By John Woodford

The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts has raised the standard of competency in the English language for teaching assistants (TAs) whose native language is not English.

"LSA established the previous standard in 1986," said Sarah Briggs, the English Language Institute's (ELI) director for testing TAs. "The standard introduced this year raises the minimum test score that a nonnative speaker of English must reach to teach our undergraduates."

As before, the proficiency rating is scored on a five-point scale. A score of five is superior, and automatically qualifies the TA to teach in most departments. A four is acceptable. But a four-minus won't pass the candidate.

"In the old system," Briggs explained in an interview, "someone with a four-minus was considered acceptable. Now, someone with a four-minus can teach only if an associate dean and departmental chair decide that there is compelling evidence from other sources, such as staff who worked closely with the person in a training workshop, that the candidate can in fact communicate well.

"These TAs," Briggs continued, would be rated as a four-provisional, and be systematically monitored and supported in the first year by people at ELI, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching [CRLT] and the department. At the end of the year a decision will be made as to whether to classify them as a four or higher."

A three qualifies a TA to teach only a foreign language beyond the first-year level. And scores below three disqualify a TA from teaching in LS&A. A bit more than a fourth of TAs fail to qualify, Briggs said.

The level of proficiency to score even a four-minus is "far above that typically achieved by, say, an English speaking American who fulfilled a foreign language requirement in college," Briggs emphasized. "It's comparable to the minimum level one would need to pass a foreign service exam to work for the State Department."

Why are there complaints about the English skills of foreign TAs? Students often identify "foreign accents" as the issue, Briggs said. And she acknowledged that understanding accented English can be a worrisome challenge to students. "International TAs are sometimes hard to understand. Others may find it hard to interact well while speaking English. There are also cultural issues and differences in teaching styles. All of these things run together; each has an impact. We have alleviated the problems to some extent, and we are always trying to do better."

Briggs added that there is a "great polarity" in how undergraduates rate TAs in the course surveys the University conducts each term. "One student can say, 'This is the best TA I've ever had,' and the person sitting beside him can say the TA is the worst ever. In such cases, it may be the background of the person who is the judge that is the key factor. As a university, we realize we have to address the underlying factors affecting all parties."

Briggs advises students who are having difficulty understanding a TA or a professor (foreign professors are not screened by tests) to meet with the teacher and explain their problem. They should also communicate their feelings to the department, she added.

A 1988-89 ELI/CRLT study of TAs in the departments of chemistry, economics and mathematics indicated that student satisfaction with new foreign TAs had risen to be about par with English-speaking TAs.

Student reactions to all TAs whether native or non-native speaker of English-vary by department, Briggs said, and TAs who teach required courses tend to have a lower rating than those teaching an elective or an advanced course, she added.

Briggs said LS&A is "in the process of improving the ways we get feedback on course surveys the students fill out at the end of the term. We're looking for more specific information about what the students are thinking. As things stand now, if a student is unhappy with the whole course, the may blame TAs for it even though TAs don't control the course."

Throughout Michigan's history, "many of the best and brightest who have come to study and teach here have been from other countries," Briggs pointed out, "and with the increased internationalization of higher education at the leading research institutions, our interactions with people from other countries will increase.