Studies on teachers' beliefs about vocabulary learning and teaching have focused, so far, on English as a second language (L2), or foreign language (FL), in different contexts but little attention has been given to other L2s and FLs. In this study, 15 Spanish L2 instructors at large universities were interviewed in order to better understand where…

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…

This design case provides a transparent tale of building an international graduate teaching assistant (IGTA) orientation as a virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) during the COVID-19 era. The design case is situated in an English as a Second Language Composition (ESLC) Program at a large midwestern university for new GTAs, both international and…

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…

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:…

Research on teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has been burgeoning recently. Yet, little is known about how teachers integrate AI tools such as ChatGPT in language teaching. This preliminary qualitative study investigates the exploration and incorporation of ChatGPT in language teaching by graduate student instructors…

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to explore improving first semester training practices for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the Spanish program at Arizona State University's (ASU) Tempe Campus. Adding to research on TA training in higher education, a communities of practice (CoP) framework was combined with concrete…

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…

This study investigated how the NAO robot as a teaching assistant affects the way university students learn vocabulary and their attitudes towards it. A mixed method approach was followed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. A quasi-experimental design, including a pre-test and a post-test, was employed to explore the impact of the…

The highly diverse character of US universities provides an opportunity for writing programs to (re)examine the extent to which their current administrative, curricular, and pedagogical practices support a growing student population with unique linguistic, cultural, and educational backgrounds, resources, and needs. This dissertation research…

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 paper reports the results of a narrative inquiry study on exchange programs, intercultural awareness, and professional development in eight former participants of the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant--FLTA--program. This study used written narratives to collect data from eight participants of the FLTA scholarship program who…

Technology has shaped the personal experiences of Teaching Assistants (TAs) of French at the collegiate level in the United States (US), what they feel about the technology tools that are accessible in their work environment, and how they use these tools in their practice of teaching. Yet, there is limited research on the specific topic of the…