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1276350934720The Native Speaker Assistant as a resource for enhancing students’ proficiency with the Spanish language: a case studyJorge Granados TrujilloEducation StudiesMay 2012Presented as part of the requirement for an award within the Undergraduate Modular Scheme at the University of Gloucestershire00The Native Speaker Assistant as a resource for enhancing students’ proficiency with the Spanish language: a case studyJorge Granados TrujilloEducation StudiesMay 2012Presented as part of the requirement for an award within the Undergraduate Modular Scheme at the University of GloucestershireAbstractIt is generally believed that the Teaching Assistants (TAs) play an important role in supporting both teachers and students, helping schools to raise their academic standards. However, beyond this general belief, there is little evidence of how TAs actually contribute to students’ achievement. This is due to the fact that the role remains little understood and poorly researched, with some important gaps in knowledge still existing in this field. Given the increasing pedagogical role of TAs, it is very important to address this situation. As an example of TAs developing a pedagogical role, this research focused on the work of the Native Teaching Assistant (NTA) in secondary schools supporting students’ learning of a foreign language. Its purpose was to offer an insight into the NTA role, in order to determine the effectiveness of the NTA’s support in improving students’ proficiency in the target language, and how this varies depending on the way that the NTA is deployed by the teacher. For this purpose, a case study was conducted in a secondary school, looking at a Spanish NTA. A mixed approach was employed for the collection of data, involving the analysis of students’ GCSE and A-level Spanish speaking test results; questionnaires given to Spanish teachers, NTA and students and non-participant classroom observations. The findings indicated that the NTA’s support had an impact on the improvement of students’ Spanish language skills, in particular on the development of their oral, pronunciation and vocabulary skills. Spanish teachers were also found to make better use of the NTA’s pedagogical abilities when she was deployed outside the classroom to support small groups of students. The study concluded that further research was needed in order to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of the NTA role. A wider range of contexts and larger samples would have to be analysed than those which were available for use in this study.Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Declaration PAGEREF _Toc324334331 \h iDeclaration PAGEREF _Toc324334332 \h iiAbstract PAGEREF _Toc324334333 \h iiiContents PAGEREF _Toc324334334 \h ivTable of figures PAGEREF _Toc324334335 \h vIntroduction PAGEREF _Toc324334336 \h 1Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc324334337 \h 5Methodology PAGEREF _Toc324334338 \h 13Analysis and findings PAGEREF _Toc324334339 \h 20Students’ GCSE and A-level Spanish speaking test results from 2004 to 2010 PAGEREF _Toc324334340 \h 20Questionnaires PAGEREF _Toc324334341 \h 23Classroom observations PAGEREF _Toc324334342 \h 28Discussion PAGEREF _Toc324334343 \h 31Conclusions PAGEREF _Toc324334344 \h 36References PAGEREF _Toc324334345 \h 39Appendix 1 – Pie charts of Students’ GCSE and A-level Spanish speaking test results from 2004 to 2010 PAGEREF _Toc324333061 \h 44Appendix 2 – Questionnaires PAGEREF _Toc324333062 \h 52Appendix 3 – Classroom observation sheet PAGEREF _Toc324333063 \h 57Table of figures TOC \h \z \c "Graph" Graph 1: NTA’s contribution to the development of students' Spanish language skills: teachers’, students’ and NTA’s perception of the role. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree. PAGEREF _Toc324334194 \h 25Graph 2: Spanish teachers’, NTA’s and students’ perception of their understanding of the purpose of the activities. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree. PAGEREF _Toc324334195 \h 27Graph 3: Focus of NTA's support during lessons by year group. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree. PAGEREF _Toc324334196 \h 29Graph 4: Student response during the NTA's lessons. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means very poor and 5 excellent. PAGEREF _Toc324334197 \h 31IntroductionThe figure of the Teaching Assistant (TA) has become much more common in Primary and Secondary school classrooms over recent years. A crucial factor in the proliferation of the TA in both primary and secondary schools is the document Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: a National Agreement, better known as the National Agreement. It was signed in January 2003 between the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Welsh Assembly Government, local authority employers and the majority of school workforce unions and represented “a consensus on principles relating to tackling teacher workload, developing support staff roles, and raising standards in schools ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Blatchford</Author><Year>2006</Year><IDText>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</IDText><Pages>6</Pages><DisplayText>(Blatchford<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2006, p. 6)</DisplayText><record><urls><related-urls><url> deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</title><secondary-title>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1) B2 - The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</secondary-title></titles><contributors><authors><author>Blatchford, P.</author><author>Bassett, P.</author><author>Brown, P.</author><author>Martin, C.</author><author>Russell, A.</author><author>Webster, R.</author><author>Haywood, N.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1333713884</added-date><pub-location>London</pub-location><ref-type name="Generic">13</ref-type><dates><year>2006</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>52</rec-number><publisher>Department for Education and Skills</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1333713884</last-updated-date><remote-database-name>edsref</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Blatchford et al., 2006, p. 6). Information from the DfES shows that, from 2005 to November 2011, there was a 90%increase in support staff in English primary schools schools and a 65% in secondary. (DfES & ONS, 2011)The TA role is subject to constant analysis and development in an effort to define its main duties and responsibilities. Its impact on students’ learning and value for raising academic standards is widely recognised. The government has played an important part in supporting and consolidating the presence of TAs in UK schools, trying to establish common practice inside and outside the classroom. For this reason, the government published the Good practice guide (DfES 2000a); a consultation document (DfES 2002) and two sets of induction training material for newly appointed TAs in primary and secondary schools (DfES 2000b, 2001). In addition, they supported the work of the Local Government National Training Organisation (LGNTO) which has devised a set of occupational standards for TAs (LGNTO 2001). Such documents recognise the increasingly valuable support role that TAs can have in mainstream schools ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Farrell</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>The Impact of Teaching Assistants on Improving Pupils' Academic Achievement in Mainstream Schools: A Review of the Literature</IDText><Pages>436</Pages><DisplayText>(Farrell<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010, p. 436)</DisplayText><record><foreign-keys><key app="EN" db-id="aa0w2tzeja59xwevdxipwt9ces22eappdsa2">3</key></foreign-keys><keywords><keyword>Intervention</keyword><keyword>Academic Achievement</keyword><keyword>Teaching Assistants</keyword><keyword>Students</keyword><keyword>Primary Education</keyword><keyword>Learning Problems</keyword><keyword>Literature Reviews</keyword><keyword>Elementary Secondary Education</keyword><keyword>Secondary Schools</keyword><keyword>Educational Research</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Impact of Teaching Assistants on Improving Pupils' Academic Achievement in Mainstream Schools: A Review of the Literature</title><secondary-title>Educational Review</secondary-title></titles><pages>435-448</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Farrell, Peter</author><author>Alborz, Alison</author><author>Howes, Andy</author><author>Pearson, Diana</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1327918372</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>4</rec-number><publisher>Educational Review</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1327918372</last-updated-date><accession-num>EJ902420</accession-num><volume>62</volume><remote-database-name>eric</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Farrell et al., 2010, p. 436).These initiatives were in response to demands from the education research community for more training and preparation and better definition of the TA role. As ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Webster</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>The Wider Pedagogical Role of Teaching Assistants</IDText><Pages>9</Pages><DisplayText>(Webster<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2011, p. 9)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>Role Models</keyword><keyword>Academic Achievement</keyword><keyword>Foreign Countries</keyword><keyword>School Support</keyword><keyword>Teaching Assistants</keyword><keyword>Teacher Role</keyword><keyword>Teacher Aides</keyword><keyword>Teacher Characteristics</keyword><keyword>Student Behavior</keyword><keyword>Longitudinal Studies</keyword><keyword>Teacher Effectiveness</keyword><keyword>Teacher Education</keyword><keyword>Instructional Effectiveness</keyword><keyword>Teaching Skills</keyword><keyword>England</keyword><keyword>Wales</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Wider Pedagogical Role of Teaching Assistants</title><secondary-title>School Leadership & Management</secondary-title></titles><pages>3-20</pages><number>1</number><contributors><authors><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author><author>Brown, Penelope</author><author>Martin, Clare</author><author>Russell, Anthony</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329225511</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>24</rec-number><publisher>School Leadership & Management</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329225511</last-updated-date><accession-num>EJ915035</accession-num><volume>31</volume><remote-database-name>eric</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Webster et al., 2011, p. 9) observe, “given the growth of TAs and their high visibility in classrooms, it might be expected that training to help teachers to work with TAs would form part of pre-service and/or Inset training”. This idea is supported by ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Tulane</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>Perceived utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</IDText><Pages>44</Pages><DisplayText>(Tulane and Beckert, 2011, p. 44)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>graduate student training</keyword><keyword>knowledge</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword><keyword>utility</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</title><secondary-title>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>44-55</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Tulane, Sarah</author><author>Beckert, Troy E.