Departmental Process-Nominating Students to ELI994

In recognition of the particular challenges of working as a GSI in a different educational system, in potentially new classroom cultures and language, LSA partners with the English Language Institute (ELI) and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) to provide additional training through ELI 994.  This training is part of LSA’s Policy for Training & Testing Prospective GSIs.

Requirement for attendance at this workshop is determined by the student’s undergraduate exclusive language of instruction.

Students who are required to attend ELI 994 and pass the Oral English Test (OET) are students who: attended an undergraduate college or university where English is not the exclusive language of instruction.

Students who attended a college or university in which English was the exclusive language of instruction are exempted (excused) from the training.

Students can be waived from the course based on a review of their previous experience with English in the U.S. Students who receive a waiver may elect to take ELI 994 if space permits, per the GEO bargaining agreement. The waiver review process is conducted by the GSI Advisor at ELI after the student’s name has been added to the department’s list of students who may need to attend ELI 994. Waiver recommendations are given on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration experiences such as those listed below. To request a waiver, department staff should contact the GSI Advisor at ELI.

• Successful classroom teaching experience with undergraduates at an English-medium university, substantiated by student evaluations and/or a supervising professor’s evaluation memo.
• Documentation of GSI/TA training or testing at another English-medium university.
• Educational experience at the undergraduate level, e.g., exchange programs at U.S. colleges or universities.
• Educational experience with U.S. high school students, e.g., high school/secondary school exchange programs.
• Other educational experience at English-medium schools, for example, education at U.S. or international schools.
• Work experience with U.S. undergraduate students, for example, college residential advisor.

Additional Options for Waivers:

Prospective employees who are not first-term GSIs may take a test of communicative skills in the Fall term for employment in the Winter term or in the Winter term for employment in the following Fall term. If the prospective employee passes the test before training, the employee may choose whether or not they would like to participate in the training. Students who are waived may take the training on a space-permitting basis.

ELI arranges housing for the students during the Summer course, and students are provided a stipend of $50/day to live on during the time we ask the students to be here, ahead of the fall semester.  Students are expected to pay for their daily living expenses and their health insurance from this stipend.

1. There are several possible outcomes for students who take ELI 994:

i. After successful completion of ELI 994, ELI staff may recommend that a prospective GSI be waived from taking the OET.
ii. A prospective GSI will move forward to take the OET.
iii. If a prospective GSI does not successfully complete ELI 994, ELI will work with the student to develop an appropriate path for future language support and development. 

2. Any new GSI who has successfully completed ELI 994 has completed the equivalent of the CRLT GSI Teaching Orientation and should not be required to complete the CRLT GSITO. LSA units can require new GSIs to complete other departmental GSI training requirements.  

3. In order to ensure that GSIs who completed ELI 994 have access to the same support resources as other LSA GSIs, departments should continue to share names of all new GSIs with CRLT, noting which have completed ELI 994. CRLT will provide these GSIs observer access to the CRLT GSITO Canvas site and will include them in CRLT’s “Welcome to Teaching at Michigan” emails which are sent to new GSIs over the course of their first semester of teaching.

Departments may want to wait to schedule the OET for their students until after the ELI 994 course had ended, to see if students have been so successful in the course that ELI advisors may waive them from taking the OET

.Prospective GSIs can be scheduled by the department to take the OET at an upcoming administration. The OET can be administered in-person or via Zoom. Typically department staff help to schedule a student’s test through Michigan Language Assessment (MLA). 

• If they pass, they are fully eligible to be a GSI and should participate in the GSI training program expected of GSIs in their department.
• If they do not pass, they will be referred to ELI to identify the appropriate path for future language support and development. This may include being required to take ELI 994 prior to any future retake of the OET.

Please note: The Policy for Training and Testing Prospective GSIs in LSA, states that in the event that a student does not successfully complete the OET, it is incumbent on the department that made admission and support offers to identify alternative support resources that are not GSI positions and are not instructional in nature. This alternative funding does not need to be identical to that of a GSI position, but must be at a level to satisfy the immigration requirements of Homeland Security.