RICH POINTS in BETWEEN CULTURES, LANGUAGES, and PEDAGOGIES: EXPERIENCES and PERSPECTIVES of INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS in the USA Natalia V
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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs Spring 4-15-2019 RICH POINTS IN BETWEEN CULTURES, LANGUAGES, AND PEDAGOGIES: EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN THE USA Natalia V. Rud University of New Mexico Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons Recommended Citation Rud, Natalia V.. "RICH POINTS IN BETWEEN CULTURES, LANGUAGES, AND PEDAGOGIES: EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN THE USA." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ educ_llss_etds/103 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Natalia V Rud Candidate Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Carlos LopezLeiva, PhD , Chairperson Pisarn Bee Chamcharatsri, PhD Holbrook Mahn, PhD Sylvia Celedon-Pattichis, PhD Charlotte Gunawardena, PhD i RICH POINTS IN BETWEEN CULTURES, LANGUAGES, AND PEDAGOGIES: EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN THE USA by NATALIA V RUD Specialist, Linguistics and TEFL, Tyumen State University, 2006 MA., English, Washington State University, 2010 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2019 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank every single individual who helped me in completing this dissertation. I am thankful to my dissertation advisor – Dr. LopezLeiva – for utmost patience and resourcefulness in guiding me along the way. My gratitude is extended to my professors and dissertation committee members. Many thanks are to my “community of practice gurus” - Dr. Chamcharatsri for igniting my research interest and Dr. Gunawardena for enhancing my knowledge about the said concept. I am also thankful that Dr. Mahn kept me engaged in Vygotsky research and convinced me to follow the sociocultural theory path for this study. Finally, I cannot stress enough how helpful Dr. Celedon-Pattichis’ detailed feedback and advice have been from the conception to completion of this dissertation work. I acknowledge all the study participants and all the people who helped me conduct the research. I value your time, input and all the stories I have learned from you. I also would like to thank my friends who have been continuously encouraging me, especially, Svitlana Volkova, PhD and Irina Kopaneva, PhD. My heartiest appreciations go to my incredible family who played an immense role in the success of this dissertation. My dear mama and papa (Valentina and Vladimir Rud), thank you, for providing your love and support throughout this journey and taking care of my family and me. My special thanks to my mother-in-law for helping too. My beloved husband Farooq Ali Khan, thank you, for being my “therapist”, my “cheerleader”, and a great family man all along. My sweet little son Eli, thank you, for being my inspiration and for being so understanding that I had to miss some of our precious time together. I love you all! Thank you for believing in me. iii RICH POINTS IN BETWEEN CULTURES, LANGUAGES, AND PEDAGOGIES: EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN THE USA by Natalia V Rud SPECIALIST, LINGUISTICS AND TEFL, TYUMEN STATE UNIVERSITY, 2006 MA., ENGLISH, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, 2010 PHD, LANGUAGE, LITERACY, AND SOCIOCULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, 2019 ABSTRACT This study presents a qualitative, multiple case, instrumental case study which explores experiences and positionality of International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) in the US academia. Drawing from, first, the earlier research which focuses on ITAs’ language, culture, and pedagogy with, mostly, a “deficit” perspective and, second, from recent publications which concentrate on exploring ITAs’ identities and perceptions, this study investigates how ITAs approach differences and similarities (rich points) during everyday discourses in their various communities of practice. The conceptual framework is represented by Agar’s (1996, 2006) vision on rich points (differences and similarities); Lave and Wenger’s (1991) concept of community of practice (CoP), and the notion of narratives (Clandinin & Connelly, 1994; Simons, 2009). The iv theoretical framework is informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, specifically, by the concept of perezhivanie (lived through emotional experience). Two cases of ITA communities which are bound to certain university settings (in the Northwest and Southwest of the US) were analyzed. Purposive (snowball) sampling was used to find focal participants. Eight ITAs took part in a semester-long data collection. The study utilized an electronic survey; one informal conversational interview; one semi-structured interview; one to two observations with debriefings; and collection of artifacts and visual data. The findings revealed that there are five major ways for ITAs to mediate rich points, namely, via ITAs’ multiple identities, ITAs’ self-analysis, ITAs’ internalization of politics and policies, ITAs’ internalization of others’ actions in the US academia and, ITAs’ teaching evolution. Rich points are observed as a vital aspect of ITAs’ development. At the same time, mediation of rich points is always unique and dynamic and presupposes a combination of several navigational techniques. The significance of the study is predetermined by the necessary contribution into the recent research on ITAs’ identities as the opposition to the previously projected “deficit theory” in respect to ITAs. Also, the study explored ITAs’ various communities of practice while the recent research tends to focus on ITAs’ classroom as their only major environment. It is suggested that ITAs’ experiences should be researched further, especially, for providing more meaningful practices for ITAs’ socialization in the US academia. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………. x LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………. xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………1 Problem Statement ……………………………………………………………….………2 ITAs: Background and Context ……………………………………………………….... 4 ITAs: Definitions ………………………………………………………………………...6 Statement of Purpose and Research Question …………………………………………. 11 Overview of Methodology……………………………………………………………... 16 Rationale and Significance of the Study ………………………………………………...16 Researcher’s Positionality and Assumptions …………………………………………... 20 Organization of Dissertation …………………………………………………………….22 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………... 24 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………. 25 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………. 25 Literature Review: Existing Research in Regard to ITAs ……………………………... 26 Assessment of ITAs …………………………………………………………………27 ITAs’ Trainings ………………………………………………………………….…. 30 Language, Culture, and Pedagogy: Fixing “Problems” and Improving Practices …. 33 In Search of a Different Perspective in ITA Research ………………………………35 ITAs’ Identities, Communities of Practice, and Perceptions ………………………. 38 vi Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………………………… 45 Community of Practice as a Pathway to Exploring Identities ………………………46 Rich Points, Languaculture, and Frames … ………………………………………...51 Narratives as a Keystone to Understand Identities ………………………………… 55 Theoretical Framework: Vygotskian Concept of Perezhivanie in Sociocultural Theory……………………………………………………………………………………61 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………... 73 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………………………. 74 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………. 74 Rationale for Research Approach ……………………………………………………… 74 Research Settings ………………………………………………………………………. 77 Establishing Research Sample …………………………………………………………. 81 Participants ……………………………………………………………………………... 92 Data Collection Methods ……………………………………………………………....104 Data Analysis: Methods and Insights ………………………………………………… 113 Trustworthiness, Limitations and Delimitations ……………………………………….129 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………. 134 CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH FINDINGS ……………………………………………………. 135 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….135 Main Findings: Answering Research Question ………………………………………. 136 Translating Rich Points via Navigating ITAs’ Multiple Identities ……………………138 Variations Across Cases ……………………………………………………….…. 142 vii Translating Rich Points via Self-Analysis/Self-Reflection …………………………… 148 Translating Rich Points via Adherence and Internalization of Politics and Policies ….151 Variations Across Cases ……………………………………………...………........156 Translating Rich Points via Internalization of Others’ Actions in ITAs Various Communities of Practice ……………………………………………………………... 158 Variations Across Cases …………………………………………………………. 170 Translating Rich Points via Teaching Evolution ……………………………………... 171 Variations Across Cases …………………………………………………………. 173 Summary of Findings ………………………………………………………………… 177 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………. 181 CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………………………183 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………