This study focuses on a program for the professional development of native speakers of Mandarin Chinese who come from China to function as Chinese language teaching assistants in an Australian primary school for a period of around one year The program. referred to as the Overseas Chinese Language Assistant in Teaching (OCLAiT) Program seeks to develop a reflective approach to the teaching task in the experience of the teaching assastant as they adjust to the culturally different social and

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... tional context of their pedagogical practice. The notion of teacher empowerment is seen to provide a philosophical framework for the actions and attitudes of classroom teachers, department heads and other school authorities that help to facilitate the development of this reflective approach reflection on practice in a environment of teacher empowerment results in appropriately modified or sustained effective teaching practice. Reflection and empowerment are considered in the light of the literature which describe these phenomena: both are associated with characteristic behaviour and attitudes. The identification of these characteristics provides a basis for the investigative part of this study which focuses on the experience of one particular teaching assistant over a 15 month period. Of particular note is the use of a modified form of stimulated recall interviewing (SRI) which is used to detect the presence of a "reflective cycle" (Wallace, 1991) in which the process of reflection on teaching practice affects that practice; the informed practice is subsequently reflected on, and so on. Other forms of investigation including interviews, written reports, and a questionnaire completed by seven (7) Australian teachers who observed the teaching assistant's teaching practice on a weekly basis over a one year period.