ERIC ED482485: Development and Supervision of Teaching Assistants in Foreign Languages. Issues in Language Program Direction: A Series of Annual Volumes.

276 Pages·1992·4.3 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 482 485
FL 027 905
AUTHOR
Walz, Joel C., Ed.
Development and Supervision of Teaching Assistants in Foreign
TITLE
Languages. Issues in Language Program Direction: A Series of
Annual Volumes.
ISBN-0-8384-5124-1
ISBN
1992-00-00
PUB DATE
275p.; Prepared by the American Association of University
NOTE
Supervisors, Coordinators, and Directors of Foreign Language
Programs.
AVAILABLE FROM
Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 20 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116.
Tel: [phone] (Toll Free); Fax: [phone] (Toll Free);
Web site: http://www.heinle.com.
Collected Works
Books (010)
PUB TYPE
General (020)
EDRS Price MF01/PC12 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
DESCRIPTORS
College Students; *Cultural Awareness; Elementary Secondary
Education; Graduate Study; Higher Education; Language
Teachers; Methods Courses; Native Speakers; Preservice
Teacher Education; *Professional Development; Second Language
Instruction; Self Concept; Student Evaluation; *Supervision;
*Teaching Assistants; Uncommonly Taught Languages
ABSTRACT
This collection of papers includes three parts. Part 1,
"TA
Development Programs," offers "Undergraduate Teaching Assistants: One
Model" (Katherine M. Kulick); "Teaching Assistant Development: A Case
Study" (Julia Herschensohn); and "Breaking Out of the Vicious Circle: TA
Training, Education, and Supervision for the Less Commonly Taught
Languages" (Benjamin Rifkin) .
"The Methods Course," includes "The
Part 2,
Seamless Web: Developing Teaching Assistants as Professionals" (Marva A.
Barnett and Robert Francis Cook) and "Beyond the Methods Course: Designing a
Graduate Seminar in Foreign Language Program Direction" (Keith Mason)
Part
.
"Specific Aspects of TA Development and Supervision," includes "What TAs
3,
Need to Know to Teach According to the New Paradigm" (Charles J. James);
"'Poof! You're a Teacher!': Using Introspective Data in the Professional
Development of Beginning TAs" (Mary E. Wildner-Bassett); "Sensitizing
Teaching Assistants to Native-Speaker Norms in the Communicative
Classroom" (Nadine O'Connor Di Vito); "Toward a Revised Model of TA
Training" (Cynthia A. Fox); "Thinking Culturally: Self-Awareness and Respect
for Diversity in the Foreign Language Classroom" (Madeline Cottenet-Hage,
John E. Joseph, and Pierre M. Verdaguer); and "Improving Inter-Rater
Reliability in Scoring Tests in Multisection Courses" (Robert M. Terry).
(Papers contain references.)
(SM)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
USC
Direction
Issues in Language Program
pCNol
:4 Series of Annual Volumes
a
,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Officio ol Educational Research and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
0 This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it
0 Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy
I.
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE
AND
DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL
HAS
BEEN GRANTED BY
_ft
e.
e_111
TO THE EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES
INFORMATION CENTER
AVAILABLE
(ERIC)
BEST COPY
1
Development and
Supervision of
Teaching Assistants
in Foreign Languages
Joel C. Walz
Editor
3
Coordinators,
American Association of University Supervisors,
(moo
and Directors of Foreign Language Programs
Issues in Language Program Direction
A Series of Annual Volumes
Series Editor
Sally Sieloff Magnan, University of WisconsinMadison
Managing Editor
Charles J. James, University of WisconsinMadison
Editorial Board
David P. Benseler, Case Western Reserve University
Jean-Pierre Berwalch University of Massachusetts
Kenneth Chastain, University of Virginia
Claire Gaudiani, Connecticut College
Alice Omaggio Hadley, University of Illinois
Theodore V. Higgs, San Diego State University
Dieter Jedan, Murray State University
afire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley
Dorothy Risseh State University of New YorkBuffalo
Carks Sole, University of Texas at Austin
Wika Rivers, Harvard University
Albert Valdman, Indiana University
4
Development and
Supervision of
Teaching Assistants
in Foreign Languages
Joel C. Wa lz
Editor
THOIVISCDN
HEINLE
5
THOMSON
HEINLE
AAUSC
Development and Supervision of Teaching Assistants in Foreign Languages
Edited by Joel C. Waltz
2000 Heinle, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc.
COpyright
a trademark used herein under license.
Thomson Learning
TM LS
Printed in the United States of America
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
06 05 04 03 02
For more information contact Heinle, 25 Thomson Place, Boston, MA 02210 USA,
or you can visit our Internet site at http://www.heinle.com
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or
used in any form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, taping, web distribution or information storage and retrieval systemswithout the
written permission of the publisher.
