Earlier this Spring, all of our incoming students for whom English is not their native language were required to take the Oral Proficiency Assessment (OPA), which measures a student’s level of fluency in spoken English and determines which spoken English courses, if any, each student has to take and if the student will hold a GTA or GAA position during the Autumn 2024 semester. However, there is one additional assessment – the ESL Composition Placement Test – that all non-native speakers are required to take and for which they will be assigned a testing date and time during their check-in with OIA. The biggest difference (from a programmatic perspective) between the Oral Proficiency Assessment and the English Composition Placement Test is that the result of the English Composition Placement Test does not impact one’s ability to hold a GTA appointment. Also, a student is exempt from taking the ESL Composition Placement Test ONLY if one of the following criteria have been met:
- TOEFL (iBT)
- 114 or higher
- 101 or higher and a 28 on the Writing section
- TOEFL (computer based)
- 280 or higher, or
- 253 or higher and 5.0 on the TOEFL Essay
- TOEFL (paper based)
- 650 or higher, or
- 610 or higher and 5.0 on the Test of Written English
- IELTS
- 9.0 or higher (Overall Band Score)
- 8.0 or higher (Overall Band Score) and 8.0 Academic Writing module
- Citizens of the following countries or regions: Australia, Belize, the British Caribbean and British West Indies, Canada (except Quebec), England, Ghana, Guyana, Ireland, Liberia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Scotland, the United States and Wales.
- Students who graduated from an academic program at The Ohio State University. A degree from other universities in English speaking countries does not meet this exemption.
For those who are not exempt, the result of the ESL Composition Placement Test will either be placement into EDUTL 5901 or EDUTL 5902 or a “Q”, which indicates that no ESL composition courses are required. Students who are required to take ESL composition courses are required by the Graduate School to complete those by the end of Summer 2025.
Students who placed into either EDUTL 5040 or EDUTL 5050 as a result of their OPA must take the required course during the Autumn semester and must continue to enroll in the required spoken English course and take all semester ESL course assessments (exit interviews and the OPCA) until full English certification is achieved. If, as a result of your OPA, you were recommended by ESL to enroll in either EDUTL 5030 or EDUTL 5060 to receive additional assistance with pronunciation, increasing fluency, or building confidence in speaking English, you are required by the Department to register that course, too, in Autumn 2022 and in any future semesters for which those courses are recommended.
More information about the ESL program and the spoken English and composition courses can be found online at https://esl.ehe.osu.edu/home/testing/graduate-international-students/