The Professionalization of Teaching Assistants: Can It Be Accomplished?

Professional development of graduate teaching assistants in faculty-like positions: Fostering reflective practices through reflective teaching journals

“…Since the pre-service instruction GTAs receive is often brief and insufficient, their first encounter with pedagogical and theoretical training usually occurs simultaneously with their first teaching experience at the college level (VanValkenburg & Arnett, 2000).…”

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

“… The professional development of TAs and the limited training they received, as well as the workshop and/or seminar approach, has been amply discussed in previous research and numerous suggestions designed to remediate the problem have been proposed (Allen & Negueruela‐Azarola, ; Brandl, ; Byrnes, ; Chalupa & Lair, ; Gunn, ; Lord, ; Melin, ; Mills & Allen, ; Rankin & Becker, ; Twale, Shannon, & Moore, ; VanValkenburg & Arnett, ; Weimer et al, ; inter alia). …”

The Professional Development of Future Professors of Foreign Languages: Looking Back, Looking Forward

“…The importance of graduate students’ preparation as teachers in light of the evolving demands of the FL profession was the subject of several articles, with various means suggested for improving current practices (Dickson, 1996; Fox, 1992; Olsen, 1998; Pons, 1993; Van Cleve, 1987; VanValkenburg & Arnett, 2000). These include complementing teaching and research with departmental service for graduate students (Van Cleve), providing TAs with teaching experiences that foster continued development of FL skills and cultural competence (Dickson), and offering graduate students more advanced linguistics and applied linguistics courses (Fox; VanValkenburg & Arnett) or the opportunity to complete a doctoral minor in FL acquisition and teaching (Olsen).…”

“…Discussion of the imperative to extend graduate students’ professional development opportunities beyond first‐year training and to better integrate teaching with scholarship continued during the past decade in numerous publications (Bernhardt, 2001; Byrnes, 2001; Chaput, 2001; Debicki, 2001; Guthrie, 2001; Pfeiffer, 2002; VanValkenburg & Arnett, 2000). Byrnes called for departmental responsibility for graduate students’ professional development and advocated partnered teaching between novice and experienced TAs, team teaching for TAs with faculty, and a requirement for two courses in FL pedagogy.…”

“…Over the course of the following decade, numerous scholars called for comprehensive professional development, including additional courses on FL and literature teaching beyond the methods course (Bernhardt, 2001; Byrnes, 2001; Fox, 1992; Olsen, 1998; VanValkenburg & Arnett, 2000), with several publications focused on the rationale and description of such courses (Arens, 1991; Barnes‐Karol, 2003; Barnett & Cook, 1992; Lalande, 1991; Mason, 1992; Roche, 1998). Although differing in content, each held the premise that no single course can adequately prepare graduate students for a changed professional landscape no longer favoring narrow specialization but requiring competence in teaching FL, literature, and culture at all levels.…”