For permission to use material from this text or product contact us:
Tel [phone]
Fax
1-800-730-2215
www.thomsonrights.com
Web
ISBN: 043845124-1
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Contents
vii
Acknowledgments
ix
Introduction
I. TA Development Programs
Undergraduate Teaching Assistants: One Model
I
Katherine M. Ku lick
Teaching Assistant Development: A Case Study
25
Julia Herschensohn
Breaking Out of the Vicious Circle: TA Training,
Education, and Supervision for the Less Commonly
Taught Languages
47
Benjamin Rtfkin
II. The Methods Course
The Seamless Web: Developing Teaching Assistants
as Professionals
85
Marva A. Barnett and Robert Francis Cook
Beyond the Methods Course: Designing a Graduate
Seminar in Foreign Language Program Direction
113
Keith Mason
v
7
1
Development and Supervision of TAs in Foreign Languages
vi
Ill. Specific Aspects of TA Development
and Supervision
What TAs Need to Know to Teach According to the
New Paradigm
135
Charles J. James
"Poof! You're a Teacher!": Using Introspective Data
in the Professional Development of Beginning TAs
Mag E. Wildner-Bassett
153
Sensitizing Teaching Assistants to Native-Speaker
Norms in the Communicative Classroom
Nadine O'Connor Di Vito
171
Toward a Revised Model of TA Training
191
Cynthia A. Fox
Thinking Culturally: Self-Awareness and Respect for
Diversity in the Foreign Language Classroom
Madeleine Cottenet-Hage, John E. Joseph,
209
and Pierre M. Verdaguer
Improving Inter-rater Reliability in Scoring Tests in
Multisection Courses
229
Robert M Terry
Contributors
263
Acknowledgments
Sally Sieloff
As volume editor, I must express my most profound gratitude to
for their
Magnan, Series Editor, and Charles J. James, Managing Editor,
the editing process and for all the
constant help in guiding me through
members
improvements they made in my work. The Editorial Board, whose
volume, were extremely considerate in both the
are listed elsewhere in this
speed oftheir evaluations and the helpfulness oftheir comments. I must also
thank all of the authors with whom I worked by letter, phone, fax, and
electronic mail for cooperating with me, often on short notice, in order to
produce the final version of their work, which you have before you.
This volume and series would not be possible without the firm commit-
Heinle & Heinle. I would like to thank
ment of Stan Galek and his staff at
Elizabeth Holthaus for supervising production, Philip Holthaus, who
served as copy editor, and Frank Weaver, who was responsible for compo-
sition. Without the continuing dedication of these people, the members of
the AAUSC would not be able to make such contributions to the profession.
I would like to recognize the Department of Romance Languages at the
University of Georgia for bearing some of the expense of producing this
volume, primarily through telephone, faxing, and e-mail services. Matthew
Crew, an M.A. candidate in the department, helped by checking references.
In conclusion, I would like to call on all AAUSC members and other
readers of this volume to join in my thanks in a very positive way: by
undertaking to contribute articles to the future volumes listed on the back
others must inspire us to create and continue
cover. The laudable actions of
traditions.
Joel C Walz
Volume Editor
vii
9
Introduction
higher
In the ebb and flow of concerns expressed by professionals involved in
education, teaching seems to have moved to the forefront. While few
universities and surprisingly few colleges have abandoned their commit-
that interest in providing high-quality
ment to research, it does appear
instruction for undergraduates is reaching a new peak. We can see this
changed attitude in the numerous seminars and programs at many colleges
and universities, where faculty and administrators are exploring new avenues
for improving undergraduate instruction without reducing research. We
professional publications such as the
can see it in articles and editorials in
Chronicle of Higher Education and, in foreign languages, in dramatically
increasing attendance at professional meetings, such as those of the Ameri-
of Foreign Languages, of regional conferences
can Council on the Teaching
on language teaching, and of state associations.
The American Association of University Supervisors, Coordinators,
and Directors of Foreign Language Programs (AAUSC), which produces
this volume every year, is ultimately concerned with quality in teaching.
Statistics continue to show that the vast majority ofstudents learning foreign
languages in America's universities are at the first- or second-year level. We
know from experience that these courses are the domain ofgraduate student
teaching assistants (TM) in virtually all universities. When we add in classes
taught by temporary and part-time faculty (lecturers, instructors, adjunct
faculty), we must recognize that a substantial portion, perhaps even most, of
America's efforts at educating its population in foreign languages at the
postsecondary level is in the hands of teachers under the direct supervision
of members of the AAUSC and their colleagues.
While the AAUSC has as one of its primary goals the encouragement
and publication of research in the fields most related to our work (this
ix
10