Leberecht Teaching in English in higher education

strategies - tips - support
1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-3-8463-5245-8
Verlag: UTB GmbH
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 160 Seiten

In times of globalisation, more and more lecturers with other first languages than English have to - or would like to - give lectures, seminars, and presentations in English. This book discusses issues that need attention when individuals and institutions switch to English-medium teaching in higher education, and it provides the tools to put insight into practice right away. With its combination of reflexive and hands-on approaches, the book equips and encourages readers for the adventure of English-medium teaching from which teaching staff, students, and institutions will profit.

Dr. Vera Leberecht, ehemalige Dozentin und später Leiterin der Englischabteilung am Sprachenzentrum der Universität Maastricht/NL, ist seit 2008 selbständig tätige Trainerin und Coach für sinnvolles und erfolgreiches Schreiben und Arbeiten.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Leberecht, Vera

Leseproben

3.1 Challenges and opportunities: mapping experiences

I am sure that many of the real – and perceived – challenges and opportunities of English-medium teaching mentioned on the next pages will sound familiar to you. We will move from pains and gains for teachers (3.1.1) to the students (3.1.2) and to institutional perspectives (3.1.3).

3.1.1 Pains and gains for teaching staff

What detains lecturers from embracing English-medium teaching with enthusiasm? What frustrates their colleagues who, in a weak moment, were careless enough to embark on this adventure? Here are their answers.

Not surprisingly, the biggest disadvantage, or challenge, that teachers mention most often is the time issue: Lecturers find it difficult to find suitable textbooks or other written materials, and most of them agree that preparing classes in English takes them more time and is more work-intensive. Due to an often lower level of shared understanding during classes, many teachers spend more time on individual consultations with students outside the classroom, too. The higher workload is a particular problem in courses that are set up parallelly, i.e., when teachers are expected to offer the same amount of content, once in their first language and once in English. While it may sound easy, fair to students, and desirable from an institutional point of view, this approach loses sight of some fundamental differences between first-language and foreign-language teaching and learning (such as a slower speaking pace in the foreign language, the need for more time to explain “untranslatable” words or concepts, students being less able, or needing more time to understand the subject matter, etc.). Consequently, teachers are burdened with problems reaching far beyond their personal responsibilities.

Regarding issues directly connected to language, most lecturers indicate that they lack English vocabulary and are, thus, unable to express exact meanings, subtle differences, details, or emotions. This limits them in creating an agreeable classroom atmosphere and makes them feel less comfortable or authentic than in first-language teaching situations; some even say they feel like actors. They are restricted, and even insecure at times, as they cannot use humour as a didactical technique, or share their knowledge and skills in appropriate, helpful ways. Finally, depending on the subject matter, there might be words or concepts that simply cannot be translated. Sometimes, content gets lost, or might get lost; it remains unclear who is responsible for deciding which contents need to be covered and what could be left out. After all, in the foreign-language classroom, instructors have to divide their attention over content language.

Language barriers, often combined with culturally diverse backgrounds of teaching staff and students, or among students, can lead to misunderstandings, or no shared understanding at all. Students have (more or less) limited communication abilities and (more or less) heterogeneous language levels. Moreover, teachers need to take into consideration students’ different discourse traditions, cultures, and experiences as well as their expectations of adequate communication in academic contexts, or hierarchical contexts in general. For example, students may not take the initiative to ask questions or speak up in class but may have to be explicitly invited to be critical, ask questions, take part in discussions, or give presentations.

As teachers encounter increasingly diverse student populations, they are confronted with intercultural and diversity issues for which they are not equipped sufficiently, or backed up by their institutions. Sometimes, they are lost as to what is appropriate or “politically correct”.

