Oral English Proficiency Program

New Name, Same Excellence: ENGL 620 Becomes SCLA 620

Starting in summer 2025, ENGL 620 will take on a new name, SCLA 620: Academic and Professional Communication for International Teaching Assistants. The course prefix change reflects the OEPP’s academic home within the College of Liberal Arts, allowing for the OEPP to utilize course registration efficiencies and streamline administrative collaboration. While the name and prefix are changing, the course’s structure and high-quality instruction remain the same. SCLA 620 will continue to have the same great classroom instruction that includes four interactive teaching-style presentations to undergraduate students from across campus. In these presentations graduate students select topics in their field of study and refine their ability to effectively communicate about them. In presentations and throughout the course, students receive personalized feedback targeting intelligibility, grammar, and vocabulary, ensuring they refine the communication skills most relevant to their needs.

In addition to classroom learning and personalized feedback, students also benefit from an introduction to the ever-changing technological resources available to language learners. Students explore and utilize a variety of online and AI tools to propel their language growth while incorporating self-regulation strategies to continue their language learning throughout their graduate careers. Students who take 620 consistently report that they improved their language, communication, and presentation skills, helping them feel more confident in their roles as teaching assistants. As we transition to SCLA 620, we remain committed to incorporating innovative teaching methods and integrating AI-driven language tools into the learning process. The OEPP looks forward to continued collaboration across campus to provide international teaching assistants with language support for their academic and professional growth.

Oral English Proficiency Program: Overview

The Oral English Proficiency Program (OEPP) works with University departments to support international graduate students who are, or would like to be, teaching assistants.

Purdue University benefits from the knowledge and talents of non-native-English-speaking graduate teaching assistants in many aspects of its instructional program. These persons enrich our total academic environment. These benefits cannot be realized, however, if there is a language barrier between instructors and students.

The University's policy on teaching assistants is not based on citizenship or resident status, but instead on the student's first language. If the student did not grow up speaking English in the home as their first language, they are required to be certified before holding a TA position that involves the direct instruction of undergraduate students.

Students should work with departmental liaisons to register and prepare for the Oral English Proficiency Test (OEPT), and, if necessary, enroll in SCLA 620: Academic and Professional Communication for International Teaching Assistants.

Students who would like additional ESL assistance are also encouraged to make use of campus and community resources.