International Teaching Assistants Research Articles

Exploring teacher identity development: Asian teaching assistants' experience at a U.S. university

AbstractThis study explored the teacher identity development of Asian teaching assistants (ATA) at a U.S. university. The researchers used a qualitative design with two semi‐structured interviews with each of the three participants. Findings suggest that ATAs were unprepared for racial diversity and experienced anti‐Asian sentiment in the classroom during the COVID‐19 pandemic. They struggled to make sense of the content of the courses they were teaching due to a lack of systematic training. Some constructed teacher identity through a challenging process: moving from being self‐doubting, nervous, and frustrated to being comfortable, confident, and even creative. The findings suggest that universities should pay attention to the preparation of international teaching assistants (ITA) for teaching in a multicultural U.S. context with unfamiliar student expectations for teaching and learning.

One Course, Two Approaches:

International Teaching Assistants (ITA’s) are critical to North American campuses. While studies have explored their experiences in through ITA training courses, research has overlooked the experiences of ITA educators. A multiple case study examined three ITA educators’ ideologies, gathering data from two interviews -one stimulated recall using classroom observations fieldnotes, syllabi, assignments, and feedback. Two incompatible sets of ideologies were found being implemented: one oriented learners to undergraduate classrooms, and one towards required language testing. Employment frustrations and cynicism impacted each instructor. Findings highlight the ethical complexities of language teaching. Programs must scrutinize the role of language testing within ITA training and examination support available to ITA educators. This novel study, focusing on the often-overlooked ITA educator, situated their ideologies adjacent to their identities, and using methodological innovations. Future work is needed to elucidate how ITA educators’ identities and ideologies impact ITA’s learning experience and academic or professional trajectories.

Investigating the effects of discipline and first-language backgrounds on ITAs’ instructional discourse patterns

Using a multidimensional analysis (MDA), this study aimed to increase the understanding of international teaching assistants’ (ITAs’) instructional language use by analyzing co-occurring linguistic features during their mock-teaching presentations in ITA assessment. With this purpose, the study examined the effects of ITAs’ proficiency levels, disciplines, and first-language backgrounds on their discourse patterns. The data comprised a corpus of 165 prospective ITAs’ mock-teaching presentations in ITA assessment. Based on the two dimensions of the twenty-six linguistic features found prevalent in university classroom talk (Csomay, 2005), an additive MDA was performed. Overall, the mock-teaching presentations of more proficient ITAs involved more contextual, directive, and personalized framing discourse features, with interaction effects for the ITAs’ disciplines and first-language backgrounds. The study discusses the implications for ITA training and assessment and directions for future studies. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .

Challenges and Needs of International Graduate Teaching Assistants

In this mixed-methods study, we surveyed 23 international teaching assistants (ITAs) and interviewed eight at a public university. Preliminary findings suggest that ITAs find developing course materials, grading, and providing feedback most challenging. The language barriers, imbalance in work and study, uncertainty in professional identity, and feeling unacknowledged exacerbate the difficulty of performing their roles. Beyond mandatory institution-wide training, they voiced a need for more training to improve students’ motivation, engagement, and time management.

Creation of A Mixed-Reality Simulator Professional Development Module to Attend to the Unique Needs of International Teaching Assistants in Active Learning Classrooms

International teaching assistants (ITAs) bring cultural perspectives and language diversity to university programs. However, ITAs can be underserved through traditional professional development initiatives. A mixed-reality teaching simulator module was created to attend to the unique needs of chemistry ITAs and prepare them for active learning instruction. To create the module, seven ITAs were interviewed about their professional development needs. ITAs most commonly wanted to practice asking and answering student questions, engaging disengaged or disrespectful students, and navigating language difficulties with students. The mixed-reality simulated teaching module provided opportunities for ITAs to rehearse one or more of the three focus areas. Three ITAs tested the simulator and reported that using the simulator for professional development with cultural and linguistic layers would be beneficial both to existing and new ITAs. These research findings set the foundation for generating a transformative set of training materials that institutions can use to reduce teaching anxiety and increase the effectiveness of ITAs in the classroom, thus enhancing student learning through more effective active learning instruction.

