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Foreign-Born Teaching Assistants and Student Achievement: An Ordered Probit Analysis

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  • Akbar Marvasti

Abstract

This paper deals with a wide spread perception that foreign-born teaching assistants (FBTA) have an adverse effect on American undergraduate students. The maximum likelihood technique is used to arrive at an unbiased and efficient estimate of the grade function. It is demonstrated that while the FBTA appears to have an adverse effect on the academic performance of American students, the effect does not seem to be due to the lack of language proficiency of the FBTA. Furthermore, the adverse effect is not uniform among students with different performance levels in the course and is absent in more rigorous classes. (JEL A22, J00)

Suggested Citation

  • Akbar Marvasti, 2007. "Foreign-Born Teaching Assistants and Student Achievement: An Ordered Probit Analysis," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 51(2), pages 61-71, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:51:y:2007:i:2:p:61-71
    DOI: 10.1177/056943450705100210
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Becker, William E & Watts, Michael, 1996. "Chalk and Talk: A National Survey on Teaching Undergraduate Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 448-453, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Oliver, Daniel & Fairlie, Robert & Millhauser, Glenn & Roland, Randa, 2021. "Minority student and teaching assistant interactions in STEM," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Carlos J. Asarta & Austin S. Jennings & Paul W. Grimes, 2017. "Economic Education Retrospective," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 62(1), pages 102-117, March.
    3. Lusher, Lester & Campbell, Doug & Carrell, Scott, 2018. "TAs like me: Racial interactions between graduate teaching assistants and undergraduates," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 203-224.
    4. Akbar Marvasti, 2010. "Occupational Safety and English Language Proficiency," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 332-347, December.
    5. Seah, Kelvin KC, 2018. "Immigrant educators and students’ academic achievement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 152-169.
    6. Belayet Hossain & Laura Lamb, 2012. "The Impact of Human and Social Capital on Aboriginal Employment Income in Canada," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 31(4), pages 440-450, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General

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