Challenges That Arise due to Students Non-English Speaking Backgrounds - Literature review Example

Introduction As education gets globalised by each passing day and number of international students makes a beeline to the Australian universities, difficulties faced by them, particularly in terms of English language, have also become widespread and extensive. Since such issues tend to become part and parcel of an international student's life in a foreign university, a lot of research is being conducted in order to identify the problems areas and suggest remedial measures. Recently a number of international scholars have done studies to study the extent of the problem in Australian universities (Robertson et al., 2000; Bayley et al., 2002; Borland and Pearce, 2002). As the research has suggested international students in Australian universities face the language problem both in terms of conversational and academic English. Speaking and writing are hit the most with difficulties felt remarkable in learning style, social difficulties that arise on account of poor grasp on the language, and poor cultural assimilation. An interesting study by Robertson et al (2000) studied the extent of this problem from two different perspectives -- one amongst the local staff's perception of the problem, and two, the problem as faced by the international student community; specifically those that came from non-English speaking countries. While both sides had their own perception on the problem, either of the two concurred in their views that English was a key determinant in how students would learn what local teachers teach them in fluent, impeccable English, since it being the first language in Australia. Students have always complained about their lack of understanding and their concerns on writing difficulties, colloquial language, and issues related to interpretation. Students' side of the problem is widely documented and heard, the language problem, on a flip side, creates deterrents for the native teachers as well. These reason for these deterrents are mostly NESB (Non-English Speaking Background) students who, according to teachers, are not able to make any significant contribution to what they learn or what they discuss in tutorials. Grammar is often said to be the main lacuna in these students a according to teachers their written work is always difficult to comprehend and subsequently mark (Bretag et al 2002). While the language problem cannot be generalized, and not all international students bracketed within the problem group, Australian university staff have mostly reported that a majority of international students do pose with writing difficulties (Bayley et al. 2002). The reason attributed for this is English proficiency variability levels among students joining Australian universities, and it is generally held that if a student faces any first problem, it will be regarding English language in the first two years of joining the institution. The genesis of this issue can be traced to international students previous education in their parent countries. Most of them are used to teacher-centered, didactic environment, which means they are accustomed to less classroom activity and conversation. That is sort of a passive learning background from which they come from as a result of which they find it difficult to make a quick transition to an active learning atmosphere. This is complicated by the presence of cultural barriers that they encounter in Australia; a fatal mix of inefficiency and lack of control over the language that results in depleting confidence levels as the language problem manifest itself more and more with each classroom interaction (Wong, 2004). Literature Review The importance of this research also gains relevance in the wake of the fact that prior learning passivity of international students, particularly the ones who hail from Southeast and East Asian countries, find it more difficult to be receptive to active learning style as is a norm in Australian tertiary classrooms. These students grope between their prior passive learning and active learning as is prevalent in Australia (Hellsten, 2002). Most of these students have been listeners in their previous schools and not speakers. When they needed to speak, they would, as a matter of fact and habit, do so preferably in their native language rather than in English. Much of such problem finds its roots in poor grammar and didactic pedagogy; while the former would not need to be corrected and the latter would not warrant too much teacher attention back home. There is hardly any initiative from teacher's side to make the student an active speaker – in English. This, according to Hellsten and Prescott (2004), resulted in lower self esteem of these students when they joined Australian universities, which resulted in them from shying away from the active classroom discussions. These researchers used semi-structured interviews among international students enrolled in Australia. Despite the enormity of the problem, it is disheartening to note that research conducted so far has mostly highlighted the problem on a symptomatic level and not dug deep into the causative factor and solutions thereby. It would be prudent to mention here that the best way to address this issue and go beyond a symptomatic approach would be to trace the problem back to its roots, which lie in the student's parent country, also see it from the perspective of the Australian students and teachers, and then devise a methodology on how to alleviate it. Such approach has already been discussed a part of the proposal based on which this paper is being written. In other words an international student’s learning biography has to be analysed and understood following which a solution can be reached. Research has revealed that a learner gets affected by what he has already learned and more importantly how he has learned it. In order to do an indepth analysis of the problem the onus does not only lie on an international student to adjust to the new learning experience, but it also lies on the Australian institution in which he has been enrolled. It is as much a problem for an Australian teacher as is a student and so the solution must come from both. On a broader note, the responsibility also lies on the previous educational center where the student was enrolled and continued his studies, apart from the local government that helped student get across to an Australian institution. Local culture and learning styles that have emerged from it are important causative agents of differing language patterns in these international students. Culture predetermines students' learning styles and an analysis into this aspect of learning difficulties throws