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Developing presentation skills: A perspective derived from professional education
English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 8, pp. 195-203, 1989 PergamonPress plc. Printed in the USA
0889-4906/89$3.00 + .00 Copyright© 1989The AmericanUniversity
D e v e l o p i n g P r e s e n t a t i o n Skills: A P e r s p e c t i v e Derived from P r o f e s s i o n a l Education F r a n c e s A. B o y d - - The curriculum of programs of instruction for international teaching assistants (ITAs) commonly covers three areas: language, culture, and teaching. This paper focuses on teaching. At Columbia University, we have developed a variety of classroom materials to train ITAs in practical, readily transferable teaching skills. Even more important, our courses are designed to help ITAs develop a professional self-image in their field of expertise, while fostering a deeper understanding of the American educational system and their role in it. This paper attempts to place ITA courses within the context of professional education. It then goes on to explore the implications of this perspective for the curriculum of such courses, particularly in the area of teaching. Finally, the paper offers a sample of curriculum materials written from a professional education perspective. These materials are intended to develop teaching or "presentation" skills, as well as professional attitudes and values.
Abstract
From Training to Professional Education Over the past several years, instructors in English as a second language at a large number of American colleges and universities have been asked to develop special courses for the growing number of international graduate students working as teaching assistants in math, social science, and science departments. Many of these courses have been organized on short notice in response to state laws, university policies, or departmental requests. Initially, these courses have been conceived as "training" programs -- that is, narrowly focused courses intended to improve pronunciation and to teach specific, job-related skills, rather than to address such broader issues as professional attitudes and values (Turitz, 1984). Now that ITAs have become a permanent presence on American campuses, the question arises whether such a narrow focus is too limited for a professional population, especially one that includes future professors at American institutions. To clarify the discussion, it may be helpful to define three terms used frequently in conjunction with pedagogical models. "Training" generally refers to skills training for a specific job -- the knowledge of safety procedures, for example, required to function effectively as a laboratory technician. "Development" frequently includes some skills training, but it goes beyond this to address such broader subjects as problem solving and managerial theory (Nadler, 1979). "Education," the most inclusive category, refers to the development of knowledge and skills, as well as attitudes, values, and Address correspondence to: Frances Boyd, American Language Program, Columbia University, 505 Lewisohn
Hall, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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sensibilities (Cremin, 1976). Not limited by the requisites of a job or an organization, education is meant to produce reflective thinkers capable of sustaining their own intellectual growth. Increasingly in our society, business and industry have taken on the task of training and developing employees; education, however, is still considered to be the responsibility of schools. In the United States, this means, almost exclusively, colleges and universities. The various programs at these institutions include elements of training, development, and education, as defined above, with a distinct emphasis on education. It may be that a stronger emphasis on education will enhance our efforts to meet the needs of ITAs and, by extension, the needs of American undergraduates in their classes.
The ITA Curriculum from a Professional Education Perspective Were we to think of ITA courses as part of the professional education of future professors and researchers, we might reach slightly different conclusions about the curriculum, particularly in the area of teaching. For one thing, professional education, unlike training, has broad, long-range goals. Rather than offer answers to immediate job-related problems, it provides ITAs with the tools required to form their own answers and, indeed, to pose their own questions. In most cases, these tools are insights about or ways of looking at education, at teaching, and at themselves. Another purpose of professional education is to model a particular view of expertise. In a recent article summarizing research in this field, Kennedy (1987) points out that professional education programs are constructed in accordance with certain definitions of professional expertise. How we conceive of the expertise of a teacher or of a scientific researcher, therefore, may determine to a large extent how we design a course to prepare students for professional work in these fields. Teaching, for example, has been defined as mastery of a body of skills and knowledge. Educational programs with the goal of achieving this kind of expertise tend to be prescriptive or mimetic, setting up activities in which students learn set responses to problems. But teaching expertise can also be defined as this kind of mastery combined with "reflection in action" -- that is, an ability to think reflectively about and act deliberately on a broad range of educational problems (Sch6n, 1985). Professional education with these objectives would be structured very differently from training and development programs solely concerned with mastery of a body of skills and knowledge. It might, for example, require students to frame problems in many familiar and unfamiliar educational situations and then suggest alternative solutions to them. In most cases, ITAs are scientific researchers accustomed to solving problems by the scientific method. Why not encourage a similar approach to teaching, thereby drawing a powerful analogy between ITAs' established areas of expertise and the new field they hope to master? As Richard Feynman (1985), the Nobel prizewinner in physics, said about the relationship between his own professional roles as teacher and researcher:
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The questions of the students are often the source of new research... So I find that teachingand the students keep lifegoing, and I wouldn e v e r accept any position in which somebodyhas inventeda happy situationfor me where I don't have to teach. (p. 150) A third important aspect of professional education is that it may give students an opportunity to try out the professional roles which they expect to fill in the future, in the way that physicians train in residency. As Huntington (1957) concluded from a study of professional self-image, " . . . the opportunity to act in the role of quasi-physician facilitated the sense of growing doctorhood," (p. 188). If professional development is within the scope of an ITA course, then we may want to include opportunities for students to act in the role of teacher, or in the role of researcher presenting a paper, especially within the "sheltered situation" of the course (Gartner, 1976). These are only a few of the implications that a professional education perspective has for teaching ITAs. Let us now examine some curriculum materials developed with this broader educational framework in mind.
