Although international teaching assistants (ITAs) are an increasingly common presence at U.S. universities, many U.S. undergraduates continue to perceive ITAs as unqualified to teach, in part due to perceived problems with accent and comprehensibility. Such evaluations have been shown to be based in part on student attitudes rather than solely on objective assessments of proficiency; however, they still have a real impact on students’ ability to understand ITAs (Kang & Rubin, 2012). As a result, ITA coordinators and researchers have begun to investigate ways to moderate students’ negative perceptions of ITAs. Positively impacting students’ perceptions of ITAs, along with language and cultural training for the ITAs, is an important aspect of improving communication within this community.

Recent research suggests that contact between undergraduates and international students can have a positive impact on undergraduates’ perceptions of ITAs (Kang & Rubin, 2012). Contact between members of opposing groups has been promoted as a mitigating approach, starting with Allport’s (1954) Contact Hypothesis. That is, under the right circumstances, contact can provide individuals with experiences that do not fit their previous stereotypes about a group (Rubin & Lannutti, 2001). First, the members should have equal status in the group. Second, decisions should be made through the negotiation of both parties. Group members should have a common goal to achieve. Next, collaboration between the group members is essential. There should be enough time for the interaction, and it should not be confounded by other stresses. Potential for developing interpersonal relationships is important as well. Participants should be seen as typical members of their group. Finally, institutional support by a sanctioned authority is an important factor in the successful impact of the intergroup contact.

Most studies, however, still lack specific details on how to implement a contact program in higher education institutions. Therefore, in this short report we introduce a language partner program that has been implemented for both U.S. undergraduate students and ITAs as a part of the contact series to enhance their communication. Then we briefly report how undergraduate students’ perceptions changed regarding ITA speech and teaching ability after the semester-long contact with international partners. At the end, we conclude by offering suggestions for further contact courses and implications for current practices in ITA programs.

The Study

Thirty undergraduates (24 female, 6 male) from a midwestern research university participated in a language partner program. They were all native speakers of English, and most of them reported their ethnicity as White. Thirty international partners also participated in the study 19 Chinese, 6 Japanese, 3 Koreans, 1 Vietnamese, and 1 Indonesian. Undergraduate participants took two surveys (10 minutes each): one at the beginning of the fall semester in 2011 and the other at the end of the semester. The survey included ratings of the five ITA speech samples and a background questionnaire. The rating scales included accent, comprehensibility, and teaching quality of the speakers. The speech samples were ITAs’ simulated instructional presentations given in conjunction with required classes for ITAs who failed to achieve a score exceeding 45 on the SPEAK test. The content of each presentation focused on a concept from each presenter’s course of study. After the completion of the posttest survey, online interviews were administered in order to better understand participants’ experience with the program and their change in attitude toward ITAs.

Language Partner Program

The language partner program in this study was connected with a university-wide English for academic purposes (EAP) program serving primarily matriculated graduate students and ITAs. Contact participants, who volunteered to join the language partner program, interacted with their international partners once a week for 8 weeks for 1 hour each time. Participants and their international partners chose the time and location for the meeting. They primarily chose their own topics for discussion, but activities were suggested at five points in the semester.

The five activities designed for 50-minute encounters were developed both by modifying several previously created activities and incorporating principles recommended in the literature (e.g., Kang & Rubin, 2012). The activities focused on intercultural communication issues. Each activity began with a discussion, had opportunities for collaborative participation in reaching a goal, and ended with reflection. For example, one activity focused on ITA-undergraduate pairs sharing advice. Undergraduates shared their experiences with the U.S. education system to help inform ITAs, and ITAs shared their experience as successful students to help give advice to undergraduates. The pairs then participated in role-plays in which they had to switch roles with their partner (the undergraduate played the ITA and the ITA played an undergraduate). The activity ended with a reflection on what each member had learned from the experience of playing a different role.

