This study reports the results of a survey administered to 175 graduate teaching assistants in a sample of six southeastern modern language departments. Of the questionnaires mailed out, 93 (53%) respondents participated. The specific purposes of this study were to determine: (a) if TAs were receiving coverage of various training items during their graduate preparation and training, and to what extent the coverage could be compared with the perceived importance of various areas in TA training between five variables (language, experience, degree, certification, and institution), (b) the relationship of the five factors on the separate categories of coverage of TA training items and the perceived importance of those items, (c) categorizations of the most and the least beneficial items in TA training, and (d) comments by the TAs concerning their training. / Paired t tests were used to make the comparison between coverage of items and their perceived importance according to the five variables. For each variable, the teaching assistants perceived that the training for each item was more important than the actual coverage they were receiving. / The five background variables were analyzed using an ANOVA to determine their individual effect on the separate categories of the coverage and the perceived importance of TA training items. There was no significant effect for any of the variables on the perceptions of importance of TA training items. The only significant effect on the coverage of items came from those respondents who taught in private institutions. / The most frequent beneficial item listed by TAs was the teaching of communication skills. The item most frequently listed as least beneficial was theory of language teaching and learning. / The comments of TAs about teaching assistant training and preparation ranged from complimentary remarks to very negative statements regarding departmental efforts in their training and preparation. / The results of this study indicated that many of the TA training topics proposed by professional organizations were not being implemented, and that the bulk of graduate training in southeastern modern language departments is still literary oriented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-01, Section: A, page: 0097. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74724 |
| Contributors | ALFORD, RANDALL LYNN., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 104 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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