TITLE: Summary of Carnegie Mellon University Policy on Evaluation and Certification of English Fluency for Instructors

ACCOUNTABLE DEPARTMENT/UNIT: Office of the Provost. General questions on policy content should be directed to the Provost's Office, x8-2135. For specific questions regarding certification, contact the Intercultural Communication Center, x8-4979.

ABSTRACT: The English Fluency in Higher Education Act of 1990 requires all institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania to evaluate and certify the English language fluency of their instructional faculty.

FORMS: Certification form.

Summary of how the Carnegie Mellon policy satisfies the Pennsylvania English Fluency in Higher Education Act

• All instructional personnel, both native speakers and non-native speakers of English, who teach undergraduates must have a certification form on file in the Provost's Office. Instructional staff includes both faculty and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) or interns (TIs).

• All native speakers of English, faculty as well as teaching assistants (TAs) and teaching interns (TIs), who teach undergraduates will be certified by their departments on the basis of conversations with the dean, department head or specified designee. Departments cannot assume that someone is a native speaker without talking with him or her.

• The fluency of non-native speaking faculty members will be evaluated through two interviews: one with the dean, department head or specified designee, and the second with a senior faculty member. All interviewers must be native speakers of English.

• Non-native speaking teaching assistants (TAs) and teaching interns (TIs) must take the International Teaching Assistant Test administered by the Intercultural Communication Center. Only those students who score a Category One or Two can be certified to teach undergraduate recitation classes or labs. Graduate students who do not pass the International Teaching Assistant Test will be provided with help at the Intercultural Communication Center until they are able to pass.

  (Note: CMU policy requires the International Teaching Assistant Test for TAs of both graduate as well as undergraduate classes.)

• Pennsylvania law allows the following exemptions from certification: 1) visiting faculty, 2) faculty and TAs who will teach courses taught predominantly in a foreign language, and 3) faculty and TAs who work one-on-one with students.

  (Note: CMU policy requires non-native speaking TAs to take the International Teaching Assistant Test and score at least a Category Four before being allowed to work one-on-one with students).

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