Sample Curriculum Materials: Presentation Skills as Professional Skills In this section, we offer samples of curriculum materials intended to help ITAs develop presentation skills for teaching and for discussing research at formal meetings. Each lesson in the presentation skills series is taught at Columbia University as a two-hour class for a small group of students. These highly focused lessons guide the students through a sequence of activities, culminating in a two-minute presentation. All the activities in a given lesson deal with one or two skills generally considered to be part of the preferred TA paradigm. This model is a loose compendium of skills, knowledge, and attitudes based on the literature on college teaching; observations of successful and less successful TAs, as judged by their departments; and personal experience. In general, preferred TAs are those who interact with students on several levels in a variety of ways. They are humorous, enthusiastic, and, above all, empathetic, which enables them to establish rapport with their students. Academically talented, preferred TAs consider themselves professionalsin-training who are making the transition from student to teacher. For international TAs, this transformation occurs simultaneously with a process of cultural adjustment. The examples given here come from a lesson that focuses on two teaching skills: explaining by example and eliciting questions. The presentation assignment, "Explaining a Technical Term," is designed to use both skills. Each lesson begins with exercises to familiarize students with the skills. In "Anticipating" and "Focusing In," ITAs are asked to think about the experience and attitudes they bring to the subject. Here, it is useful to introduce cultural differences or potential points of individual disagreement to raise students' awareness and interest.
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Example 1: Anticipating The presentation skills we focus on in this lesson are: eliciting questions and explaining by example. Discuss these questions briefly: 1. What is difficult about explaining a technical term to students? 2. Think of a crystal clear explanation of a term that you have heard recently. What made it so clear for you? Example 2: Focusing In Read each statement and decide whether you agree or disagree with it• Write agree or disagree in the blank. Then, working in pairs, discuss your choices and the reasons for them. _1. If students prepared themselves better before class, they would not need to ask the teaching assistant questions• ~2. Most student questions are about exams and grades, not the subject. __3. People learn better by answering questions, not by asking them. _4. The least intelligent students ask the most questions. _5. To explain a technical term to students, an example is better than a definition. _6. As the saying goes, a picture (chart, or diagram) is worth a thousand words. T h e s e t w o s h o r t activities are followed by an e x e r c i s e called " O b s e r v i n g , " in which the t e a c h e r b e c o m e s t h e T A and t h e I T A s b e c o m e the s t u d e n t s . O n e p u r p o s e of this activity is to e n c o u r a g e I T A s to begin integrating t h e k n o w l e d g e a c c u m u l a t e d during their m a n y y e a r s as s t u d e n t s into their n e w v i e w f r o m the o t h e r side of the desk.
Example 3: Observing Observe your teacher explaining a term or concept having to do with American English pronunciation, then discuss this question: What teaching strategies clarified the term for you? (Note: The teacher will want to choose a term of genuine interest and usefulness to the students• Some possibilities might be: voicing of consonants, vowel reductions in American English, or stress and rhythm. Whatever you choose, be sure to use an appropriate example or analogy and to elicit questions with verbal and nonverbal clues•) T h e first h o u r concludes with a r e s e a r c h a s s i g n m e n t called " G e t t i n g M o r e I n f o r m a t i o n , " which r e q u i r e s s t u d e n t s to g a t h e r data about t h e t w o t e a c h i n g skills f r o m the writings of e d u c a t o r s and scientists. This activity not only adds to their k n o w l e d g e but u n d e r l i n e s t h e professional and e v e n scientific dimensions of the e n t e r p r i s e . P o r t i o n s of this e x e r c i s e a r e s h o w n below.
Example 4: Getting More Information Divide the class in half: one group will do the exercises in part A; the other group will do part B. In order to complete part C, students will need to pair up. A. Eliciting Questions An important teaching skill is the ability to elicit and pose questions. Read the following passage by a well-known teacher-educator, then do the exercises. asking and answering questions is essential. Punctuating one's discourse with pauses for questions is a very rudimentary act of teaching, and elicting good •
.
