Overview
Some funding offers at Texas A&M University include graduate assistantships with curricular duties. Eligibility to hold a graduate assistantship with instructional or curricular support responsibilities – such as Graduate Assistant Teacher (GAT) or Graduate Assistant Lecturer (GAL) – Texas State law (Education Code, Section 51-917) and university policy requires that international graduate students attain ELP Certification.
The Graduate and Professional School and the Division of Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness (HROE) require international graduate students hired for graduate assistantships with curricular duties to qualify for Level 1 Certification, or Level 2 Conditional Certification (for one semester only), before submission of a hire request.
The ELP Certification Requirement may be satisfied through any of the following:
- Submission of acceptable test scores.
- Citizenship with certain English-speaking countries.
- A bachelor’s degree with all coursework completed at an accredited academic institution within the United States
Test Scores Accepted by Texas A&M for Certification
| Eligibility Level | TOEFL Essentials Speaking Section |
TOEFL-iBT [Old] Speaking Section |
TOEFL-iBT [New] Speaking Section |
IELTS Academic Speaking Section |
Texas A&M ELPE Oral Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Eligible | 11 or higher | 26 or higher | 5.5 or higher | 8.0 or higher | 80 or higher |
| 2 – Conditionally Eligible | 9 – 10 | 23 – 25 | 4.5 – 5.0 | 7.0 – 7.5 | 75 or higher |
| 3 – Ineligible | 8 or lower | 22 or lower | 4.0 | 6.0 or lower | 70 or lower |
ELP Certification Eligibility Levels
Satisfaction of the ELP Certification Requirement in relation to graduate assistantships with curricular duties is rated on a scale of 1-3.
Level 1 Eligible
- A student who achieves a Level 1 certifying score is Eligible for a graduate assistantship with curricular duties without any restrictions.
- Level 1 Certification may be obtained through official test scores (see above) or Alternative Certification (see below).
Level 2 Conditionally Eligible
- Those with a Level 2 rating are Conditionally Eligible for graduate assistantships with curricular duties.
- Level 2 Conditional Certification may be obtained through official test scores (see above).
- These students may hold a graduate assistantship with curricular duties for one semester only and must participate in the Texas A&M University Center for Teaching Excellence English Language Proficiency (CTE-ELP) Program (see below).
- Conditionally Eligible students must achieve a Level 1 certifying score on the English Language Proficiency Examination (ELPE) or the Speaking section of an acceptable global standardized test (see above) before the hiring date for the next semester. If a Level 2 Conditionally Certified student has not achieved Level 1 Certification before the hiring date for a subsequent semester, the employing unit will have the opportunity to move the employee to a non-teaching role (Graduate Assistant Non-Teaching, Graduate Assistant Researcher, etc.). For those students who do not satisfy the ELP Certification Requirement and are not transferred to a non-teaching position, the English Language Proficiency Compliance Office will recommend termination of employment and the student will then be Ineligible for a GAT/GAL position (see Level 3 below) until a Level 1 certifying score has been achieved.
Level 3 Ineligible
- Students at Level 3 (Verified only) are Ineligible for graduate assistantships with curricular duties.
- They should participate in spoken language training (such as those offered by CTE-ELP or other independent English language instruction providers) to assist them in meeting the ELP Certification Requirement. Level 3 students will remain Ineligible until they achieve a Level 1 or 2 score on the ELPE or the Speaking score on an acceptable global standardized test (see above).
English Language Proficiency Program
The English Language Proficiency (ELP) Program – offered by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) – is a linguistic service provided to current and prospective instructors at Texas A&M who wish to improve their spoken English skills or to achieve ELP Certification. Support services are confidential and at no additional cost to the participant. Level 2 Conditionally Certified students are required to participate in the CTE-ELP Program during a semester of Conditional Eligibility (please see above).
ELP ProgramELP Certification is also obtainable through the Alternative Certification process following completion of admission. Alternative Certification is required for all international graduate students who met the ELP Admission Requirement through
- citizenship with certain English-speaking countries (except citizens of Canada from Quebec – please see note below), or
- a bachelor’s degree with all coursework completed at an accredited academic institution within the United States.
Additionally, an IELTS Academic One Skill Retake of the Speaking section which meets the Level 1 or 2 score requirement may be used for Alternative Certification if the student has already met the ELP Admission and Verification Requirements through another official test score.
PLEASE NOTE
- International graduate students who met the ELP Certification Requirement for teaching through official test scores will automatically receive ELP Certification during the admission process (see “Test Scores Accepted by Texas A&M for Certification” above).
- International graduate students who are not from certain English-speaking countries and hold a bachelor’s from an accredited academic institution located within the United States – but did not complete all coursework at the institution within the United States – or completed a higher degree (master’s, doctoral, etc.) from an accredited academic institution located within the United States, are not eligible for Alternative Certification and must submit official minimum test scores.
- Canadian citizens from Quebec may only receive Alternative Certification through official test scores or a bachelor’s degree with all coursework completed at an accredited academic institution within the United States.
The admitting academic unit may submit an Alternative Certification Request on the student’s behalf following completion of the admission process. Requests must be submitted by an admitting college/school, department, or interdisciplinary degree program’s administrative staff or faculty (as designated on the academic unit’s Authorized Signers Form) through the English Language Proficiency Compliance Office’s AdobeSign form. Requests submitted by students, or approved by staff or faculty who are not designated on their academic unit’s Authorized Signers Form, will be returned.
Alternative Verification will provide the student with an ELP status of ZA (Level 1 Alternatively Certified) and enable the student to both register for courses and hold graduate assistantships with curricular duties.
Alternative Verification/Certification Request Form
Alternative Certification Requests must be submitted by colleges/schools, departments, or interdisciplinary degree programs through AdobeSign. The Graduate and Professional School will determine whether to grant Alternative Certification Requests on a case-by-case basis.
FormEmergency Deferral of the ELP Certification Requirement
Level 3 (Verified only) international graduate students are Ineligible to hold a graduate assistantship with curricular duties.
Under extenuating circumstances, academic units may need to hire an international graduate student as a Graduate Assistant Teacher (GAT) or Lecturer (GAL) who has not achieved Level 1 Certification or Level 2 Conditional Certification. In these cases, the employing academic units may request an Emergency Deferral of the English Language Proficiency Certification Requirement through the English Language Proficiency Compliance Office’s AdobeSign form. Approval of these requests will enable the academic unit to complete a student’s hiring process for one semester only.
Emergency Deferral Request Form
Emergency Deferral Requests must be submitted by colleges/schools, departments, or interdisciplinary degree programs through AdobeSign. The Graduate and Professional School will determine whether to grant Alternative Certification Requests on a case-by-case basis.
FORM