Internationalization has been a prominent force in higher education worldwide for past three decades (Rumbley et al., 2012). Internationalization practices can be spotted in almost any type of institution. The term internationalizationmay encompass divergent conceptualizations across distinct stakeholders, including governmental bodies, educational establishments, and faculty cohorts. Ellingboe (1998) conceptualizes internationalization as a complex process combining an international perspective into a higher education institution. Regarding the internationalization of higher education (IHE), a multitude of intercultural initiatives instituted by diverse organizations or institutions merit consideration. For instance, programs such as the Fulbright Scholar Program and Erasmus+ exchanges exemplify concerted efforts toward fostering global academic engagement and cross-cultural collaboration. Scholarly inquiry within the expansive domain of interculturality and intercultural education has extensively examined a spectrum of intercultural programs, elucidating their multifaceted objectives and stakeholders (e.g. Isabelli-Garcia et al., 2018, Smolcic & Katunich, 2017, Jackson, 2018). During the execution of internationalization endeavors within higher education, international teaching assistants (ITAs) represent significant stakeholders whose role remains pivotal irrespective of adjustments in internationalization policies. The term ITA typically refers to international graduate students enrolled in North American universities, often assigned with instructional roles in undergraduate courses, as well as assisting at laboratory sessions across disciplines encompassing science, technology, engineering, and math. However, this term’s typical reference in the North American context does not constrain the scope of this study in the selection of articles for synthesis. Henceforth, within the purview of this study, the term “ITA” denotes any teaching assistant possessing an international background, irrespective of geographic locale since one of our aims is to integrate more comprehensive approaches to contribute quality education and society (de Wit et al., 2015). While participating in academic spaces, it is known that faculties may have to deal with mental and linguistic restrictions, uneven financial funds, unequal knowledge economy, and organizational setbacks (Oleksiyenko et al., 2018). As having direct and prominent role in IHE endeavors, it is important to take a closer look on research on ITAs since they tend to suffer from the aforementioned factors negatively. To our knowledge, there is a scarcity of existing multidimensional metasynthesis studies dedicated to elucidating the research on ITAs. A metasynthesis has the potential to signify a comprehensive overview of common challenges and efficient strategies used across various studies via integrating separate findings into a broader frame. Metasynthesis may uncover overarching patterns that are often lost in individual research by synthesizing these aspects. Hence, this qualitative metasynthesis explores the research foci, methods, and main findings from twenty-nine studies focusing on ITAs in higher education contexts. Based on template analysis (King, 2004), four main categories emerged. These were: ITA perspectives, student perspectives, TA perspectives, and instructional interactions. Since the reviewed studies were conducted within different research fields such as cultural studies and applied linguistics, as well as teaching different disciplines in higher education contexts, the current metasynthesis allows us to present multidisciplinary results. Key challenges ITAs faced were mostly due to their linguistic differences, foreignness, educational background, and prior experiences. ITAs also bring their home cultural elements and learning experiences leading them to promote hybridity and third space (Kramsch & Uryu, 2012); thus, enhancing opportunities for education. Yet, to reach their potential in higher education, the ITA discourse with negative attitudes toward foreign identity, language, and culture should be reconstructed. Therefore, the institutions having an active role in the internationalization of higher education need to revise their current practices of recruiting and testing ITAs as well as integrate reflexivity (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014) into programs to develop awareness among diverse parties in HE, thereby reducing superficial biases.

This metasynthesis reviews qualitative findings from systematically selected research articles. To detect and select the relevant studies for this metasynthesis, a systematic set of steps were pursued (Lachal et al., 2017). The initial step was to generate a list of possible keywords. The possible keywords were selected as “international teaching assistant(s)”, “international graduate teaching assistants”, “international instructors”, “foreign-born instructors”. They were typed in WOS database by choosing “search in topic” option in April 2020. The study only focuses on peer-viewed, empirical studies published in journals indexed in SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, AHCI, and ESCI databases. Thus, review studies, conference proceedings, brief reports, book reviews, and book chapters were excluded while searching. The initial search resulted in 83 articles. All the studies were screened, and their abstracts were read. Then, the quantitative studies were eliminated, and the final number of pure qualitative studies was 22. However, the studies adopting a mixed-method research design were not eliminated if they showed distinguished qualitative perspectives (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Accordingly, 7 studies adopting mixed-methods research design were added to the data set, and the final number of the studies was determined as 29. Thus, the present study excluded the mixed-method studies reporting insufficient results, and the studies not having rigorous and transparent data collection and analysis procedures (Walsh & Downe, 2006). Therefore, a quality check was accomplished. For data analysis, template analysis, a specialized approach within qualitative metasynthesis, as presented by King (2004), was employed. In this analytical approach, the researcher develops a template comprising codes utilized for coding the data. Initially, the researchers devised the preliminary template during the initial stages of reading and coding a portion of the gathered data. Subsequently, this initial template was employed to code the entire dataset, with the incorporation of new codes continuing until the point of data saturation was attained. Thus, the final template facilitating the interpretation of the data, was generated (King, 2004). In the final template, there were four main codes: (1) ITA perspectives, (2) student perspectives on ITAs, (3) TA perspectives on ITAs, (4) instructional interaction. Even though the focus is on ITAs, the findings stemming from students and TAs also included as while explicating ITAs experiences, including their perspectives also strengthen the metasynthesis procedure by supporting the chance of triangulation. Ultimately, the main findings of the selected articles are synthesized and presented under these four main categories.

Overall, this qualitative metasynthesis synthesizes ITA research in higher education, offering a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics among ITAs, students, TAs, and instructional interactions. These findings, derived from multidisciplinary research fields, reveal both challenges and opportunities inherent in ITA experiences. ITAs are facing with several challenges mostly due to their linguistic differences, foreignness, educational background, prior experiences. At the same time, they bring different cultural positions to the classrooms and construct transcultural classrooms, which aligns with the notion of hybridity and “third space” (Kramsch & Uryu, 2012). However, this potential is often constrained by factors such as power asymmetry, bias, and insufficient institutional support, as well as the dominance of Northern epistemologies (Collins, 2019). The reviewed studies emphasize the importance of sociolinguistic considerations and real-life interactions in ITA training. For instance, collaborative groups and mentorship programs have proven effective in equipping ITAs with the skills needed to regulate their dual roles as language learners and content experts (Christiansen et al., 2018). Moreover, utilizing interactional resources such as gestures and illustrations, as well as employing face-saving strategies, has been highlighted as beneficial for fostering successful communication (Rincon-Mendoza & Canagarajah, 2020). To be able to reach their potentials in higher education, the ITAs discourse structured with negatives attitudes on foreign identity, language, and culture should be reconstructed. Therefore, the institutions having an active role in internationalization of higher education need to revise their current practices of recruiting and testing ITAs considering social equity as it is visible that increased mobility does not always guarantee critical interculturality (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014). The institutions also have the responsibility to support sufficient training programs for ITAs considering the host university culture (Adebayo & Allen, 2020). Thus, IHE and interculturality in higher education can be promoted.

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