What is the ITA Interest Section?

Statement of Purpose/Goals

TESOL’s International Teaching Assistants Interest Section (ITAIS) 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.

History

ITAIS was first established with interim status at TESOL 1992 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 more than 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 conference activities—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.

Call for Submissions

The ITAIS newsletter encourages submission of articles and reviews on topics of significance to ITA professionals. The following are especially encouraged:

• Program and course descriptions
• Best practices and teaching techniques
• Editorials on any topic of interest to ITA practitioners
• Collaborative authorship among ITA professionals and/or ITAs themselves
• Reviews of books, articles, resources, technologies, websites, or conferences that provide analysis relevant to the practice and theory of ITA education
• Summaries of presentations, roundtable discussions, meetings, or conferences that focus on ITA issues

Format

• Submissions should begin with a brief abstract (approximately 50 words).
• Submissions should conclude with a one- or two-sentence bio about the author(s).
• Length can vary depending on the type of submission. Articles should be no more than 1,500 words, but other types of submissions will be shorter.
• For citations, please use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition (APA) .
• Use Times New Roman 12-pt font.
• Use a space between paragraphs instead of indenting.
• Clearly distinguish the different level headings & use bold:
• This Is a Level 1 Head
• This Is a Level 2 Head
• This is a level 3 head.

How to Submit

Submit articles in Microsoft Word (as a .doc or .docx file) as an email attachment in a message to the editor: Maureen Templeman

Please include a picture of yourself as a separate .jpg file and indicate in the email body that you give permission to publish your photo.