Non-English Major EFL Students’ Perceptions of the Mechanism and Interactive Modes of an English Teaching Assistant Tutorial Program

• Main Authors: Yi-Chen Chen, 陳怡蓁
• Other Authors: Huey-Nah Cindy Chou
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84096025739829264079

碩士 === 靜宜大學 === 英國語文學系研究所 === 98 === The present study explored non-English-major students’ perceptions of the mechanism and interactive modes of an English teaching assistant (TA) tutorial program (ETATP). Specifically, there are two purposes of this study: (a) to understand the effectiveness of an effective ETATP mechanism, and (b) to investigate the interactive modes between TAs and students. One thousand, two hundred and ninety eight non-English major students in the Freshmen English for Non-English Majors (FENM) program participated in this study. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed for data collection which included a questionnaire survey, interviews, stimulated recalls, videotapes, and observations. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were conducted to analyze the students’ perceptions of the ETATP mechanism and their interactive modes between TAs. Videotape observation of TA-student interaction and student interviews were analyzed to find the frequent interactive modes between TAs and students. Moreover, stimulated recalls were used to understand students’ preferences of the interactive modes with TAs. The results of the study are summarized as follows. First, the results showed that the students most agreed with the facilitating independent English learning, and then they agreed with the ETATP design. Enhancing English learning confidence followed the facilitating FENM learning. Second, three subcategories of interactive modes between TAs and students were found: (a) the supportive roles of TAs, (b) the TAs’ teaching methods, and (c) students’ attentiveness. In addition, five themes were emerged in the TAs’ teaching methods as follows: (a) diagnosing students needs by TAs, (b) dominant one-way instruction, (c) TAs’ modeling the language, (d) tutoring with nonverbal signals, and (e) guiding students step by step in reaching the solution. Moreover, three themes were found in students’ performance, such as (a) active participation and listening from students, (b) responding from students, and (c) choosing TAs. Third, the ETATP mechanism was found to be significantly correlated with interactive modes of between TAs and students. Last, students showed their preferences of five interactive modes with TAs: (a) consistently checking comprehension, (b) listening to students’ problems attentively, (c) being friendly and humorously, (d) helping students find and verbalize problems, and (e) showing the way TAs had experienced. Several implications for the ETATP program development and TAs are suggested based on the aforementioned results: First, ETATP program designers should meet with TAs frequently to discuss the difficulties and problems encountered during the tutorial process. Second, TAs should be aware of students’ preferred interactive modes with TAs to enhance tutoring effectiveness.