Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:26:55.274Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

International teaching assistants at universities: A research agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2016

Abstract

International teaching assistants (ITAs) are Indian, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, etc. international students who have been admitted to graduate study at universities in the U.S.A. and Canada, and are being supported as instructors of undergraduate-level classes and labs in biology, chemistry, physics, and math. For the past 30 years, the number of ITAs has been increasing, and many departments at universities have come to rely largely on ITAs to cover their undergraduate teaching needs. As high-intermediate and low-advanced second language learners who must use their second language for professional purposes, ITAs face linguistic, social, professional, and cultural challenges. This is a learner population that deserves more attention, as I hope to establish here with this presentation of six research tasks. I have organized proposed research projects in such a way as to increase readers’ familiarity with this little publicized field, and also to relate the projects to different contexts of inquiry. By ‘contexts’ I mean ‘who is asking what and for what reasons.’ The two contexts of inquiry are: (1) Established areas of ITA program concern, including acquisition of fluency, prosody, and vocabulary; and (2) Working with ‘outside’ theories, such as the Output Hypothesis, and deliberate practice theory.

Type
Thinking Allowed
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alsberg, J. (2002). Effecting change in pronunciation: Teaching ITAs to teach themselves. In Davis, W., Smith, J. & Smith, R. (eds.), Ready to teach: Graduate teaching assistants prepare for today and tomorrow. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, Inc., 139146.Google Scholar
Anderson-Hsieh, J. & Koehler, K. (1988). The effect of foreign accent and speaking rate on native speaker comprehension. Language learning 38.5, 561613.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Hartford, B. (1993). Learning the rules of academic talk: A longitudinal study of pragmatic change. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 15.3, 279304.Google Scholar
Bautista, M. L. S. (1995). An early attempt at writing an ESP book. In Hildago, A., Hall, D. & Jacobs, G. (eds.), Getting started: Materials writers on materials writing. Singapore: SEAMO Regional Language Centre, 157171.Google Scholar
Brazil, D. (1997). The communicative value of intonation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Byrd, P. & Constantinides, J. (1995). Textbooks for training programs for international teaching assistants at U.S. universities. In Byrd, P. (ed.), Material writer's guide. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 137146.Google Scholar
Chiang, S. (2009). Dealing with communication problems in the instructional interactions between international teaching assistants and American college students. Language and Education 23.5, 461478.Google Scholar
Civikly, J. & Muchisky, D. (1991). A collaborative approach to ITA training: The ITAs, faculty, TAs, undergraduate interns, and undergraduate students. In Nyquist, J., Abbott, R., Wulff, D. & Sprague, J. (eds.), Preparing the professoriate of tomorrow to teach. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 356360.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2012). Language teaching research and language pedagogy. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ejzenberg, R. (2000). The juggling act of oral fluency: A psycho-sociolinguistic metaphor. In Riggenbach, H. (ed.), Perspectives on fluency. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 287313.Google Scholar
Epperson, E. & Yule, G. (1991). Review of the book The international teaching assistant: An annotated bibliography. English for Specific Purposes 10.3, 253255.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. A. (2004). Deliberate practice and the acquisition and maintenance of expert performance and related domains. Academic Medicine 79 (10 Supplement), S70S81.Google Scholar
Field, J. (2005). Intelligibility and the listener: The role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly 39.3, 399423.Google Scholar
Freed, B. (1995). What makes us think that students who study abroad become fluent? In Freed, B. (ed.). Second language acquisition in a study abroad context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 123148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. (2003). Input and interaction. In Doughty, C. & Long, M. (eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 224255.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. J. (2005). Discipline-specific practica for international teaching assistants. English for Specific Purposes 25, 90108.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. (2011a). Improving speaking fluency for international teaching assistants by increasing input. TESL-EJ 14.4, 125.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. J. (2011b). Exporting English pronunciation from China: The communication needs of young Chinese scientists as teachers in higher education abroad. Forum on Public Policy 2011, 3. Available: http://forumonpublicpolicy.com/vol2011no3/archive/gorsuch.pdfGoogle Scholar
