In Germany, it is common for students to hold “Tutor” positions, which entail a weekly teaching class (e.g., 90 minutes) and the correction of exercise sheets handed in by students.
I would like to list such a position in my CV, which is in English.
What English expression should be used for this type of work? Is teaching assistant suitable?
Firstly, even in Germany there are different word for this. Besides Tutor there is also wissenschaftliche/studentische Hilfskraft, HiWi (short for Hilfswissenschaftler but has apparently different meanings in other contexts) or Übungsgrupperleiter, for example, and the usage of these words may even vary between different parts of the university and their usage among students/faculty/administration is not always consistent.
However, I think the most widely used term in English speaking countries is TA (teaching assistant).
What English expression should be used for this type of work? Is teaching assistant suitable?
Yes, this is pretty much exactly what it is. If you want to be particularly exact, you can write "Undergrad teaching assistant".
It seems that tutor is a term that varies in meaning between English speaking countries. Teaching assistant is clearly a common term in the United States, however, it is rarely used in Australia.
In Australia, the word "tutor" can be used in a similar sense to what you describe in Germany. I.e., many larger university subjects are divided into lectures and tutorials. Typically the lectures are taken by a PhD qualified academic and presented once for all students. Tutorials are typically more interactive taking place in a classroom (e.g., having 5 to 30 students or so). Tutorials are commonly delivered by students doing their PhD and these students typically mark the assignments of those in their tutorial, and such students are commonly called tutors.
In Australia, the context is used to guide the meaning of the word "tutor". At the secondary level, private tutoring would probably be implied, but in the university setting, probably the classroom setting would be the default assumption. You might say that you are "doing some private tutoring" or "one-on-one tutoring" if you meant to distinguish tutoring outside the classroom.
An English term for someone who only corrects the exercise sheets of students in a class taught by someone else is grader.
An English term for someone who teaches a "satellite" class and grades papers from that, or the main class taught by someone else, is teaching assistant.
A "tutor" is someone who goes "one on one" with students. In this regard, the (American) English term is different from the German term.
As mentioned by others 'Teaching Assistant' is probably the most accurate job description. The course itself would be known as a 'Recitation Course' or 'Recitation Section' in American English.
On my own CV, I have Übungsleiter (exercise leader) while I was in Germany, and 'Recitation Instructor' for my very similar American position.
You could say teaching assistant. But teaching assistants can do lots of different things. If the person leads a weekly 90 minute work session connected to a lecture course taught by a professor then I would say more specifically "work session leader"; or "section leader" if there are several such sections connected to the same larger course. If the 90 minute sessions are a course by themselves then the person teaching them is a teacher.
As a person who has worked in a professional on-campus tutoring environment with many professionally trained and CRLA Certified (levels 1 through 3) tutors, I must object to the loose definitions of tutor being used for American (and Canadian) tutors. I cannot however speak to the definition/role of a tutor in other anglophone countries.
First, a tutor is not a teacher/instructor at all. In fact one of the key guidelines of tutoring is to avoid presenting material that the student has not seen before. The role of tutor is to help the student to help themselves become better students, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for a tutor. Tutors respond to learner questions and needs, offering strategies and helping the student to find the answers for themselves.
Second, a tutor is not a mentor or coach. These roles are far more involved that tutoring and often go beyond the academic arena.
Third, a tutor can work one-on-one but they also can work with small groups of students. Some tutors also lead groups in what is called "Supplemental Instruction" (what you might call "satellite classes") but even CRLA acknowledges that SI is not tutoring.
There are many other aspects of being a good tutor but these 3 points are sufficient I think to help correctly define what a properly trained tutor does.
As for the use of "Teaching Assistant" per the original Question, I think that is fine for the college/university environment. However, be aware that the term became somewhat corrupted when it was borrowed by some of our basic education (elementary, middle and high schools) institutions. The role of a "TA" in those schools is more accurately called an "Instructional Aide" (IA) which is also known as a "paraprofessional" and the role often involves much more interaction with the children as well as assisting the teacher. Some IA's are even assigned to work one-on-one with children having special needs.
The word Tutor was borrowed from German into English and is just as valid when used in English as when used in German. It means exactly the same thing in both languages.
The reason it does is because prior to adding tutor as a new word to the English language, there existed no English word that carried a definition that closely met the specific nature of the German definition of tutor and since the word was easy to pronounce it was readily adopted into English. In fact, the word tutor is a classic example of the dynamic beauty of the English language as an uncapped, ever expanding language.