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questions is a skill that expert teachers are always striving to develop. Shaping questions, persisting until answers are gotten, guiding questions to some end -these are matters of great importance. A teacher's general stance can invite or discourage questions. A skillful teacher may need nothing more than a gesture, a turn of head, a singling out by hand or look, even a pause, to elicit questions. (Eble, 1976, p. 59) Decide whether each statement is True or False according to the passage. Write "T" or "F" in the blank. Compare your answers with those of a classmate. _1. Teachers should not encourage questions during their presentations. _2. Teachers can use pauses to elicit student questions. _3. To ask a question is relatively easy; to elict one takes special skill. _4. Nonverbal cues can be effective for eliciting student questions. B. Explaining by Example The ability to select and to use appropriate examples is critical to good teaching. Read the following passage in which a journalist explains the basics of string theory to a general audience. Then, complete the exercise below. "'String theory," as it is commonly known (some scientists call it "super-string theory"), does away with the familiar image of a universe composed of billardball-lihe particles pushed and pulled by familiar forces like gravity and electricity. Quantum theory had already revealed in the 1920's that the billard balls have curious wave-lihe properties: they are more like vibrations than well-defincd points in space. Now string theory is proposing that these points, in fact, are tiny loops, or closed "stn'ngs, "that the universe is built not of Grape-Nuts but of Cheerios. (Cole, 1987, p. 22) In this example, changing theories of the nature of matter are described in everyday images. First, we thought of the universe as made of (1) , then of ( 2 ) _ _ . Now a new theory proposes that it is actually composed of (3)__. The contrast between the two most recent theories is made crystal clear by an analogy to breakfast cereals. Grape-Nuts are probably shaped like (4) whereas Cheerios must be shaped like ( 5 ) _ _ . C. Pool your knowledge and understanding to complete this exercise. Work in pairs: a student who read part A should work with one who read part B. Make inferences from what you have read. Discuss each point and clarify it for your classmate. According to the reading, which of the following statements are generally true in a classroom situation? Check (,/) the ones that are true. _1. Successful TAs elicit more questions than they pose. _2. American students do not need to be encouraged to ask questions. _3. If a TA does not know the answer to a question, he or she should invent one. _4. For American students, asking questions is a learning strategy. According to the reading, which of the following statements are generally true when explaining technical terms to students? Check (,/) the ones that are true. _1. A good example uses something familiar to explain something unfamiliar. __2. To explain a scientific term, use examples that do not have anything to do with science. _3. Because they are simple, good examples may sometimes seem silly to the TA. _4. It may take some imagination and discussion with colleagues to come up with a good example. _5. Props and illustrations are rarely useful for clarifying an explanation.
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N o w that s t u d e n t s have b e e n i n t r o d u c e d to the teaching skills, the s e c o n d hour focuses on learning how to u s e them. " P r e p a r i n g to P e r f o r m " includes a p r e s e n t a t i o n a s s i g n m e n t and a r e v i e w of useful p h r a s e s , if such a r e v i e w is n e e d e d . M o d e l s from s t u d e n t s or o t h e r s o u r c e s can be introduced h e r e to clarify the a s s i g n m e n t and to stimulate creativity. Example 5: Preparing to Perform A. Eliciting Questions with Questions. Besides using nonverbal cues, another way to invite questions is to ask them. Underline the phrases you have used in the past. Circle two new ones that you would like to practice. Are there any questions? Would you like to ask some questions? Any questions so far? Can I answer any questions? Shall I go on, or are there questions? Is this clear? B. Choosing a Term and an Example. Select a technical term that you might actually need to explain to a class. Find an example to clarify your explanation. Think of drawings and gestures that might help. Terms chosen by physics ITAs at Columbia University include: absolute error and relative error; real image and virtual image, focal length and focal plane; alpha and beta decay. Geophysics students sometimes use Poisson's ratio (demonstrating with a rubber band), stress tensor, p-wave and s-wave.
This p r e p a r a t o r y step leads directly to the " P e r f o r m i n g " activity. A strict time limit is set for practical and pedagogical r e a s o n s . E v e n in a practice setting, s t u d e n t s n e e d to c o n c e n t r a t e fully on the skills u n d e r consideration, both as p r e s e n t e r s and evaluators. Example 6: Performing Each student will stand up and give a two-minute explanation of a technical term, keeping in mind that the intended audience is undergraduate students. Though notes may be followed, the text should not be written out. Explain clearly by: • Including a good example. • Using drawings and gestures to complement the explanation. • Eliciting questions from the group in several ways: calling on students by name, using nonverbal cues, asking questions.
Videotaping s o m e p r e s e n t a t i o n s is r e c o m m e n d e d , especially as an aid in evaluation. T o hone additional skills, it is useful to conduct p e e r - and self-evaluations of each p r e s e n t a t i o n . O v e r time, s t u d e n t s b e c o m e m o r e sophisticated o b s e r v e r s and critics of their o w n w o r k and that of their colleagues. W h a t e v e r criteria are selected, it is i m p o r t a n t that t h e y be u s e d c o n s i s t e n t l y t h r o u g h o u t the c o u r s e . E x a m p l e 7 s h o w s a checklist that can be u s e d to evaluate l e s s o n s on p r e s e n t a t i o n skills.
