New England ITA Network
Where is your ITA Program located? (ESL Program, Institute for Teaching,
English Department, etc.)
The Center for Language
Studies.
To whom do you report and from whom do you receive funding?
The Director of the Center for Language Studies is my immediate supervisor.
I regularly meet with the Dean of the College and Graduate School Deans
to discuss program issues.
Funding comes from the general instructional budget/the Dean of the Faculty.
How many ITAs do you work with in your orientation/testing/classes
in a typical semester?
In August/September, we evaluated 65 students. For the Fall semester,
we have 60 students enrolled in our classes (three sections of ESL for
ITAs 101 and two sections of ESL for ITAs 102).
What assessments do you use?
We use teaching simulations and sometimes interviews. Evaluators are ESL
professionals, Brown undergraduates and department representatives.
What classes do you offer? (Please give a brief description, if possible,
along with citations of textbooks used)
We offer two classes: ESL for ITAs 101 and ESL for ITAs 102.
ESL for ITAs 101 is designed to improve students' listening comprehension
and fluency in conversational interactions common in an undergraduate
classroom setting. The focus of this class is on improving students'
pronunciation to attain maximum intelligibility. The coursework is
designed to help students gain control of English articulations, stress
patterns,
timing and intonation. The textbooks we are using this semester are
Accurate English and Speechcraft (Core Text & ITA Workbook), supplemented
by our own materials.
ESL for ITA's 102 emphasizes intelligibility of speech and clarity
of expression in presenting material and in responding to questions.
Student presentations
are videotaped and these tapes are critiqued in order to help the students
improve their communication skills. The textbook we are using this
semester is Teaching American Students, supplemented by our own materials.
What is the single biggest problem you face?
Limited cooperation from some departments. |
