IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025i13p49-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Navigating Communication Barriers: Teaching Assistants’ Miscommunication Experiences in U.S. Undergraduate Classrooms

Author

Listed:
  • Motasim Billah

    (Doctoral Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department. of Communication, North Dakota State University)

Abstract

Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) play a critical role in undergraduate education in U.S. classrooms. GTAs, or Teaching Assistants (TAs), are often responsible for teaching introductory courses, leading laboratory sessions, grading assignments, and facilitating discussions during their jobs and study. Considering the number of undergraduate students in U.S. classrooms, GTAs are increasingly involved in instructional roles. This study examines the experiences of GTAs regarding miscommunication with undergraduate students in their role as an instructor. Through in-depth interviews with TAs from three U.S. universities, this study identifies key communication challenges, including unclear instructions, linguistic barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and instructional ambiguity. The findings provide a comprehensive insight into the communication challenges GTAs face, highlighting the necessity for improved communication strategies in the classroom. Additionally, this study will contribute to the enhancement of TA training programs so that TAs effectively identify, address, and resolve miscommunication with students in various circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • Motasim Billah, 2025. "Navigating Communication Barriers: Teaching Assistants’ Miscommunication Experiences in U.S. Undergraduate Classrooms," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(13), pages 49-59, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:13:p:49-59
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-13/49-59.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/navigating-communication-barriers-teaching-assistants-miscommunication-experiences-in-u-s-undergraduate-classrooms/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:i:13:p:49-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.