The English Language Institute

The University of Alabama

International Teaching Assistant Program Overview

The English Language Institute has conducted the University of Alabama's International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) annually since 1982 and semi-annually since 1985. The purpose of the program is to train, evaluate, and screen international graduate teaching assistants whose native language is not English. All non-native English speakers (NNES) who serve as graduate teaching assistants are required to complete the ITAP course successfully and pass the ITAP Proficiency Exam before they are allowed to perform their instructional duties.

The ITAP course focuses on three main areas--teaching methods, American culture, and spoken English. The ITAP Proficiency Exam evaluates course participants on both their general proficiency in spoken English as well as on their ability to handle a classroom or laboratory teaching situation.


  Next ITAP Course:

August 20, 2008 - December 5, 2008


  Next ITAP Exam:

1. For students new to ITAP only:

    • August 13, 2008 9-12. Language Resource Center, 252 B.B. Comer.

    PLEASE CONTACT THE ELI OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Student Profile

Program participants are all non-native-English-speaking graduate students who will hold teaching assistantships from an academic department at UA and will actually be given instructional duties. These duties include lecturing, conducting a laboratory, conducting a tutorial, etc.

Duration

Three hours per week (plus conferencing time) for the duration of the Fall or Spring semester.

Course Components

The ITAP course consists of the two modules described below: Teaching Methods (TM) and Oral Skills (OS). Prior to the beginning of the ITAP class, students are given the SPEAK Test for placement purposes. Based on the results of the test, students are placed into one of the two modules. Students who place into OS may not take TM until they demonstrate satisfactory oral proficiency. Upon completion of TM, students will be give the ITAP Proficiency Exam to determine the level of their teaching eligibility.

Teaching Methods Module

The Teaching Methods class is designed to prepare students to teach in an American college classroom. This goal is accomplished by means of the two primary components of the class:

(1) lectures and discussions of relevant pedagogical issues including course policy statements, establishing rapport, lesson plans, teaching techniques and strategies, handling classroom questions, key and necessary vocabulary, nonverbal communication, campus resources, classroom management, testing and grading, getting feedback, self-evaluation, and cultural variance; and

(2) actual practice teaching, which involves having the students teach mini- lessons which are recorded for later review by the instructor and the student together.

In addition, the Teaching Methods class will help to develop in the International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) the following:

(1) an awareness of cultural assumptions and the role of values in those assumptions,

(2) an understanding of the American educational system, and

(3) an understanding of various aspects of American culture which are relevant to academic and social life in the United States.

Oral Skills Module

The objectives of the Oral Skills class are twofold. One aspect of this course deals with helping students to become aware of various aspects of English pronunciation, as well as helping them to isolate and overcome individual pronunciation problems which they may have in English. The other focus of this course is on conversation management skills. Students learn how conversation, especially that which takes place in the classroom, is effectively managed within the linguistic and cultural framework of English. The general overall objective of this course is to help students improve their communicative skills in oral English.

Evaluation

Each participant's readiness to handle classroom responsibility as a graduate teaching assistant at UA is based on three factors: the ELI instructors' assessments of each student's readiness, the student's completion of the ITAP course, and the student's score on the ITAP Proficiency Exam.

ITAP Proficiency Exam

The Proficiency Exam consists of two parts: (a) the SPEAK Test (the institutional version of the Test of Spoken English), which is a general test of spoken English, and (b) a SAMPLE LESSON, which requires students to present a lesson on some topic in their field in a simulated classroom setting.

Teaching Eligibility

Based on the three factors mentioned above, ITAP participants are given one of three evaluations regarding their readiness to teach.

Full Pass:

The student has sufficient language and teaching skills which allow for full teaching responsibility in a lecture-type class.

Conditional Pass:

The student has problems with certain language and/or teaching skills and should only be given teaching responsibility in a lab or tutorial situation where instruction occurs mostly on a one-to-one basis or in a classroom situation where a senior teacher is present. The student should not be given full teaching responsibility, nor should the student be given teaching responsibilities which involve lecturing as the mode of instruction.

No Pass:

The student has serious problems with certain language and/or teaching skills and should be given no speaking responsibility in a class, lab, tutorial, or other situations in which the student disseminates information in a formal capacity.

NOTE: In some instances students are given a Trial Pass (Trial Full Pass or Trial Conditional Pass). A "trial" recommendation is valid only until the next ITAP exam is given.  (A "trial" recommendation given in August is valid for the fall semester only; a "trial" recommendation given in December/January is valid for the spring semester only; a "trial" recommendation given in May is valid for either the summer terms or fall semester.)

Follow-up

A follow-up observation is conducted of each student who receives a passing recommendation from the International Teaching Assistant Program and is actually given a teaching assignment. At least once during the ITA's first semester of teaching, an ELI instructor will observe the ITA in the classroom and meet with him or her to discuss the ITA's performance. Continued follow-up observations are conducted if they are deemed necessary.

More Information

For more information regarding The University of Alabama's International Teaching Assistant Program, contact:

Bill Merriman
ITAP Coordinator
English Language Institute
205-348-7413
merriman@eli.ua.edu