Improving of Leadership Skills by Learning English for International Students to be Ready for Graduate Programs - Case Study Example

? Improving of Leadership Skills by Learning English for International to Be Ready For Graduate Programs Introduction The English language is regarded as the language of worldwide communication. It is not only influential learning instruments through which several people attain knowledge but it is also a type of standard through which people develop their attitudes and positive values. The language of English also helps in establishing along with sustaining consequential relationship with different people throughout the world and also facilitates to expand their wide knowledge regarding the study of English (Education Bureau, 2007). The language i.e. English is such a language which is generally used while making any transaction in order to perform international business activities along with making other professional communication with various countries. English as a language plays a significant part in empowering the learners and delivering greater capabilities to them. These capabilities include creativity, critical thinking, innovation and problem-solving (Education Bureau, 2007). Moreover, the use of English language also provides various advantages towards the learners to enhance their several abilities like speaking, listening and writing among others. The learners as well as the people who use English as a medium of language are benefitted in terms of gaining broader competency of the language which ultimately helps them to increase their proficiency in personal and intellectual advancement (Education Bureau, 2007). Thus, it can be stated the medium of language i.e. English along with its above discussed qualities greatly enhance the leadership skills of an individual by a certain extent. In the paper, a brief idea regarding the benefit of learning English language will be provided along with certain supportive aspects that are required for enhancing the medium of language i.e. English for the students in order to prepare them for their graduate program will also be taken into concern. Various aspects that include barriers, role of facilitators and gaps that are present while learning English along with necessary findings regarding the study, suitable recommendations and a summative conclusion will also be depicted in the discussion. Different Supports Needed to Improve the English Language Skill In order to enhance the English language of the students for the purpose of preparing them for their graduate program at the University of Regina, certain support is very much essential from the viewpoint of the students. The most important forms of support that the graduate students need are academic acculturation and that of English support. In terms of English support, the students have already acquired a brief knowledge regarding the subject topic of English but still the students need certain consequential refining in their skills based upon English i.e. either grammatically, in terms of vocabulary or through any other ways (Crown, 2003). In this connection, it has been observed that most of the students face certain difficulties in particular aspects that include integration of quotes in essays, formatting and effective lead-in to the quotes. These are certain specific areas in which the students must improve which would help them a lot for their graduate programs in the long-term (Crown, 2003). Moreover, the students need to develop themselves in the area of their critical thinking that would help them to improve their English language. The aspect of critical thinking is regarded as the capability to imagine clearly and rationally. It includes the capability to greatly focus upon independent as well as reflective thinking. There lie various useful functions of critical thinking that might help the students towards enhancing the medium of language i.e. English for their graduate program (Lau & Chan, 2012). The various useful functions of the aspect of critical thinking include understanding the coherent interrelation between the conceptions of the subject topic, recognizing, generating as well as assessing various arguments regarding the subject matter and noticing discrepancies along with general errors in reasoning. Moreover, the functions of critical thinking also include solving various difficulties systematically regarding the subject matter, identifying the significance of ideas and reflecting upon the justification of the values and the beliefs of others (Hughes, Lavery, & Doran, 2009). The facet of critical thinking is very much essential for the students to enhance their English language that would help them for their graduate program. In other words, it can be stated that the aspect of critical thinking plays a noteworthy role in enhancing the English language of the students. As the function of critical thinking is not restricted to any particular subject area and can solve various problems systematically, the students can attain better prospects in improving the skill of English language through the execution of critical thinking (Hughes, Lavery, & Doran, 2009). The other important function of critical thinking is that it promotes thinking skills very efficiently which is very much important in the fast-changing workplace. Moreover, the function of critical thinking also includes developing language as well as presentation capabilities of an individual that greatly help in improving the way the expression of various conceptions about the subject matter are formulated. In addition, the other crucial functions of critical thinking include promoting creativity and self-reflection (Reinstein & Lander, n.d.). In this connection, from the perspective of promoting creativity, critical thinking plays a major responsibility in evaluating modernized conceptions regarding any subject matter such as English language and selecting the best method along with modifying any conception if required. In order to come up with a creative solution, it is not only necessary to evaluate new ideas and modifying them but also to apply the new or modernized conceptions in a useful way that is relevant towards the subject matter (Reinstein & Lander, n.d.). From the viewpoint of self-reflection, in order to lead a meaningful life as well as to structure our lives accordingly, there lies utmost need to justify and to reflect on our own decisions and values. This particular function is fundamentally performed by the aspect of critical thinking that helps to deliver the tools for the process of self-reflection or self-evaluation (Reinstein & Lander, n.d.). Thus, from the above discussions, it is very much apparent that the support towards English language along with the notion of critical thinking ultimately would help and assist the students to improve their English language in order to prepare them for their graduation program. Apart from the English support for the students, the other type of support i.e. academic acculturation also plays a crucial part in enhancing the English language of the students that might be quite helpful for their graduate program. The concept of acculturation generally describes