Mission Statement
The General English Program creates opportunities for international students to develop their English proficiency for successful social and professional communication in a global environment.
About the General English Program (GE)
The General English program is designed to help international students develop the necessary language proficiency for everyday situations. Applicants must be at least 16 years old and may enter at any level from true beginning through advanced. Full-time students generally choose 21 or 27 credit hours per week of instruction, though it is possible to choose to take 18 hours without penalty. GE also has part-time students who generally take no more than 9 credit hours.
General English Accreditation
The GE program is accredited by the CEA. Read more.
Program Outcomes
Most students have one of three program goals upon entry into the GE program:
1) Progression into the Academic English program for further study at Oregon State University or transfer to another institution,
2) Improvement of career prospects by achieving higher communicative competency in a variety of career fields,
3) Personal development or the desire to better communicate in the community.
Program Structure
The GE program consists of 6 levels (Foundation Prep through Level 5). Each OSU term is divided into two 5-week sessions. In the course catalog, IEPG courses are session 1 classes (5 weeks), and IEPH courses are session 2 classes (5 weeks). Students are allowed to enter at either the beginning of IEPG or IEPH. The courses are independent and equal difficulty. Teachers should not make session 2 more difficult than session 1. If a student is in a class for both sessions, teachers help them achieve basic mastery of the skills during session 1 and advanced mastery of the same skills during session 2.
New Student Placement
Upon arrival, the students are given a placement battery that consists of four tests: the computer-based Accuplacer listening test, the computer-based Accuplacer reading test, a 30 minute written essay, and an oral interview with one of the members of the faculty. The tests scores are reviewed by the GE Program Manager and the Associate Program Managers, who place the students into their proficiency level.
Continuing Student Placement
Students must have a 73% or higher in the assessments and 73% or higher in the overall grade for two consecutive sessions. In GE, students are not put on academic probation. They repeat the course until they pass two consecutive sessions. If a student fails an IEPG course, s/he must pass an IEPH and then pass another IEPG. If a student fails an IEPH course, s/he must pass an IEPG and then pass another IEPH course (even if s/he has passed the original IEPG course).
Attendance Policy
Students are expected to be in their classes at least 70% of the time in order to maintain their immigration status. To track the attendance, teachers are required to submit a score for each student by 5:00 pm Friday of each teaching week. The first week all students receive 100%, but roll should still be taken daily. At the end of the first week, a member of the management team will ask the faculty to submit the names of all students who are not attending so that those students can be contacted. As long as the student remains on an official roll, attendance should be marked. These percentages help determine whether or not a student is put on warning, probation, or suspension.
GE attendance standing levels are
- Warning I: one session (email notice)
- Warning II: one additional session (email notice)
- Probation: one additional session (meet with an advisor and sign a contract)
- Suspension: done if a student fails to meet the terms of the probation contract (letter and email); can be appealed.
Tardy Policy
Students are expected to arrive on time for each class. If a student is late three times, it is considered to the equivalent of an absence.
Curriculum Guide
All faculty members who teach in the GE program are given a hard copy of the curriculum guide; it is also available on the shared drive (S://Language Programs (AE, GE, PW)/General English Program/General English Courses/2013 Curriculum Guide). All teachers are expected to carefully follow the course objectives established for each course; feedback and suggestions are collected at the end of each term for use in future revisions.
Course Descriptions
Before the beginning of each term, the Program Manager sends out course description templates to all teachers. They complete the templates with the week-by-week syllabus for each session and also fill in their names, email addresses, office locations and office hours. Cohorts have the same week-by-week syllabus and schedule of assessments. By the end of Week 2 in each session, instructors upload their completed course descriptions to the folders on the server at S://Language Programs (AE, GE, PW)/General English Program/General English Courses. Management and advising teams regularly refer to these course descriptions to ensure there is consistency across the cohorts and to reinforce information to students that they have been given in class. Instructors can find more information about each course, such as textbooks information, assessments and supplementary material on the server.
Marginal-passer and Non-passer comments
At the end of each session, teachers record detailed comments about the performance any marginally passing or non-passing students. The information is collected on a Google doc and is used at registration and when advising students.
Level change requests
Level change requests are for Listening, Speaking & Vocabulary classes and Reading & Writing classes. Level changes are not considered for Grammar classes. Teachers are expected to give a diagnostic test in the first 2 days of class. They should be strict in scoring the tests and keep in mind that even a very high score on the diagnostic may not indicate a misplacement. Teachers who are unsure about a student’s score or are new to the level should consult the lead teacher or a member of the management team. If a student is clearly misplaced, or if a student requests to move up a level, teachers report information following the format on a Google doc that is sent out to all teachers at the beginning of Week 1. Teachers should refrain from encouraging the student to move up and wait to discuss the issue until after a decision has been made by the management team. A member of the management team will check the student’s eligibility (failing the class the previous term, two level splits, other placement scores, etc.) and email teachers the results with a rationale. Teachers then discuss the results with the student and explain why they did or did not get moved.
Student Evaluation of Classes
Each term students provide feedback about the course by completing an anonymous survey, though students may opt to sign the evaluation if they choose. Teachers receive the results of these surveys after final grades have been posted for the term.
August 27th, 2014