Gorsuch, G. (2012a). The roles of teacher theory and domain theory in materials and research in international teaching assistant education. In Gorsuch, G. (ed.), Working theories for teaching assistant development: Time-tested and robust theories, frameworks, and models for TA and ITA learning. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 421474.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. (2012b). International teaching assistants’ experiences in educational cultures and their teaching beliefs. TESL-EJ, 16.1. Available: www.tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume16/ej61/ej61a1/.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G. (2013). Helping international teaching assistants acquire discourse intonation: Explicit and implicit L2 knowledge. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes 1.2, 126.Google Scholar
Gorsuch, G., Meyers, C., Pickering, L. & Griffee, D. T. (2013). English communication for international teaching assistants (2nd edn.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Griffee, D. T., Gorsuch, G., Britton, D. & Clardy, C. (2008). Intensive second language instruction for international teaching assistants: How much and what kind is effective? In. Ollington, G. (ed.), Teachers and teaching strategies. NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 187205.Google Scholar
Gumperz, J. & Cook-Gumperz, J. (2007). Discourse, cultural diversity and communication: A linguistic anthropological perspective. In Kotthoff, H. & Spencer-Oatey, H. (eds.), Handbook of intercultural communication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 127151.Google Scholar
Hahn, L. (2004). Primary stress and intelligibility: Research to motivate the teaching of suprasegmentals. TESOL Quarterly 38.2, 201223.Google Scholar
Hahn, L. & Dickerson, W. (1999). Speechcraft: A workbook for academic discourse. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Hoekje, B. & Linnell, K. (1994). ‘Authenticity’ in language testing: Evaluating spoken language tests for international teaching assistants. TESOL Quarterly 28.1, 103126.Google Scholar
Hoekje, B. & Williams, J. (1994). Communicative competence as a theoretical framework for ITA education. In Madden, C. & Myers, C. (eds.), Discourse and performance of international teaching assistants. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Others Languages, 1126.Google Scholar
The Institute of International Education (2013). Open doors 2011/2012 fast facts. Available: www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors.Google Scholar
Isaacs, T. (2008). Towards defining a valid assessment criterion of pronunciation proficiency in non-native English-speaking graduate students. The Canadian Modern Language Review 64.4, 555580.Google Scholar
Kang, O. (2010). Relative salience of suprasegmental features on judgments of L2 comprehensibility and accentedness. System 38, 301315.Google Scholar
Kang, O. & Rubin, D. (2012). Intergroup contact exercises as a tool for mitigating undergraduates’ attitudes toward nonnative English-speaking teaching assistants. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching 23.3, 159166.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D. & Brownworth, B. (eds.) (2006). Professional development of international teaching assistants. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.Google Scholar
Kim, S. & Kubota, R. (2012). Supporting nonnative English-speaking instructors to maximize student learning in their courses: A message from the guest editors. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching 23.3, 16.Google Scholar
Kim, Y. Y. (2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adapation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
LaRocco, M. J. (2012). Chinese international teaching assistants and the essence of intercultural competence in university contexts. In Gorsuch, G. (ed.), Working theories for teaching assistant development. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 609653.Google Scholar
Levis, J., Muller Levis, G. & Slater, T. (2012). Written English into spoken: A functional discourse analysis of American, Indian, and Chinese TA presentations. In Gorsuch, G. (ed.), Working theories for teaching assistant development. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 529573.Google Scholar
Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education (2013). Effective presentations in engineering and science. Pennsylvania State University. Available: www.engr.psu.edu/speaking/STRUCTURE.html.Google Scholar
Liu, B. & Wang, D. (2012). Learning to make suggestions in a chemistry lab. In Gorsuch, G. (ed.), Working theories for teaching assistant development. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 655672.Google Scholar