A cognitive dissonance approach to moderating listener perception of L2 English speakers

ABSTRACT Research has shown that listener bias and stereotyping affect listeners’ attitudes towards L2 English speakers [Lindemann, S., Litzenberg, J., & Subtirelu, N. (2014). Problematizing the Dependence on L1 Norms in Pronunciation Teaching: Attitudes Toward Second-Language Accents. In J. Levis & A. Moyer (Eds.). Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent (171–194)]. However, little research has explored ways to mitigate such prejudice to combat the linguistic discrimination prevalent in our society [Kang, O., D. Rubin, and S. Lindemann. 2015. “Mitigating U.S. Undergraduates’ Attitudes Toward International Teaching Assistants.” TESOL Quarterly 49 (4): 681–706; Subtirelu, N. C., and S. Lindemann. 2016. “Teaching First Language Speakers to Communicate Across Linguistic Difference: Addressing Attitudes, Comprehension, and Strategies.” Applied Linguistics 37 (6): 765–783]. The present study explored the effect of a one-week intervention on U.S. undergraduate students’ perception of L2 speakers. This study included three intact undergraduate-level writing classes (n = 25 each), two intervention groups and one control. Before the intervention, all students completed a perception questionnaire to measure listener perceptual judgement of language attitude, comprehensibility, and accentedness of L2 English speakers. The intervention included (a) one 50-minute discussion which explicitly addressed social justice issues related to multilingual speakers, designed according to the cognitive dissonance theory [Festinger, L. 1957. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson] and (b) three 50-minute laboratory sessions for reflection papers. An immediate post-test and a delayed post-test (11 weeks after) were administered. Linear mixed-effects models showed significant and sustained improvement of language attitude and comprehensibility ratings for the intervention groups across time, but not for the control group. The findings provide a relatively short, easily replicable, and sustainably effective intervention program to mitigate listener bias against L2 English speakers.

Fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness in L2 speech: Examining the role of visual and acoustic information in listener judgments

The purpose of the present study was to examine (a) the effects of audio-visual information and (b) the role of temporal measurements associated with the perceptual ratings of fluency, accentedness, comprehensibility, pronunciation, and oral proficiency in second language (L2) speech samples of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs). American undergraduate students randomly assigned to audiovisual and audio-only (without seeing the speaker) conditions rated the two-minute speech samples of five ITAs on a seven-point scale. For acoustic analysis, several temporal measurements were used that were hypothesized to have an association with the ratings. Findings revealed that listeners without visual information judged L2 speech as less fluent and more accented although no significant difference in comprehensibility was found. L2 speakers were also judged to have better pronunciation and higher oral proficiency when the recordings were presented in video mode. The findings further indicated that among the acoustic measures examined, articulation rate was found to be associated with perceptual ratings. Implications for ITA training and language testing and assessment are discussed.

Interventions to improve undergraduate communication with international instructors

U.S. undergraduates (USUGs) have negative biases toward non-native speaking (NNS) instructors like international teaching assistants (ITAs), which can lower student comprehension and ITAs’ course evaluations (Rubin & Kang 2009). Our long-term collaboration seeks to improve attitudes and intelligibility so USUGs may assume more of the communicative burden with NNSs. We are piloting multiple activities (“interventions”) in various university courses, including accent familiarization, non-English transcription, oral English proficiency scoring, and live or simulated USUG-NNS contact. Outcomes are measured qualitatively (e.g., written reflections) and quantitatively through USUG pre- and post-test intelligibility tasks and “first impression” teaching and personality ratings after listening to audio clips of unfamiliar ITAs. We compare the most and least promising interventions for improving intelligibility and attitudes as measured by these auditory tasks (three semesters, N > 750 students, 6 intervention types + controls). Analysis is ongoing, but in the pilot cohort (N = 117), longer, more involved interventions trended toward higher intelligibility scores and improved overt attitudes, although covert attitudes remained stable. Time permitting, we can also discuss practicalities of implementing such anti-racism interventions into existing courses (instructor buy-in, ITA cooperation, student compliance, etc.).

Interactional sociolinguistics as a multi-pronged approach to office hour rapport management

This study proposes a multi-pronged approach for examining office hour (OH) rapport management. Using an interactional sociolinguistic lens, I investigate how an international teaching assistant (ITA) managed rapport in the face of misunderstanding and schema mismatch during an OH consultation. Data were collected through classroom observations, OH video-recording, an exit survey, and follow-up interviews with participants to facilitate triangulation. Utilizing frame analysis and contextualization cues, I analyzed the strategies the ITA used to maintain and strengthen rapport with his international student. I show that a multi-method approach illuminates how participants’ mismatch in schemas was displayed to one another at the interactional level, which led to rapport challenge and misunderstanding. I argue that using multiple methods is beneficial in revealing the intercultural nature of OH meetings where small “c” culture (i.e., institutional culture) was negotiated. While previous research predominantly focused on face management, this study complexifies our understanding of rapport by highlighting the importance of managing (a) interactional goals and (b) rights and obligations, two under-researched bases of rapport.

