“Not a Lick of English”: Constructing the ITA Identity Through Student Narratives

Abstract

Universities commonly rely upon International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) to teach basic courses. This use of ITAs is a considerable benefit to universities; however, there is substantial evidence to suggest that undergraduate students quite often object to being taught and graded by ITAs. If universities and their academic departments wish to foster a more productive learning environment for undergraduates who are taught by ITAs, it is vitally important that the ITAs be better prepared for this important teaching task. In this paper, we describe a narrative analysis of the stories of 25 undergraduate students. The study reveals that students have coherent, shared narratives of their experiences of ITAs. Based on an analysis of the narratives, we offer a number of positive suggestions for the development of more effective training for ITAs to teach courses at the undergraduate level

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