important light on the language problems international students face in Australian institutions (Neuman and Bekerman 2000; Spizzica 1997). In most of the Asian cultures, for example, students act as 'passive recipients' of the knowledge that is imparted to them. Cultural backgrounds have a lot to do with such an attitude; some cultures bring up their new generations on a belief that accepted subsets of knowledge must be absorbed without questions asked. That means everything that a teacher said ha to be accepted and absorbed. Some scholars argue that even if cultural backgrounds bear their imprint on students' knowledge, and subsequent ineptitude in English language, it must not necessarily be construed that such students lack the desired will to adapt to new environments where English is the key to fluency and distribution of knowledge. According to Wong (2003) Asian students did not have unwillingness, but instead preferred, a student centered learning and teaching even though their previous cultural upbringing was just the reverse. They were more open towards change and given a little bit of push they, a Wong reveals, would revel in the new learning experience prevalent in English-dominated institutions. But wherever there is any reluctance on part of students due to their lack of confidence in English language, it has a reverse effect on the Western teachers who subsequently lack, for example, the understanding of students studied under teacher centered institutions. They, says Chan (1999), are not too spontaneous since they conform to what their teachers teach them. This is echoed by Tang and Biggs (1994) according to whom these students' first preference was teacher centered and didactic style of learning. Didactic because their cultural upbringing tells them to respect the knowledge and wisdom of their teachers. At the same and in what could be termed as an important indicator of how these students could be adapted to English-only learning is that most of them would do better when they are having one-to-one teacher interaction. But it has also been argued that cultural impact on these students, even though that acts as a deterrent to them when they are in a foreign institution, does give them an advantage as that makes them strong learners due to their relentless power to memorize. It is a commonly held notion among students in countries where English is the primary language that Asian students indulge in skill-based learning rather than learning based on rote. This reflects in Alba, Kun and Marton (1996) who opine that two types of memorization are prevalent among students - one is mechanical memorization and another understanding-driven. Another aspect of this problem is that international students in Australia do not face only language problem in isolation; it often comes up with a number of other related problems as well. An 8-month study was conducted on challenges and problems faced in Australia by international students. The study was carried on between January 2008 until August 2008 in which City of Sydney Council's Multicultural Services played an important role. In this study international student experiences were documented, difficulties were recorded and support available to them analysed. The study was mainly interview based in which nine service providers and fourteen international students were fed with questionnaires. The service providers were from both private and government sector. The goal of these service providers is primarily to act as a liaison between the international students and institutions who would recruit them. As the study progressed the criteria based on which students were selected for the study was further refined. Parameters as nationality, age, cultural background, the institution involved and students’ duration of stay in Sydney were assessed. The study revealed that international students faced a number of problems while being in Australia that ran almost parallel to each other. Issues reported in a major way by students were related to language, public transport, accommodation, safety, financial hardship, social isolation, and more important lack of support. The study was considered to be of great value keeping in view the international student enrolments that take place in Australia each year. For example in 2008 alone the number of full-fee students who came here on student visa was a mammoth 367,218. This was around 18 percent more than the previous year's enrolments. Of the enrolments that took place in 2008, around half i.e., 180,000 got themselves enrolled in New South Wales alone; here it was a 21 percent increase from the previous year. The increase took place mainly in Vocational Education and Training called VET, and English Language Intensive called ELICOS. In comparison to these higher education grew by a miniscule 3 percent. It is noteworthy that in New South Wales maximum concentration of international students gets into major universities like University of Sydney, UTS, TAFE, and UNSW, apart from nearly thirty private institutions. Jepson et al (2002) has opined that these international students bring along with them a cultural paradigm that is vastly rich when they come to Australia, which enables them to shape their learning skills despite the language problems and also helps get a clear idea on the expectations they have from their lecturers and other staff. However, soon after enrollment these students are faced with issues pertaining to acculturation, adjustment, communication, learning difficulties, language and socio-cultural problems. English language standards, it has been noted, do not do much to prepare these students for cultural adjustment, which is an important precursor to be able to succeed in the duration system here. Extensive conflict areas like levels of participation, learning styles, independence versus collaboration, structured or non-structured learning and plagiarism are identified by academics (Kutieleh & Egege, 2004).Despite such a huge influx of international students there is perceivably little understanding among student body and academic staff on how an alienating education system puts under pressure an international student through the challenges that face them from day one (Orr, Slee & Evryniadis, 1999). Be it language or challenges thrown by another factors, studies conducted recently on the same indicate that international students' struggles begin as soon as they touch the country's shores. These challenges get complicated badly by social isolation that, sometimes, affects them mentally. A study was conducted by Cambridge International College at three tertiary institutions among 1155 students in Melbourne. One of the startling revelations was that 70 