GSI Instructional Program
The GSI Instructional Program offers a diverse range of resources individually tailored to GSI needs and goals. The program includes courses, workshops, consulting services, clinics, tutoring, teaching observations, a conversation program, and non-traditional alternatives when appropriate. Ongoing collaboration with the UM Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) and the Language Resource Center (LRC) provide graduate students with a phenomenal instructional program for professional development.
To make an advising appointment on improving oral English for GSI work, or for further information about the LSA-GSI ELI 994 courses, contact ELI GSI Training Programs Coordinator Brenda Prouser Imber, prousimb@umich.edu, (312) 806-0082.
GSI Instructional Program Mission Statement
The ELI has a responsibility to foster a learning environment where graduate students participate in the varied and various instructional roles available...
ELI Courses useful to GSIs.
Individual and small group consultations to enhance speaking skills for GSI work.
A program for weekly small group conversation led by fluent English speakers.
GSI Oral English Test
The University of Michigan uses the Graduate Student Instructor Oral English Test (GSI OET), a procedure administered by Cambridge Michigan Language Assessments, for testing the spoken English of prospective graduate student instructors whose undergraduate education was not at an institution in which the language of instruction is exclusively English. A rating of 4 is required to be eligible for appointment as an instructional GSI. The evaluation procedure is a performance test that consists of four tasks that assess a candidate's competence and effectiveness in the type of communication typically used by GSIs at the University of Michigan. The test evaluates proficiency at the high intermediate to advanced level. The tasks and evaluation criteria of the GSI OET also serve as diagnostic tools to identify language needs and strengths of a candidate. This information is used by the ELI GSI Programs Coordinator in post-GSI OET advising to recommend or require enrollment, if needed, in courses offered through the English Language Institute.
You can read more about the GSI OET in the GSI OET Information Bulletin (PDF).
Policies and Procedures on GSI Training and Testing
GSI Testing and Training Policy and Procedures
GSI Testing and Training Exemptions and Waivers
GSI OET Retesting and Appeals Process
The GSI OET Information Bulletin (PDF) includes a description of the re-testing and appeals policies and procedures.
