MANY ROOTS, MANY VOICES

BE VERY AWARE

What lecturers can do to encourage international students to participate more in seminars?

After discussing some of the challenges international students who are not as proficient in the English language face in the classroom environment, is there anything lecturers and universities can do to help them? Undeniably, it is a challenging feat for university professors to juggle different languages, cultures, learning styles and academic interests from teaching a culturally diverse seminar group. However, there are small steps that can be taken to help integrate international students and encourage them to contribute more in class discussions and the first step is through AWARENESS.

It is important that lecturers are constantly aware of the difficulties that some international students may face with expressing themselves in the English language[1] as well as the different cultural perspectives of students. Through this awareness, lecturers will be able to make a more conscious effort to integrate international students and better manage the complexity of a culturally diverse classroom. Additionally, lecturers should look up what students know, speak and experience to better understand the seminar group so that the lessons would be inclusive for both native and foreign students[2].

Moreover, research has shown that students who are not as proficient in English were afraid of appearing foolish by making mistakes such as simple grammatical errors or incorrect pronunciation. Thus this lack of confidence and fear of judgement from peers acts as a barrier to communicating and participating in class. Perhaps this can be overcomed by building up a more comfortable and accepting learning environment in the classroom. Easier said than done but in our opinion, to bridge the communication gap in the multicultural classroom, lecturers, international students and native students all have a part to play.

---

[1] Medved, D., Franco, A., Gao, X., & Yang, F. (2013). Challenges in teaching international students:?group separation, language barriers and culture differences. Retrieved from http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=4215983&fileOId=4216001

[2] Bista, K. (2011). Implications of Silence for Educators in the Multicultural Classroom. Retrieved from:http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/learning-styles/implications-of-silence-for-educators-in-the-multicultural-classroom/