Academic Services

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Academic departments help the Graduate Division to monitor three required exams.

1) English Language Placement Exam (ELPE)

• All incoming international graduate students and permanent residents whose first language is not English must meet proficiency requirements in spoken and written English before registering at UCSB.
• This required exam is conducted by faculty of the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program prior to the beginning of each quarter.
• The ELPE comprises of both a written and an oral examination. After the writing exam, students make individual department appointments for the oral exam to take place on a different day.
• The results of the ELPE, including course placements when appropriate, are communicated to each department by the ESL Program office.
• Based on the performance on the ELPE students are placed in a compulsory ESL class with coursework aimed at helping improve the students spoken English or students who do well are exempted-out of ESL.
• Students are expected to complete the ESL course progression within three quarters.
• Students who fail the ELPE must register for and attend a prescribed ESL course and will have their registration blocked for future quarters until they re-take the ELPE and pass.
• Testing dates, times, and locations can be found at www.esl.ucsb.edu/ or on the Office of International Students and Scholars website at www.oiss.ucsb.edu.
• Please note: Students who are exempt from the TOEFL or IELTS requirement are still required to take the ELPE.

2) Minimum Proficiency Requirements in Spoken and written English

In some cases, students must satisfy proficiency requirements in spoken and written English for the purposes of research and communication with colleagues before they will be awarded a degree at UCSB.

• Coursework may be required to meet the department’s proficiency requirements in English. If you have questions about this class, please contact the Graduate Advisor in the department.
• Continuing international students who need additional ESL coursework will be pre-registered in the appropriate ESL classes.
• Coursework in English is always conducted through the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program. More information can be found on www.esl.ucsb.edu/

3) TA Language Evaluations Exam

Graduate Council policy requires all prospective teaching assistants (TAs) whose first language is not English to take the TA Language Evaluation in order to be certified to hold sole classroom teaching or laboratory responsibilities.

• The TA language evaluation is for students slated to be teaching assistants (TAs) either in their first quarter or at any time during their graduate career.
• Please note: Students who sit for a TA language evaluation must take the written portion of the English Language Proficiency Examination (ELPE) prior to the beginning of the quarter.
• The TA language evaluation is a formal process meant to simulate instruction in an undergraduate discussion section. It involves a faculty representative from the student’s department and a faculty member from ESL. The student’s department must assign the prospective TA a basic, non-technical topic for the 5-10 minute oral presentation. In addition, the prospective TA is asked questions during the presentation by the evaluators who play the role of undergraduates.
• Students *not* certified during the TA language evaluation are required to complete ESL coursework to improve their spoken English. The student will have to show sufficient improvement in speaking proficiency to be certified. This may require more than one quarter of ESL coursework. Each student in a required ESL course is re-evaluated for certification by a committee of ESL faculty at the end of the quarter. TA’s who fail the language evaluation can be assigned to alternate, non-teaching responsibilities determined by the department.
• Graduate Division and/or ESL will schedule a TA language evaluation only if the student’s department requests one. Student’s can’t *self-nominate* to take a language evaluation. Once determined, scheduling information will be sent to each department. In turn, the department is asked to convey this information to the prospective TA along with the presentation topic.
• At present, Graduate Division is scheduling TA language evaluations. The Graduate Division will need both the name of each prospective TA to be evaluated and the name of the faculty member who will be the faculty representative, as well as any dates that represent scheduling conflicts from the department prior to the beginning of the quarter.
• If university ESL requirements are not met, Graduate Division will enforce one or more of the following options: withholding of RA ships; withholding of degrees; blocking of registration for future quarters and /or blocking advancement to candidacy.