“Surface matters”, such as lacking fluency, reduced speaking pace, teachers’ students’ accents that complicate communication, grammatical mistakes, etc., are only the tip of the iceberg: Under the surface, there is a complex interplay of challenges: dealing with content language diversity plus… All these factors work together so that even lecturers who are prone to perfectionism can feel more insecure than usual when they are expected to provide high-quality English-medium classes. And this often goes hand in hand with feeling left alone by institutions.

Considering all these troubles, why do many academic teachers find teaching in English worthwhile anyway? Actually, they see many direct gains for themselves: First, the possibility to use a broader spectrum of textbooks brings new insights and more diverse perspectives, and it opens doors to research beyond national and first-language boundaries. Second, as the pressure increases to consider international publications, English-medium lecturers become more aware of, and more up-to-date on, recent developments in their fields. Third, as they need to keep their teaching as clear and simple as possible, they experiment more with different forms of teaching; this is particularly true for methods to activate and enable students to take part in discussions and other interactive tasks. Last but not least, in classrooms where neither the teacher nor most students communicate in their first languages, an atmosphere of life-long learning is fostered almost automatically; teachers reveal that they are learners, too, and that making mistakes is inherent to learning processes.

However, the benefits for English-medium teachers go far beyond the seminar room and affect them more broadly as human beings: Although most of them would not say that they are bringing their hobby to the workplace, many agree that learning about cultural diversity, and practising their intercultural and language skills in real-life situations give them personal fulfillment, pride, and confidence. Apart from becoming more open-minded, they develop a habit of relaxing and letting go of perfectionism, as they realise they do not need to know all the answers in the classroom, or beyond.

In the long run, staff who teach in English (often in addition to their first languages) in higher education see this as an important investment into their professional development, as it strengthens their international profiles. Even beyond the advantages of doing research in English, lecturers who adopt English as a medium of instruction become much more flexible in working with diverse, heterogeneous student populations at home and abroad. Their horizons regarding international job opportunities are broadened, and the threshold towards teaching abroad is lowered substantially. As they become more comfortable about communicating in English, they feel empowered to actively participate in international academic exchanges, to network and to cooperate in global contexts, without being afraid of talking or listening to first-language speakers of English.

3.1.2 Pains and gains: the students’ side (as perceived by their teachers)

Of course, lecturers are not the only ones who are challenged when the medium of instruction changes. Students face challenges, too. Many of these difficulties become obvious for teachers in classes where students have to distribute their attention over content language, especially in the first semesters. Indeed, it may be more difficult for students to grasp the content of a lecture than it would be in a first-language teaching environment. As they often do not receive structural language training, or content and language integrated courses, this is a real risk that teachers have to consider and try to reduce by adapting their teaching styles, etc. For example, many students have poor language levels, little fluency practice and limited active vocabulary at entry. Teachers have to put a lot of energy into initiating in-class discussions because students simply do not dare to speak in public.

Yet, similarly to the teaching staff, students, too, are often left alone by institutions and held responsible for dealing with the additional challenges caused by studying in English. Teachers fear that, ironically, instead of becoming proficient in languages, students may put languages at risk: Students could adopt or copy their teachers’ or fellow students’ language mistakes and perpetuate them in groups without language experts or first-language speakers who are confident, mature, culturally open, and extravert enough to correct peers or even someone in a hierarchically higher position.

Language barriers – be they perceived or real – are not the only reasons why students stay silent in class; the combined task of mastering a new subject matter and a foreign language can be overwhelming. Moreover, diverse cultural backgrounds and learnt communicative behaviours might even foster misunderstandings.

Students’ cultures and countries of origin will most certainly affect many aspects of how students behave and live in and outside the classroom. This includes how students approach an academic study, deal with elders and hierarchically higher people, speak up in groups, take critical stances, report other people’s ideas and opinions, etc. Often being without comprehensive support for learning the language of the host country, international students may be forced to live in an English-speaking “cocoon” without being able to take root in their environment beyond the campus. As a result, an artificial “academic tribe” emerges whose members may have lived, studied, and worked in several countries but never had substantial contact with local people, languages, and...