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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.

Dans les collèges français, la question de l’éducation fait l’objet d’un traitement assez sombre : au niveau statutaire, elle marque en effet le faible prestige de certains personnels, ou de certaines matières enseignées. C’est le cas des conseillers et assistants d’éducation, ou, sur un autre plan, de l’éducation artistique, de l’éducation civique ou de l’éducation physique et sportive. La connotation négative de l’éducation apparaît aussi dans les discours quotidiens, enclins à dénoncer des carences. L’écart social entre les membres des classes moyennes cultivées et leurs élèves ne prédit pas, cependant, le niveau de tension. La construction d’un climat d’établissement joue en effet une fonction importante ; en second lieu, les situations éducatives les moins aisées obligent précisément à réfléchir en termes éducatifs. Il en ressort souvent un meilleur climat que dans des établissements peu exposés. Dans l’imaginaire des professionnels, le collège n’aurait d’autre but que d’organiser la succession de cours entre enseignants savants et apprenants captivés. Depuis les débuts de la massification, les professeurs appliquent en réalité des pédagogies « bricolées », sans rapport avec les principes idéels. Malgré ces adaptations officieuses, les collégiens sont pénalisés par la segmentation des cours, l’étouffement de l’esprit critique, la faible intégration éducative et la relégation du « sale boulot » de discipline. Dans les établissements favorisés, l’insuffisance démocratique incite plutôt à l’utilitarisme, et au développement d’une culture juvénile anti-scolaire ; dans les collèges populaires, les élèves en échec peuvent aussi opposer une violence. / In French colleges, the issue of education is poorly treated : at the statutory level, it marks the low prestige of certain personnel, or certain subject matter being taught. This is the case with counsellors (conseillers d’éducation) and teaching assistants (assistants d’éducation) or, on another level, with arts education, civic education or physical education. Education’s negative connotation is confirmed in people’s discourse, which is inclined to report deficiencies. The social gap between members of the cultivated middle class and their students does not, however, predict the level of tension. First, the construction of a school environment indeed plays an importance role ; what’s more, the most difficult educational situations are precisely the ones that require us to think in educational terms. The result is often a better environment than in institutions with little exposure to difficulties. In the minds of professionals, French colleges have no other purpose than to organise the succession of courses between scholarly teachers and captivated learners. From the beginning of mass schooling, teachers actually apply “tinkered” pedagogies, unrelated to imaginary principles. In spite of these unofficial adaptations, students suffer from the segmentation of courses, the stifling of critical thinking, poor educational integration and the relegation of disciplinary “dirty work”. In privileged establishments, the democratic deficit rather encourages utilitarianism, and the development of an anti-school youth culture ; in lower class French colleges students who are failing may also resist through other forms of violence.

La recherche entreprise dans le cadre de cette thèse doctorale se veut une réflexion sur le travail des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes d’une école primaire de langue galloise, à Cardiff, capitale du pays de Galles. Ce travail apparait marqué par des rapports de force entre la langue majoritaire (anglais) et la langue minoritaire (gallois), et s’inscrit dans un contexte sociétal de revendication et de reconnaissance de la langue en situation diglossique. Par l’entremise d’observations consignées dans un journal de bord réflexif et d’entretiens semi-dirigés, j’explore la façon dont ces membres du personnel de l’école contribuent à la (re)production de la langue et de la culture galloises. Plus précisément, j’appréhende leur travail au regard de deux dimensions de cette (re)production linguistique et culturelle, soit : les politiques linguistiques éducatives et la culture de l’école. Les résultats de cette enquête ethnographique, présentés dans le cadre d’articles scientifiques, mettent en évidence les voix et les perspectives des aides-enseignantes et enseignantes, encore trop peu présentes dans les travaux de recherche sur l’éducation en gallois. Le premier article vise à démontrer que le travail des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes s’inscrit dans un processus dynamique de mise en oeuvre des politiques linguistiques éducatives. De fait, celles-ci sont en mesure d’adopter, de résister, de négocier, voire même de créer ces politiques au sein de l’école ou de la salle de classe. Leurs discours et leurs pratiques montrent qu’elles se questionnent quant à la place à accorder à la langue majoritaire, et qu’elles sont parfois à la recherche de compromis visant à mitiger les effets néfastes perçus à l’égard d’un règlement scolaire qui interdit l’usage de l’anglais. Le deuxième article de cette thèse explore la notion de la culture de l’école. Compte tenu de la prévalence de la langue anglaise à Cardiff et dans la plupart des foyers des élèves qui fréquentent cette école, les enseignantes et aides-enseignantes réalisent un important travail de valorisation de la langue et de la culture galloises. En s’appropriant la mission de l’école et en perpétuant des traditions et rituels, elles contribuent à façonner la culture de l’école d’une manière qui permet aux élèves d’évoluer dans un cadre à la fois communautaire et familial, ancré dans la langue et la culture galloises. Enfin, par l’entremise du troisième article, l’ensemble des données de cette étude sont mises en relation avec mon parcours de chercheure franco-ontarienne, confrontée aux défis de l’apprentissage d’une langue et de l’ethnographie en milieu non familier. Je pose un regard critique sur mon positionnement d’Insider/Outsider en exposant tant les aspects qui provoquent un rapprochement au terrain que ceux qui entraînent une distance avec celui-ci. Il s’agit, entre autres, d’un aller-retour entre ma familiarité avec le contexte sociétal de la langue au pays de Galles, qui s’apparente à celui de l’Ontario français, et le sentiment d’éloignement provoqué par mon immersion dans un milieu scolaire entièrement gallois. Cette ethnographie se veut à la fois une enquête sur le rôle des enseignantes et des aides-enseignantes dans la (re)production de la langue et de la culture galloises, et un examen de ce que signifie mener une ethnographie dans un contexte linguistique minoritaire autre que celui auquel appartient la chercheure.