LoCastro, V. & Tapper, G. (2006). International teaching assistants and teacher identity. Journal of Applied Linguistics 3.2, 185218.Google Scholar
Meyers, C. & Holt, S. (2001). Pronunciation for success. Burnsville, MN: Aspen Publications.Google Scholar
Olynak, M., Anglejan, A. & Sankoff, D. (1990). A quantitative and qualitative analysis of speech markers in the native and second language speech of bilinguals. In Scarcella, R., Andersen, E. & Krashen, S. (eds.), Developing communicative competence in a second language. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 139155.Google Scholar
Ortega, L. (2005). What do learners plan? In Ellis, R. (ed.), Planning and task performance in a second language. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 77109.Google Scholar
Papajohn, D., Alsberg, J., Bair, B. & Willenbrough, B. (2002). An ESP program for international teaching assistants. In Orr, T. (ed.), English for specific purposes. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 89101.Google Scholar
Pawley, A. & Syder, F. (2000). The one-clause-at-a-time hypothesis. In Riggenbach, H. (ed.), Perspectives on fluency. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 163199.Google Scholar
Pickering, L. (1999). An analysis of prosodic systems in the classroom discourse of native speaker and nonnative speaker teaching assistants. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.Google Scholar
Pickering, L. (2001). The role of tone choice in improving ITA communication in the classroom. TESOL Quarterly 35.2, 233255.Google Scholar
Pickering, L. (2010). Intonation. In Malmkær, K. (ed.), The Routledge linguistics encyclopedia (3rd edn.). London: Routledge, 280286.Google Scholar
Rogers, P. (2000). Program theory: Not whether programs work but how they work. In Stufflebeam, D., Madaus, G. & Kellaghan, T. (eds.), Evaluation models: Viewpoints on educational and human services evaluation (2nd edn.). Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 209232.Google Scholar
Shehadeh, A. (2002). Comprehensible output, from occurrence to acquisition: An agenda for acquisitional research. Language Learning 52.3, 597647.Google Scholar
Swain, M. (2005). The Output Hypothesis: Theory and research. In Hinkel, E. (ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. New York: Routledge, 471483.Google Scholar
Tapper, G. & Kidder, K. (2006). A research-informed approach to international teaching assistant preparation. In Kaufman, D. & Brownworth, B. (eds.), Professional development of international teaching assistants. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc., 1733.Google Scholar
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) (2010). Position statement on the acquisition of academic proficiency in English at the postsecondary level. Alexandria, VA: Available www.tesol.org/docs/pdf/13489.pdf?sfvrsn.Google Scholar
Texas Tech University (2013). History and mandated purpose of ITA program. Available: www.depts.ttu.edu/classic%5Fmodern/ita/itabackground.php.Google Scholar
Thomas, C. & Monoson, P. (1991). Issues related to state-mandated English language proficiency requirements. In Nyquist, J., Abbott, R. D., Wulff, D. H. & Sprague, J. (eds.), Preparing the professoriate of tomorrow to teach. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 382392.Google Scholar
Tyler, A. (1995). The co-construction of cross cultural miscommunication: Conflicts in perception, negotiation, and enactment of participant role and status. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 17, 129152.Google Scholar
van de Wiel, M., Van den Bossche, P., Jannsen, S. & Jossberger, H. (2011). Exploring deliberate practice in medicine: How do physicians learn in the workplace? Advances in Health Science Education 16, 8195.Google Scholar
van de Wiel, M., Van den Bossche, P. & Koopmans, R. (2012). Deliberate practice, the high road to expertise: K. A. Ericsson. In Dochy, F., Gijbels, D., Segers, M. & den Bossche, P. Van (eds.), Theories of learning for the workplace. London: Routledge, 116.Google Scholar
Vasiljevic, S. (2010). Dictogloss as an interactive method of teaching listening comprehension. English Language Teaching 3.1, 4152. Available: ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/elt/article/download/5212/4329.Google Scholar
Wajnryb, R. (1990). Grammar dictation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wennerstrom, A. (1998). Intonation and second language acquisition: A study of Chinese speakers of English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 20.1, 125.Google Scholar
Wennerstrom, A. (2001). The music of everyday speech. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, B. (2006). Development and adaptation of expertise: The role of self-regulatory processes and beliefs. In Ericsson, K., Charness, N., Feltovich, P. & Hoffman, R. (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance. New York: Cambridge University Press, 705722.Google Scholar