Discussion

The results indicate that the contact had a positive impact on the outcome ratings (accent, comprehensibility, and teaching ability). That is, at the posttest after the contact, undergraduate students evaluated ITAs’ speech more positively, compared to their ratings at the pretest. The qualitative comments suggest that participants gained a deeper understanding, appreciation, and respect for ITAs and international students through participation in the program. These findings suggest that a well-structured contact program mitigates undergraduates’ evaluations of ITA speech and instructional competence.

The contact creates an environment where there can be a shift in the culture of undergraduates as consumers. When undergraduate students see their role as consumers, they have no motive to try to accommodate speakers whose English is perceived as nonnative. The language partner scenario practiced in this study can enable the institution to promote ITAs as valued agents for learning. There is also evidence that the undergraduates who participated in the program believe it is their responsibility to share in the communicative burden during interactions with international interlocutors (Lippi-Green, 2012).

Suggestions for Implementing a Language Partner Program

We saw that a structured intergroup contact experience between ITAs and U.S. undergraduate students could yield a positive impact on certain attitudinal responses. Accordingly, we would like to propose some suggestions for implementing a contact program in higher education institutions. First, we suggest that ITA programs should be housed in a university-wide unit or partner with other institution-wide programs. Because undergraduate students who voluntarily enroll in ITA-related programs are likely not the ones who are most in need of this training (Kang & Rubin, 2012), intergroup contact exercises may need to be incorporated into institutionally supported learning community programs such as orientation programs, international studies offices, or global student councils.

Next, ITA programs should focus on cultural programs as well as language training programs, and further emphasize an active involvement of undergraduate students. Undergraduate students themselves should take a leading role in various activities such as recruiting, organizing, coordinating, and troubleshooting the cultural partners program. This type of activity can be treated as an intercultural internship for undergraduate students who have limited experience in cultural diversity. Because the large burden of instruction is carried by ITAs at many institutions in North America, this form of student-directed movement could be helpful for improving student learning outcomes across campus.

Finally, when both ITAs (or international students) and undergraduate students meet together, they should be advised to work on specific tasks. At the initial meeting, they can find out any specific topics both partners would prefer. However, the gatherings should be nonhierarchical so that both parties are given equal responsibility for discussion content and idea exchanges. Eventually, activities that promote the contact principles can be suggested to partners who are meeting on their own or can provide the basis for interactions that are arranged by program coordinators. Overall, we believe that this type of contact activity can be a model of one approach to improving undergraduates’ comprehension of ITAs, and for the broader goal of enhancing students’ global citizenship without ever leaving their home campuses.

References

Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Kang, O., & Rubin, D. (2012). Inter-group contact exercises as a tool for mitigating undergraduates’ attitudes toward ITAs. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 23, 159–166.

Lippi-Green, R. (2012). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States. New York, NY: Routledge.

Rubin, D. L., & Lannutti, P. (2001). Frameworks for assessing contact as a tool for reducing prejudice. In V. H. Milhouse, M. K. Asante, & P. O. Nwosu (Eds.), Transcultural realities: Interdisciplinary perspectives on cross-cultural relations (pp. 313–326). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Okim Kang, PhD, is assistant professor of applied linguistics at Northern Arizona University. Her research focuses on L2 pronunciation, language attitudes, oral proficiency assessment, and ITA issues. She is the winner of Christopher Brumfit PhD Thesis 2009 Award from Cambridge University Press and the Journal of Language Teaching.

Shelley Staples is a PhD candidate in applied linguistics at Northern Arizona University. She previously taught in the EAP/ITA program at the University of Virginia. Her research interests focus on issues relevant to ESP, including corpus-based analyses of specialized registers of spoken discourse and native speaker perceptions of international professionals.

Elizabeth Wittner is the academic director and ITA Program coordinator at the Center for American English Language and Culture at the University of Virginia. She has been involved in TESOL for the past 25 years, but came to higher education and ITA training about 12 years ago. Her interests include oral English, pedagogy, and intercultural communication. She is the current chair-elect for the ITAIS.