Effects of Activities on Improving Undergraduates' Attitudes Toward International Teaching Assistants and Perceptions of Their Speech

• In Event: Internationalization in Higher Education

Abstract

We examined the impact of two intervention activities, a contact activity and a language diversity workshop, on improving U.S. undergraduates’ (UGs’) attitudes towards international teaching assistants (ITAs) and their perceptions of ITAs’ speech. In all, 122 UGs were randomly assigned to control group and intervention groups. We found that the language diversity workshop helped to improve UGs’ openness towards ITAs’ foreign-accented English. However, neither of the interventions showed significant impact on improving UGs’ attitudes towards ITAs or their perceptions of ITAs’ comprehensibility, accentedness, English language proficiency, and teaching ability. These unexpected results revealed the importance of UGs’ exposure to and familiarity with ITAs and ITAs’ accented speech in helping UGs understand ITAs more easily and improving UGs’ and ITAs’ relationship.

Authors

• Xueyan Hu, China Three Gorges University

• Li-Jen Kuo, Texas A&M University - College Station

• L. Quentin Dixon

• Brandon Cooper

• Ginessa Payne, Texas A&M University - College Station