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Example 7: Evaluating the Presentation Use the Peer- and Self-Evaluation Checklist. Your instructor may want to keep a record of corections in a bluebook for you. Checklist for Peer- and Self-Evaluation Name Date__ After viewing the video, rate the speaker from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent) in each of the following areas:
Features of the Presentation __Focus Skills:. . . . __Appropriateness of content --Interest level
Physical Shills _.Makes eye contact for about 5 seconds each time JVIakes eye contact with people in different areas of the room
_Uses some facial expressions _Uses appropriate gestures (velcro arms? fig-leaf position?) ~Moves around the room appropriately (pacing? rooted feet?) --Has expression in the voice (enthusiastic? bored?) _Speaks loudly enough (varies the volume?)
Language --Pronunciation ._.Fluency _Grammar _Comprehensibility Notes on the instructor's and classmates' comments:
The second classroom hour concludes with "Using Your New Skills," an assignment to be completed outside of class. Those who are teaching are asked to apply their skills immediately, while those who are preparing to teach complete an observation assignment on the same theme. Example 8: Using Your New Skills a) If you are presently teaching, explain a term that students need for their lab or lecture. In your audio journal, report on your presentation and on your students' reaction. b) If you are not teaching, observe a TA or a professor in your department. Notice especially how the instructor elicits questions and makes explanations. Report on the observation in your audio journal.
Whether or not ITAs are teaching during the course, they should be encouraged to keep an audio journal of their developing insights into teaching. Specific journal assignments, such as reflections on their own teaching or that of professors or other TAs, help students to articulate their feelings and organize their ideas. In so doing, the fledgling professionals become more aware of their growing expertise. In addition, they become more willing to pose questions and search for alternative answers as they begin to apply their imaginations as scientists to the problematics of teaching. We have found that journals encourage unusually frank dialogue between ITAs and their teachers
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on subjects that range from persistent pronunciation problems to grade grubbing by undergraduates. Example 9: Keeping an Audio Journal
Purpose • To provide a mechanism for students to reflect on their development as teachers. • To give students an opportunity to receive systematic, personalized feedback.
Format • Students submit weekly taped entries (2-4 minutes in length) to the instructor. • Instructors provide feedback directly on the tape, including comments on the content and the language of the entry. • Assignments for journal entries might include answering such questions as: 1) How do you plan to teach your upcoming lab? What difficulties do you envision? How do you plan to cope with them? 2) How did your lab go? How accurate were your predictions about possible difficulties? How did you feel about your handling of the material, students' questions, and other aspects of the lab? 3) Discuss the teaching skill you plan to try this week. Then, after the class, evaluate your use of it. 4) After observing a TA, comment on the class. Use the peer-evaluation sheet.
Conclusion This paper suggests that we view international teaching assistants as future professionals and, therefore, that we provide them with courses derived from the perspective of professional education. It also suggests that we can help students to develop the attitudes and self-knowledge of professionals by teaching presentation skills in a way that challenges them to reflect on their ideas and behavior. The sample curriculum materials illustrate the kinds of exercises that can be used to guide students in this process. One benefit of the professional education perspective is that it can help overcome resistance from students who do not understand the need for an ITA course. Rather than be seen as a punishment for inadequate English, the course can be viewed as an educational opportunity with long-range personal and professional advantages. But a more important benefit of this approach is that it places ITA courses within the larger context of university education. The purpose of such courses is not only to train international students for the job of TA and to develop their knowledge about American education and culture, but also to educate them as future faculty members. Seen in this light, ITA courses seek to initiate students in an educational process that will enable them to continue educating themselves throughout their professional lives. Surely there can be no higher goal for a university program.
(ReceivedJanuary 1989)
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REFERENCES Cole, K.C. (1987, October 18). A theory of everything. The New York Times Magazine, pp. 20-27. Cremin, L.A. (1976). Public education. New York: Basic Books. Eble, K.E. (1976). The craft of teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Feynman, R.P. (1985). Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman. New York: Bantam Books. Gartner, A. (1976). The preparation of human service professionals. New York: Human Science Press. Huntington, M.J. (1957). The development of a professional self-image. In R.K. Merton, G. Reader, & P. Kendall (Eds.), The student-physician (pp. 179-188). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kennedy, M.M. (1987). Inexact sciences: Professional education and the development of expertise. In E.Z. Rothkopf (Ed.), Review of research in education (pp. 133-167). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Nadler, L. (1979). Developing human resources (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: Learning Concepts. SchSn, D. (1985). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Turitz, N.J. (1984). A survey of training programs for foreign teaching assistants in American universities. In K.M. Bailey, F. Pialorsi, & J. Zukowski/Faust (Eds.), Foreign Teaching Assistants in U.S. Universities (pp. 43-50). Washington, DC: National Association for Foreign Student Affairs. Frances A. Boyd, lecturer in the American Language Program at Columbia University, is an ESL teacher and teacher-educator.
