Each department chooses its own TAs and ITAs, so you would need to discuss options for becoming an ITA with your departmental advisor.
This certification process is required of students whose home language is other than English and who are offered a TAship for the first time. The certification process determines if you can communicate clearly enough in English to be given sole teaching responsibilities in an undergraduate learning context.
UCSB’s Graduate Division requires international TAs to be certified, and has authorized the EMS Program to administer the ITA Certification and Evaluation process.
The certification process may consist of a short presentation on an academic topic, which you will prepare in advance. You will present it to two UCSB faculty members, one from the EMS Program and one from the department which is offering you the TAship. After your presentation, those faculty will decide your evaluation result.
Three results are possible:
- You are certified to teach;
- You are conditionally certified; or
- You are not certified.
The first result, certified, means that you are determined to have sufficient oral English ability to teach an undergraduate class. You will not have to be re-evaluated, and you will not be required to take an oral English course.
The second result, conditionally certified, means that you have some language weaknesses that could make your speech difficult for undergrad students to understand, and/or you had problems understanding and responding to questions. A conditionally certified TA may teach an undergraduate class on the condition that you also complete an EMS oral skills course. Your required course will be determined by your evaluating faculty. You will have to enroll in the course during the same quarter as you are teaching or successfully complete it before you begin to teach. Although you will not have to re-take the TA Language Evaluation, you must pass your required EMS course.
The third result, not certified, means that you have some weaknesses that could make your speech difficult for undergrad students to understand, and/or you had problems understanding and responding to questions. You may not teach an undergraduate class until you have been re-evaluated and certified. In order to become eligible for re-evaluation, you will have to first successfully complete an EMS oral skills course. Your required course will be determined by your evaluating faculty.
Who must participate in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process?
I have taken the Grad ELPE. Must I also participate in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process?
Yes. The oral section of the Grad ELPE is given to all international students who come to UCSB without an offer of a TAship. Students offered a TAship at a later time must participate in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process, which is different.
No; the ITA Certification and Evaluation process holds applicants to a higher standard of oral academic English and is still required.
I have participated in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process. Must I also take the Grad ELPE?
Yes, you may still need to take the Grad ELPE. (See our Graduate FAQs for more information.)
There are no exemptions for having completed an undergraduate or masters degree at a U.S. university or a university with English as the medium of instruction. Students are not exempted from the ITA Certification and Evaluation process on the basis of U.S. residency or citizenship.
Yes, in consultation with Graduate Program Advisors and Graduate Division, the EMS Program offers exceptions to the ITA Certification and Evaluation process to students who have reported official test scores that meet the following criteria:
- IELTS Speaking score of 8.5
- TOEFL Speaking score of 28 or higher (pre-2026 scale)
- TOEFL Speaking score of 6 or higher (2026 scale)
How do I prepare to participate in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process?
Most departments assign a topic or list of possible topics from which to choose. If not, check with the graduate student assistant in the department that is considering you for the TAship.
Most topics ask you to define a term or concept or solve a conceptual problem, one that does not rely on any significant discussion of detailed formulas and equations. The topic is usually appropriate to an introductory, undergraduate class. It is usually, though not necessarily, within the discipline that you would be teaching.
Keep in mind that the topics that a department assigns are based on years of experience with the ITA evaluations, and normally topics are designed to help ensure the best possible result for you. For example, your presentation does have to be an academic topic, allow for maximum audience interaction, and not rely heavily on detailed formulas and equations.
The Standard Evaluation process is only concerned with your ability to organize and communicate ideas and interact with your audience. Your result will not be affected by whether you do well or poorly at demonstrating a competent graduate student’s level of knowledge of the topic or the discipline.
The format of the Standard Evaluation will maximize your spoken interaction with the audience, which is extremely important to your success as a future ITA. Furthermore, the time of each evaluation is quite short (15 minutes total, including presentation and Q/A). As a result, you want to minimize the time you spend writing on the board, so that you can talk more.
We do understand that many ITAs routinely deal with equations and formulas as a regular part of their job, and some ITA Standard Evaluation presentations will rely to an extent on some basic formulas or simple equations. However, the area where undergraduate students have difficulty understanding their ITAs is often the conceptual discussions.
The English Interview does not require a formal presentation from the prospective ITA. Rather, it is a brief (10 minutes total) conversation between the prospective ITA and an EMS faculty member.
To prepare, students should come prepared to talk about their academic and professional interests and goals. Students should not bring presentation slides or prepare a script to read.
There are two possible results to the English Interview process.
- The prospective ITA is certified to teach.
- The prospective ITA is required to complete a Standard Evaluation (in the first week of September).
Your ITA evaluators will ask you questions during your presentation, not after. In fact, you should be prepared for them to surprise you by asking unexpected questions or at unexpected times. This is a normal part of every evaluation; you should not take it as a signal that something is wrong. Your evaluators simply want to make sure that Q/A interaction is a dominant part of the evaluation.
Your ITA evaluators will ask you questions that a typical undergrad student might ask, and the questions will start coming shortly after you begin your presentation. When a question arises, you should respond to each question as completely as you can and then continue with your presentation. You might find it helpful to speak to the evaluators as if they are your students in a course you are teaching.
Generally, you should expect that you will not have enough time to finish everything that you prepared to say about your topic. If you are asked to stop before you finish, you should not be worried. This is normal for an ITA Standard Evaluation, and has no effect on your result.
When being evaluated in a Zoom meeting, students may use the Zoom whiteboard, presentation slides, such as a PowerPoint, or both. Visual aids are optional. If using PowerPoint, students should use a maximum of 2-3 slides. There should be minimal text or a very simple diagram or image.
For examples of acceptable slide images, see these Google slides.
Your English Interview or Standard Evaluation result will depend on how well you demonstrate your overall oral English fluency, grammatical accuracy, ability to use appropriate vocabulary, comprehensible pronunciation, and ability to understand and respond to questions. You should not plan to read from a script and you will need to engage in unscripted Q/A.
It will usually take about 3-4 days before you find out your result of the English Interview or Standard Evaluation. The Graduate Program Advisor will contact you by e-mail with results and next steps.
What happens after I participate in the ITA Certification and Evaluation process?
Students who are not certified are assigned to take an EMS course in order to improve in their weak areas. Usually, the EMS Program offers several oral English courses for graduate students, so your evaluators will have chosen a course that is specific to your needs. If you have been told you are not certified, you should have also received this course placement along with your result. You will be required to complete, and pass, this course before you can be re-considered for a TAship. If you were not certified, you will not be offered a TAship until you are certified.
We cannot allow students to re-do the English Interview or Standard Evaluation immediately. For those placed into LING 4, you will be re-evaluated at the end of the quarter.
The EMS Program is not involved in funding decisions. Students should contact their major department to see if there are funds available.