Oral English Proficiency Screening (OEPS)
Please note this policy is currently under review and subject to change.
GAs who are required to complete a screening will receive details on scheduling in their GTAP Welcome Letter. Screenings are typically scheduled for the week before classes (Fall and Spring). Screenings take approximately fifteen minutes and students do not need to prepare in advance for the screening. The screening is based on the Compton Screening Assessment of Foreign Accent to assess intelligibility in words, sentences, and conversation.
The purpose of OEPS is to ensure GAs will be able to be understood in the spoken content that is presented in class, office hours, and/or labs.
Oral English Proficiency Training
GAs who do not meet the proficiency standard are referred for Oral English Proficiency Training sessions for a full semester at the GW Speech and Hearing Clinic at no charge. GAs who pass the screening can refer themselves for services by contacting the Speech and Hearing Clinic directly.
During these sessions, students will meet weekly with a graduate clinician to focus on speech sounds (consonants and vowels) and other “naturalness” factors such as rate of speech, syllable stress, intonation, and professional speaking skills. Students are expected to attend all scheduled sessions and practice outside of these weekly sessions to ensure progress. Students will be re-screened at the end of the semester to assess progress. Students who pass are allowed to continue with training sessions for one more semester or are excused.
Sessions address intelligibility and naturalness of speech and target the following areas:
- Sounds: Consonants and Vowels
- Suprasegmentals: Rate of Speech, Pausing, Key Words, Intonation, Syllable Stress, Word Linking, Volume and Resonance
- Professional Speaking: Body Language, Grammar, Small Talk, Visuals, Phone, Humor, Presentations
Benefits of training sessions:
- Overall improvement in pronunciation skills
- Greater confidence when speaking and presenting
- Less confusion for listeners as speech becomes clear and understandable
- Improvement in communication and confidence in social, academic, and professional settings