ETSU School Of Graduate Studies
309 Burgin Dossett Hall
PO Box 70720 Phone: (423) 439-4221
Johnson City, TN 37614-0720 Fax: (423) 439-5624
E-mail: gradsch@etsu.edu
http://www.etsu.edu/gradstud
ORAL PROFICIENCY (BEST PLUS) SCORE REPORT
Part I: To Be Completed by the Student
Student Name
First Middle Last
ENumber
Other Name(s) or Spellings
ETSU P.O. Box and/or local address
Phone Number
E- Mail
[Graduate Assistantship] [Tuition Scholarship]
Student holds a
(check one) in the office or
Department of Name of supervisor
Classes the student is currently enrolled in (Check all that apply):
ENGL 1010 ENGL 1011 ENGL 1020
ENGL 1021 ENGL 5019
Part II: To Be Completed by the OPI Evaluator
Previous OPI rating(s)
Current OPI rating
Date
Date
Score
Score
This score qualifies the student for level
activities. Any student whose oral proficiency rating does not meet the
appropriate level for his or her task must immediately be reassigned to a task whose level of contact is appropriate for the score.
Students can be certified to repeat the oral proficiency test through a variety of activities (see reverse side of this form).
Level 1 High Contact: GA's who assign grades and are fully responsible for instruction related to that grade. These
students are solely responsible for classroom teaching and individual conferencing with students.
Required BEST PLUS score: 707 or higher.
Level 2 Medium Contact: GA's or TS’s who supervise students in lab courses, are required to interact with the public
on a regular basis, give some lab instruction, and/or tutor.
Required BEST PLUS score: 507 – 706.
Level 3 Low Contact: GA's or TS’s who are assigned to tasks not covered in 1 and 2 above.
Required BEST PLUS score: 506 or lower.
Comments / Recommendations
Date
Yousif Elhindi, Ph.D.
OPI Administrator
elhindi@etsu.edu (423)439-5993
Box 70683, Department of English
East Tennessee State University
Theresa McGarry, Ph.D.
mcgarry@etsu.edu (423)439-6680
Box 70683, Department of English
East Tennessee State University
Martha Michieka, Ph.D.
michieka@etsu.edu (423)439-6674
Box 70683, Department of English
East Tennessee State University
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ORAL LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY PROTOCOL
Any student whose BEST PLUS score does not meet the appropriate level for his or her task must immediately be
reassigned to the level of contact appropriate for the score.
When a student's assignment changes to a level of contact that is higher than the rating will allow, departments must
notify the School of Graduate Studies. These students will be required to repeat the exam and earn the score
appropriate to the new task(s). It is the responsibility of the Graduate School to inform the student's department that
the student must earn the appropriate BEST PLUS score before the assistantship or tuition scholarship can be
approved.
A student who wishes to improve the BEST PLUS score or whose assignment shifts to a higher level of contact than
the rating allows must be certified by an ESL instructor or the director of the Center for Academic Achievement
(CFAA) in order to repeat the exam. Certification can be achieved in one of the following ways:
Enrollment and attendance in an ESL laboratory course (ENGL 1007 and/or 1009). Students may audit the
course; however, attendance and full participation are mandatory. The ESL instructor will certify --to the School
of Graduate Studies --that the requirement has been met and that the student is eligible to retake the BEST PLUS
oral proficiency test.
Participation in the weekly "English Table" at the Center for Academic Achievement, accompanied by a
combination of individual CFAA tutorial sessions and individual work in the language laboratory equal to
a minimum of 40 hours of study. Language Laboratory staff will report individual work to the CFAA staff, who
will document all work and certify --to the School of Graduate Studies --that the requirement has been met and
that the student is eligible to retake the BEST PLUS oral proficiency test.
Successful completion of the International Teaching Assistant course (ENGL 5019 Supervised Experience
Teaching).
If approved by the test administrators, students will also be given the option of retaking the BEST PLUS oral
proficiency exam (given amount of time) after the original testing session was completed. Failure to improve their
BEST PLUS score will result in the choosing of an aforementioned option.