Comparing student perceptions of the classroom climate created by U.S. american and international teaching assistants

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed that American undergraduate students complain about International Teaching Assistants’ (ITAs) lack of English proficiency and rate ITAs lower than American Teaching Assistants (ATAs) on teaching evaluations. This study investigates student perceptions of classroom climate to discover how ITAs might overcome students’ ethnocentric preconceptions. Survey results from 485 undergraduate students found that student perceptions of classroom climate differed significantly with ITAs as compared to ATAs. Student perceptions of classroom climate also differed significantly by the biological sex of the student. The biological sex of the TA did not have a significant impact on student perceptions of classroom climate.