Exploring Graduate Teaching Assistants’ Beliefs and Practices in Chinese as a Foreign Language Tutoring Program

The current qualitative study researches graduate Teaching Assistants’ (TAs’) beliefs and teaching practices towards Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL) tutoring sessions examines the possible factors that shape influence their about tutoring. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with three experienced TAs in CFL program at higher education institution U.S. Findings revealed viewed four major functions: review/practice of course content, remedial work, test preparation, individualized instruction. To achieve effectiveness these functions, they identified types methods for tutoring: great emphasis on explicit implicit instruction grammar vocabulary, adoption error feedback writing, recognition attempted implementation task-based teaching. Four have been to impact TAs’ beliefs: TA training, curriculum guidelines, students’ feedback, preconceived beliefs. By exploring beliefs, administrators would know more gaps objectives actual practices, thus can better train future, which is also beneficial language learners. This professional practical motivation goal study.