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329222858</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>22</rec-number><publisher>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329222858</last-updated-date><accession-num>69540227</accession-num><volume>11</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Tulane and Beckert, 2011, p. 44) citing Golish (1999), who claim that “TAs are given little or no preparation for their varied responsibilities”. All the institutions and personnel involved in improving TAs preparation and participation in the classroom (schools, teaching staff, families, policy makers, the research community and Government) intend for the presence of the TA to have an impact on pupils’ academic achievement; however, very little research has been conducted to determine how TAs could or actually do achieve this goal. According to ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Devecchi</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>An Exploration of the Features of Effective Collaboration between Teachers and Teaching Assistants in Secondary Schools</IDText><Pages>92</Pages><DisplayText>(Devecchi and Rouse, 2010, p. 92)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>Secondary Schools</keyword><keyword>Educational Needs</keyword><keyword>Inclusive Schools</keyword><keyword>Ethnography</keyword><keyword>Cooperation</keyword><keyword>Foreign Countries</keyword><keyword>Teaching Assistants</keyword><keyword>Teachers</keyword><keyword>Adults</keyword><keyword>Department Heads</keyword><keyword>England</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Exploration of the Features of Effective Collaboration between Teachers and Teaching Assistants in Secondary Schools</title><secondary-title>Support for Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>91-99</pages><number>2</number><contributors><authors><author>Devecchi, Cristina</author><author>Rouse, Martyn</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329234986</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>28</rec-number><publisher>Support for Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329234986</last-updated-date><accession-num>EJ882320</accession-num><volume>25</volume><remote-database-name>eric</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Devecchi and Rouse, 2010, p. 92), “TAs play a fundamental, although still misunderstood and poorly researched, role in supporting the school, the children, the teachers and the curriculum”. Indeed, without the necessary research, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the work undertaken by TAs inside and outside the classroom and how this could be improved, if needed. As ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Rubie-Davies</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</IDText><Pages>429</Pages><DisplayText>(Rubie-Davies<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010, p. 429)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHER-student relationships</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS' assistants</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>SPECIAL education educators</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>educational personnel</keyword><keyword>special education</keyword><keyword>teacher aides</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</title><secondary-title>School Effectiveness & School Improvement</secondary-title></titles><pages>429-449</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Rubie-Davies, Christine M.</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Koutsoubou, Maria</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329223646</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>23</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329223646</last-updated-date><accession-num>55474232</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/09243453.2010.512800</electronic-resource-num><volume>21</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Rubie-Davies et al., 2010, p. 429) state, “little is known about the practice and effectiveness of TAs working in classrooms and the extent to which TAs interact similarly to teachers”. They argue that “given the growing presence of TAs in classrooms and their increasingly instructional, pedagogical role, it seems vital to address the nature and possible educational effectiveness of TAs with pupils and to describe their interactions in terms of what we might expect from effective teachers” ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Rubie-Davies</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</IDText><Pages>432</Pages><DisplayText>(Rubie-Davies<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010, p. 432)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHER-student relationships</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS' assistants</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>SPECIAL education educators</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>educational personnel</keyword><keyword>special education</keyword><keyword>teacher aides</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</title><secondary-title>School Effectiveness & School Improvement</secondary-title></titles><pages>429-449</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Rubie-Davies, Christine M.</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Koutsoubou, Maria</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329223646</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>23</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329223646</last-updated-date><accession-num>55474232</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/09243453.2010.512800</electronic-resource-num><volume>21</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Rubie-Davies et al., 2010, p. 432).It seems that, over the years, the TA role has evolved from a support figure, focused on pupils with special education needs and on reducing teachers’ workload, to an instructor figure (Cremin, Thomas, and Vincett, 2003; Clayton, 1993), complementing and/or expanding the learning process of every student. The TA’s role in relation to pupils can be seen from two different perspectives: one direct, in the sense of interacting directly with pupils and the other indirect, in the sense of aiding the teacher. As Blatchford et al. (2004) found in their study of the effect and role of Teaching Assistants in English Primary schools (Years 4 to 6), “the TA’s role was predominantly a direct one and in this sense their role was predominantly pedagogical”. This shift towards the teachers’ recognition of the instructional and pedagogical value of the TA both inside and outside the classroom is not exclusive to primary schools but it is also being adopted by secondary schools. As example of this, we could mention the High-level Teaching Assistant, Cover Supervisor and Learning Mentor. However, this paper focuses on analysing the important contribution to the development of pupils’ foreign language skills made by Native Teaching Assistants (NTAs) in secondary schools. NTAs’ participation inside and outside the classroom demonstrates the duality discussed above. They not only support teachers and students in everyday tasks, but they are responsible for improving students’ proficiency in the target language through the delivery of planed individual or group lessons. If the effectiveness of the TA role is not entirely understood, that of the NTA is even less so. As is the case with the benefits brought about by the presence of a TA in primary and secondary schools, it is widely accepted that interaction with a native speaker of the target language is beneficial for improving students’ foreign language skills. However, little is known about how effective the NTA can be in producing this improvement or whether they produce any at all, due to a lack of research about the topic. This study aims to offer an insight into NTA practice to determine whether it has an impact on students’ proficiency and attainment and whether this impact is significant. It presents an overview of what the existing literature on the topic considers to be the main skills that NTA instruction and interaction helps to develop: conversation, grammar, listening, reading, writing and cultural understanding of the countries in which the target language is spoken. It discusses general issues related with their deployment and function, student and teacher attitudes towards NTAs, NTA-teacher collaboration, how effective NTAs are in enhancing students’ language proficiency and how their services could be better utilised.Once the theoretical considerations about NTAs’ effectiveness in the classroom environment have been discussed, this study goes on to compare these considerations with what is actually happening in the context of an English secondary school that has a Spanish NTA, through a case study. It collects, presents and analyses various data through different methods, in an effort to guarantee a wide range of opinions that add validity to the study. A discussion of the findings follows, where some recommendations for improvement are given accordingly. Finally, the conclusion of the study reflects on the whole process, it repercussions, relevancy and value, with special attention to its limitations and future recommendations. Literature ReviewThe TA role has been traditionally associated with supporting students with special needs in schools especially designed for this purpose. Even today, when their presence is well established in mainstream schools and increasing year after year, the TA is still thought to be the person responsible for meeting students’ Special Education Needs (Alborz, Pearson, Farrell, and Howes, 2009). This association of TAs with Special Education Needs (SEN) was reinforced by the publication of the Green Paper, Excellence for All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs (DfES, 1997), which anticipated an increased number of TAs in mainstream schools due to the necessity of supporting the children with special needs statements that are receiving their education in mainstream settings. However, the subsequent publication, Green Paper, Teachers Meeting the Challenge of Change (DfES, 1998), contemplated the expansion of the TA’s functions towards providing general support, not only to students with SEN. As a result, a new range of supporting staff roles has been developed to help teachers tackle workload and raise academic standards. In Blatchford et al.’s (2006) report titled The deployment and impact of support staff in schools, they differentiated seven different groups within these new roles. The seven groups were:1. TA Equivalent (TA, LSA (SEN pupils), nursery nurse, therapist).2. Pupil Welfare (Connexions personal advisor, education welfare officer, home-school liaison officer, learning mentor, nurse and welfare assistant).3. Technical and Specialist Staff (ICT network manager, ICT technician, librarian, science technician and technology technician).4. Other Pupil Support Staff (bilingual support officer, cover supervisor, escort, exam invigilator, language assistant, midday assistant and midday supervisor).5. Facilities Staff (cleaner, cook, and other catering staff).6. Administrative Staff (administrator/clerk, bursar, finance officer, office manager, secretary, attendance officer, data manager, examination officer, and PA to the headteacher).7. Site Staff (caretaker and premises manager).Blatchford et al. (2008) also agree that “TA rapid growth in numbers in primary and secondary schools is an effort to raise standards for all pupils”. In their study they indicate that the number of TAs then exceeded 100,000 (DfES, 2002) an increase of over 50% since 1997. In addition, over the next six years there was a continued expansion in the numbers of TAs, with figures indicating that there were 176,900 support staff in schools by 2008, the vast majority of whom were TAs. In November 2010, this figure reached 201,800 in secondary schools only, 64,600 of them TAs (DfES & ONS, 2011). These measures were intended to help schools improve teaching and learning conditions. However, as Farrell et al. (2010, p. 437) state, “despite the rapid increase in the number of TAs now working in schools, which has broadly been welcomed, there remains continuing uncertainty about their impact in relation to raising academic standards”. The literature available offers different points of view about the reasons behind this uncertainty. Some academics claim that there is very little or poorly conducted research about the effectiveness of TA work inside and outside the classroom ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Devecchi</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>An Exploration of the Features of Effective Collaboration between Teachers and Teaching Assistants in Secondary Schools</IDText><DisplayText>(Devecchi and Rouse, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>Secondary Schools</keyword><keyword>Educational Needs</keyword><keyword>Inclusive Schools</keyword><keyword>Ethnography</keyword><keyword>Cooperation</keyword><keyword>Foreign Countries</keyword><keyword>Teaching Assistants</keyword><keyword>Teachers</keyword><keyword>Adults</keyword><keyword>Department Heads</keyword><keyword>England</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Exploration of the Features of Effective Collaboration between Teachers and Teaching Assistants in Secondary Schools</title><secondary-title>Support for Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>91-99</pages><number>2</number><contributors><authors><author>Devecchi, Cristina</author><author>Rouse, Martyn</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329234986</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>28</rec-number><publisher>Support for Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329234986</last-updated-date><accession-num>EJ882320</accession-num><volume>25</volume><remote-database-name>eric</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Devecchi and Rouse, 2010). The insufficient amount of research means that, as ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Blatchford</Author><Year>2006</Year><IDText>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</IDText><Pages>6</Pages><DisplayText>(Blatchford<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2006, p. 6)</DisplayText><record><urls><related-urls><url> deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</title><secondary-title>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1) B2 - The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</secondary-title></titles><contributors><authors><author>Blatchford, P.