Speak/Teach Testing and Retesting Policies

TAs at ISU

In Spring and fall sememsters, there are generally around 700 grad students on TA appointments.

Speak/Teach Testing and Retesting Policies

1. The SPEAK/TEACH test is for prospective TAs and other graduate students who will teach as part of their program of study and whose native-language is not North American English. These students' English oral proficiency is assessed before they are assigned teaching duties by their departments. Departments and Programs supply us with the names of students they wish tested. (See Who needs to take the SPEAK/TEACH test)
2. Students only take the SPEAK/TEACH test once. They need to take an English 180 class before being retested (Level-3 and Not-Certified students have the opportunity to retake the SPEAK/TEACH test at the end of the semester; Level-2 students usually move to level-1 on their 180-class instructor's recommendation, or sometimes are asked to retest.)
3. After students have completed a possible 2 semesters of English 180, they can apply to retake the test after one year if they will be TAs or teach as part of their program and need a higher level of certification.
   
   We have enforeced these restrictive re-testing policies for the following reasons:
   • It is depressing and demoralizing for test candidates to retake the test but see little if any improvement in scores.
   • The test is thorough, but expensive and time consuming to administer.
   • Significant progress in oral English is generally slower than most students expect. A number of students improve to scores of around 200 (a mid level-3) or even lower, and then plateau. (See below for more about this)
   • Most of ITAs who are not taking English classes retest at the same level as previously. The only ones moving up a level have at least 10 months, and in some cases over 2 years, between test dates. (There are also cases where people stay here at Iowa State a long time without significantly improving their SPEAK/TEACH scores.)
   
   A number of students improve to scores of 180-200 on each test and remain at that level of proficiency. This plateauing around 200 is not surprising:
   1. A score of 200 means communication is somewhat effective. Students with these scores are able to operate in English fairly successfully thus having less reason to work at improving, but the language is definitely limited and/or has errors (persistent problem areas often include pronunciation, grammar and limited vocabulary).
   2. Many students seem to spend little time communicating, interacting, and thinking in English. Language proficiency needs constant practice and focused work on problem areas for improvement to take place.