Eunhee Seo Temple University ellenseo@temple

1. International Teaching Assistants’ (ITAs) Personal Epistemology and Their Teaching Practices in U. S. Undergraduate Classes. Eunhee SeoTemple Universityellenseo@temple.edu

2. Introduction • Who are ITAs? • State-mandated English language proficiency requirement: -English Fluency in Higher Education Act: effective 1990 • ITA training components -oral English proficiency-pedagogic skills -adjustment to the new culture of undergraduate classrooms

3. Problems/Gaps in the ITA research • Undergraduates’ expectation toward ITAs • Ability to relate to students • Ability to play social role expected by students • Establishing common ground with students • Balancing the role of power and solidarity • Conveying attentiveness • Self-disclosure • Undergraduates’ own bias toward ITAs • Rubin (1992) • Borjas (2000)

4. Problems/Gaps in the ITA research cont’ • ITAs’ own perceptions about their classroom practices • Twale, Shannon, Moore (1997): • differences between TAs’ self-rating and undergraduates’ rating of TAs • Luo, Bellows, & Grandy (2000): • classroom management issues for TAs • International students’ perspective on American university instruction (Liberman, 1996)

5. Research Questions 1. What are the characteristics of the personal epistemology held by the international teaching assistants (ITAs) in comparison to those of American TAs in urban universities in the U.S.?

6. Research Questions Cont’ 2. On what dimensions of the characteristics do these two groups of the TAs show similarities and differences in their personal epistemology?

7. Research Questions Cont’ 3. How are the personal epistemology held by TAs communicated through their instructional behaviors and their interactions with the undergraduates in the classrooms?

8. Theoretical Frameworks & Previous Research • Personal Epistemology: • Definition: beliefs about knowledge (K) and knowing, and their relation to learning • Perry (1970): forms of intellectual development • Schommer (1990, 1992, 2004): Embedded systematic model (Schommer-Aikins, 2004): Reciprocal interaction among each constructs • beliefs about nature of knowledge: certainty of knowledge & structure of knowledge • beliefs about nature of knowing : source of knowledge • beliefs about learning: nature of learning & intelligence • classroom performance: learning and instructional behaviors • cultural relational views: degree of closeness and status differentiation

9. Theoretical Frameworks & Previous Research Cont’ • Crosscultural study findings: • Source of knowledge • Chan & Elliott, 2002; Lee, 1995 • Nature of Intelligence • Chan & Elliott, 2002; Cortazzi & Jin, 1996 • Nature of Learning • Jin, 2003: U.S. vs. Chinese views about learning

10. Theoretical Frameworks & Previous Research Cont’ • Situated Cognition: • Knowledge is lived practice, mediated through signs and symbols; learning is a mediated activity through participation of apprenticeship in communities of practice • Lave (1990), Lave & Wenger (1991), Wenger (1998)

11. Data collection & analysis:work in progress • A modified epistemological questionnaire (Schommer, 1990) • Interviews with the TAs and their students • Observations of the TAs’ teaching practices in the classrooms

12. Data discussion: • Preliminary findings of pilot studies: • Pilot study I: Fall, 2003 • 18 ITAs who are in pre-service training or in their first year of teaching at an urban University • Pilot study II: Fall, 2004-present • Conducted a questionnaire to 30 TAs (ITAs & ATAs) in less than 4 semester of teaching experience

13. Pilot study I: ITAs’ perception of teacher as authority figure (N=18)Figure 1. 11.1% 22.2% 33.3%

14. Pilot study I: ITAs’ perceptions about learning (N=18)Figure 2. Knowledge retention Knowledge construction Knowledge retention Knowledge construction Knowledge acquisition & use Knowledge acquisition & use

15. Pilot study I:ITAs’ perceptions about learning (N=18)Figure 3. 66.6% 33.3%

16. Pilot Study I: ITAs’ preferred mode of instruction Figure 4. Lecture &discussion Lecture only Group work & discussion

17. Pilot study I:ITAs’ Characteristics of teaching and learning practice(Data source : video-taped oral presentation of an ITA) Table 1.

18. Table 1. TAs’ Characteristics of teaching and learning practice Cont’

19. Pilot study II • Table 2: Demographic information about ITAs and American TAs • Table 3: Comparison of personal epistemology between ITA and ATAs

20. Teaching Implications • TA trainers should develop an adequate training curriculum by focusing explicitly on TAs’ epistemological reflection (Baxter Magolda, 2004; Schraw &Olafson, 2002)

21. Teaching Implications Cont’ • By making ITAs aware of the differences in the views of learning and teaching between themselves and their students, ITA trainers can sensitize ITAs to the needs of their students to become more effective communicators in the classroom.

22. Teaching Implications Cont’ • By sensitizing ITAs’ students to the ITAs’ different pedagogic behaviors and communication strategies, ITA trainers can raise the awareness of different cultural assumptions about the good teaching behind ITAs’ pedagogic behaviors.

23. Teaching Implications Cont’ • This mutual understanding will facilitate the ITAs’ teaching practices and will narrow the gap between ITAs’ teaching practices and undergraduates’ expectations/evaluations about their ITAs.

24. References: • Chan, K. & Elliott, R. (2002). Exploratory study of Hong Kong teacher education students’ epistemological beliefs: Cultural perspectives and implications on beliefs research. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 392-414 • Hoekje, B. & Williams, J. (1992). Communicative competence and the dilemma of international teaching assistant education. TESOL Quarterly, 26(2), 243-269 • Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. New York; Holt, Rinehart and Winston. • Schraw, G. & Olafson, L. (2002). Teachers’ epistemological world views and educational practice. Issues in Education, 8, 99-148

25. The End Thank you!