Staff Editorial: Helping TAs with language barrier

While an ideal undergraduate education would include contact mainly with professors for four years, it is far more likely that by the time most Penn students graduate, they have spent a significant amount of class time with teaching assistants. For graduate students, teaching undergraduate courses is a viable way to help fund their education. However, for some international teaching assistants, teaching in English poses a problem, and the University must do more to assist them.

This is a serious issue and should be treated as such; in fact, some TAs are just as nervous as students about learning and teaching across the language barrier. The University must take responsibility for teaching assistants' ability to communicate course material.

Some of the most brilliant minds at this University are not native English speakers, and for those who do not teach, this does not pose a problem. But for those who do teach, English proficiency is a must. Penn students occasionally feel they must drop recitations and classes that are headed by TAs who have trouble speaking and communicating in English.

The University currently requires international TAs to participate in a seven-week English Language Program over the summer, after which they must pass a proficiency test before they can teach. However, students still complain that some of their TAs are difficult to understand, and as such, it appears that a revision of the program is needed.

It would also be a good idea to include some sort of cultural education in the program, as some foreign TAs cite surprise as their initial reaction to American students' classroom behavior.

While Penn has made efforts to help TAs in this area, there is still more to be done. A lack of English comprehension is not just an issue for the students; as a University, we must strive to better acclimate foreign students to our language and culture, for the sake of their experiences at Penn as teachers and learners.

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