<p>I collected two types of data throughout Weeks 1-14, with the original purpose of enhancing teaching and learning in ENGL620. The data included weekly assignment recordings and weekly surveys.</p><p>The primary data were students' speech data, which were collected through 14 weekly timed speaking assessments conducted from Week 1 to Week 14. These assignments were made available on Monday at midnight and were required to be completed and submitted by Sunday at midnight). The assignments were delivered, and responses were collected using Extempore (<a href="http://www.extemporeapp.com/" target="_blank">www.extemporeapp.com</a>), a website specifically designed to support oral English assessment and practice.</p><p>To conduct more comprehensive assessments of students’ performances, I incorporated two OEPT item types into the weekly assignments, including PROS and CONS (referred to as “PC”) and LINE GRAPH (referred to as “LG”). See Appendix B for the assignment items. The PC item presented challenging scenarios ITAs may encounter and required the test-takers to make a decision and discuss the pros and cons associated with the decision. An example item is “<i>Imagine you have a student who likes to come to your office hours but often talks about something irrelevant to the course. What would you do in this situation? What are the pros and cons associated with the decision?</i>”. The LG item asked students to describe a line graph illustrating two or three lines and provide possible reasons behind those trends. It can be argued that the two tasks targeted slightly different language abilities and background knowledge. The two item types were selected because they represented two key skills that the OEPT tests. The PC task focused on stating one’s decision and presenting an argument within a personal context, while the LG item assessed students’ ability to describe visual information and engage in discussions about broader topics such as gender equality, employment, economic growth, college policy. The PC and LG items are the most difficult items in the test (Yan et al., 2019). Therefore, progress in the two tasks can be a good indicator of improvement in the speaking skills required in this context. All the items were either taken from retired OEPT items or developed by the researcher following the specifications for OEPT item development. In particular, the design of the items aimed to avoid assuming prior specific knowledge and to ensure that students could discuss them without excessive cognitive load.</p><p>For each task, the students were allocated 2 minutes for preparation and a maximum of 2 minutes to deliver their response to the assigned topic. The responses were monologic, resembling short classroom presentations. During the preparation time, the participants were permitted to take notes. Each item only allowed for one attempt, which aimed to capture students’ online production of speech and their utilization of language resources. Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics of the responses.</p><p>The PC prompt was deliberately kept consistent for Week 2 and Week 12 randomly selected as time points at the beginning and end of the semester. This deliberate choice of using the same prompt at these two distinct stages serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it provides a valuable perspective for analyzing growth over time. This approach adds depth to the study results and conclusions by providing additional evidence and triangulation. Second, this approach addresses one of the specific challenges identified by Ortega and Iberr-Shea (2005) in studies involving multiple data collection points, as maintaining consistency in the prompt can minimize potential variations in task difficulty or topic-related factors.</p><p>After completing each speaking assignment, the students were requested to rate the level of difficulty for each item on a scale of 1 (Very Easy) to 5 (Very difficult). Additionally, they were asked to fill out a weekly survey using Qualtrics. The Qualtrics survey contained six questions related to the frequency of their English language use outside of the classroom and their focus on language skills in the previous and upcoming week. These questions were considered interesting as potential contributing factors to changes in their performances throughout the semester. Refer to Appendix C for the survey questions.</p>

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