Gives an account in journal format of the author's experiences teaching writing and literature at a missionary school in Nigeria. Describes difficulties and conflicts of beliefs encountered over a period of time with her colleagues. Presents a poem from one of her teaching assistants and discusses reactions and meanings involved in the different…

Reports the results of a study on the intonation of 18 Mandarin Chinese speakers lecturing in English. The study investigated the hypothesis that the nonnative speakers who were able to use the intonation system of English most effectively would score higher on a global language test. (Author/JL)

Describes three active learning strategies for use in a teaching assistant (TA) training program that can enhance graduate students' teaching skills: (1) in-class activities; (2) written assignments (journals, written exercises, and teaching portfolios); and (3) modeling and observation (watching versus performing teaching behaviors). (CMK)

Presents a bibliographical essay of diverse sources that address issues relevant to doctoral pedagogy and scholarship. Focuses on previous surveys, thereby creating a microhistory of doctoral programs. Identifies studies that address teacher training issues, particularly how program directors view their responsibilities to graduate teaching…

A study of 163 colleges and universities examined 33 variables seen as incentives for faculty to engage in sponsored research. Results suggest a small predictive relationship between released time to write proposals, reduced faculty loads to work on funded projects, availability of graduate and research assistants, return of some direct costs to…

Finds that more formal dress (business suits, dress shoes) was associated with increased ratings of teaching assistants' competence, particularly for female students rating female instructors. Shows, however, that contrary to common assumptions, the most positive influences of instructor dress were found in the highly casual condition (faded…

Provides four rules on grading for new teaching assistants: (1) set clear standards, and make them known; (2) apply the same standards to everyone; (3) stand firm when you are right, admit when you are wrong; and (4) take your students seriously. (CMK)

Provides results from a survey sent to all North American institutions offering Italian language courses to investigate the internal organization and training procedures for teaching assistants of Italian. (Author/VWL)

Investigated the beliefs, decision-making processes, attitudes, activities, and behaviors of university-level teaching assistants of French as they met once in a week in electronic classrooms and three times a week in non-computer-equipped classrooms. (Author/VWL)

Suggests that action research is appropriate for foreign language teachers because of its emphasis on research perspectives that are particularly illuminating in foreign language classrooms, tracing the conceptual contours of action research to set the stage for two case studies by graduate teaching assistants in German who engaged in action…

This investigation examines the difficulties encountered by one graduate teaching assistant as she taught "Physics for Elementary Education," a large-enrollment, inquiry-based science course taught at a public Midwestern university. The methodological approach of hermeneutic phenomenology served as the lens to investigate the research question,…

This study presents time-and-task records of faculty and teaching assistants' time for comparable computer-aided design courses at two state universities in the midwestern United States. One course was taught at a distance and the other course was a conventional face-to-face course. Results indicate a distance course takes less time to teach than…

In order to obtain concrete information to improve test writing, this study analyzes 13 achievement test drafts written by graduate teaching assistants, lecturers, and adjunct faculty teaching introductory and intermediate college Spanish. The analysis focuses on factors of test method and content likely to create variance in test performance…

This study examined the discourse of teacher supervision/mentoring, specifically within the context of the post-observation meeting. The analysis of six transcripts of post-observation meetings from one semester in a small university Intensive English Program revealed a variety of politeness strategies employed by supervisors in the delivery of…

This article reports on the findings of a small-scale study into the perceptions of 78 primary school children regarding the adults in their classrooms. The data show that children easily differentiate between their own class teacher and other adults, but report a substantial overlap between the activities of teachers and teaching assistants. Some…