This is an exploratory, interpretive study, focusing on classroom communication experiences of Chinese teaching assistants (CTA) in a U.S. university. The research asked: What are CTAs' experiences communicating in the U.S. university classroom? How do they interpret their experiences from their own perspective? And what is their emergent adaptation pattern to the U.S. university classroom?

In the last three decades, there has been a significant growth in the number of undergraduate students taking introductory statistics. As a result, there is a need by universities and community colleges to find well-qualified instructors and graduate teaching assistants to teach the growing number of statistics courses. Unfortunately, research has shown that even teachers of introductory statistics struggle with concepts they are employed to teach. The data presented in this research sheds light on the statistical knowledge of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and community college instructors (CCIs) in the realm of probability by analyzing their work on surveys and task-based interviews on the p-value. This research could be useful for informing professional development programs to better support present and future teachers of statistics.

This study measures the effect of a model of explicit instruction (EMIT) on the: 1) physics graduate teaching assistants’ adherence to reformed teaching methods, 2) impact of the instructional model on GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics and physics problem solving and 3) undergraduate physics students’ understanding and performance in an introductory calculus-based physics course. Methods included explicit modeling for the treatment group GTAs of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and assessment of treatment and control GTAs and their students throughout the semester. Students’ understanding was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Flash-mediated Force and Motion Concept Inventory (FM2CA). Students were surveyed about performance of GTAs using the Student Survey (SS). Results indicated changes were tied to individual GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics. Student conceptual understanding reflected a two-fold Hake gain compared to the control group. General application of the EMIT model presupposes explicit instruction of the model for GTAs.

This study measures the effect of a model of explicit instruction (EMIT) on the: 1) physics graduate teaching assistants’ adherence to reformed teaching methods, 2) impact of the instructional model on GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics and physics problem solving and 3) undergraduate physics students’ understanding and performance in an introductory calculus-based physics course. Methods included explicit modeling for the treatment group GTAs of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and assessment of treatment and control GTAs and their students throughout the semester. Students’ understanding was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Flash-mediated Force and Motion Concept Inventory (FM2CA). Students were surveyed about performance of GTAs using the Student Survey (SS). Results indicated changes were tied to individual GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics. Student conceptual understanding reflected a two-fold Hake gain compared to the control group. General application of the EMIT model presupposes explicit instruction of the model for GTAs.

This study investigated the construct of comprehensible English in the context of oral proficiency assessment for international teaching assistants. I carried out a three-part mixed method design to explore instructor rater judgments, results of a speech analysis, and how specific speech variables might have influenced judgments on the assessment criteria. Each step focused on a failed/passed assessment comparison made possible through archived data from which 10 individuals initially failed the oral proficiency test but within the same year retook the task and received a passing score. Part A evaluated the perspective of the instructor raters through the rating scale judgments provided on the assessment evaluation forms. In the second part of the study, I coded and scored grammatical, temporal, and phonological variables that occurred on two-minute excerpts of a field-specific summary task from the set of 10 failed and then subsequently passed assessments performed by the same individuals. I inspected the speech analysis results to evaluate differences in the values of specific speech variables on the set of failed performances in comparison to the set of passed performances. In Part C, I conducted 10 case studies to compare each individual's rating scale judgments and rater comments on grammar, fluency, and pronunciation from their failed and their passed assessment with the results from the speech analysis of grammatical, temporal, and phonological variables. The case study approach facilitated a broad inspection of the interrelation among the rater perspectives on the assessment criteria and the speech analysis results. The study findings showed evidence of an interrelation between temporal and phonological variables on rater judgments of comprehensibility, as well as the role of pronunciation as a criterion for oral proficiency assessments. I concluded with implications for future research on the interrelation among speech variables that influence listener perceptions of comprehensibility and the use of pronunciation as a speaking assessment criterion. / text

