<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Arabic-L: Thu 31 Jan 2008</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <<a href="mailto:dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu">dilworth_parkinson@byu.edu</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To post messages to the list, send them to <a href="mailto:arabic-l@byu.edu">arabic-l@byu.edu</a>]</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:listserv@byu.edu">listserv@byu.edu</a> with first line reading:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "> unsubscribe arabic-l ]</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Directory------------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1) Subject:Survey on TA workload</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">1)</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Date: 31 Jan 2008</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From: Farwaneh <<a href="mailto:farwaneh@email.arizona.edu">farwaneh@email.arizona.edu</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Subject:Survey on TA workload</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">[moderator's note: please respond directly to Samira, and she will post a summary to the list.]</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">Dear Colleagues,<br><br>AS the Chair of the Language Committee, and at the request of our Department Head, I am writing to you in the hopes of obtaining information on how you distribute and utilize your resources, particularly, human resources, i.e., TAs, graders, adjuncts, etc. As an interdisciplinary department, we hire TAs for both general education content courses as well as beginning (and sometimes intermediate, Arabic, Persian and Turkish courses. In the hopes of mainstreaming TAs’ workload by ensuring balance between content (e.g., introductory History and Islamic Studies) TAs and language TAs on the one hand, and Middle Eastern language TAs vs. non-ME TAs on the other, we are in the process of gathering information about TAs’ workload and responsibilities in other language departments in other institutions for comparison. For this purpose, we hope that you could help us by filling out this short questionnaire, with many thanks and much appreciation for your time and input. And sincere thanks to those who already sent us feedback as a response to my personal requests. I will send a summary unless you choose to respond directly to the list.<br><br>1. Do TAs serve as instructors of record with full responsibility for a language course?<br><br>2. If yes, what type and degree of supervision is exercised, and by whom (language committee, coordinator, department head, etc)?<br><br>3. If TAs are not instructors of record, do they participate in the teaching of a language course or are their responsibilities limited to grading?<br><br>4. What is the regular weekly load for a TA and how many weekly hours go into grading? ( I realize that the number varies from week to week, so an approximate average would suffice)<br><br>5. Are all language TAs assigned similar responsibilities regardless of their level of proficiency and experience?<br><br>6. To what extent are TAs granted independence in designing syllabi, lesson plans and exams?<br><br>7. What assessment measures do you use to evaluate TAs performance, class observations, student evaluation, individual conferences, other?<br><br>With many thanks for your cooperation,<br><br>Samira Farwaneh<br><br>Chair, Language Committee<br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">End of Arabic-L: 31 Jan 2008</div></body></html>