo accent-reduction therapy at the
   UA Speech and Hearing Center.

Additionally, there are numerous language websites that students can access for focused study to improve their language skills:

For information regarding ITAP registration and status, contact UA Graduate School, gradschool@ua.edu.

For information regarding ITAP badges, contact UA Teaching Academy, teachingacademy@ua.edu.

For information regarding ITAP Oral Skills, contact Marci Daugherty, marcid@eli.ua.edu.