0889-4906/89$3.00 + .00 Copyright© 1989The AmericanUniversity
D e v e l o p i n g P r e s e n t a t i o n Skills: A P e r s p e c t i v e Derived from P r o f e s s i o n a l Education F r a n c e s A. B o y d - - The curriculum of programs of instruction for international teaching assistants (ITAs) commonly covers three areas: language, culture, and teaching. This paper focuses on teaching. At Columbia University, we have developed a variety of classroom materials to train ITAs in practical, readily transferable teaching skills. Even more important, our courses are designed to help ITAs develop a professional self-image in their field of expertise, while fostering a deeper understanding of the American educational system and their role in it. This paper attempts to place ITA courses within the context of professional education. It then goes on to explore the implications of this perspective for the curriculum of such courses, particularly in the area of teaching. Finally, the paper offers a sample of curriculum materials written from a professional education perspective. These materials are intended to develop teaching or "presentation" skills, as well as professional attitudes and values.
Abstract
From Training to Professional Education Over the past several years, instructors in English as a second language at a large number of American colleges and universities have been asked to develop special courses for the growing number of international graduate students working as teaching assistants in math, social science, and science departments. Many of these courses have been organized on short notice in response to state laws, university policies, or departmental requests. Initially, these courses have been conceived as "training" programs -- that is, narrowly focused courses intended to improve pronunciation and to teach specific, job-related skills, rather than to address such broader issues as professional attitudes and values (Turitz, 1984). Now that ITAs have become a permanent presence on American campuses, the question arises whether such a narrow focus is too limited for a professional population, especially one that includes future professors at American institutions. To clarify the discussion, it may be helpful to define three terms used frequently in conjunction with pedagogical models. "Training" generally refers to skills training for a specific job -- the knowledge of safety procedures, for example, required to function effectively as a laboratory technician. "Development" frequently includes some skills training, but it goes beyond this to address such broader subjects as problem solving and managerial theory (Nadler, 1979). "Education," the most inclusive category, refers to the development of knowledge and skills, as well as attitudes, values, and Address correspondence to: Frances Boyd, American Language Program, Columbia University, 505 Lewisohn
Hall, New York, NY 10027, USA.
195
196
F.A. Boyd
sensibilities (Cremin, 1976). Not limited by the requisites of a job or an organization, education is meant to produce reflective thinkers capable of sustaining their own intellectual growth. Increasingly in our society, business and industry have taken on the task of training and developing employees; education, however, is still considered to be the responsibility of schools. In the United States, this means, almost exclusively, colleges and universities. The various programs at these institutions include elements of training, development, and education, as defined above, with a distinct emphasis on education. It may be that a stronger emphasis on education will enhance our efforts to meet the needs of ITAs and, by extension, the needs of American undergraduates in their classes.
The ITA Curriculum from a Professional Education Perspective Were we to think of ITA courses as part of the professional education of future professors and researchers, we might reach slightly different conclusions about the curriculum, particularly in the area of teaching. For one thing, professional education, unlike training, has broad, long-range goals. Rather than offer answers to immediate job-related problems, it provides ITAs with the tools required to form their own answers and, indeed, to pose their own questions. In most cases, these tools are insights about or ways of looking at education, at teaching, and at themselves. Another purpose of professional education is to model a particular view of expertise. In a recent article summarizing research in this field, Kennedy (1987) points out that professional education programs are constructed in accordance with certain definitions of professional expertise. How we conceive of the expertise of a teacher or of a scientific researcher, therefore, may determine to a large extent how we design a course to prepare students for professional work in these fields. Teaching, for example, has been defined as mastery of a body of skills and knowledge. Educational programs with the goal of achieving this kind of expertise tend to be prescriptive or mimetic, setting up activities in which students learn set responses to problems. But teaching expertise can also be defined as this kind of mastery combined with "reflection in action" -- that is, an ability to think reflectively about and act deliberately on a broad range of educational problems (Sch6n, 1985). Professional education with these objectives would be structured very differently from training and development programs solely concerned with mastery of a body of skills and knowledge. It might, for example, require students to frame problems in many familiar and unfamiliar educational situations and then suggest alternative solutions to them. In most cases, ITAs are scientific researchers accustomed to solving problems by the scientific method. Why not encourage a similar approach to teaching, thereby drawing a powerful analogy between ITAs' established areas of expertise and the new field they hope to master? As Richard Feynman (1985), the Nobel prizewinner in physics, said about the relationship between his own professional roles as teacher and researcher:
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The questions of the students are often the source of new research... So I find that teachingand the students keep lifegoing, and I wouldn e v e r accept any position in which somebodyhas inventeda happy situationfor me where I don't have to teach. (p. 150) A third important aspect of professional education is that it may give students an opportunity to try out the professional roles which they expect to fill in the future, in the way that physicians train in residency. As Huntington (1957) concluded from a study of professional self-image, " . . . the opportunity to act in the role of quasi-physician facilitated the sense of growing doctorhood," (p. 188). If professional development is within the scope of an ITA course, then we may want to include opportunities for students to act in the role of teacher, or in the role of researcher presenting a paper, especially within the "sheltered situation" of the course (Gartner, 1976). These are only a few of the implications that a professional education perspective has for teaching ITAs. Let us now examine some curriculum materials developed with this broader educational framework in mind.
