Don't call me professor" student perceptions of graduate instructor ethos"

Date of Award

2012

Degree Name

M.A. in English

Department

Department of English

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Patrick W. Thomas

Abstract

Graduate Teaching Assistants hold a unique role, a dual identity as both an instructor and a student. Most frequently, Graduate Teaching Assistants in English develop their professional roles as instructors through teacher training and their responsibilities as instructors of record for composition courses. Given that teaching loads for graduate students in English require that these graduate students' professional identities are constructed and performed for a significant number of undergraduate students, it is worth knowing whether and how graduate students' ethos as composition instructors is interpreted by students in their composition courses. The author investigates the relationship between Graduate Teaching Assistant ethos and students' perceptions of the role of composition through a survey and interviews, and analyzes the effect that individual Graduate Teaching Assistants' identities as composition instructors have on undergraduate students.

Keywords

Graduate teaching assistants Attitudes, Graduate teaching assistants Conduct of life, Composition (Language arts) Undergraduates Attitudes, Undergraduates Attitudes

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2012, author

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