Course Objectives:
ITA Phonology is a 3 “E” credit course that meets for 4.5 hours each week for thirteen weeks. The purpose of ITA Phonology is to help International Teaching Assistants improve their overall fluency in English and become familiar with aspects of American culture in academic settings. Many students may have had limited exposure to authentic spoken English and require extensive practice in both listening and speaking. As teaching assistants, these students will have to be able to teach a class effectively in English. They will have to lecture, present academic and administrative information in an interactive manner, and understand and respond to questions that are posed to them in a classroom or laboratory setting.

The goal of this course is to achieve overall communicative competence through the development of intelligible pronunciation. This course, therefore, provides students the opportunity to practice aspects of the English sound system in meaningful classroom contexts and to improve their fluency outside of the classroom. Methods of self and peer monitoring will enable students to become aware not only of their own speech but also that of others.

During the second half of the semester, the focus will shift from pronunciation work to presenting and lecturing. ITAs will lecture on materials from their field of expertise. For at least three of these presentations, undergraduate students will attend and participate by asking questions and making holistic evaluations of the ITA’s presentation. At least three of these presentations, which will be evaluated by the instructor and other ESL faculty members, will be videotaped.

It especially important that ITAs understand the American classroom and its expectations. They need to understand the informality of the classroom (for example) that students will interrupt a presentation in order to ask a questions, and that most smaller undergraduate classrooms are interactive. Videotapes on the American classroom are available in Tillett 107.

Communicative Skills:

ITAs in Phonology need to work on their communicative skills: using the board and handouts, walking around the room as they give presentations, using synonyms, responding to questions, focusing on key terms.

Placement:
ITAs who score below 45 on the SPEAK test are placed in this class and are restricted from assuming teaching responsibilities. They are certified 2 (cannot teach).

Format of the Course:
Class work will include a variety of large group, small group, and paired listening and speaking activities, first controlled and then more spontaneous, while aiming at the development of communicative competence. Initially, ITAs will practice with words and phrases while focusing on each phonological feature. ITAs will then work on using those features in sentences, paragraphs, and academic readings. As ITAs become more confident with English, they might be asked to lead a discussion on a topic of general interest or make a short presentation as they begin to prepare themselves for actual laboratory or classroom instruction. Peer evaluation will focus on the students’ overall comprehensibility.

Out-of-Class Assignments:
ITAs will be asked to spend a least five minutes a day actively listening to themselves speak and then modifying their speech wherever necessary. These observations should be included informally in a journal. In addition to the daily entries, the journal should include transcriptions of one-minute taped speech samples. By listening to, writing, and analyzing their own words, students become increasingly aware of their patterns of error and can work to apply the strategies learned in class to correct them. When necessary, instructors or other classmates will model the correct pronunciation on the tape, or instructors may write in the pronunciation journal a description of what the student is doing incorrectly. ITAs will also work on approximately 3-4 assignments targeted to enhance their intonation and vowel and consonant pronunciation.

During the middle of the semester, ITAs will begin making presentations. These presentations will cover a variety of topics from general information to explaining a diagram. ITAs will be videotaped during these times and critiqued by peers and undergraduate students.

Policies and Procedures:

• Attendance: Missing more than three classes will put an ITA at risk of receiving a “U” grade.

• Assignments: Students are required to have all assignments ready on the due date.

• Exams: RIVA is an 8-minute assessment of an ITA's language proficiency and readiness to teach. RIVA is held at the end of the semester for all graduate students who are enrolled in an ITA course and certified 2 (cannot teach).
  
  The RIVA Committee will be made up of ESL instructors and a group of undergraduate students. Other departmental faculty are welcome. All assessment discrepancies will be adjudicated by a third instructor. Students and their advisors will be informed of the outcome of RIVA within five business days of the exam.
  
  Toward the end of the semester, instructors will ask each ITA to two lecture topics, which must be of similar complexity to the type of lecture the ITA would give in a classroom setting. These topics must be typed. A topic will be chosen by the Committee at the test site.

• Grading: Final grades for the semester are Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory, reflecting participation and commitment to the work of the course and improvement in listening and speaking.

• Fluency Lab: Classes will meet in the Language Lab for 45 minutes or more each week.

• Office Hours: Instructors are required to keep at least one office hour per week for every class they teach.