the procedure of certain cultural and psychological transformations that occur following meeting of different cultures (Sam & Berry, 2006). In relation to develop the English language of the students for their graduate program, the support of academic acculturation is immensely required. The aspect of academic acculturation generally necessitates smoother adjustments for attaining the objective of generating greater association between learning and teaching style along with forming an effective interrelation between the teacher and the students (Donna & Richard, n.d.). The facet of academic acculturation directly connects to the tasks that the students are generally instructed to perform for their graduate program. Moreover, this particular aspect i.e. academic acculturation goes through various assignments that are generally carried out by the students which could ultimately help them to improve English language by a considerable level (Kopriva, 2008). Thus, it can be stated that the support of academic acculturation along with English learning is very much required especially for the students for the purpose of enhancing the English language in preparing them for their graduate program. Methods It has been observed that while learning English, several difficulties or barriers are faced by the English learners. The own misconceptions of the English learners is one of major barriers that they face while learning English. The English learners imagine that the words of English possess precise meanings and conceptions but the English words have many variations in their meanings alike every other language in addition to their literal meanings. Moreover, while learning any sort of foreign language, the English learners normally forget their own native tongue and eventually generate a barrier while learning English (Szynalski, n.d.). The other crucial barrier is regarding the grammatical errors. The English learners usually face this barrier while learning English and thus in order to cope up with this barrier, much time is taken by the learners while learning English. From the perspective of English writing, various barriers are faced by the English learners due to grammatical errors. At times, when the teacher or the instructor asks the second language students to attend certain lectures in other places, especially the students or the English learners face the barrier (Szynalski, n.d.). Moreover, at times certain topics of the lectures seem to be very much different and new for the learners or students, which eventually raise a significant barrier for them to write any argument regarding the topics of the lectures or the essays. In addition, the other identified barrier is regarding creating a passion for learning English. The English learners or the students like to speak in English but they do not like to learn English. This particular fact is one of the major barriers, which is faced by the English learners or students. In order to acquire a broad knowledge regarding the study of English language, the students or the English learners must possess the tendency to learn the whole procedure of learning English deeply rather than knowing it externally only (Szynalski, n.d.). The aspect of communication is regarded as one of the noteworthy barriers from the viewpoint of the English learners and students. The idea of communication is described as the exchange of messages between two or more individuals. In the context of learning English language, the communication would be between the teacher or the instructor and the students or the learners. The students or the learners usually face the barrier of effective communication while learning English language because the language is very much new to them and would take certain span of time to learn the language accordingly. This particular sort of barrier i.e. the issue of communication could be resolved in an effective way by establishing successful verbal as well as written communication with the teachers or the instructors (Szynalski, n.d.). In the context of enhancing the English language of the students which would help them in their graduate program, the role and the importance of the facilitators are very crucial. The facilitators are generally the teachers or instructors who impart broad range of English writing and learning skills towards the students or English learners. The teachers as facilitators chiefly emphasize upon different major tasks and skills that are largely required by the graduate students to complete their graduate program. The major tasks and skills that the facilitators provide towards the students include participation in discussions, writing argumentative based essays along with writing proposal for various assignments (Little & Perclova, n.d.). The facilitators impart different types of skills and capabilities which ultimately help the English learners or the students to enhance their several aptitude skills such as reading, writing and listening. There are various purposes for which the teachers or the facilitators provide the knowledge of English language to the students as well as to the learners. From the perspective of the teachers or facilitators, they main desire for supporting their students or learners is to think to acquire a brief idea regarding their language learning. In this connection, the facilitators greatly help and assist the learners to understand the different aspects of language learning (Little & Perclova, n.d.). Moreover, the facilitators aim to support the students as well as the English learners in order to overcome their speaking fear in a foreign language. The facilitators also help the learners to raise their English learning and professional skills by a certain extent. A particular teacher can also be known as a facilitator who is recognized as a trained as well as a skilled individual and possesses the capability to facilitate learning towards the students and the English learners. The role of the teachers as facilitators is not to instruct but to guide the students or learners in the right direction (Little & Perclova, n.d.). The major learning responsibility of the teacher as facilitator should be towards bringing a set of communal, psychological and physical attributes as well as requirements into the classroom. It is obvious to the fact that more the teacher possesses the capability to learn about the various needs, nature and educational philosophies of the students or the learners, the more the teachers would be in a situation to promote student learning. In order to deliver adequate student learning towards the learners and the students, the teachers acting as facilitators require undertaking certain effective procedures. The various effective procedures include evaluating the students or the learners, planning the learning methods, executing the planned learning methods and finally evaluating the overall procedure (Little & Perclova, n.d.). From the perspective of evaluating the students or the learners, the teachers form effective understanding with the students to advance their learning opportunities. The teachers plan certain learning opportunities that would comply with various requirements of the students or the