Sample Curriculum Materials: Presentation Skills as Professional Skills In this section, we offer samples of curriculum materials intended to help ITAs develop presentation skills for teaching and for discussing research at formal meetings. Each lesson in the presentation skills series is taught at Columbia University as a two-hour class for a small group of students. These highly focused lessons guide the students through a sequence of activities, culminating in a two-minute presentation. All the activities in a given lesson deal with one or two skills generally considered to be part of the preferred TA paradigm. This model is a loose compendium of skills, knowledge, and attitudes based on the literature on college teaching; observations of successful and less successful TAs, as judged by their departments; and personal experience. In general, preferred TAs are those who interact with students on several levels in a variety of ways. They are humorous, enthusiastic, and, above all, empathetic, which enables them to establish rapport with their students. Academically talented, preferred TAs consider themselves professionalsin-training who are making the transition from student to teacher. For international TAs, this transformation occurs simultaneously with a process of cultural adjustment. The examples given here come from a lesson that focuses on two teaching skills: explaining by example and eliciting questions. The presentation assignment, "Explaining a Technical Term," is designed to use both skills. Each lesson begins with exercises to familiarize students with the skills. In "Anticipating" and "Focusing In," ITAs are asked to think about the experience and attitudes they bring to the subject. Here, it is useful to introduce cultural differences or potential points of individual disagreement to raise students' awareness and interest.
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Example 1: Anticipating The presentation skills we focus on in this lesson are: eliciting questions and explaining by example. Discuss these questions briefly: 1. What is difficult about explaining a technical term to students? 2. Think of a crystal clear explanation of a term that you have heard recently. What made it so clear for you? Example 2: Focusing In Read each statement and decide whether you agree or disagree with it• Write agree or disagree in the blank. Then, working in pairs, discuss your choices and the reasons for them. _1. If students prepared themselves better before class, they would not need to ask the teaching assistant questions• ~2. Most student questions are about exams and grades, not the subject. __3. People learn better by answering questions, not by asking them. _4. The least intelligent students ask the most questions. _5. To explain a technical term to students, an example is better than a definition. _6. As the saying goes, a picture (chart, or diagram) is worth a thousand words. T h e s e t w o s h o r t activities are followed by an e x e r c i s e called " O b s e r v i n g , " in which the t e a c h e r b e c o m e s t h e T A and t h e I T A s b e c o m e the s t u d e n t s . O n e p u r p o s e of this activity is to e n c o u r a g e I T A s to begin integrating t h e k n o w l e d g e a c c u m u l a t e d during their m a n y y e a r s as s t u d e n t s into their n e w v i e w f r o m the o t h e r side of the desk.
Example 3: Observing Observe your teacher explaining a term or concept having to do with American English pronunciation, then discuss this question: What teaching strategies clarified the term for you? (Note: The teacher will want to choose a term of genuine interest and usefulness to the students• Some possibilities might be: voicing of consonants, vowel reductions in American English, or stress and rhythm. Whatever you choose, be sure to use an appropriate example or analogy and to elicit questions with verbal and nonverbal clues•) T h e first h o u r concludes with a r e s e a r c h a s s i g n m e n t called " G e t t i n g M o r e I n f o r m a t i o n , " which r e q u i r e s s t u d e n t s to g a t h e r data about t h e t w o t e a c h i n g skills f r o m the writings of e d u c a t o r s and scientists. This activity not only adds to their k n o w l e d g e but u n d e r l i n e s t h e professional and e v e n scientific dimensions of the e n t e r p r i s e . P o r t i o n s of this e x e r c i s e a r e s h o w n below.