This exploratory case study investigated the Graduate Assistant (GA) Scholarship Programme at Technikon Natal (TN) as a staff development mechanism. Although GA programmes are not a new concept and have been used internationally for decades as a means to develop academic staff, the programme at TN has some differences. This programme was initiated to address the development of young Black, and in the main African, academics in order to assist with meeting future employment equity requirements. The programme in its simplest form offers the GA the opportunity to gain teaching experience while studying for a post graduate qualification. Between 1995 and 2000, fifty GAs were involved in the programme at TN, with the majority of GAs studying at the BTech qualification level. This case study identified the juxtaposition of two perspectives of influence, those of the institutional and the individual issues. The institutional issues identified were categorised into policy and procedural issues and the individual issues focused on staff development and mentorship issues. Although the findings cannot be generalised, significant issues have been identified which could prove of value to a wider audience. In addition to developing Black academics, the programme makes a significant contribution to increasing the achievement of higher qualifications from the technikon sector. This is desirable in order to produce the technological foundation for South Africa's future economy. The study identified great potential in the GAs and in the community at TN who have embraced this opportunity to develop young academics of the future. Although there are a number of issues to be addressed, the key stakeholders of this study; the GAs and their Heads of Departments, are well supported by the management and relevant units at TN. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study is inserted in the Research Field Training, Knowledge and Professional Development , representing the research context on the training of trainers in the area of Exact Sciences and Earth. This study is linked to the research project entitled "The superior teaching moves: specificities in different areas of knowledge and its influence on educational performance" developed by the Pathways Training Group ( GTFORMA ) . The objective of this study is to investigate the implications of training of trainers of teachers in the field of Exact and Earth Sciences in the pedagogical management of the classroom . We emphasize that educational management is constituted as long as the teacher is committed to its education project , organizing and articulating knowledge necessary to train their students and , consequently , for their own training. Thus, considering the challenges of this process , especially given the reality of the absence of a specific preparation for teaching at university, we are interested in analyzing the impact of teacher training ( bachelors and / or licensed ) operating in major courses, in view their pedagogical management. So the choice for studying the practices of teachers management pertaining to the unity of Natural and Exact Sciences, UFSM was due to the fact that the interviews already conducted by GTFORMA group, realize the need to deepen issues related to their formations and practices in the classroom. Moreover, considering the problem we propose to investigate , the university center , where courses are concentrated in this area , is one of the largest at UFSM , where we find teachers with bachelor s degree teaching in major courses and also has the highest concentration of major courses , which is our interest as study context. The methodological option of research is qualitative narrative nature and in terms of analytical interpretation of the narratives of teachers, chose the discursive textual analysis method. We know that the pedagogical management of the classroom involves all areas of teaching, because it is the generative core of teaching and therefore, despite the many challenges present in everyday life, it is necessary that the teacher assume the coaching role building your project instruction with the basic premise meaningful learning of their students. / Este estudo encontra-se inserido na Linha de Pesquisa Formação, Saberes e Desenvolvimento Profissional, constituindo o contexto investigativo sobre a formação de formadores da área de Ciências Exatas e da Terra. O presente estudo encontra-se atrelado ao projeto de pesquisa intitulado Os movimentos da docência superior: especificidades nas diferentes áreas de conhecimento e sua influência na atuação docente desenvolvido pelo Grupo Trajetórias de Formação (GTFORMA). O objetivo deste estudo é investigar quais as implicações da formação dos formadores de professores da área de Ciências Exatas e da Terra na gestão pedagógica da sala de aula. Ressaltamos que a gestão pedagógica se constitui à medida que o professor se compromete com seu projeto de ensino, organizando e articulando saberes necessários para a formação de seus alunos e, consequentemente, para a sua própria formação. Sendo assim, considerando os desafios deste processo, especialmente diante a realidade da ausência de uma preparação específica para a docência superior, interessa-nos analisar a repercussão da formação de professores (bacharéis e/ou licenciados) que atuam em cursos de licenciatura, tendo em vista sua gestão pedagógica. Assim, a escolha por estudarmos as práticas de gestão de docentes pertencentes à unidade de Ciências Naturais e Exatas da UFSM se deu pelo fato de que nas entrevistas já realizadas pelo grupo GTFORMA, percebemos a necessidade de aprofundarmos as questões relativas às suas formações e práticas em sala de aula. Além disso, considerando o problema que nos propomos a investigar, o centro universitário, em que estão concentrados os cursos desta área, é um dos maiores da UFSM, em que encontramos professores bacharéis lecionando em cursos de licenciatura e também apresenta maior concentração de cursos de licenciaturas, que é o nosso interesse como contexto de estudo. A opção metodológica da pesquisa é qualitativa de cunho narrativo e em termos de interpretação analítica das narrativas dos professores, escolhemos o método de análise textual discursiva. Sabemos que a gestão pedagógica da sala de aula envolve todos os âmbitos da docência, pois é o núcleo gerativo do trabalho docente e portanto, apesar dos inúmeros desafios presentes no cotidiano, se faz necessário que o professor assuma o papel de formador construindo seu projeto de ensino tendo como premissa básica a aprendizagem significativa de seus alunos.

