Reading and writing experience - Essay Example

Reading and Writing Experiences To many international joining colleges outside their home country to study, English language is a great achievement of a lifetime. The experience is exciting though at times challenging. Florida State University is one such university that incorporates international students in its over 200,000 population. Like other international students, Joe had never written or spoken English in his entire life but had to learn English as an international student albeit with the challenges associated.

When Joe joined this university from Asia, the first few weeks were very tough on him. Whereas the university recognizes English as the primary language of instruction, Joe did not have adequate writing skills in English. Therefore, he had problems keeping up with the lecturers pace in the class. More often than not he had to keep on asking his desk mate for course books so that he could copy what he had not been able to copy during class time. This was a great challenge in his learning of English.

He would thus opt to listen during class time and write the notes later during his free time. This interfered with his learning process. Additionally, he would find learning how to write in English difficult since learning in class was taking place at a very fast pace that he would not be able to keep up. The fact that the English class had many students from different parts of the world posed a great challenge for Joe. This is because students spoke different dialects. Whereas a good language environment is important for language development, Joe did not enjoy favourable language environment.

He would often be confused on which dialect to follow and in the process lost track in learning how to speak English. However, he would sometimes hang up with few friends who are native English speakers and they would influence him to speak proper English. Furthermore, the cultural confusion would add more problems to learning how to speak English. This was because of the cultural conflict between different students in class. Learning to read and write in English means a lot for international students.

Particularly, they need to learn English so that they can apply the same in learning other subjects. Therefore, the challenges faced by international students, like Joe, need to be addressed. The university may consider setting the right language environment for international students to influence their learning. Although mixing native and international students can cause cultural shock, it can be one of the greatest tools of enhancing learning how to speak English. The native students can act as a good example and motivation to international students.

Secondly, teachers need to understand the challenges of international students when learning English. They should therefore, teach in a slow pace favourable to all students. This way learning to write English would become easy for international students.In conclusion, Joe had several challenges in learning how to read and write in English. Poor language environment affected his English language development. Bad teaching methods compromised his endeavour to learn how to write in English. Solutions for such problems include providing a favourable language environment for international students.

Additionally, learning pace needs to be considered so that every student’s learning pace can be considered.