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International teaching assistants’ identity as instructors and rapport with American students

  • Yuan Zhang EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: February 7, 2019
Journal of Politeness Research
From the journal Journal of Politeness Research Volume 15 Issue 1

Abstract

This study investigates whether international teaching assistants (ITAs), compared to American teaching assistants (ATAs), lack any rapport norms that may affect their teaching effectiveness and, if yes, what may cause their lack of those teaching rapport norms. Based on the rapport management theory from Spencer-Oatey (2000, 2008), teaching rapport in this study is delineated in terms of valued attributes as well as rights and obligations of both teachers and students. The data of this study consists of one-on-one interviews with 9 ITAs and 11 ATAs in regard to their self-perceived teaching rapport work and norms. The information from the ITA group was elicited in both the contexts of their country of origin and America and that from the ATA group was only in the American context. The comparison of self-perceived teaching rapport norms between the two groups shows that like ATAs, ITAs are familiar with the norms of teacher and student rights and obligations in American teaching. However, different from ATAs, ITAs do not value other teacher and student attributes beyond their perceived obligations for each role. The differences between ITAs’ self-perceived rapport work and norms in America and in their home country suggest that ITAs’ lack of these rapport norms may be caused by their resistance to the expected instructor identity and/or their mixed feelings about how invested they should be in the expected instructor identity. The findings have pedagogical implications for ITA training, second language acquisition, and English for specific purposes.

Keywords: international teaching assistant; American teaching assistant; selfperception; rapport norms; instructor identity

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Appendix

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Interview Questions for International Teaching Assistants Include:

  1. Which year of the program are you in?

  2. Are you a Master’s or PhD student? Where did you get your previous degree(s)?

  3. Which country are you from?

  4. What languages do you speak? What is your native language?

  5. Which social class do you identify with?

  6. What is your age range? 20’s, 30’s…?

  7. How long have you been teaching composition?

  8. Have you had any experience in teaching any courses in your native country or the U.S. before coming to this program?

  9. What is the work you do to get your students to like you or like the class you teach in the U.S. and/or in your native country respectively if applicable? Any anecdotes?

  10. Are there any ways and what are the typical ways your home country professors or instructors act in order to get students to like them or their classes?

  11. What aspects of students’ behavior make you feel uncomfortable when you teach in the U.S. and/or in your native country respectively if applicable? What makes you feel uncomfortable in your teaching? Any anecdotes?

  12. What are the typical reactions from your home country professors or instructors when faced with similar problems with the students?

  13. What attributes do you value in teachers in the U.S. and/or in your native country respectively if applicable? And what attributes do you value in students in the U.S. and/or in your native country respectively if applicable?

  14. What rights and obligations do you perceive that teachers have in the American university as well as in your home country respectively? And what rights and obligations do you perceive that students have in the American university as well as in your home country respectively?

Interview Questions for American Teaching Assistants Include:

  1. Which year of the program are you in?

  2. Are you a Master’s or PhD student? Where did you get your previous degree(s)?

  3. Which state of America are you from?

  4. Which social class do you identify with?

  5. What’s your age range?

  6. How long have you been teaching composition?

  7. Have you had any experience in teaching any courses before coming to this program? In America or any other country? American students and/or international students?

  8. What is the work you do to get your students, American and/or international students if applicable, to like you or like the class you teach? Any anecdotes?

  9. What aspects of students’ behavior make you feel uncomfortable when you teach, whether the students are American and/or international students if applicable? What makes you feel uncomfortable in your teaching? Any anecdotes?

  10. What attributes do you value in teachers in the American university and/or university from any other country if applicable? And what attributes you value in students, whether the students are American and/or international students if applicable?

  11. What rights and obligations do you perceive that teachers have in the American university and/or university from any other country if applicable? And what rights and obligations do you perceive that students have in the American university and/or university from any other country if applicable?

Received: 2016-01-03
Accepted: 2017-01-25
Published Online: 2019-02-07
Published in Print: 2019-02-04

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. ‘You dribble faster than Messi and jump higher than Jordan’: The art of complimenting and praising in political discourse
  4. Multimodal indexicality in Korean: “doing deference” and “performing intimacy” through nonverbal behavior
  5. Why say it that way?: evasive answers and politeness theory
  6. Routine politeness in American and British English requests: use and non-use of please
  7. 10.1515/pr-2014-0008
  8. International teaching assistants’ identity as instructors and rapport with American students
  9. Book Reviews
  10. Felix-Brasdefer, J. César and Dale April Koike (eds.). 2012. Pragmatic variation in first and second language contexts: methodological issues. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, Hardback ISBN 978-90-272-1872-8. E-Book ISBN ISBN 9789027273277. 338 pp. Price Hb € 99 / $ 149.
  11. Economidou-Kogetsidis, Maria and Helen Woodfield (eds.). 2012. Interlanguage request modification. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, Hardback ISBN 978-90-272-5622-5. 318 pp. Price Hb €95.
  12. Kidd, Joshua Alexander. 2016. Face and Enactment of Identities in the L2 Classroom, Bristol: Multilingual Matters. ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-499-8; 333 pp. Price Hb £109.95
https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2016-0001
Keywords for this article
international teaching assistant; American teaching assistant; selfperception; rapport norms; instructor identity

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. ‘You dribble faster than Messi and jump higher than Jordan’: The art of complimenting and praising in political discourse
  4. Multimodal indexicality in Korean: “doing deference” and “performing intimacy” through nonverbal behavior
  5. Why say it that way?: evasive answers and politeness theory
  6. Routine politeness in American and British English requests: use and non-use of please
  7. 10.1515/pr-2014-0008
  8. International teaching assistants’ identity as instructors and rapport with American students
  9. Book Reviews
  10. Felix-Brasdefer, J. César and Dale April Koike (eds.). 2012. Pragmatic variation in first and second language contexts: methodological issues. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, Hardback ISBN 978-90-272-1872-8. E-Book ISBN ISBN 9789027273277. 338 pp. Price Hb € 99 / $ 149.
  11. Economidou-Kogetsidis, Maria and Helen Woodfield (eds.). 2012. Interlanguage request modification. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, Hardback ISBN 978-90-272-5622-5. 318 pp. Price Hb €95.
  12. Kidd, Joshua Alexander. 2016. Face and Enactment of Identities in the L2 Classroom, Bristol: Multilingual Matters. ISBN-13: 978-1-78309-499-8; 333 pp. Price Hb £109.95
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