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’ own bias toward ITAs • Rubin (1992) • Borjas (2000) • 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

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

5. Research Questions Cont’ 2. On what dimensions do these two groups of the TAs show similarities and differences in their epistemological beliefs?

6. Research Questions Cont’ 3. How are the TAs’ epistemological beliefs communicated in their teaching practices through their instructional behaviors and in their interactions with their students in the classrooms?

7. 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): personal epistemology as more or less independent beliefs • Dimensions: (a) certainty of knowledge, (b) structure of knowledge, (c) source of knowledge, (d) nature of learning, (e) nature of intelligence • Need for balance (Schommer-Aikins, 2004): Personal epistemology should be portrayed as frequency distributions rather than as continuums .

8. 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

9. 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)

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

11. Data discussion: • Preliminary findings of a pilot study: • Fall, 2003 • 18 ITAs who are in pre-service training or in their first year of teaching at an urban University

12. Figure 1. Source of knowledge: Perception of teacher as authority figure (N=18) 11.1% 22.2% 33.3%

13. Figure 2. Certainty of knowledge: ITAs’ perceptions about learning (N=18) Knowledge retention Knowledge construction Knowledge retention Knowledge construction Knowledge acquisition & use Knowledge acquisition & use

14. Figure 3. ITAs’ perceptions about learning (N=18) 66.6% 33.3%

15. Figure 4. ITAs’ preferred mode of instruction Lecture &discussion Lecture only Group work & discussion

16. Table 1. TAs’ Characteristics of teaching and learning practiceData source : video-taped oral presentation of an ITA

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

18. Teaching Implications • 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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. • Rubin, D. (1992). Nonlanguage factors affecting undergraduates’ judgments of nonnative English-speaking teaching assistants. Research in Higher Education, 33(4), 511-531

22. The End Thank you!