Saying vs. Doing: A Contradiction in the Professional Development of Foreign Language Teaching Assistants

Abstract

Despite the sizeable portion of foreign language (FL) instruction provided by graduate students now as teaching assistants (TAs) and in the future as faculty, few studies have considered TAs’ perspectives on their own professional development. To inform the professional development of FL graduate students as teachers, the present study updated and expanded on Brandl (2000) and Gonglewski and Penningroth (1998), who surveyed FL TAs about their perceptions of professional development opportunities. Using both quantitative and qualitative data from a nationwide online questionnaire completed by TAs (N = 94) and follow‐up Skype interviews (N = 9), the present study gave a voice to TAs by asking them which professional development opportunities they valued and what constraints limited their participation. TAs exhibited an apparent lack of awareness about the possible responsibilities of their future careers and the evaluation criteria used in academia, resulting in a disconnect between the professional development opportunities in which they participated and those that would actually prepare them for the long term. In light of TAs’ perceptions and practices, recommendations are provided to enhance future TA professional development.

Preparing Teaching Assistants to Work With All Learners: The Impact of Accessibility Training

“…Recent publications have underscored the need for expanding professional development opportunities for TAs. The call for higher involvement and collaboration among faculty members and TAs is recurrent, and the benefits of exposing TAs to the responsibilities they will face after graduation have been highlighted (Angus, ). This study assessed the effectiveness of pre‐ and in‐service training on TAs’ knowledge of and confidence in handling issues of accessibility.…”

“…Previous research has discussed issues such as insufficient training opportunities, the inefficacy of existing training programs, TAs’ perceptions of their own unpreparedness to teach advanced or content classes, and TAs’ lack of readiness to face the broad range of challenges that will be posed as they enter their chosen profession. To this end, Angus () suggested that departments and TA mentors should emphasize the importance of raising TAs’ awareness regarding the challenges and expectations they will face. This implies a joint effort toward facilitating a holistic approach to training and mentoring as well as promoting the overarching understanding that the preparation of graduate students goes beyond enhancing the content that they learn in their own classes.…”

“…Language departments have customarily offered TAs a variety of training and professional development opportunities (Angus, ; Brandl, ; Enkin, ; Lord, ), the most common of which combines a preservice orientation with a methodology course (Allen, ; Angus, ; Lord, 2014; inter alia). Albeit offered less frequently, other professional preparation experiences include mentoring systems (Höbusch & Worley, ); training that focuses on self‐assessment, metacognition, and reflective practices (Allwright, , ; Boyd & Boyd, ; Crane, Sadler, Ha, & Ojiambo, ; Gallego, ); courses or seminars designed to prepare TAs for their future work as LPDs (Enkin, ); courses in applied linguistics (Schechtman & Koser, ) or multiple literacies (Allen, ); and courses that teach TAs to use technology in second language settings (Höbusch & Worley, ).…”

“…Evaluations of professional development opportunities have suggested that TAs continue to face the same challenges that were discussed in the 1990s or early 2000s (Allen & Negueruela‐Azarola, ; Angus, ; Brandl, ; Enkin, ) and have been unclear about the extent to which language departments and postsecondary institutions value and also fund professional development initiatives for TAs. Furthermore, data from 94 foreign language TAs who were teaching in institutions across the country (Angus, ) revealed that many did not take advantage of or seek additional professional development opportunities other than the ones that were mandatory and indicated that the majority of TAs considered knowledge of the language to be the most important aspect of their preparation. Similarly, Brandl () found that TAs favored conversation with supervisors over peer mentoring and also highlighted the limited involvement of TAs in professional development opportunities.…”

Prácticas actuales de pensamiento crítico en aulas de inglés como segunda lengua.

“…Without providing proper input it is not reasonable to expect good performance from them. Angus (2016) stresses in his research on the need of having trainings for the teaching assistants of teachers of second language. So that they can facilitate teachers fully and in this way students' performance and evaluation won't be disturbed.…”