North American universities depend on international teaching assistants (ITAs) as a substantial part of the teaching labor force, which has led to the idea of an ‘ITA problem’, a deficiency model which is framed as a divergence between ITAs’ linguistic competence and undergraduates’ and their parents’ expectations. This outdated positioning of ITAs as deficient diminishes the invaluable role they play within the academy. This book argues instead for an approach to ITA which recognizes them as multilingual, skilled, migrant professionals who participate in and are discursively constructed through various participant frameworks, modalities and activities. The chapters in this volume offer state-of-the-art research into ITA using a variety of methods and approaches, and as such constitute a transdisciplinary perspective which argues for the importance of dialogue between research and practice.

This book presents and discusses theoretical and practical perspectives on English pronunciation theory, research and practice in order to establish evidence-based pronunciation teaching models, teaching and research priorities, and recommendations for best practices in teaching English pronunciation. The chapters provide a balanced view of theory and practice based on the authors’ empirical findings and their extensive professional experiences in English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) and lingua franca contexts. The book identifies pronunciation teaching priorities that take into account individual learner variables, disseminates knowledge about theoretical frameworks, explores teachers’ and learners’ beliefs and practices regarding pronunciation instruction, and shares empirical findings regarding teacher education and teaching interventions in diverse contexts with English learners of different ages and language backgrounds. Overall, the chapters highlight the need to focus on intelligibility models that consider individual learner differences, and teacher and contextual variables.

Written for all types of ITA programsan independent study course, a brief workshop, or extensive trainingthis versatile text provides essential information for ITAs to develop strong teaching skills that ensure effective communication in the undergraduate classroom. The authors take the perspective that incoming ITAs are responsible for their own learning and teaching style. Each of the texts ten units includes work on English proficiency, teaching skills, and cultural awareness. Each unit centers around a common rhetorical teaching task in U.S. university classrooms: introducing oneself, introducing a syllabus, explaining a visual, defining a term, teaching a process, fielding questions, explaining complex topics at a basic level, presenting information over several class periods, and leading a discussion. Undergraduate textbook materials for fifteen academic fields are included in the appendix to provide ITAs with content relevant for practicing teaching and language skills. Because ITA programs vary in structure and number of training hours, the authors include a To the Instructor section, which is full of recommendations for the many ways the text can be used.

This must-read book combines carefully selected contributions to form a collective scholarly critique of existing research with international students, focusing on key critical and conceptual considerations for research where international students are participants or co-researchers. It pushes forward new agendas for the future of research with international students in global contexts, posing new sets of problems, provocations, and possibilities. Bringing together a range of interdisciplinary scholars, this book explores the many facets of research, which centres international students and their experiences. Each chapter concludes with practical reflection questions, suggestions for researchers, and examples in existing research to support research designs and aid in developing high-quality, critical research on this topic. Bringing fresh perspectives to the topic of research with international students, the book focuses on: Outlining current problems with existing research, including the ways that international students may be stereotyped, homogenised, Othered, or framed through deficit and colonial narratives (Re)-conceptualising key ideas that underpin research which are currently taken for granted Developing reflection points and practical guidance for new research designs which centre criticality and ethics Outlining ways that discourses and narratives about international students can be made more complex, particularly in reflection of their intersectional identities This key text is essential reading for researchers at all career stages to reflect on issues of power, inequality, and ethics, whilst developing understandings about critical choices in research design, analysis, and the presentation of findings.

This book is framed as a memoir of the author’s journey through a cancer diagnosis and resulting impairments, as he continued his teaching and research activities during and after medical procedures. The narrative weaves together theoretical debates, textual analyses, and ethnographic data from communicative practices to redefine language competence. The book demonstrates: the generative and resistant value of human vulnerability the importance of vulnerability in motivating engagement with social networks and material ecologies for productive thinking, communication, and community the role of relational ethics in social and communicative life a decolonizing orientation to disability studies and language competence. While language competence was traditionally defined as mentally internalized grammatical knowledge for individual mastery of communication, this book demonstrates the need for distributed, ethical, and embodied practice. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers in language and literacy studies. It would interest scholars outside these disciplines to understand what language studies can offer to address the role of disabilities, impairments, and debilities in embodied communication and thinking. In the context of the global pandemic, compounded by environmental catastrophes and structural injustices which disproportionately affect marginalized communities, the book helps readers treat human vulnerability as the starting point for ethical social relations, strategic communication, and transformative education.

The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Listening offers a state-of-the-art, systematic discussion of the role of listening in second language acquisition (SLA) and use. This handbook positions listening not just as a receptive comprehension skill, but also as an integral part of interaction, a vital component in the process of language acquisition, and a skill which needs attention in its own right. World-leading international scholars synthesize and contextualize the salient theoretical approaches, methodological issues, empirical findings, practical applications, and emerging themes in L2 listening development and processing. They illustrate the role that L2 listening ability plays in understanding SLA and interactional competence, and set the future research agenda to move the field forward. This volume is an indispensable resource to students, scholars, and practitioners from the fields of SLA, cognitive psychology, language teaching, and assessment, as well as those interested in pronunciation, speaking, and oral communication.

We invite you to explore the 11(1) issue of the Journal of International Students, featuring authors and research focused on Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Turkey, and the United States. The cover art, designed by graduate student Tyler Miller-Gordon, shows hands collated and interconnected in an unwinding fashion, displaying a spectrum of skin color, a mix of light and shadow, and the word hope in 100+ languages to reflect solidarity with global social movements addressing systemic racism and socioeconomic inequalities.