Teaching International Students

What are we aiming to achieve with our teaching for all students?

• To facilitate and enhance student learning, to move from reproductive to analytic and speculative knowledge as appropriate

Classroom participation

• Language-based reasons for reticence
• Process-based reasons for reticence

Language-based reasons for some to remain silent

• Little idea how to react or to be sure of doing themselves
• justice (feeling “shy” and “embarrassed”)
• Insecurity about their listening comprehension
• Worries about pronunciation or “a face-threatening linguistic
• error” (Jones, 1999)
• Difficulty quickly choosing words; choosing the right words
• Taking time to shape an answer … by which time, it’s too late
• Not feeling confident of appropriate interaction strategies
• e.g. interrupting, taking turns, disagreeing, offering opinions, signaling the wish to speak.

Process-based reasons for some to remain silent

• No value on challenging authority (e.g. the teacher’s or the theory’s or the text’s)
• An assumption that there is “nothing to discuss”. The task
• is to fully understand what is transmitted.
• Assuming a large social and power distance between student
• and teacher and deference expressed by listening.
• Not speaking thereby maintaining harmony and truthfulness (“Silence is better than speech”); value placed on empathic under-standing rather than ‘chat’.
• Value studying first and then asking questions, not asking questions first.

Encourage participation

• Create a safe environment:
• - ensure students know each other
• - create opportunity for everyone to speak in front of class e.g. introduce themselves
• - make sure students are clear on the ground rules for the session
• Model good listening and responding skills
• Be aware of group dynamics
• - provide warning and rehearsal
• - use structured discussion formats
• - do not allow the fast talking, confident ones to dominate