percent of students surveyed had felt depressive or lonely while being in Australia (Sawir, Marginson, Deumert, Nyland & Ramia, 2008). That is besides the recurrent difficulty of getting adjusted with an education system that is totally new to them. Dooey (2006) has suggested that needs analysis are required to be done in order to ascertain international student problems. Such analysis must involve all parties involved - students, community service and education providers. This will enable stakeholders to plan future services and support systems effectively. Process For this research quantitative research methods were used primarily through a questionnaire on language literacy that incorporated the criteria like total population, Hispanics, country of birth, Spanish language, European language, Asian language, bilinguality, English, monolingual, biliterate, not literate, other monoliterate etc. Another questionnaire that was circulated incorporated the questions like assessing why was Australia the preferred destination for an international student to choose for further education asking them to choose any one of the four given options that included unavailability of course in local country, scholarship opportunity, better facilities and intercultural environment. Another question pertained to which year of school were they in, followed by whether or not the difficulty of the course was in line with their expectations, then was English the main language of instruction at their previous school, if not did they take an English proficiency test prior to their admission in Australia. If not, then why not. And if their course had a unit in English communication skills. If yes, how has the study improved their oral and written skills. Then do their cultural beliefs interfere negatively with their learning. If yes, then how. This was followed by does the level of technology interfere with their learning, and if the school provided adequate forums for interaction. They were asked for recommendations ion this point, and asked what were their recommendations regarding the mode of study for international students. Quantitative research was chosen because of the underlying logic that it helped ascertain depth of the issues rather than the breadth (Blaxter, Hughes & Tight 2006). Maximum attempts were made to conduct face to face interviews and provide a communicator in case international students felt the need for easy understanding of the questions. This was deemed as essential since it was presumed that cultural barriers and language problems could impede the free and clear flow of information on either side. The questionnaire was open-ended and interviews semi-structured. Language was the primary issue analysed during this process even as other issues like that of accommodation, social interaction and settlement were not ignored. Findings English language proficiency was generally seen as impacting the overall stay of international students in Australia. Those who came from non-English speaking countries like China, Macao, South Korea, Pakistan, Vietnam, Germany, Sweden, Kenya and France faced great difficulties not only in terms of language at the school but also in terms of overall communication with locals for accommodation, shopping and other day-to-day chores. In all these students faced challenges pertaining to accommodation, financial hardship, cultural barrier, social isolation, lack of support, safety, language barrier, public transport, discrimination, and legal issues. While students who came from English speaking countries, where even if it was not a primary language, did not face any communicative problems but those who did not seemed to be in dire need of programs that would empower them for a better and compatible stay in Australia. Analysis On a careful analysis it can be seen that when the state of international students taking up different courses in Australia is understood most of the secondary problems are a direct consequence of one primary cause, which is language problems. Students who face this problem cannot adjust well since they lack proper communicative and as well as interactive capability to deal with the local population both within and outside the classroom. This is one reason why this research meets the objective since it believes that when these students are empowered with proper communicative tools in line with the locally prevalent norms, it can make their educational and other pursuits much easier. This proposal has previously recommended implementation of compulsory competence based training in English language; it is so because stray programs are already in use for these students but do not seem to be helping them much. The problems are still staying put for them. Conclusion Australia is a preferred location for international students and as could be seen the number of students that it attracts each year usually surpasses the previous limits. Since these students come from varied backgrounds, cultures and countries; while they bring along with them rich cultural heritage from their places of birth which they disseminate in Australia, its students, institutions and population, they themselves are faced with a host of challenges that arise due to their non-English speaking backgrounds. This interferes grossly with their learning; however competitive they might have been back home. While it is very depressive for them since the language issues defeat the very purpose of their stay in Australia, which is gaining further knowledge; the scenario call for an immediate and painstaking intervention on part of all stakeholders involved – academics, teachers, institutions and students themselves. It is recommended that such a system should be developed that their language needs are either taken care of long before they intend to join these institutions or concurrently while they are enrolled in their respective courses. References Alba, G.D. Kun, T.L. and Marton, F. (1996) Memorizing and understanding: The keys to the paradox? In D.A. Watkins and J.B. Biggs (ed.), The Chinese Learner: Cultural, Psychological and Contextual Influences. (pp.69-83) CERC and ACER, Hong Kong: TheCentral Printing Press. Bayley, S., Fearnside, R., Arnol, J., Misiano, J. and Rottura, R. (2002) International students in Victoria. People and Place, 10, (2), 45-54. Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (2006) How To Research (3rd ed). Berkshire: Open University Press. Bretag, T., Horrocks, S. and Smith, J. (2002) Developing classroom practice to support NESB students in information systems courses: some preliminary findings. International Education Journal, 3, (4), 57-69. Borland, H and Pearce, A. 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