STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/GOALS

The International Teaching Assistants Interest Section (ITAIS) serves TESOL members who work with nonnative English-speaking teaching assistants as researchers, teachers, and program administrators.

HISTORY

ITAIS was first established with interim status at TESOL '92 and subsequently granted full status in October 1993.

The formation of ITAIS recognizes the contribution ITA specialists make to TESOL through service to the profession and to the organization. For over a decade prior to the founding of ITAIS, ITA issues had been the topic of preconvention institutes, papers, and workshops at TESOL meetings, but not all specialists, especially newcomers, had a reliable means of networking or contributing to or learning from these discussions on ITA concerns.

The ITAIS makes it possible for ITA TESOL members to meet one another; share concerns, research, and ideas; and develop a strong basis for research on and pedagogy for ITAs. The interest section selects sessions and sponsors a range of conference activities, including a preconvention institute, Academic Sessions, and discussion groups. ITAIS also aims to explore how the insights and experience of its members can be shared with members of interest sections with common concerns, thus more broadly benefiting TESOL.