</author><author>Bassett, P.</author><author>Brown, P.</author><author>Martin, C.</author><author>Russell, A.</author><author>Webster, R.</author><author>Haywood, N.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1333713884</added-date><pub-location>London</pub-location><ref-type name="Generic">13</ref-type><dates><year>2006</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>52</rec-number><publisher>Department for Education and Skills</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1333713884</last-updated-date><remote-database-name>edsref</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Blatchford et al. (2006, p. 6) observe, "there are currently significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of support staff – their levels of training and qualifications, their recruitment and retention, and on their deployment”. Therefore, while some studies have highlighted the benefits of the work done by TAs for both teachers and students (Tucker, 2009; Lee, 2003; Ofsted 2002; Neil, 2002, Wilson et al. 2002; Schlapp et al., 2001), there is still some controversy among the research community and questioning of these positive opinions (Farrell et al., 2010; Alborz, Pearson, Farrell and Howes 2009; Giangreco 2007; Woolfson and Truswell, 2005; Goddard and Ryall, 2002; French, 2001). This controversy was particularly pronounced following the publication of Blatchford’s et al. (2009) report, in which they discover that there seems to be a negative relationship between the amount of support a student receives and the progress this student is able to make in core national curriculum subjects. In essence “the more support pupils received, the less progress they made” (Blatchford’s et al. 2009, as cited by Farrell et al, 2010, p. 435). This discouraging statement confirmed Butt and Lance’s (2005, pp. 141-142) views about the need to introduce some changes in the deployment of TAs in primary and secondary schools if an improvement in students’ attainment is to be achieved. They suggest as the main areas for improvement: “The need for more involvement of teaching assistants in lesson planning; greater collaboration between teaching assistants and teachers to review pupil progress and make future plans; more training for teaching assistants in their expanding roles; clear role definition and role specification and more training for teachers in managing other adults with whom they work”.This underlines the fact that there does not seem to be a homogeneous use of TAs by teachers (Woolfson and Truswell, 2005), with no clear directions of where to deploy them or how to do so. ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Tulane</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>Perceived utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</IDText><DisplayText>(Tulane and Beckert, 2011)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>graduate student training</keyword><keyword>knowledge</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword><keyword>utility</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</title><secondary-title>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>44-55</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Tulane, Sarah</author><author>Beckert, Troy E.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329222858</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>22</rec-number><publisher>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329222858</last-updated-date><accession-num>69540227</accession-num><volume>11</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Tulane and Beckert (2011, p. 45) express the same concern about the lack of understanding of how to deploy TAs effectively in their study conducted in American universities, stating that “in order for teaching assistants to provide the most help to students...[they] must clearly know what the cooperating professor intends the students to know”. This uncertainty also extends to the benefits TAs can bring to the teaching process. Ofsted’s (2002, pp. 8-9) report also pointed out that a better communication, prior intervention and increased collaboration between teacher and TA is needed. It stated: “Teaching assistants support teachers best when they work closely with them and have the knowledge and skills to carry out the tasks assigned to them. Where teaching assistants are insufficiently or superficially briefed, or have inadequate subject knowledge, they sometimes become more concerned with the completion of the task rather than the improvement in pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding”. Other researchers argue that, although previous studies claim that the work of TAs has a positive impact on teaching, in particular in relation to decreasing teacher’s stress levels and workload and increasing their job satisfaction ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Blatchford</Author><Year>2006</Year><IDText>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</IDText><Pages>7</Pages><DisplayText>(Blatchford<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2006, p. 7)</DisplayText><record><urls><related-urls><url> deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</title><secondary-title>The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1) B2 - The deployment and impact of support staff in schools: report on findings from a national questionnaire survey of schools, support staff and teachers (Strand 1,Wave 1)</secondary-title></titles><contributors><authors><author>Blatchford, P.</author><author>Bassett, P.</author><author>Brown, P.</author><author>Martin, C.</author><author>Russell, A.</author><author>Webster, R.</author><author>Haywood, N.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1333713884</added-date><pub-location>London</pub-location><ref-type name="Generic">13</ref-type><dates><year>2006</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>52</rec-number><publisher>Department for Education and Skills</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1333713884</last-updated-date><remote-database-name>edsref</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Blatchford et al., 2006), they fail to show any evidence of how this is achieved. In Alborz, Pearson, Farrell and Howes’ (2009, p. 17) review of some of the literature available about the impact of adult support staff on pupils and mainstream schools, they report that “although a number of studies were identified in relation to impacts on teaching, none provided detailed analysis of the mechanisms involved”. Therefore, in order to determine good practice, it is important that researchers include in their studies details of how outcomes were achieved to be able to evaluate and measure any benefits. Another point of view expressed in the existing literature about TAs’ ability to make an impact on pupils’ attainment is that TA interactions with students strongly influence the effectiveness of their work (Rubie-Davies et al., 2010; Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Koutsoubou, et al., 2009). In this respect, the factors considered by these studies are the number of interactions and their quality. These researchers maintain that students “had very different types of contact with teachers and TAs”. Students’ interaction with teachers, in particular when they do not have any learning support needs, occurs in an environment where the teacher has to concentrate his/her efforts on providing the greatest amount of support to the whole classroom, with very little time for individual attention. On the other hand, in students’ interaction with TAs, they tend to be the focus of attention and have more active and sustained exchanges. Thus, as students have more contact with TAs, they have less interaction with teachers. “In practice, therefore, TAs do not provide additional support but alternative support (Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Koutsoubou, et al., 2009, as cited by ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Rubie-Davies</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</IDText><DisplayText>(Rubie-Davies<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHER-student relationships</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS' assistants</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>SPECIAL education educators</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>educational personnel</keyword><keyword>special education</keyword><keyword>teacher aides</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</title><secondary-title>School Effectiveness & School Improvement</secondary-title></titles><pages>429-449</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Rubie-Davies, Christine M.</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Koutsoubou, Maria</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329223646</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>23</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329223646</last-updated-date><accession-num>55474232</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/09243453.2010.512800</electronic-resource-num><volume>21</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Rubie-Davies et al., 2010, p. 430).This individual and alternative support offered by TAs can form the basis for improving student achievement, as long as it is well organised and orientated according to both the teacher’s direction and the students’ academic needs.This difference in the nature of the interaction and support received from teacher and TA is especially significant in secondary schools settings, where “TAs are less likely to deal with whole classes and more likely to deal with small groups” (UNISON, 2002, p. 12). An example of this is the role played by the NTA in supporting students’ learning of a foreign language. In contrast to the work of TAs, supporting primary school students through a wide range of tasks and activities related to numerous aspects of the National Curriculum, the NTA function in secondary schools is much narrower, focused on developing students’ proficiency in the target language. The NTA’s contribution to the improvement of students’ foreign language skills is regarded as crucial (In-Jae, 2010;Zyzik, 2008; Morin, 2007; Rolling, 2006). However, when looking for previously conducted research to establish the factors that are behind the NTA’s ability to produce this improvement, there is little to be found, if any. The few papers that discuss the topic do not seem to agree on either the terminology to use when referring to the role or the benefits that this role brings to the teaching and learning of a foreign language. Indeed, the NTA role has a wide range of definitions and terminology associated with it, according to the background of the study, its purpose and the researcher’s point of view. Thus, the literature uses terms like Bilingual Teaching Assistant (Thompson, 1999; Gao and Shum, 2010), Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (Hunt et al., 2005; Feng, 2009), Assistant Language Teacher (Ohtani, 2010), International Teaching Assistant (Gorsuch, 2011; Meyers et al., 2010; Petro, 2006) and Native Speaker Teacher (Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010; Hertel and Sunderman, 2009; Galloway, 2008, Mahboob, 2005; Davies, 2003). In this paper the term Native Teaching Assistant (NTA) is used in an effort to add consistency and coherence to the definition of the role. In relation to the benefits that NTAs bring to students’ learning of a foreign language, there is a wide range of factors considered by the literature, focusing on the development of skills such as communication (Gao and Shum, 2010; Galloway, 2008), pronunciation (Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011; Lord, 2010; Morin, 2007), grammar (Zyzik, 2008) , writing (Davies, 2003), listening (In-Jae, 2010; Ohtani, 2010) and cultural competence (Petro, 2006; Rollin, 2006; Feng, 2009). As a result, a variety of opinions supporting diverse points of view can be found. For example, ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Gilakjani</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>Why is Pronunciation So Difficult to Learn?</IDText><DisplayText>(Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Pronunciation</keyword><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHING</keyword><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>STUDY & teaching</keyword><keyword>LINGUISTICS</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> is Pronunciation So Difficult to Learn?