Teaching Assistantships

Teaching Assistantships are apprenticeships that provide qualified students with relevant training experience for academic and academic-related careers in teaching and research. As a matter of University policy, teaching assistants are considered primarily as students being professionally trained. Graduate students who are recipients of teaching and research assistantships must meet all registration and enrollment criteria established by the Graduate Council and the department. They must also maintain satisfactory progress throughout their appointments.

Teaching in the Department

The Department employs between 30 and 40 teaching assistants or ASEs (Academic Student Employees) every quarter. They are assigned to the Lower Division Program, which offers 30-40 sections of first- and second-year language classes. The program offers rigorous pedagogical training for ASEs via the required Spanish 495 course, as it seeks to offer excellent language instruction to our undergraduates.

We also employ ASEs in some of our large Culture and Literature courses (Span 42, Span 44, Span 120, Span/Port M35, Port 46). Although ASEs in these courses do not teach the course, they are responsible for leading small discussion sections. This gives the ASE an opportunity to observe and assist a professor put together a non-language course and to help undergraduates better understand the material presented in class.

The Department adheres to the official UCLA policies and procedures for the appointments of graduate students to all academic personnel titles as described in the Academic Apprentice Personnel Manual for Graduate Students. This manual contains information on how to find appointments, minimum requirements for appointments, terms of employment, benefits, tax information, TA training programs, fee deferments, offsets, and remissions.

• Criteria for Language Appointments
• Criteria for Literature, Culture, and Linguistics Appointments
• Criteria for Summer Travel Study Programs Appointments