The Accent Work of International Teaching Assistants

Abstract“Accent work” is a term used to describe the preparatory work that professional actors undergo to attain a speech accent for a role. However, this article presents international teaching assistants (ITAs) as another set of workers who engage in their own type of accent work. Since the accents of ITAs are constructed as “liabilities” for communication‐based tasks in English‐medium universities in the Global North, their accent work entails ensuring that their speech is not a professional interference. Drawing on a narrative study done with 14 ITAs working in Ontario, Canada, the article details how the accent work of these ITAs consisted of working on or around their accents, which meant modifying accents to various degrees or engaging in tasks that did not require accent modification, respectively. These two practices of accent work were influenced by factors such as academic discipline, social locations, and audience. To conclude, the article offers preliminary recommendations on how accent work can particularly inform ITA training.

African International Teaching Assistants’ Experience of Racial Microaggressions in a Canadian Higher Education Institution

Pervasive racial microaggressions (subtle and everyday racist acts) continue to challenge African international teaching assistants (AITAs) who strive to create conducive learning environments for students in a Canadian university. This qualitative study drew from racial microaggression theory and gathered data through semi-structured individual interviews to examine seven former AITAs’ experiences of racism in their teaching assistant (TA) duties. Findings indicated that non-Black students doubted AITAs’ subject-matter expertise, undermined their English communication skills, and often exhibited aggressive behaviours. Suggestions were made for current and future AITAs, course instructors, and universities that hire them to help improve the quality of AITAs’ duties and their students’ learning experiences. As previous studies largely overlook AITAs’ experiences with racial microaggressions, this study makes significant contributions to the literature that, in turn, can inform policy.

International Teaching Assistants Offer More Than Their English Accents: A Response to “The ‘Foreign TA Problem’ Forty Years On”

International Teaching Assistants Offer More Than Their English Accents: A Response to “The ‘Foreign TA Problem’ Forty Years On”

Fairness, Justice, and the Certification of Teaching Competence for International Teaching Assistants

Fairness, Justice, and the Certification of Teaching Competence for International Teaching Assistants

An autoethnography of an international English language teaching assistant’s identity paradoxes in an EFL context

International teaching assistants (ITAs) often encounter challenges, and with the popularization of English medium instruction (EMI) in international higher education contexts, these problems are no longer restricted to English-speaking countries. Against this backdrop and drawing on the concept of identity paradox, the author presents an autoethnography of the identity construction of an ITA in Macau. Influenced by factors at four levels (individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal), this autoethnographic narrative suggests that ITA identity construction can be a journey of continual reconciliation of various paradoxical identity categories as captured by three pairs of identity paradoxes: “mute English user” vs. “advanced English learner,” “mechanical teacher” vs. “divergent thinker,” and “struggling fighter” vs. “ambitious planner.” Based on the findings, a theory-informed discussion and implications for ITA training are included.

Evaluation of Language and Teaching Skill Domains for International Teaching Assistants: An Approach based on Invariant Measurement

ABSTRACT Drawing on the framework of invariant measurement from Rasch measurement theory, the purpose of this study is to psychometrically evaluate the 20 language and teaching skill domains of the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) Test using the many-facet Rasch model and to empirically explore performance differences between females and males in these domains through bias analysis. The data came from the test scores of 110 prospective ITAs on the ITA Test at a large university. Three facets (examinee, rater, and domain) were Rasch-calibrated in FACETS. Despite some misfits, overall, the data fit the model reasonably well, confirming invariant measurement and the feasibility of assessing the language and teaching skill domains concurrently to produce a single score in ITA assessment. The results also indicated that overall language skills were more difficult than teaching skills. Grammar and pronunciation skills were found to be the most difficult domains, whereas the aural comprehension skill was found to be the easiest domain. A bias analysis revealed significant differences in the four domains between the two gender groups, calling for further research for examining potential gender biases in ITA assessment.