</title><secondary-title>English Language Teaching</secondary-title></titles><pages>74-83</pages><number>3</number><contributors><authors><author>Gilakjani, Abbas Pourhossein</author><author>Ahmadi, Mohammad Reza</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328972321</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>15</rec-number><publisher>Canadian Center of Science & Education</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328972321</last-updated-date><accession-num>65316147</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.5539/elt.v4n3p74</electronic-resource-num><volume>4</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011, p. 79) state that “native speakers who encourage conversation, and are not themselves awkward in cross cultural communication, are one of the biggest boons a learner can have” and ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Sun Hee</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</IDText><DisplayText>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>COLLABORATIVE learning</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE teachers</keyword><keyword>TEACHING teams</keyword><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>TEACHER development</keyword><keyword>CROSS-cultural studies</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>ASIA</keyword><keyword>Collaboration</keyword><keyword>Cross-cultural</keyword><keyword>ESL/EFL Teaching</keyword><keyword>Native and Non-native ESL/EFL Teachers Team Teaching</keyword><keyword>Professional Development</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</title><secondary-title>International Journal of Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>249-257</pages><number>9</number><contributors><authors><author>Sun Hee, Jang</author><author>Boi Hoang, Nguyen</author><author>Yang, Yang</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328263524</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>9</rec-number><publisher>Common Ground Publishing</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328263524</last-updated-date><accession-num>64439252</accession-num><volume>17</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang (2010, p. 252) claim that “in many cases, the motivation of students is triggered and elevated by the desire to learn about the people and culture behind the target language”. Therefore, in countries where English is not the first language, the authenticity of the Native English Speaker (NES) teacher’s background can have a positive influence on students’ attitudes towards learning. NES teachers, who already have repertoire of idioms and expressions, have also the capacity to create a realistic and more colourful learning environment. Being aware of subtle nuances in speech as native speakers, they can explain the finer details and differences more confidently ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Sun Hee</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</IDText><DisplayText>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>COLLABORATIVE learning</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE teachers</keyword><keyword>TEACHING teams</keyword><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>TEACHER development</keyword><keyword>CROSS-cultural studies</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>ASIA</keyword><keyword>Collaboration</keyword><keyword>Cross-cultural</keyword><keyword>ESL/EFL Teaching</keyword><keyword>Native and Non-native ESL/EFL Teachers Team Teaching</keyword><keyword>Professional Development</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</title><secondary-title>International Journal of Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>249-257</pages><number>9</number><contributors><authors><author>Sun Hee, Jang</author><author>Boi Hoang, Nguyen</author><author>Yang, Yang</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328263524</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>9</rec-number><publisher>Common Ground Publishing</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328263524</last-updated-date><accession-num>64439252</accession-num><volume>17</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010). However, as has been discussed above, these claims are very difficult to prove and the studies analysed do not offer a clear answer about how the work of NTAs really has an impact on students’ proficiency in the target language. Furthermore, most of the literature available only refers to native speakers of English working abroad teaching English as a second language (In-Jae, 2010; Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010; Shin, 2008; Galloway, 2008), both as the main teacher or as part of a collaborative teaching program with a Non Native English teacher. For the purpose of this study, focused on the work carried out by a native speaker of Spanish supporting the learning of the Spanish language at a secondary school, prior literature is almost inexistent, apart from some examples of little relevance based in American schools (Lord, 2010; Morin, 2007; Elliott, 1995). Therefore, it has been necessary to combine both the knowledge from the literature about the impact of TAs on improving students’ attainment with what are generally accepted as being the benefits that NTAs bring for students’ learning of a foreign language, in particular to the development of their communication, pronunciation, grammar, writing, listening and cultural competence skills. Finally, another aspect that is taken into account in this study is teacher and student attitudes towards the role of the NTA and their perception about his/her ability to have an impact on both the teaching and learning of a foreign language, especially in comparison with having only a non-native teacher of Spanish. This is supported by the findings of ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Shin</Author><Year>2008</Year><IDText>Preparing non-native English-speaking ESL teachers</IDText><Pages>58</Pages><DisplayText>(Shin, 2008)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS -- Training of</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE teachers</keyword><keyword>TEACHING</keyword><keyword>EDUCATION</keyword><keyword>critical pedagogy</keyword><keyword>NNEST</keyword><keyword>non-native English-speaking teachers</keyword><keyword>teacher identity</keyword><keyword>TESOL teacher education</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> non-native English-speaking ESL teachers</title><secondary-title>Teacher Development</secondary-title></titles><pages>57-65</pages><number>1</number><contributors><authors><author>Shin, Sarah J.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328971152</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2008</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>14</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328971152</last-updated-date><accession-num>28768155</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/13664530701827749</electronic-resource-num><volume>12</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Shin's (2008, p. 58) study, which refers to teacher and student attitudes towards native English speakers teachers and non-native speakers. Shin states that:Native speakers are assumed to be superior in linguistic competence as compared to non-native speakers and are considered owners of proper, authentic English. On the other hand, non-native English speaking teachers are credited with more conscious knowledge of grammar, language learning experience that they can share with learners, serving as good models and, the ability to empathize with language learners.This is therefore a factor that needs to be considered in this study, due to the fact that native and non-native teachers are credited with very different skills and knowledge about the target language. Therefore, they have the ability to contribute to students’ proficiency with the language in different ways. From this review of the existing literature on the role of the TA, it can be concluded that the advantages of having the support of an NTA for the teaching and learning of a foreign language are manifested in two different ways. On the one hand, the NTA role shares some of the benefits attributed to a general TA, i.e. reduction of teachers’ workload and positive impact on their job satisfaction, and alternative support to students due to their personal expertise. On the other hand, the role is unique in that this personal expertise can be directly focused on the development of students’ skills, such as oral communication, pronunciation, grammar, listening, writing, vocabulary and cultural understanding of the target language country (Spain) to enhance their proficiency in the foreign language. MethodologyMost science is believed to usually take place within a paradigm: a set of beliefs and expectations that guide the research. The paradigm helps researchers to define what questions are important and make decisions about the proper ways to go about answering them (Kuhn, T.S., 1962). Two of the better known and most used paradigms in education research are the quantitative and the qualitative paradigms. Quantitative researchers are normally interested in the collection of facts. They try to establish relationships between one set of facts and another in order to draw conclusions from these relationships. To be able to do this, they can make use of numerical data obtained by experimenting on individuals and/or structured questioning. The findings and conclusions derived from this type of research are open to be generalised and applied to similar contexts (Bell, 2010). On the other hand, qualitative researchers try to understand and interpret individuals’ opinions, attitudes and perceptions. These researchers do not necessary rely on numbers to present their findings, but on people’s beliefs and experiences, creating a clear picture from within (Sharp, 2009). They maintain that people make decisions and act in accordance with their subjective understanding of the situations in which they find themselves (Littlejohn, S. (2000). They show scepticism about the existence of social fact, arguing that the quantitative approach is not the most suitable when dealing with social events and human beings (Bell, 2010), providing the researcher with the ability to interact with the research subjects in their own language and on their own terms (Kirk & Miller, 1986) . Both paradigms offer the researcher a series of advantages and disadvantages. This has caused the research community to be divided over the years into those who believe that quantitative studies are the only way to produce relevant and reliable knowledge and those who believe that qualitative approaches are crucial for obtaining valuable information about the issues surrounding the process of education and the people that are active participants in it. However, there are occasions when, due to the nature of certain studies, “researchers that have taken a quantitative approach drawn on qualitative techniques and vice versa” (Bell, 2010, p.8). This paper, in its methodological approach, acknowledges the fact that the rigour and relevance of any research is determined equally by both the subject of research and the methodology used to conduct it. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the fact that different hypotheses and subjects of study require different approaches. For the purpose of this study, an interpretative paradigm approach has been taken, based on the assessment that this approach is the most suitable for both the subject of study (the NTA) and the context in which study has been conducted (a secondary school), with the aim of answering the following questions:Does the work carried out by the NTA contribute to the improvement of secondary school students’ proficiency in the target language (Spanish)Which foreign language skills benefit the most from the intervention of the NTA?Could the NTA’s pedagogical and instructional skills be used more effectively inside and outside the classroom? To be able to answer these questions, a case study research method was adopted. The case study is defined, for the purposes of this research, as the comprehensive examination of a phenomenon that utilizes naturalistic methods of gathering evidence, in this case documents, non participant observations and questionnaires, employing triangulation (Gerring, 2007). It is necessary to note that the subjects under investigation in a case study are not perfectly representative of the population, or at least this representation is questionable. Therefore, homogeneity and generalisation across the population is not assured (Gerring, 2007). However, a case study was considered to be the most suitable method for this piece of research due to its small sample (1 NTA, 3 Spanish teachers and over 40 students) and its aim to present an insight into a topic barely researched in the past. Case studies are especially useful when “a subject is being encountered for the first time or is being considered in a fundamentally new way (Gerring, 2007, p. 40). It is also important to observe that this research only intents to be representative of the context in which it took place, giving priority to its internal validity over its external (Burton and Bartlett, 2009, Anderson, 1990).The data for this research have been collected using a mixed method approach, combining both interpretative data, through non-participant observations, and positivist data, with the help of questionnaires and school documents. The study intends to offer a wide range of variables and contrast between the different research methods, increasing the credibility and validity of the results through triangulation. According to ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Guthrie</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Basic Research Methods : An Entry to Social Science Research</IDText><Pages>46</Pages><DisplayText>(Guthrie, 2010, p. 46)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>Social sciences</keyword><keyword>SOCIAL SCIENCE / Research</keyword><keyword>SOCIAL SCIENCE / Methodology</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Research Methods : An Entry to Social Science Research</title></titles><pages>243p.