Challenges of the intercultural classroom: A qualitative study of the perceptions of international teaching associates and their American students

Nonnative English speaking instructors (NNESTs), especially International Teaching Assistants (ITAs), were often the target of negative perceptions involving their language, pedagogical, and cultural skills (Bernhardt, 1987; Constantinides, 1986). In considering the previous studies of ITAs' communication problems (Hoekie & Williams, 1992), teaching effectiveness (Oppenheim 1997), and insensitivity to cultural differences (Salinas, Kozuh, & Seraphine, 1999), this study sought to explore and examine factors of language, pedagogy, and culture that ITAs and their undergraduate students perceived and experienced in American college classrooms.; The study participants were four international teaching associates and 17 undergraduate students at one of the universities in the Middle Atlantic region. Data was collected through one-on-one interviews, class observations, and each participant's narratives, which were analyzed qualitatively.; Major study findings showed the differences between the ITAs and their students in the area of language, pedagogy, and cultural performance. The ITAs were perceived by their students as using ineffective teaching techniques, lacking in their command of English, especially accent and aural comprehension, and unaware of cultural differences and the sociocultural backgrounds of the students; the ITAs, in turn, perceived themselves as well-prepared teachers, not too much concern about nonnativeness of English, and felt that their students were not actively engaged in their classrooms compared to the previous teaching experience in their home countries.; The present study indicated for both ITAs and native English speaking students the need to be aware of World Englishes (WE) in terms of language, pedagogy, and culture, which involves in the variety of Englishes, especially different accents existence among nonnative speakers, the variety of learning and teaching methods in English class, and the sociocultural differences in learning and teaching English, where both needs to make a balance for the old and new perspectives to seek how to maintain a middle ground.