New England ITA Network
Where is your ITA Program located? (ESL Program, Institute for Teaching,
English Department, etc.)
It's located in the English Language Center. Until a year ago and for
25 years the ELC was a part of the Division of Students Affairs. A year
ago a new "entrepreneurial" division was created "University
College" and we were moved into it along with Distance Learning and
Continuing Education.
To whom do you report and from whom do you receive funding?
We report to the Director of the English Language Center and our funding
comes from the provost.
How many ITAs do you work with in your orientation/testing/classes
in a typical semester?
We test 50 to 75 students during the orientation. This usually includes
about 10 native speakers. We are anticipating a larger enrollment in September
2000 because of a renewed focus by the university of TA issues. We usually
have between 15 and 20 in "Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation" classes.
We also videotape and meet with any ITA who was in the Orientation program
and teaches during the first semester. The Department of Speech, Language
Pathology and Audiology sees four or five students who are the least intelligible.
What assessments do you use?
We interview the students and have them write an essay. During the orientation
week they do four presentation that are videotaped and evaluated by two
teachers. Also the Department of "Speech, Language Pathology and Audiology" screens
the students.
What classes do you offer? (Please give a brief description, if possible,
along with citations of textbooks used)
We offer a course we call "Listening, Speaking and Pronunciation" that
meets for five hours a week. We use materials we've developed for this
class.
What is the single biggest problem you face?
The day after we've recommended that a TA not be placed in a classroom,
the TA is in the lab or the classroom teaching. There are departments who
must use every ITA available. Another issue is that we need to expand our
program but can't do it because of inadequate funding. |