</pages><contributors><authors><author>Guthrie, Gerard</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1334826467</added-date><ref-type name="Book">6</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>84</rec-number><publisher>SAGE Publications</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1334826467</last-updated-date><remote-database-name>nlebk</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Guthrie, (2010, p. 46), “triangulation is a process of bringing multiple types of data to bear on the one problem, using the different techniques to study the issue from different angles”.To establish a general overview of the impact of the NTA on students’ proficiency with the target language, school documents related to students’ Spanish GCSE and A-level results from 2004 to 2010 are analysed, in particular those referring to the speaking test. It is widely believed that native speaker teachers are superior in linguistic competence and that they could help to improve students’ communication skills (Shin, 2008). Therefore, it would be interesting to see if there is any indication of this in the speaking test results. These results are all taken from a period after the school first took on a Spanish NTA in 2001. The main reason for examining both GCSE and A-level exams is that the NTA spends most of her time supporting students who are preparing for these exams. The resulting data has been deconstructed and presented using pie charts for easier interpretation, the representation of patterns and their possible connection with the work of the NTA over the years under consideration (Please see appendix 1). In order to identify patterns, the pie charts are divided by the grade boundaries for the speaking test paper set by the exam board. In this way, we can easily see the distribution of the grades achieved every year and are able to differentiate between good and not so good grades. As Newby (2010, p. 560) states, “it is often easier to draw conclusions from our research if we can represent our data in a quantitative way”. However, this paper acknowledges that the conclusions that might be drawn from this data depend on many different factors, not exclusively the NTA’s support. Therefore, here this quantitative approach is used only as a reference and starting point for discussion of the topic. Despite the complexity of searching through the school’s archives, it has been possible to collect all the necessary information, with the exception of the 2008 Spanish GCSE results, which remain absent from this study. In order to accurately illustrate the work carried out by the NTA during lessons, a number of non-participant observations were conducted using an observation sheet template designed for this purpose (Please see appendix 3). This template was designed to record the different areas on which the NTA’s support was really focused: oral communication, pronunciation, grammar, listening and writing skills, development of vocabulary and understanding of the culture of the country (Spain). To try to minimize as much as possible the impact that the researcher’s presence in the classroom could have on both the NTA and the students, a non-participant approach was taken. According to O’Hara et al. (2011, p. 184), “a non-participant observer has to try not to influence the behaviour and actions of [the] participants but instead must remain neutral and unobtrusive,...allowing the participants to act as naturally as possible”. Over four weeks, a total of 16 lessons were observed from years 10, 11 and 12, with the aim of determining whether the students were making any progress in the areas described above from one session to the next and relating this to the support that they had received. Using an interpretative approach, these observations aimed to represent the classroom reality objectively. Keiding (2011, p.113) argued that “there is no such thing as an objective or neutral observation. That something is designated as an objective fact simply refers to the circumstance that various observers agree on what is observed”. This view is supported by O’Hara et al. (2011, p. 180), who state that “observations also carry [the] risk that their trustworthiness might be undermined by observer subjectivity or bias”. Therefore, this paper recognises a certain degree of partiality during the observation process; not because the observer only saw what he wanted to see, but because the observer always had to interpret what he was seeing. Another of the difficulties of doing this is the short period of time available in which to evaluate the students’ progress, taking into account that this progress does not solely depend on NTA support but also on the Spanish teachers and the students’ independent work. To contrast the observed classroom reality with perceptions of and attitudes towards the NTA and her ability to enhance students’ proficiency in the Spanish language, structured questionnaires were designed and distributed among Spanish teachers, students and to the NTA (Please see appendix 2). The purpose of these questionnaires was to obtain the opinions of the people involved in the teaching and learning processes about the benefits of having the support of a NTA. Once again, an important factor was to determine in which way they believe the NTA’s support is having an impact on improving the skills mentioned above. The questionnaires contain a series a statements to which the respondents had to show their agreement or disagreement using a Likert scale. This method was adopted as it is easy to understand and simple to complete, which was important considering the short amount of time that the respondents had fill it in. As Brace (2004, p. 9) claims, “respondents want a questionnaire that poses them questions that they can answer without too much effort, and that maintains their interest, without taking up too much of their time”. These points were taken into account when designing these questionnaires. In addition, the responses had to be analysed carefully to detect any patterns or biases that could affect the accuracy of the data obtained. As Brace (2004, p. 181) observes, on occasion “respondents give inaccurate answers both consciously...and...without any conscious realization...The researcher must be aware of these inaccuracies [and] try to minimize them”. Finally, during the data collection process, ethical considerations were taken into account in order to maintain the anonymity of the participants involved in this study. For this reason, a deontological approach had been taken, i.e. complying with the ethical guidelines because it is the right thing to do, as opposed to complying with the ethical guidelines because of the potential consequences of not doing so (a consequential approach). Another ethical consideration was that this study required the participants’ informed consent in order to make them aware of its purpose and assure them that this data would not be use for any other reason beyond the completion of this study. Analysis and findingsThe findings of this study are divided into three different categories: students’ GCSE and A-level Spanish speaking test results, questionnaires and classroom observations. Pie charts are included to summarise and illustrate the data collected. In order to analyse the findings, the results are compared with the assertions of the literature considered earlier in this paper about NTAs’ role in improving students’ foreign language proficiency, in particular their role in improving students’ oral communication, pronunciation, grammar, listening and writing skills, development of vocabulary and understanding of the culture of the country.Students’ GCSE and A-level Spanish speaking test results from 2004 to 2010The data from the school’s Spanish GCSE and A-levels exams from 2004 to 2010 indicates consistently high attainment in the speaking test. Over the years, we can see that the majority of grades achieved on this part of the exam is between A* and A at GCSE level and A and B at A-level, with the only exception being the 2010 GCSE results, when the majority of grades obtained were B. The reason for this could be that in 2010, the school changed the GCSE exam board from AQA to Edexcel, suggesting that these results could correspond to a period of adaptation for both Spanish teachers and students to the new scheme. However, further results would have been needed to prove this point. In 2006 the school achieved a second specialism in languages following consistently high exam results and its success as a Technology College. This explains why, from 2006 to 2009, the students only took the higher GCSE Spanish speaking test, instead of a mixture of foundation and higher. Given the fact that the study of Spanish is non-compulsory at this school, the awarding of the specialist status could also have had a negative impact on the number of students choosing Spanish as a second language for their GCSE and A-level exams. Following this award, the school increased its language provision and now provides Chinese as a second language to the most able Year 7 students, Spanish to KS4 and Russian and Chinese to KS5 students. In addition, at KS4, the most able students are currently being fast-tracked to sit GCSE French in Y10, so that they can do a second GCSE in Spanish in Y11. A combination of these factors could explain the fluctuation in the number of students taking the GCSE and A-level exams over the years. Particularly significant is the decrease in students taking the A-level Spanish exam since it reached its highest point in 2007, when 18 students took it. By 2010, this number fell to only 7 students. As far as the results achieved on the A-levels exams are concerned, the data shows that over the years the most frequently achieved grade in the speaking test is A, most striking in 2010, when over 57% of the students who took the exam obtained that grade. As indicated above, this was the year with the lowest number of students taking the exam, only 7, suggesting that there could be a relationship between the number of students that the NTA is supporting during a particular year and the results that they are able to achieve in their exams. This hypothesis becomes stronger when referring to the results achieved in 2008, when the number of students taking the exam was 8. That year, 50% of the students obtained grade A. However, the next year, 2009, does not follow the same trend, even though the same number of students took the exam. In 2009, there was an equal distribution of grades A, B, C and D, two students (25%) achieving each of these grades. Also, in 2007, the year with the highest number of students taking the exam, 18, the results were not significantly lower in comparison with the following years. That year, over 22% of students achieved a grade A, with a similar proportion of them achieving grade B. However, it is interesting to note that in 2007 the modal grade was D, at almost 28%. Therefore, in order to gain a better understanding of this possible relationship, a deeper and more extensive analysis of both GCSE and A-level results would be needed. The data generated by the school’s GCSE and A-level results could suggest that the support of the NTA has a positive impact on the development of students’ oral skills. However it would have been preferable for the purpose of this study to have had some of the students’ exams results prior the school first taking on a Spanish NTA in 2001, which, unfortunately, were not available. If this had been the case, results from before and after the installation of the NTA could have been compared and the conclusions generated would have been, perhaps, less ambiguous. Nevertheless, the patterns presented in the pie charts do show an increase in students’ performance over the years. The question remains as to what part, if any, the NTA played in this improvement. As this study was designed to focus on the role of the NTA, its limitations did not allow for thorough consideration of all of the factors that might improve student attainment, such as alternative ways in which the teacher might choose to deploy the NTA and a better understanding of the teaching and learning strategies that could lead to higher results. In an attempt to clarify to some extent the other factors which might be behind variations in student attainment, the data gathered from questionnaires and classroom observations have been analysed in the sections below. QuestionnairesThe questionnaires were designed to find out, among other relevant questions, how Spanish teachers, students and the NTA perceive the role of the NTA. Spanish teachers were asked to identify which language skills they believed the NTA’s support should focus on improving. Students, on the other hand, were asked about which foreign language skills they believed the NTA’s support was helping them to