Abstract
Higher education studies generally indicate that training in the techniques of teaching for teaching assistants (TAs) improves the participants' performance according to measures of student attitudes, ratings, and achievement. However, substantially more effort needs to be devoted to assessing the effects of training on the behaviors of the TAs in the actual classroom setting. The issue of whether TAs who have participated in general training receive higher student ratings or exhibit different interaction patterns in the classroom setting than those who have no training or have less training has not been studied. This study investigated the relationships among three variables: amount of training in the techniques of teaching, students' perceptions of teaching effectiveness, and classroom interaction patterns. The subject for this study were 157 TAs representing seven academic colleges and 15 departments at Texas A&M University. The TAs volunteered to let the researcher collect student evaluations from one class section, and 93 of the TAs submitted an audio-tape sample of a class session. The researcher analyzed a 20 minute segment of each tape using the Cognitive Interaction Analysis System. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated and results showed that the number of hours of training that a TA has in the techniques of teaching is correlated positively with four of the six student evaluation categories: Analytic/Synthetic Approach (p < .01); Dynamism/Enthusiasm (p < .01); Instructor-Group Interaction (p < .05); and Evaluation Methods (p < .05). Interaction data revealed that PT accounted for only 11.53% of the verbal activity for the sample (n = 93). Results showed that the amount of TT was correlated negatively with ratings of Instructor-Group Interaction (p < .01). The instructor's use of positive reinforcement was correlated positively with Instructor-Group Interaction (p < .05). A correlation between the amount of training and the percentage of TT showed that no significant relationship existed. However, the amount of training and the percentage of class time in PT were correlated positively (p < .05). Also, training and the amount of time pupils spent in extended talk (PSSR) were correlated positively (p < .01).
Gardner, Elizabeth Strai (1984). The relationship of student and teacher interaction, teacher training, and student perceptions of teaching effectiveness for university teaching assistants. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -574972.