Sharing communicative responsibility: training US students in cooperative strategies for communicating across linguistic difference

Abstract The internationalization of Anglophone universities could allow English-dominant students to benefit from experience with English speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds, but US students have often complained of difficulty communicating with such instructors, especially International Teaching Assistants (ITAs). Research has largely focused on helping ITAs assimilate linguistically and culturally, although many applied linguists suggest that ITAs’ students would also benefit from training in skills for communication across linguistic difference, through attention to their language attitudes, familiarity with diverse Englishes, and communication strategies. We report on an intervention designed to address all three, here focusing on students’ willingness to engage in collaborative communication strategies. The intervention, conducted in a computer science department and reaching over 300 first-year students from varied linguistic backgrounds, included an online and an in-class component, each lasting about an hour. This brief intervention resulted in small but significant gains in domestic undergraduates’ (n = 174) stated intention to engage in collaborative behavior with their ITAs, although our detailed examination of qualitative responses suggests important areas for continued improvement of the intervention. We discuss the potential for such interventions to facilitate institutional and cultural change, encouraging the recognition of the shared responsibility for successful communication.

Reimagining ITA training: promoting student-scholars’ agency

Abstract The practice of international teaching assistant (ITA) training across US institutions has been centred around a traditional model of native speakerism that expects ITAs to acquire the American communication paradigm through pre-made pronunciation and comprehension drills and exercises. Such practice tends to isolate the teaching of listening, speaking, and pronunciation from ITAs’ profound academic background, linguistic competence, and agency. This paper reports on an empowering ITA training curriculum that personalizes and professionalizes learning for international young scholars by promoting their accountability, responsibility, decision-making, and agency. Rather than approaching ITA training from traditional repeat-after-me pronunciation exercises and instructor-centred lectures, our approach leads to vital strides in ITAs becoming confident users of English with tools they need in their future academic endeavours. The curriculum also prepares them for academic success by creating a community of ITAs who learn through using compelling and professionally meaningful topics and materials.

Intercultural Competence for International Teaching Assistants: Embracing Cultural Differences for an Improved Inclusive Undergraduate Student Learning Experience in Chemistry

Intercultural competence (IC) training in the professional development of international graduate Teaching Assistants (ITAs) can pave the way for more inclusive chemistry classroom environments that...

Investigating and optimizing score dependability of a local ITA speaking test across language groups: A generalizability theory approach

With the present study I investigated the sources of score variance and dependability in a local oral English proficiency test for potential international teaching assistants (ITAs) across four first language (L1) groups, and suggested alternative test designs. Using generalizability theory, I examined the relative importance of L1s (i.e., Indian, Korean, Mandarin, and Spanish), examinees, tasks, and ratings to score variability, and estimated dependability across the L1s. The analyses identified examinees as the largest contributor, which is important for high dependability and validity arguments for test scores. Effects of ratings and tasks were small, but L1 effects on score variance were considerable, with the Indian group’s dependability lowest. Unlike previous generalizability theory studies on L1 effects, however, further analyses revealed that the L1 effects highly likely reflect proficiency differences rather than strong bias when comparing the percent agreement of the ratings, external criteria of examinee English proficiency, and underlying score distributions. I discuss the proficiency differences related to varied socio-linguistic contexts of using and learning English. Lastly, I suggest an alternative design with fewer items and one additional rating for improved dependability. Considering multiple test purposes specific to ITA testing (i.e., efficiency, construct representation, formative advantages), I propose a flexible approach.

Investigating teaching assistants’ participation in a simulated meeting in a United States University English course

Abstract In countries such as the United States and Canada, an increasing number of non-native English speaking graduate students work in the capacity of university teaching assistants. Over the past several decades, a number of communication challenges between non-native English speaking International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) and native English-speaking undergraduate students have emerged. Universities have responded by developing ITA education programs that aim to teach English for the specific purpose of university teaching. This paper examines how ITA education can provide ITAs opportunities for authentic practice and reflection of communicating in an instructional capacity. ITAs enrolled in an English course participated in a video-recorded clinical simulation – a form of situated practice in which individuals engage with an actor who is trained to interact with all participants in a consistent manner. ITAs met with an actor-portrayed undergraduate student who is visiting their teaching assistant to express concern about a group project. ITAs met in small groups following the simulated meeting to reflect on the shared experience. Qualitative analysis demonstrates that the simulated context elicited both challenges to comprehensibility and the use of strategies by students and ITAs to manage miscommunication, while working towards mutual understanding of the students’ concerns. Reflective discussions reveal how the ITAs evaluated approaches to communicating with a concerned student in an instructional context. Embedding clinical simulations in ITA education can provide opportunities for the situated practice of using language to communicate instructional decisions, and as a structured opportunity for supporting mutual understanding between ITAs and native English-speaking students.