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Current teacher education research calls for investigation of the "missing paradigm," the connection between teachers' conceptions of knowledge and learning and their instructional practices. This call has been heeded in the scholarship on personal epistemology that reveals the role of knowledge in learning and instruction within and across various socio-cultural contexts. This study extends the work on the relationship between teachers' personal epistemologies and instructional practices to a previously unexamined population: international and U.S. Teaching Assistants (TAs). Employing a two-phase explanatory mixed methods approach, this study examines the relationship between personal epistemologies and instructional practices of two teaching assistant (TA) groups, international and U.S.-born, in U.S. university contexts. In the first phase of the study, an epistemological beliefs survey was conducted with two groups of TAs, 106 international and 50 U.S.-born, at four large research universities in the Mid-Atlantic States. Their answers were analyzed with a focus on the relationship between group variables and seven dimensions of personal epistemologies. Building on the initial quantitative study results, in the second phase, a qualitative case study was carried out to investigate the relationship between epistemic positions and teaching practices for four TAs representing international and domestic TA groups within two academic disciplines at a public research university in Philadelphia, PA. Forty four undergraduate student data from focus-group interviews and surveys also were collected to examine the relationship between TAs' instructional practices and student opinions about their teaching. The quantitative results showed a significant group difference in the knowledge beliefs domain and the relational views domain (p < .001). In general, ITAs held a higher degree in their beliefs about certainty of knowledge than did US TAs. In addition, US TAs assumed a closer relationship with their students than did the ITAs, while unlike common assumptions, US TAs assumed a higher degree of status differentiation from students than did ITAs. The findings of the qualitative phase of the study revealed that the relationship between TAs' epistemic positions and instructional practices was not fully consistent. In the case of the US TAs, much of the inconsistency of the relationship is explained by the lack of pedagogical knowledge and pedagogic skills, which would enable them to exercise control over the types of instructional approaches that they wanted to implement at a discourse level in class. ITAs' instructional practices were more closely aligned with learning strategies that they had developed through educational experiences in their home countries and with their generalized assumptions about attitudes of U.S. students toward learning. The results also show that ITAs are as qualified and competent instructors in teaching of undergraduate students as US TAs are, and that ITAs' teacher-centered approaches are well received by the students who expect explanation, guidance, direction, and reinforcement on the part of their instructors. In addition, the analysis of TAs' epistemic positions revealed domain specificity as well as group differences to be major compounding factors affecting TAs' professed epistemologies. Pedagogic as well as theoretical implications of the study are discussed. / CITE/Language Arts

Yes / This paper offers a critical reflection on the experience of two former Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) - the authors - who were tasked with creating a digital learning program during the first UK national lockdown in 2020. The program drew from an emerging body of literature that seeks to employ Freirian pedagogies in the digital classroom and was designed to equip both new and established members of faculty with the skills needed for online teaching. While taking on this challenge, however, the experienced GTAs found that their pedagogical instincts and practices were challenged by their positionalities as young Early Career Researchers (ECRs) from underrepresented groups in British Academia. The aim of this paper is thus to scrutinise the potential for online learning to democratise and shift perceived hierarchies within academia, not only for students, but for ECRs navigating the structures of university teaching in the current employment climate.