Although
this list of bad pedagogues and their intentions and techniques
is not exhaustive, it highlights the impact of an instructor's
preconceptions on their students before they have even
met.
As
that list of possibilities suggests, I am more interested
in an instructor who thinks the university experience
should be open to anyone who wishes to attempt it-whose
most devout wish is that all students succeed. Such an
instructor matches their curriculum to the learner, is
cognizant of the cultural implications of their instruction
and the learner's origin, and is flexible when dealing
with academic misconduct and testing. That is not to say
that such an instructor would coddle a weak cohort of
students. Far the opposite. The instructor who recognizes
the unique strengths as well as the weaknesses of the
international student learner is one who can extract the
best work from them and encourage their academic and professional
success.
There
are pitfalls for even a sympathetic instructor, however.
Some are so enraptured by the course topic or material
that they fail to consider the cultural backgrounds of
their students. The students may not be comfortable with
material that would be considered pornographic, for instance,
in their own country even though it might be perfectly
acceptable in the western university setting. Likewise,
prose which is too ornate, or which demands an in-depth
cultural understanding may unfairly discriminate against
the international student. An instructor of international
students cannot consider everything, however, and they
are also confined by the hours they are paid to teach.
Teaching international students does not tend to be well
supported by the western university system. The instructor
is therefore necessarily cutting corners even while they
are trying to do the best job they can. If they balance
the two impulses well, the student manages to learn both
how to negotiate the western education system as well
as absorb the class material.
As
instructors, it behooves us to ask ourselves how we can
deliver as much relevant and useful information as possible
given the time allotted, as well as work around the needs
and abilities of any of our students. In the western education
system we must also balance the discrete information we
need to deliver with the necessity of teaching critical
thinking. When the class consists of international students,
the circumstance is similar, although extra consideration
should be paid to the needs and abilities of the students-for
those vary somewhat from students of a more homogenous
group-as well as the equally important question of cultural
understanding when it comes to setting up the course,
teaching the material, and testing student retention and
comprehension.
This
is not an inconsiderable task, for the ability of a student
is largely the result of their educational system and
the skill set of international students varies depending
on how unalike their language and cultural background
is by comparison with the west. Cultural understanding
is much more difficult to quantify, given that international
students span a wide range of learners from many different
ethnic backgrounds. Certain cultural mores affect the
learner's ability to engage with classroom discussion
and with the texts chosen by their instructor, although
a more positive corollary to that is that their background
may also be an asset for understanding the course material
or the instructor's intentions.
The
range of raw ability, in terms of their proficiency in
writing English sentences and constructing coherent arguments,
also varies greatly amongst international students. I
have taught students who were better writers than many
western Masters students working on a thesis, and I have
marked others-through no fault of their own-who could
barely string two sentences together without several logical,
spelling, and grammatical errors. The blame for that may
well be laid at the foot of schools that have not prepared
them for the overseas classroom, but blame boots little
while the question of teaching the student remains. The
international student classroom is a mix that often includes
those who can be found on either end of this wide spectrum.
It
is an infirmity of human reasoning that we suspect someone
who speaks slowly or with difficulty is intellectually
weak. As Carroll and Ryan suggest, a perceived lack of
proficiency should not be confused with inability in general,
or more tragically, diminished intelligence. It's worthwhile
considering that not only is English their second, third,
and in some cases fifth language, but also that our students
are very young, living overseas with few tangible supports,
and learning in a language they have yet to master. An
instructor in such a classroom would be wise to consider
their own youth, and strive to recall if they would have
been as resourceful, brave, and resilient if they had
chosen to study overseas at eighteen or nineteen years
old. The international student is also dealing with a
new culture, over and above the novel university experience.
Even many domestic students find the transition to university
difficult, and universities are increasingly putting remedial
programs into place to smooth that intellectual shift.
That international students can do this at all speaks
highly to their motivation, innate intelligence, and fortitude.
The
instructor must begin with an evaluation of the level
of the class. They must decide best how to assign a question
which does not only test the students' English language
proficiency, but also examines their ability to manipulate
ideas and answer the question. Shortly the students' intelligence
will stand out, and the others who are merely writing
pretty sentences will become more obvious. I have some
of those assignments itemized below, but to begin with
it is worth considering that teaching a class with such
scattered skills demands extra attention be devoted to
structuring the course material. Clarity of assignments
is crucial if the students are going to succeed, and in
the case of final exams, some care should be spent instructing
them so that students who are less prone to asking questions
will not encounter confusion. To that end, possibly ambiguous
questions should be rewritten until they provide an almost
redundant clarity.
Of
course, there are departmental or discipline requirements
that must be met in any course, so regardless of the student's
ability, they still must pass muster in order to meet
the goals set by the institution guidelines. But other
than those relatively firm strictures, even the constrained
instructor has some latitude in terms of deciding how
to construct the most effective course for the group of
learners they expect to have.
Similarly,
in terms of university regulations, detecting and capturing
academic misconduct is increasingly a problem in the university
classroom, and we may thank the internet for that increase.
In the case of international students, however, there
are often problems with plagiarism and other forms of
academic misconduct because of past practice or a lack
of attention to the issue in their educational background.
The instructor must navigate the shoals and reefs between
what behaviour the student may have learned in their school
system and a potentially alien system which would judge
them without considering their context.
In
the case of working with international students, context
is everything; each educational pitfall is a potential
lesson and each success is a moment to be celebrated.