Example 4: Getting More Information Divide the class in half: one group will do the exercises in part A; the other group will do part B. In order to complete part C, students will need to pair up. A. Eliciting Questions An important teaching skill is the ability to elicit and pose questions. Read the following passage by a well-known teacher-educator, then do the exercises. asking and answering questions is essential. Punctuating one's discourse with pauses for questions is a very rudimentary act of teaching, and elicting good •
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questions is a skill that expert teachers are always striving to develop. Shaping questions, persisting until answers are gotten, guiding questions to some end -these are matters of great importance. A teacher's general stance can invite or discourage questions. A skillful teacher may need nothing more than a gesture, a turn of head, a singling out by hand or look, even a pause, to elicit questions. (Eble, 1976, p. 59) Decide whether each statement is True or False according to the passage. Write "T" or "F" in the blank. Compare your answers with those of a classmate. _1. Teachers should not encourage questions during their presentations. _2. Teachers can use pauses to elicit student questions. _3. To ask a question is relatively easy; to elict one takes special skill. _4. Nonverbal cues can be effective for eliciting student questions. B. Explaining by Example The ability to select and to use appropriate examples is critical to good teaching. Read the following passage in which a journalist explains the basics of string theory to a general audience. Then, complete the exercise below. "'String theory," as it is commonly known (some scientists call it "super-string theory"), does away with the familiar image of a universe composed of billardball-lihe particles pushed and pulled by familiar forces like gravity and electricity. Quantum theory had already revealed in the 1920's that the billard balls have curious wave-lihe properties: they are more like vibrations than well-defincd points in space. Now string theory is proposing that these points, in fact, are tiny loops, or closed "stn'ngs, "that the universe is built not of Grape-Nuts but of Cheerios. (Cole, 1987, p. 22) In this example, changing theories of the nature of matter are described in everyday images. First, we thought of the universe as made of (1) , then of ( 2 ) _ _ . Now a new theory proposes that it is actually composed of (3)__. The contrast between the two most recent theories is made crystal clear by an analogy to breakfast cereals. Grape-Nuts are probably shaped like (4) whereas Cheerios must be shaped like ( 5 ) _ _ . C. Pool your knowledge and understanding to complete this exercise. Work in pairs: a student who read part A should work with one who read part B. Make inferences from what you have read. Discuss each point and clarify it for your classmate. According to the reading, which of the following statements are generally true in a classroom situation? Check (,/) the ones that are true. _1. Successful TAs elicit more questions than they pose. _2. American students do not need to be encouraged to ask questions. _3. If a TA does not know the answer to a question, he or she should invent one. _4. For American students, asking questions is a learning strategy. According to the reading, which of the following statements are generally true when explaining technical terms to students? Check (,/) the ones that are true. _1. A good example uses something familiar to explain something unfamiliar. __2. To explain a scientific term, use examples that do not have anything to do with science. _3. Because they are simple, good examples may sometimes seem silly to the TA. _4. It may take some imagination and discussion with colleagues to come up with a good example. _5. Props and illustrations are rarely useful for clarifying an explanation.
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N o w that s t u d e n t s have b e e n i n t r o d u c e d to the teaching skills, the s e c o n d hour focuses on learning how to u s e them. " P r e p a r i n g to P e r f o r m " includes a p r e s e n t a t i o n a s s i g n m e n t and a r e v i e w of useful p h r a s e s , if such a r e v i e w is n e e d e d . M o d e l s from s t u d e n t s or o t h e r s o u r c e s can be introduced h e r e to clarify the a s s i g n m e n t and to stimulate creativity. Example 5: Preparing to Perform A. Eliciting Questions with Questions. Besides using nonverbal cues, another way to invite questions is to ask them. Underline the phrases you have used in the past. Circle two new ones that you would like to practice. Are there any questions? Would you like to ask some questions? Any questions so far? Can I answer any questions? Shall I go on, or are there questions? Is this clear? B. Choosing a Term and an Example. Select a technical term that you might actually need to explain to a class. Find an example to clarify your explanation. Think of drawings and gestures that might help. Terms chosen by physics ITAs at Columbia University include: absolute error and relative error; real image and virtual image, focal length and focal plane; alpha and beta decay. Geophysics students sometimes use Poisson's ratio (demonstrating with a rubber band), stress tensor, p-wave and s-wave.
This p r e p a r a t o r y step leads directly to the " P e r f o r m i n g " activity. A strict time limit is set for practical and pedagogical r e a s o n s . E v e n in a practice setting, s t u d e n t s n e e d to c o n c e n t r a t e fully on the skills u n d e r consideration, both as p r e s e n t e r s and evaluators. Example 6: Performing Each student will stand up and give a two-minute explanation of a technical term, keeping in mind that the intended audience is undergraduate students. Though notes may be followed, the text should not be written out. Explain clearly by: • Including a good example. • Using drawings and gestures to complement the explanation. • Eliciting questions from the group in several ways: calling on students by name, using nonverbal cues, asking questions.
Videotaping s o m e p r e s e n t a t i o n s is r e c o m m e n d e d , especially as an aid in evaluation. T o hone additional skills, it is useful to conduct p e e r - and self-evaluations of each p r e s e n t a t i o n . O v e r time, s t u d e n t s b e c o m e m o r e sophisticated o b s e r v e r s and critics of their o w n w o r k and that of their colleagues. W h a t e v e r criteria are selected, it is i m p o r t a n t that t h e y be u s e d c o n s i s t e n t l y t h r o u g h o u t the c o u r s e . E x a m p l e 7 s h o w s a checklist that can be u s e d to evaluate l e s s o n s on p r e s e n t a t i o n skills.
