Communicative Competence and the Dilemma of International Teaching Assistant Education

Abstract

This paper examines the curriculum of international teaching assistant (ITA) programs within a sociolinguistic model of language use, the “communicative competence” model proposed by Hymes (1972) and, in its pedagogical applications, by Canale (1983), Canale and Swain (1980), and Savignon (1983). In the face of a growing number of ITA programs, at times with ad hoc curricular goals, the communicative competence framework provides an integrated, theoretically sound principle for ITA program development and assessment, and an appropriate basis for understanding the emerging models of ITA competence. In order to take advantage of such a framework, however, it is crucial that ITA program developers and instructors come to terms with the task of preparing their students for their new role in the classroom. This will necessarily entail training beyond traditional ESL concerns, although ESL professionals may have neither the mandate from their institutions nor the background to accomplish this.