develop. Finally, these opinions were compared with the views expressed by the NTA, who was asked what she understood the focus of her lessons should be. To determine the range of foreign language skills that were going to be included in the questionnaires, it was necessary to draw from the points made in the studies quoted in the literature review, for example ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Sun Hee</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</IDText><DisplayText>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>COLLABORATIVE learning</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE teachers</keyword><keyword>TEACHING teams</keyword><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>TEACHER development</keyword><keyword>CROSS-cultural studies</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>ASIA</keyword><keyword>Collaboration</keyword><keyword>Cross-cultural</keyword><keyword>ESL/EFL Teaching</keyword><keyword>Native and Non-native ESL/EFL Teachers Team Teaching</keyword><keyword>Professional Development</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</title><secondary-title>International Journal of Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>249-257</pages><number>9</number><contributors><authors><author>Sun Hee, Jang</author><author>Boi Hoang, Nguyen</author><author>Yang, Yang</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328263524</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>9</rec-number><publisher>Common Ground Publishing</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328263524</last-updated-date><accession-num>64439252</accession-num><volume>17</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang (2010); Gao and Shum (2010); In-Jae (2010); Ohtani (2010); Feng (2009); Galloway (2008); Shin (2008); Morin (2007); Elliot (2005); Mahboob, (2005) and Davies (2003). In these studies, the dichotomy of the native speaker teacher and the non-native speaker teacher is observed from various perspectives, in an effort to determine which of them is the most suitable to teach any particular aspect of a language. Through classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews with native speaker teachers, non-native speaker teachers and students, these researchers collected data that allowed them to outline the advantages and disadvantages of the native speaker teacher against the non-native speaker for teaching a foreign language, in this case, English. These advantages and disadvantages were related to a native speaker teacher’s ability to improve students’ proficiency in the areas of oral communication, pronunciation, grammar, listening, writing, vocabulary and understanding of the culture of the country. They show that native speaker teachers are credited with better linguistic competence for improving students’ oral, pronunciation and listening skills, vocabulary and understanding of the culture of the country (Galloway, 2008). On the other hand, non-native speaker teachers are generally perceived to have a better knowledge of the foreign language grammar, therefore they are seen to be more suitable for enhancing students’ grammar and writing skills. In addition, they are able to empathise with them through the sharing of their language learning experience (Shin, 2008). All of these factors were considered in the design of the questionnaires in an attempt to establish the real impact of the NTA’s support on improving students’ development in each of the areas discussed above. The data presented in graph 1 show that Spanish teachers, students and the NTA seem to agree on the importance of supporting the development of students’ foreign language oral skills. It is the only area to which all the participants in the questionnaire gave a score of 4 or higher, the development of vocabulary and pronunciation skills scoring just a little less. Graph SEQ Graph \* ARABIC 1: NTA’s contribution to the development of students' Spanish language skills: teachers’, students’ and NTA’s perception of the role. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree.These results confirm Gilakjani and Ahmadi’s (20011); Sun Hee, Boi Hoang, and Yang’s (2010); In-Jae’s (2010); Ohtani’s (2010); Galloway’s (2008) and Shin’s (2008) views about the advantages of having a native speaker teachers for teaching a foreign language over a non-native speaker teacher. The data could also suggest that Spanish teachers’ general approach to making use of the NTA to enhance students’ Spanish language skills is to support their oral skills in particular. In addition, during conversations with the students, it became clear that the NTA might help them to develop their confidence and self-esteem while using the language in semi-real life situations. The NTA also serves as a model for the students in terms of the correct rhythm, intonation and pronunciation of the foreign language, meanwhile the students are able to consolidate and expand their vocabulary. A combination of all these factors could explain why overall, oral skills, pronunciation and vocabulary received the highest score. However, graph 1 also shows that there is a major difference between the Spanish language skills that the NTA believes she should be focusing on improving and the skills that students claim they have been able to develop thanks to the NTA’s support. For instance, the NTA did not rate the importance of supporting the development of students’ pronunciation skills highly, scoring it only 3 out of 5. Students, on the other hand, thought that her support had allowed them to greatly improve their pronunciation skills, giving this area a score of almost 5. This disagreement is especially significant in the area of grammar skills, which the NTA gave a score of only 2, while the students gave it a score of 4. This fact contradicts the findings of Shin (2008), who questions native speaker teachers’ ability to improve students’ grammar skills, suggesting that non-native speaker teachers are better prepared to do so thanks to their superior knowledge of the topic. In other areas the situation is the inverse of the trend described above, where students perceive benefits that the NTA does not. For example, the NTA gave a score of 5 to listening skills and vocabulary, whereas the students’ score for both of these was lower than 4. The difference in how NTA and students perceive the role and its function corroborate ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Tulane</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>Perceived utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</IDText><DisplayText>(Tulane and Beckert, 2011)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>graduate student training</keyword><keyword>knowledge</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword><keyword>utility</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</title><secondary-title>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>44-55</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Tulane, Sarah</author><author>Beckert, Troy E.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329222858</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>22</rec-number><publisher>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329222858</last-updated-date><accession-num>69540227</accession-num><volume>11</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Tulane and Beckert's (2011) and Woolfson and Truswell’s (2005) concerns about the lack of understanding of how to deploy TAs effectively, when they claim that teachers should give clearer directions to TAs about what they intend the students to know. Graph 2 illustrates, therefore, that if teachers’ deployment of the NTA is not properly adjusted to students’ academic needs, the NTA’s and students’ efforts will be going in different directions. In this respect, graph 2 illustrates the Spanish teachers’ and NTA’s perception of how well the NTA understands the purpose of the activities undertaken with the students, and the students’ perception of how well they understand the purpose of these activities.Graph SEQ Graph \* ARABIC 2: Spanish teachers’, NTA’s and students’ perception of their understanding of the purpose of the activities. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree.Spanish teachers rated the NTA’s understanding of the purpose of the activities they carry out with just over 3 points out of five. They might be suggesting that, on occasion, the NTA either does not fully understand what the Spanish teachers want her to do or she does not know how to do it. On the other hand, the NTA believed that she understood the purpose of the lessons most of the time, rating this part of the questionnaire with a 4. In addition, students thought that they generally understood the purpose of the activities, giving this a score of over 4 points. This does not explain why, if both NTA and students seem to fully understand the purpose of the lessons, there is not a stronger relationship between what the NTA thinks she should be doing and what the students believe the NTA’s work is helping them to develop. Classroom observations The classroom observations conducted offer a better understanding of the way in which the NTA’s support is focused to improve the skills that have been discussed above, i.e. oral communication, pronunciation, grammar, listening and writing skills, development of vocabulary and understanding of the culture of the country (Spain). The results of these observations are illustrated on graph 3. Graph SEQ Graph \* ARABIC 3: Focus of NTA's support during lessons by year group. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means totally disagree and 5 strongly agree.We can see how, during the lessons observed from the different year groups, the area that received most of the NTA’s support was the development of students’ oral skills, followed by grammar and vocabulary, although this distribution of attention was not homogeneous across the four different year groups. This could sustain the argument that Spanish teachers make use of the NTA principally to enhance students’ Spanish communication skills. In addition, it could also be one of the reasons behind the increase in students’ attainment in the Spanish GCSE and A-level speaking test. The data collected also show that the NTA’s support was focused differently with year 10 and 11 students to with years 12 and 13. The explanation for this could be that, during the lessons with year 10 and 11 students, the NTA’s support is orientated towards helping them gain the necessary skills for the GCSE exam, giving more attention to areas like pronunciation and listening. It could be argued that for A-level exams, more attention is required in the areas of grammar and vocabulary and for this reason the NTA’s support for 12 and 13 students might have a different focus. .However, the most significant aspect is the little attention that the NTA gave to the development of students’ understanding of the cultural aspects of the country. This contradicts the Spanish teachers’, NTA’s and students’ views expressed in the questionnaires, where this area received an average mark of over 3 points. It seems that this expectation does not match the classroom reality. Another important aspect considered while observing the NTA’s lessons was the level of student participation and their approach and response to the tasks set by the NTA. As expressed by Rubie-Davies et al. (2010) and Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Koutsoubou, et al. (2009), the number and quality of interactions between TAs and Students could have an influence on the effectiveness of their work. Therefore, the observation of how the students participate and interact with the NTA during lessons was considered useful to establish a relationship between interaction and the improvement of students’ Spanish skills. Graph 4 illustrates the findings in this respect. Graph SEQ Graph \* ARABIC 4: Student response during the NTA's lessons. Results based on a five point Liker scale where 1 means very poor and 5 excellent.We can see from the information in Graph 4 that year 11 students do not seem to reach the same levels of quality of work, engagement and confidence using the language as year 10, 12 and 13. The reason for this could be that a large number of the year 11 lessons observed were taught to large groups, i.e. three or more students, in contrast to small groups in year 10 and one-to-one lessons in year 12 and 13. This could suggest that the quality of the NTA-Students’ interaction is determined by the size of the group, due to the fact that the NTA has more time for individual attention (Rubie-Davies et al., 2010; Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Koutsoubou, et al., 2009). DiscussionAfter analysing the data from this case study it is still unclear whether student attainment is related to or even dependent on the NTA’s support. However, there are some signs that could indicate that when this support is orientated according to students’ academic needs and when the teacher takes full advantage of the NTA’s expertise and pedagogical value, it could benefit the development of some foreign languages skills.From this perspective, according to the