Dropping Language Training: An Effective Way to Train International Teaching Assistants?

Author(s):

Lijuan Shi(presenting / submitting)LIsa Swan

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 09 B, University Teaching & Supervision

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

13:30-15:00

Room:

NM-Theatre O

Chair:

Contribution

The increasing number of international teaching assistants (ITAs) brings cultural and linguistic diversity to American undergraduate courses. Yet this trend also comes at a cost as ITAs encounter continued linguistic, sociocultural, and pedagogical challenges. These challenges have resulted in an unprecedented demand for ITA training/preparation programs. Many ITA training programs are language-training orientated because among all the challenges, ITAs’ language proficiency is regarded as the most common and critical problem in existing studies (e.g. Hinofotis & Bailey, 1980; Hoekje & Williams, 1992). Halleck and Moder (1995) suggest that a threshold level of English proficiency might be necessary for ITAs to benefit from ITA training focusing on compensatory teaching strategies. Other researchers, however, place doubt on language-training orientated ITA programs by noting that the cultural, institutional, and pedagogical differences between the US higher education and ITAs’ educational backgrounds are also critical, if not more important than ITAs’ language barriers. Kim (2009), for example, notes that when ‘sociocultural adaption difficulty’ that ITAs encounter decreases, the effect of their perceived English fluency on their teaching performance decreases. Hoekje and Williams (1992) suggest that grammatical language training fails to enable ITAs to transform linguistic knowledge into a ‘teaching language.’ Thus, what ITAs need are actual communicative skills rather than linguistic competency. Therefore, despite the traditional focus on developing competence in English, more and more ITA programs have attempted to offer not only linguistic training but also an orientation to American classroom culture and communication styles (Kim, 2009).

However, little research has directly examined whether we can provide ITAs a training program that can increase ITAs self-efficacy, develop their teaching skills and increase student satisfaction without specific language training. In order to fill this gap, this study investigates an unconventional model for ITA training provided by the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) of a north-east Atlantic university. This one-year long program (International Teaching Fellows - ITF) differs from other conventional ITA programs in three respects: 1) ITF does not provide particular language training for ITAs. 2) ITF does not separate sociocultural, communicative, and pedagogical training into three individual sections. Instead, it provides holistic teaching training that actually integrates sociocultural, communicative, and pedagogical learning and practicing. And 3) ITF does not emphasize what ITAs cannot do, instead it is an asset-based approach that inducts ITAs to make advantage of what they have.

Two frameworks guide this study: Communicative competence (Hymes, 1974) and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987). Communicative competence highlights the important distinction between linguistic skills and communicative abilities. Pedagogical content knowledge is based on the manner in which teachers relate their pedagogical knowledge (what they know about teaching) to their subject matter knowledge (what they know about what they teach). Guided by these two frameworks, this study examines the effectiveness of the ITF program by specifically answering two questions

1. Can ITF increase ITAs’ self-efficacy and develop their teaching performance without particular language training?

2. How does ITF develop ITAs communicative skills without language training?

Method

This case study uses interpretive qualitative analysis (Creswell, 2007) to analyze the data. Data are drawn from three sources: 1) ITF documents (including nomination letters, syllabi, and meeting notes, micro-teaching videos). 2) Pre and post interviews and pre and post surveys of ITAs, mentors, and TLC faculty. 2) Two student evaluations from classes ITAs taught over the course of one academic year (one for each semester) and evaluation reflections from ITAs. Guided by the two frameworks, this study first analysis interviews with TLC faculty to understand the basic premise of designing an ITA program without language training. Then this research explores ITAs self-perception of their language level and their expectations towards the ITF program through pre and post interviews and surveys of the ITAs. Program syllabi, meeting notes, micro-teaching videos, student evaluation results, and interviews and surveys of mentors are analyzed to investigate if there is evidence and possibly to what degree that ITAs have improved their sociocultural, communicative, and pedagogical competency. Post-interviews of ITAs are used to evaluate participants’ self-efficacy.

Expected Outcomes

Although the ITF program does not provide sociocultural, communicative, and pedagogical training separately, the findings indicate that these three parts work reciprocally in the integration of ITF. The findings show that at the end of the ITF program ITAs have improved in all these three respects: 1) From the perspective of sociocultural competency, ITAs report that through ITF training, they are more familiar with the American higher education system and American undergraduate student behavior. This familiarity enables them to interpret student complaints and unexpected behaviors in a more rational and less stressful way. 2) From the perspective of communicative competency, although ITF provides nonlinguistic training, the findings suggest that ITAs successfully improved their communicative skills. Benefiting from their improved sociocultural competency and strategic competency, they are more capable of overcoming language problems. 3) From the perspective of pedagogical competency, both ITF mentors and student evaluation reveal ITAs’ noteworthy improvement in classroom performance. ITAs are not only more skilled in basic teaching tasks, such as preparing syllabi and developing rubrics, they are also more able to use engaging approaches in class. In addition, the findings also indicate that ITAs’ self-efficacy increases significantly through the asset-based ITF program. ITAs are more confident and efficacious in managing student behaviors and applying instructional strategies. Overall, different from conventional ITA training programs, which show that fluency in English was the central predictor of ITAs’ teaching performance, this case studied reveals that it is possible to provide ITAs an effective training program that can improve their sociocultural, communicative, and pedagogical competency without specific language training. As such this study hopes to initiate a research agenda that generates a critical discussion of the innovation of ITA programs.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative enquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Halleck, G. B., & Moder, C. L. (1995). Testing Language and Teaching Skills of International Teaching Assistants: The Limits of Compensator Strategies.TESOL Quarterly, 29(4), 733-758. Hinofotis, F., & Bailey, K. (1980). American undergraduates’ reactions to the communication skills of foreign teaching assistants. On TESOL, 80, 120-133. Hoekje, B., & Williams, J. (1992). Communicative Competence and the Dilemma of International Teaching Assistant Education. TESOL Quarterly, 26(2), 243-69. Himes, D. (1974). Foundation in sociolinguistics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Jia, C., & Bergerson, A. A. (2008). Understanding the international teaching assistant training program: A case study at a northwestern research university. International Education, 37(2), 8. Kim, E. (2009). Beyond Language Barriers: Teaching Self-Efficacy among East Asian International Teaching Assistants. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(2), 171-180. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4- 31.

Author Information

Lijuan Shi (presenting / submitting)

university of maryland, United States of America

LIsa Swan