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Example 7: Evaluating the Presentation Use the Peer- and Self-Evaluation Checklist. Your instructor may want to keep a record of corections in a bluebook for you. Checklist for Peer- and Self-Evaluation Name Date__ After viewing the video, rate the speaker from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent) in each of the following areas:
Features of the Presentation __Focus Skills:. . . . __Appropriateness of content --Interest level
Physical Shills _.Makes eye contact for about 5 seconds each time JVIakes eye contact with people in different areas of the room
_Uses some facial expressions _Uses appropriate gestures (velcro arms? fig-leaf position?) ~Moves around the room appropriately (pacing? rooted feet?) --Has expression in the voice (enthusiastic? bored?) _Speaks loudly enough (varies the volume?)
Language --Pronunciation ._.Fluency _Grammar _Comprehensibility Notes on the instructor's and classmates' comments:
The second classroom hour concludes with "Using Your New Skills," an assignment to be completed outside of class. Those who are teaching are asked to apply their skills immediately, while those who are preparing to teach complete an observation assignment on the same theme. Example 8: Using Your New Skills a) If you are presently teaching, explain a term that students need for their lab or lecture. In your audio journal, report on your presentation and on your students' reaction. b) If you are not teaching, observe a TA or a professor in your department. Notice especially how the instructor elicits questions and makes explanations. Report on the observation in your audio journal.
Whether or not ITAs are teaching during the course, they should be encouraged to keep an audio journal of their developing insights into teaching. Specific journal assignments, such as reflections on their own teaching or that of professors or other TAs, help students to articulate their feelings and organize their ideas. In so doing, the fledgling professionals become more aware of their growing expertise. In addition, they become more willing to pose questions and search for alternative answers as they begin to apply their imaginations as scientists to the problematics of teaching. We have found that journals encourage unusually frank dialogue between ITAs and their teachers
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on subjects that range from persistent pronunciation problems to grade grubbing by undergraduates. Example 9: Keeping an Audio Journal
Purpose • To provide a mechanism for students to reflect on their development as teachers. • To give students an opportunity to receive systematic, personalized feedback.
Format • Students submit weekly taped entries (2-4 minutes in length) to the instructor. • Instructors provide feedback directly on the tape, including comments on the content and the language of the entry. • Assignments for journal entries might include answering such questions as: 1) How do you plan to teach your upcoming lab? What difficulties do you envision? How do you plan to cope with them? 2) How did your lab go? How accurate were your predictions about possible difficulties? How did you feel about your handling of the material, students' questions, and other aspects of the lab? 3) Discuss the teaching skill you plan to try this week. Then, after the class, evaluate your use of it. 4) After observing a TA, comment on the class. Use the peer-evaluation sheet.
Conclusion This paper suggests that we view international teaching assistants as future professionals and, therefore, that we provide them with courses derived from the perspective of professional education. It also suggests that we can help students to develop the attitudes and self-knowledge of professionals by teaching presentation skills in a way that challenges them to reflect on their ideas and behavior. The sample curriculum materials illustrate the kinds of exercises that can be used to guide students in this process. One benefit of the professional education perspective is that it can help overcome resistance from students who do not understand the need for an ITA course. Rather than be seen as a punishment for inadequate English, the course can be viewed as an educational opportunity with long-range personal and professional advantages. But a more important benefit of this approach is that it places ITA courses within the larger context of university education. The purpose of such courses is not only to train international students for the job of TA and to develop their knowledge about American education and culture, but also to educate them as future faculty members. Seen in this light, ITA courses seek to initiate students in an educational process that will enable them to continue educating themselves throughout their professional lives. Surely there can be no higher goal for a university program.
(ReceivedJanuary 1989)
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REFERENCES Cole, K.C. (1987, October 18). A theory of everything. The New York Times Magazine, pp. 20-27. Cremin, L.A. (1976). Public education. New York: Basic Books. Eble, K.E. (1976). The craft of teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Feynman, R.P. (1985). Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman. New York: Bantam Books. Gartner, A. (1976). The preparation of human service professionals. New York: Human Science Press. Huntington, M.J. (1957). The development of a professional self-image. In R.K. Merton, G. Reader, & P. Kendall (Eds.), The student-physician (pp. 179-188). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kennedy, M.M. (1987). Inexact sciences: Professional education and the development of expertise. In E.Z. Rothkopf (Ed.), Review of research in education (pp. 133-167). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association. Nadler, L. (1979). Developing human resources (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: Learning Concepts. SchSn, D. (1985). The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Turitz, N.J. (1984). A survey of training programs for foreign teaching assistants in American universities. In K.M. Bailey, F. Pialorsi, & J. Zukowski/Faust (Eds.), Foreign Teaching Assistants in U.S. Universities (pp. 43-50). Washington, DC: National Association for Foreign Student Affairs. Frances A. Boyd, lecturer in the American Language Program at Columbia University, is an ESL teacher and teacher-educator.