students’ exams results, the data collected suggests that the progressive increase in students’ attainment could have some relation to the NTA’s support. Questionnaires and classroom observations corroborate the idea that students spend most of their time with the NTA during lessons engaged in conversations in semi-real life situations. Therefore, this prolonged interaction with a native speaker could be an excellent preparatory stage for students’ to meet the GCSE and A-level speaking exam requirements more effectively. This would support the findings of Burns and Joyce’s (1997) research, who indicate that what will help learners of a foreign language most “is plenty of authentic conversation practice”. In addition, students’ conversations with a native speaker contribute to the development of other foreign language skills, in particular pronunciation and vocabulary. As expressed by, among others, Gilakjani and Ahmadi (20011); In-Jae (2010); Ohtani (2010); Shin (2008); Galloway (2008), when referring to the figure of the native speaker, his/her superior linguistic competence makes him/her “the perfect model for students to imitate”. Native speakers are arguably “in a better position to judge how close to the native-like pronunciation a student comes and may be more successful [in comparison with a non-native speaker] in that branch of language teaching ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Sun Hee</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</IDText><DisplayText>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>COLLABORATIVE learning</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE teachers</keyword><keyword>TEACHING teams</keyword><keyword>ENGLISH language -- Study & teaching -- Foreign speakers</keyword><keyword>TEACHER development</keyword><keyword>CROSS-cultural studies</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>ASIA</keyword><keyword>Collaboration</keyword><keyword>Cross-cultural</keyword><keyword>ESL/EFL Teaching</keyword><keyword>Native and Non-native ESL/EFL Teachers Team Teaching</keyword><keyword>Professional Development</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> Pedagogical Roles of ESL/EFL Native and Non-Native Teachers through Team Teaching: How to Make this 'International Partnership' Successful</title><secondary-title>International Journal of Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>249-257</pages><number>9</number><contributors><authors><author>Sun Hee, Jang</author><author>Boi Hoang, Nguyen</author><author>Yang, Yang</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328263524</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>9</rec-number><publisher>Common Ground Publishing</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328263524</last-updated-date><accession-num>64439252</accession-num><volume>17</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Sun Hee, Boi Hoang and Yang, 2010). Therefore, the NTA is able to impart the right pronunciation with less effort than the non-native Spanish teachers. She is in a position to correct students’ mistakes using words or sentences more naturally and to have a quicker and more effective impact on students’ development in this area. Furthermore, students’ vocabulary skills are enhanced thanks to the NTA’s ability to converse in a colloquial manner, expanding the range of their vocabulary.These views are sustained by the data gathered through the questionnaires, which shows that pronunciation and vocabulary are two of the highest rated areas by both the NTA and the students. The classroom observations data, on the other hand, does not agree completely with these opinions. Even though it seems that the NTA dedicated a large part of the lessons to supporting students’ development of vocabulary, pronunciation is not one of the areas that received much of the NTA’s attention, especially when teaching year 12 and 13 students. This fact was previously highlighted on Morin’s (2007) and Elliot’s (1995; 1997) studies, who observe that the teaching of the correct pronunciation of a foreign language generally receives “more attention in the first years of study as it introduces the foreign language’s alphabet and sound system, but rarely continues this focus past the introductory level”. Elliot (1995) also maintains that teachers tend to view pronunciation as “the least useful of the basic language skills”. Therefore, the NTA might relegate the teaching of pronunciation to a second plane “in order to spend valuable class time [supporting] other areas of language”. However, the biggest disagreement between the data collected through the questionnaires and that collected through classroom observations refers to the teaching of cultural competence. On the one hand, Spanish teachers and the NTA considered this to be one of the areas in which the NTA plays an important role. Furthermore, students claimed that, thanks to the NTA’s support, they have widened their knowledge in this area. On the other hand, the classroom observations conducted did not show any indication of this kind of support taking place. This contradicts the opinions of researchers like Feng (2009), Allen and Davies (2009) and Rollin (2006) about the importance of teaching cultural competence. Students’ initial motivation when learning a foreign language is merely communicational, whereas later their motivation reflects their desire to continue learning about the second language culture (Gilakjani and Ahmadi, 2011). Therefore, in order to maintain students’ high levels of engagement and motivation for learning a second language, the teaching of cultural aspects of the country should be prioritised. In addition, it is necessary to combine the teaching of the foreign language skills needed to gain a certain level of proficiency with “personal growth, cultural awareness and social skills” (Allan and Davies, 2009). At this point, it should be noted once again that students’ attainment could be related to other factors beyond the NTA’s support. For instance, in 2006 the school was awarded specialist language status. As a result, its language provision increased, teaching and learning standards were raised and students were encouraged to become more involved in the learning of a foreign language, for instance, year 11 students were offered the opportunity to do a second GCSE in Spanish. The exam results analysed indicate that these developments could have changed the school’s approach to language teaching, showing that since 2006 students went from taking both foundation and higher speaking tests to only higher, signifying that Spanish teachers might have greater expectations about students’ capabilities.Another of the key points that has arisen from the analysis of the findings of this research is the disagreement between the NTA’s and the students’ perception of the NTA role and its function. This could suggest that the NTA is not used by the different Spanish teachers for the same purpose and that the level of communication between them and the NTA could also differ. In this respect, the questionnaires help to clarify these assumptions, showing that while 2 of the 3 teachers asked believed that the NTA normally understands the purpose of her lesson in relation to what the teachers want her to do, the answer of the third teacher disagrees with this opinion. This confirms that there does seem to be a lack of understanding of how to deploy the NTA effectively, ( ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Tulane</Author><Year>2011</Year><IDText>Perceived utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</IDText><DisplayText>(Tulane and Beckert, 2011)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>graduate student training</keyword><keyword>knowledge</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword><keyword>utility</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> utility and knowledge of graduate teaching assistants</title><secondary-title>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</secondary-title></titles><pages>44-55</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Tulane, Sarah</author><author>Beckert, Troy E.</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329222858</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2011</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>22</rec-number><publisher>Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329222858</last-updated-date><accession-num>69540227</accession-num><volume>11</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Tulane and Beckert, 2011). Therefore, to maximise teachers’ chances of deploying the NTA more effectively and taking full advantage of the pedagogical values of the role ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Rubie-Davies</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</IDText><DisplayText>(Rubie-Davies<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHER-student relationships</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS' assistants</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>SPECIAL education educators</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>educational personnel</keyword><keyword>special education</keyword><keyword>teacher aides</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</title><secondary-title>School Effectiveness & School Improvement</secondary-title></titles><pages>429-449</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Rubie-Davies, Christine M.</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Koutsoubou, Maria</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329223646</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>23</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329223646</last-updated-date><accession-num>55474232</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/09243453.2010.512800</electronic-resource-num><volume>21</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>(Rubie-Davies et al., 2010), the setting of homogenous standards for practice is needed (Woolfson and Truswell’s, 2005). The way towards setting these standards could be to implement training for both Spanish teachers and NTAs (Tulane and Beckert, 2011; Webster et al, 2011; Rubie-Davies et al, 2010; Tucker, 2009; Butt and Lance, 2005). ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Hunt</Author><Year>2005</Year><IDText>Primary modern foreign languages: an overview of recent research, key issues and challenges for educational policy and practice</IDText><DisplayText>(Hunt<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2005)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LANGUAGE policy</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE & languages -- Study & teaching</keyword><keyword>LANGUAGE planning</keyword><keyword>CURRICULA (Courses of study)</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>GREAT Britain</keyword><keyword>Early foreign language learning</keyword><keyword>Primary modern foreign languages</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> modern foreign languages: an overview of recent research, key issues and challenges for educational policy and practice</title><secondary-title>Research Papers in Education</secondary-title></titles><pages>371-390</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Hunt, Marilyn</author><author>Barnes, Ann</author><author>Powell, Bob</author><author>Lindsay, Geoff</author><author>Muijs, Daniel</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1328366593</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2005</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>11</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1328366593</last-updated-date><accession-num>18908528</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/02671520500335774</electronic-resource-num><volume>20</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Hunt et al. (2005) suggest that both parties can benefit from this training, which should develop “classroom teachers’ subject knowledge and expertise”; and be orientated to “native speakers and FLAs [Foreign Language Assistants (NTA)] who do not have the requisite methodological knowledge”. However, this case study found through the responses to the questionnaires that neither Spanish teachers nor NTA received much specific training prior or during their professional relationship. Additionally, not all Spanish teachers seemed to agree that they would make better use of the NTA for supporting their lessons if they received the right training. This contradicts the NTA’s opinion, who considered that she would support students’ learning more effectively if she received the right training.Finally, the interaction between NTA and students must be considered. It appears that students who normally interact with the NTA individually or in small groups (2 students) show higher levels of engagement motivation and quality of work, in comparison with students whose interaction with the NTA takes place in larger groups (3 students or more). Therefore, it could be concluded that the NTA’s support was more effective when she was able to provide individual attention to the students (Blatchford, Bassett, Brown, Koutsoubou, et al., 2009, as cited by ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Rubie-Davies</Author><Year>2010</Year><IDText>Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</IDText><DisplayText>(Rubie-Davies<style face="italic"> et al.