Date of Award
2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Education
Program
Education
Supervisor
Dr. Farahnaz Faez
Abstract
Internationalization is a current impetus in higher education, resulting in many international graduate students working as teaching assistants (ITAs) in Canadian universities. Teaching behaviors and communication are culture bound and highly normative. Without training regarding the norms and expectations of teaching in Canada, ITAs may rely on patterns of communication from their countries of origin. This study sought to determine how participation in a course on communication contributed to the intercultural communication skills of ITAs and affected their observable teaching behaviors.
The participants in this study consist of 27 international graduate students from nine countries. Data were collected from four cohorts over a period of nine months through videotaped microteaching components, teacher behaviour inventories, interviews, registration information, and questionnaires.
The findings reveal that the ITAs developed specific teaching behaviors and improved their overall teaching performances, suggesting that domain-specific intercultural training positively contributes to the ITA intercultural communication competence.
Recommended Citation
LeGros, Nadine Louise, "DEVELOPING TEACHING COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS" (2010). Digitized Theses. 3732.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3732