STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

TESOL’s International Teaching Assistants Interest Section serves TESOL members who are interested in a range of issues associated with nonnative-English-speaking teaching assistants. These issues include course design, testing programs, materials and test design and selection, the nature of and standards for spoken English discourse, and the culture of classroom communication in North America.

GOALS

• Encourage the sharing of expertise and specialized knowledge among ITA practitioners.
• Promote research into the spoken discourse of ITAs and the nature of classroom communication.
• Foster communication between researchers and practitioners.

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 IS selects sessions and sponsors a range of convention 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 ISs with common concerns, thus more broadly benefiting TESOL.

All information taken from the TESOL ITAIS Web page.