</style>, 2010)</DisplayText><record><keywords><keyword>LEARNING</keyword><keyword>TEACHER-student relationships</keyword><keyword>TEACHERS' assistants</keyword><keyword>SCHOOL children</keyword><keyword>SPECIAL education educators</keyword><keyword>EFFECTIVE teaching</keyword><keyword>educational personnel</keyword><keyword>special education</keyword><keyword>teacher aides</keyword><keyword>teaching assistants</keyword></keywords><urls><related-urls><url> learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils</title><secondary-title>School Effectiveness & School Improvement</secondary-title></titles><pages>429-449</pages><number>4</number><contributors><authors><author>Rubie-Davies, Christine M.</author><author>Blatchford, Peter</author><author>Webster, Rob</author><author>Koutsoubou, Maria</author><author>Bassett, Paul</author></authors></contributors><added-date format="utc">1329223646</added-date><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><dates><year>2010</year></dates><remote-database-provider>EBSCOhost</remote-database-provider><rec-number>23</rec-number><publisher>Routledge</publisher><last-updated-date format="utc">1329223646</last-updated-date><accession-num>55474232</accession-num><electronic-resource-num>10.1080/09243453.2010.512800</electronic-resource-num><volume>21</volume><remote-database-name>ehh</remote-database-name></record></Cite></EndNote>Rubie-Davies et al., 2010, p. 430). It also indicates that the Spanish teachers’ deployment of the NTA to support groups of students outside the classroom in this school might be the right approach, producing better outcomes that her deployment inside the classroom to support the whole group. However, this study did not have the opportunity to verify this hypothesis, as further research would be needed to do so.ConclusionsThe purpose of this case study research was to offer an insight into the role of the NTA, and in which way the NTA’s support could have an impact on students’ proficiency in the target language (Spanish), according to the way that it is deployed by the Spanish teachers.The objectives set at the beginning of this study have been met, although it is necessary to acknowledge that the conclusions drawn from its findings only can only be applied to the context in which the study took place. Therefore, in this particular school, the NTA’s support does seem to contribute to the improvement of some of students’ foreign language skills, in particular the areas of communication, pronunciation and development of vocabulary.In addition, this study has established a relationship between the type of NTA interaction with the students and the effectiveness of her support. Thus, in order to take greater advantage of an NTA’s pedagogical and instructional skills, teachers’ deployment of the NTA should consider both the environment and the group size. In this respect, the approach taken by the majority of the school’s Spanish teachers of making use of the NTA to support small groups of students outside the classroom appears to be most effective.The main limitations of this study were the short amount of time available in which to conduct the classroom observations and the small sample of students observed, due to timetabling constrains. Therefore, even though the NTA’s support was generally beneficial for the students observed, a bigger sample might have shown something different. In addition, the artefacts collected did not offer sufficient information to reach more definite conclusion. Data from the period when the school did not have the role of the NTA in place, i.e. prior to 2001, would have been needed to further test this study’s hypotheses.In order to resolve the doubts which have arisen in this case study research, further research is recommended, especially considering that, to date, there seems to be a big gap in the knowledge of this field. To gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of the NTA role, a larger range of contexts and bigger samples would need to be analysed than those which were available for use in this study. By doing this, the findings of this study could be validated or contradicted and a firmer base would be established for taking on the recommendations made. 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(2008) A Novel Format for Teaching Spanish Grammar: Lessons from the Lecture Hall, Foreign Language Annals, 41(3), pp. 434-453.Appendix 1*The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2004. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2004. 3825240381635Total number of students: 1200Total number of students: 12*The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2004. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2005. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2005. 3825240381635Total number of students: 1300Total number of students: 133825240381635Total number of students: 1300Total number of students: 13*The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2005. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2006. 3825240381635Total number of students: 1200Total number of students: 12*The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2006. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2007. *The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2007. *The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2008. *The score correspond to the scale set by the AQA exam board for 2009. *The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2009. *The score correspond to the scale set by the Edexcel exam board for 2010. *The score correspond to the maximum uniform mark set by the Edexcel exam board for 2010. Appendix 2THE NATIVE TEACHING ASSISTANT (NTA) AS A RESOURCE FOR ENHANCING STUDENTS’ PROFICIENCY IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGETeaching staff questionnaire(Please show your agreement to the following statements, 1 being totally disagree and 5 strongly agree) 1. NTA’s role and responsibilities - The school provided an appropriate job description to the NTA. 12345- The NTA is provided with an effective school induction programme. 12345- NTAs are given time for preparation, meetings and other administrative tasks. 12345-The school’s staff development plan considers the NTA’s development needs. 12345- The school provides adequate support for teachers in relation to the management of the NTA. 1234 5- I meet with the NTA regularly to discuss and improve the quality of our partnership. 12 3452. Teachers’ use of the NTA for supporting students’ learning progress- My teaching approach and planning take into account the NTA’s capabilities. 12345- I recognise and make use of the NTA’s previous experience and skills to support students’ learning. 1234 5- The NTA understands the purpose of lessons’ activities. 1234 5- I believe that NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ oral communication skills. 1 234 5- I believe that NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ pronunciation skills. 1234 5- I believe that the NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ grammar skills. 1 234 5- I believe that the NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ listening skills. 1 234 5- I believe that the NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ writing skills. 1 234 5- I believe that the NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ vocabulary. 1 234 5- I believe that the NTA’s support should focus on developing students’ knowledge about the cultural aspects of the country. 1 234 53. NTA’s training and training opportunities- The NTA received school-based training prior to and during the development of her job. 1234 5- The NTA received external training prior and during the development of her job. 1234 5- I received school-based training about how to make use of the NTA to support my lessons. 1234 5- I received external training about how to make use of the NTA to support my lessons. 1234 5- I believe that I would make a better use of the NTA to support my lesson if I received the right training. 1234 5- I believe that students’ results would be enhanced if the NTA received the right training. 1 234 5In the additional comments box, please feel free to write about anything that hasn’t been covered above. Thank you for taking the time to give your views.THE NATIVE TEACHING ASSISTANT (NTA) AS A RESOURCE FOR ENHANCING STUDENTS’ PROFICIENCY IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGENative Teaching Assistant questionnaire(Please show your agreement to the following statements, 1 being totally disagree and 5 strongly agree) 1. NTA’s role and responsibilities - The school provided me with an appropriate job description for my role. 12345- I received a school induction day prior to starting my job. 12345- I am given time for preparation, meetings and other administrative tasks. 12345-The school’s staff development plan regards my development needs. 12345- I meet with teachers regularly to discuss and improve the quality of our partnership. 12 3452. Teachers’ use of the NTA for supporting students’ learning progress- I am given clear instructions from the teachers about the purpose of the lessons’ activities. 1234 5- I spend most of my time preparing teaching materials and lesson activities. 1 234 5- I spend most of my time working independently with groups of students. 1234 5- I spend most of my time working independently with individual students. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ oral skills. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ pronunciation skills. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ grammar skills. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ listening skills. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ writing skills. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting the development of students’ vocabulary. 1 234 5- I believe that I should focus on supporting students’ knowledge about the cultural aspects of the country. 1 234 53. NTA’s training and training opportunities- I have received effective school-based training prior to and during my work at the school. 1 234 5- I have received external training prior to and during work at the school. 1 234 5- I received school-based training about how to support students effectively during my lessons. 1 234 5- I received external training about how to support students effectively during my lessons. 1 234 5- I believe that I would be able to support students more effectively if I received the right training. 1 234 5- I believe that students’ results would be enhanced if the I received the right training. 1 234 5In the additional comments box, please feel free to write about anything that hasn’t been covered above. Thank you for taking the time to give your views.THE NATIVE TEACHING ASSISTANT (NTA) AS A RESOURCE FOR ENHANCING STUDENTS’ PROFICIENCY IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGEStudents’ questionnaire(Please show your agreement to the following statements, 1 being totally disagree and 5 strongly agree) 1. Native Teaching Assistant’s impact on my learning process.- I am regularly given clear instructions from both the teachers and the NTA about the purpose of lessons’ activities. 1234 5- I spend most of my time during lessons working in groups with the NTA. 1234 5- I spend most of my time during lessons working individually with the NTA. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my oral communication skills. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my pronunciation skills. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my grammar skills. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my listening skills. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my writing skills. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have developed my vocabulary. 1 234 5- I believe that thanks to the NTA I have gained a better of the culture of Spain. 1 234 5In the additional comments box, please feel free to write about anything that hasn’t been covered above. Thank you for taking the time to give your views.Appendix 3Classroom observation sheetYear Group: _____ Date: _______________Topic: ________________________________________Activity: _______________________________________Start time: _______________ End time:_______________2514600284480005124450284480001. Lesson structure:251460028956000Cooperative: Large group Small groupIndividual: One-to-one How is the lesson introduced? _____________________________________________________________2. NTA support is focused on: Oral communication skills12345Pronunciation 12345Grammar skills12345Listening skills1234 5Writing skills 12345Development of vocabulary 12345Cultural aspects of the language 123453. Student Participation:Quality of work 12345Engagement with the task/tasks 12345Motivation and determination 12345 Confidence using the target language 123454. Any other comments or relevant information:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ................
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