Second language (L2) researchers have often studied how L2 speaking anxiety and self-confidence influence various aspects of the language learning process whereas the sources of these emotions have remained under-explored. Drawing on Dweck's (1999) theory of motivation, the present study examined L2 learners' mindsets (beliefs about the…

International teaching assistants (ITAs) often encounter challenges, and with the popularization of English medium instruction (EMI) in international higher education contexts, these problems are no longer restricted to English-speaking countries. Against this backdrop and drawing on the concept of identity paradox, the author presents an…

If extraneous information leads listeners to biased judgements, then their speech perceptions are likely to manifest distortion in that direction. This phenomenon is known as reverse linguistic stereotyping (RLS), which has been confirmed by 25 years of empirical study. Recent research on effects of listener background on ratings of speaker…

This paper extends the use of Generalizability Theory to the measurement of extemporaneous L2 speech through the lens of speech perception. Using six datasets of previous studies, it reports on "G studies"--a method of breaking down measurement variance--and "D studies"--a predictive study of the impact on reliability when…

Despite their centrality to undergraduate teaching in U.S. universities, few studies focus on ITA's and their experiences within ITA training classes. Through a multiple case study of two In-Service ITA's (China, Taiwan) investments (Darvin & Norton, 2015) in one such class, it became clear how idiosyncratic are perception of these courses:…

"Accent work" is a term used to describe the preparatory work that professional actors undergo to attain a speech accent for a role. However, this article presents international teaching assistants (ITAs) as another set of workers who engage in their own type of accent work. Since the accents of ITAs are constructed as…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the grammatical complexity features of international teaching assistants' (ITAs) mock-teaching presentations and to compare the distributions of these features to those found in the Oral English Proficiency Test (a local ITA assessment), university classroom teaching, conversation, and academic writing. The…

This longitudinal case study investigated the developmental trajectories of two participants enrolled in an ITA oral communication course at Purdue University. The course provides language support to the ITA population who play a crucial role in higher education programs in the U.S. (Gorsuch, 2016). Over four months (i.e., one semester), I…

Drawing on the framework of invariant measurement from Rasch measurement theory, the purpose of this study is to psychometrically evaluate the 20 language and teaching skill domains of the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) Test using the many-facet Rasch model and to empirically explore performance differences between females and males in…

Educators of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) have been overlooked, erroneously. As teacher educators, their work is exponentially important to North American universities. A multiple case study examined three ITA Educators' ideologies, involving data from two interviews -one being a stimulated recall using classroom observations…

When the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to do in-person, on campus testing, we were forced to create a new system to screen International Teaching Assistants (ITA) for Temple university. We used this opportunity to address many of the concerns and problems that we had identified with the previous test, and created a new test that could be…

Revisiting his dissertation journal, the author undertook an autoethnographic study of that period in his life. As a full-time student within a U.S. research university, he had funded his studies by teaching international teaching assistants and undergraduates learning French and Arabic. In this study, he used inductive analysis to explore his…

Nonverbal behavior is essential in human interaction (Gullberg, de Bot, & Volterra, 2008; McNeill, 1992, 2005). For second language speakers, nonverbal features can be helpful for successful and efficient communication (e.g., Dahl & Ludvigsen, 2014). However, due to the complexity of nonverbal features, language testing institutions have…

This study investigated U.S. undergraduates' perceptions of non-native speakers' (NNS) speech which had received 100% proficiency scores on the TOEFL iBT test. Fifty-five U.S. undergraduates rated 20 speech samples for comprehensibility, accentedness, and acceptability. The speech samples were also analyzed for acoustic fluency. Descriptively,…

This study examined the international doctoral students' perceptions of graduate advising and communication with their advisors in online learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study used semi-structured interviews to investigate how international doctoral students at Auburn University perceive their advising relationships with…