scholarly journals An Intersectional Analysis of the English-Competency Experiences of International Teaching Assistants

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashish Agrawal ◽  
Lisa McNair
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
International Teaching Assistants ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
International Graduate ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
English Competence

International graduate students serving as teaching assistants constitute a major component of the teaching of undergraduate students at US universities, particularly in engineering. Prior literature on these international teaching assistants (ITAs) generally characterizes their linguistic experiences as challenges. This characterization can be attributed to an institutional environment that is reluctant to accommodate diverse ways of speaking English. This study applies an intersectionality framework to explore the variations in ITAs’ English-language experiences and the influence of the academic context on these experiences using semi-structured interviews and weekly reflections collected from seven engineering ITAs over a semester. Results of data analysis suggest that ITAs’ English proficiency varies based on their prior exposure to English in their home countries, and their English competence improves through their teaching experiences in the US. Participants’ experiences also highlight a perceived expectation to not only use English while teaching but also adapt to American English.

Intelligibility Rating of L2 Speech Pre- and Postintervention

1989 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Perlmutter
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
International Teaching Assistants ◽  
State University ◽  
Green State ◽  
Bowling Green State University ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
Intelligibility Ratings

As a result of a recent law passed in Ohio, a program was designed to improve the oral intelligibility of International Teaching Assistants at Bowling Green State University. To evaluate the efficacy of the training, naive undergraduate students were asked to evaluate the pre- and postrecorded speech samples of the international students, both in terms of intelligibility of the sample and the identification of the topic of the monologue. Analysis showed a significant improvement in the intelligibility ratings between pre- and posttraining samples. Further, the average number of correct subject matter identifications was shown to increase, while the average number of incorrect judgments decreased significantly from pre- to posttraining evaluations.

scholarly journals English Communication for International Teaching Assistants

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-201
Author(s):  
Rui Ma
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
International Teaching Assistants ◽  
Strategic Competence ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Sociolinguistic Competence ◽  
International Teaching

English Communication for International Teaching Assistants is at extbook written specifically for international teaching assistants (ITAs) working in a typical U.S. undergraduate classroom. An ITA might speak fluently in English with a clear pronunciation, yet the undergraduate students in an US classroom may still have difficulty understanding him or her. High English oral proficiency does notnecessarily lead to an ITA’s communicative competence, which, according to Canale and Swain (1980), includes grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and also strategic competence.

Remote International Student to Remote Teacher

2021 ◽  
pp. 195-212
Author(s):  
Eliana Elkhoury ◽  
Natasha May
Keyword(s):  
Student Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
International Student ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
International Teaching Assistants ◽  
Training Design ◽  
International Graduate ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
International Graduate Student

The aim of this chapter is to reflect on the experience of designing teaching and learning training for international graduate student teaching assistants (ITAs) during the pandemic, which caused a move to remote teaching. This chapter is particularly important for educational researchers who have an interest in supporting international teaching assistants as well as domestic teaching assistants. The chapter is divided into five sections. In the first section the authors describe their background and previous experience and their aim for designing the training itself. The authors will include the training design in the second section. The third section will lay out the challenges that the authors identified. The fourth section will contain the lessons learned from this experience and the resulting best practices. Finally, the fifth section will include the future directions.

scholarly journals Comparing Student Perceptions of the Classroom Climate Created by U.S. American and International Teaching Assistants

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuping Mao ◽  
Kevin R. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Classroom Climate ◽  
Teaching Assistants ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
International Teaching Assistants ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
Survey Results

<p>Previous studies have revealed that American undergraduate students complain about International Teaching Assistants’ (ITAs) lack of English proficiency and rate ITAs lower than American Teaching Assistants (ATAs) on teaching evaluations. This study investigates student perceptions of classroom climate to discover how ITAs might overcome students’ ethnocentric preconceptions. Survey results from 485 undergraduate students found that student perceptions of classroom climate differed significantly with ITAs as compared to ATAs. Student perceptions of classroom climate also differed significantly by the biological sex of the student. The biological sex of the TA did not have a significant impact on student perceptions of classroom climate.</p>

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