learners. With the execution of the planned learning methods, the teachers as facilitators execute the premeditated learning opportunities to generate quality interaction between the teachers and the students. Finally, from the viewpoint of evaluating the overall procedure, the teachers ultimately attain the expected objective of forming quality interaction with the students along with learning opportunities (Little & Perclova, n.d.). There lay certain important gaps while learning English for the international students. Noticeably, the international students come from various dissimilar backgrounds along with possessing several common requirements. The several common requirements of the students include enhancing their oral along with listening and writing skills of English. For the international students who come from various diverse backgrounds from different countries, it has been recognized that their schooling is very much different and here lie one of the major gaps in learning English (Little & Perclova, n.d.). The other significant gap while learning English which is faced by the students or learners is regarding the cultural differences. The students or the learners belonging to different cultural backgrounds possess different views and conceptions which ultimately generate a wide gap for the international students while learning English. For instance, if the students are asked to participate in any discussion, it has been observed that a few of the students may not participate due to their cultural differences. Their dissimilar culture restricts the students from participating in the discussion and thus wide gap is generated between the teachers and the students or learners while learning English (Little & Perclova, n.d.). Findings In order to recognize the aspects regarding the present scenario of the English learning program in the University of Regina certain questionnaire had been designed and administered to three student respondents along with two instructors. The findings from the questionnaire responses have been depicted hereunder. In learning English, one of the barriers took place especially in advanced writing class when the teacher as facilitator asked the students to participate in certain lecture in other places along with taking helpful academic notes for learning English. This particular barrier created a tough situation especially for second language students. Furthermore, all the subject matters were on the basis of dissimilar topics which were new to the second language students and were difficult for them to write down argumentative essays regarding such topics. In addition, the other obstacle was regarding finding valuable information while searching data from library materials as it requires a lot more reading and relevant techniques in order to attain appropriate research. The teachers as facilitators assisted as well as supported the students and the learners by delivering several skills and capabilities which ultimately helped the English learners or the students to enhance their several aptitude skills such as writing and listening. Moreover, the facilitators also assisted the students or the learners to acquire a brief idea regarding various cultural aspects along with learning several diversification related facets that prevailed in the classroom. In addition, the facilitators assisted the students to learn vocabulary, resolve grammatical errors along with capably write various assignments, projects and proposals that ultimately helped the students or learners to complete their graduation program successfully. It has been realized through the research that the students mainly faced difficulties in learning English due to the factor of their diverse cultural backgrounds. Due to the particular factor of dissimilar cultural ethnicity, the students or the learners could not participate in various discussions and thus realized a vast gap in learning English. Recommendations The aspect of learning English is very much essential in order to raise as well as to enhance various skills and capabilities such as English writing, reading and listening. In order to improve the above discussed skills, the students or the learners have to learn English by a considerable level. In this context, in order to help the graduates for successful completion of their graduate program, an ESL program or course has been introduced which largely emphasizes upon a specific aspect which is known as advance writing. In order to impart knowledge more effectively towards the students and the learners, the course or the program should be further specific for the benefit of the international students. Conclusion From the overall analysis it can be said that by learning English, the international students can enhance their leadership skills by a significant level. Various barriers as well certain wide gaps were faced by the students or the English learners while learning English but the teachers as facilitators played a major role in order to overcome those barriers and gaps. Along with the major part played by the teachers, the introduction of ESL program or course also can help the students or the English learners to acquire a broad view regarding English which ultimately would help them to progress their writing, reading and listening skills and capabilities. Thus, it can be stated that the assistance of the teachers as facilitators along with the introduction of ESL program or course could ultimately improve the leadership skills by learning English for the international students along with helping them to successfully complete their graduate program. References Crown. (2003). Improving achievement in English language in primary and secondary schools. Retrieved from http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/iael.pdf Donna, V., & Richard, W. (n.d.). Embedding ‘learning guides’ in a flexible delivery model: a pilot study to improve international student’s academic acculturation at an Australian university. Retrieved from http://proceedings.com.au/isana2009/PDF/paper_Velliaris.pdf Education Bureau. (2007). English language: curriculum and assessment guide (secondary 4-6). Retrieved from http://334.edb.hkedcity.net/doc/eng/eng_lang_final.pdf Hughes, W., Lavery, J., & Doran, K. (2009). Critical thinking: an introduction to the basic skills. US: Broadview Press. Kopriva, R. J. (2008). Improving testing for English language learners. UK: Routledge. Lau, J., & Chan, J. (2012). Module: about critical thinking. Retrieved from http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/ct.php Little, D., & Perclova, R. (n.d.). The European language portfolio: a guide for teachers and teacher trainers. Retrieved from http://www.coe.int/t/DG4/Portfolio/documents/ELPguide_teacherstrainers.pdf Reinstein, A., & Lander, G. H. (n.d.). Developing critical thinking in college programs. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/08046.pdf Sam, D. L., & Berry, J. W. (2006). The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology. England: Cambridge University Press. Szynalski, T. P. (n.d.). Three biggest challenges facing an English learner. Retrieved from http://www.antimoon.com/other/challenges.htm Read More