Adult International Students’ Motivation to Read in English and in Their First Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-56
Author(s):  
Reiko Komiyama
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Motivation To Read

scholarly journals English as Lingua Franca and First Language Comfort Zones at an Internationalized University in Warsaw

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-65
Author(s):  
Lucyna Aleksandrowicz-Pędich
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Student Community ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English As Lingua Franca ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study has been to analyse the use of English as lingua franca at an internationalised university in a non-English speaking country, the challenges caused by the need to use English for academic and social purposes as well as the use of other languages by a multicultural student community. Methodology: The methodology was based on qualitative research and involved open-ended interviews with students of 14 nationalities as well as staff members, both local (Polish) and from English-speaking countries. Findings: The main findings indicate: a degree of mismatch between the self-perception of English language competence and the actual ability to use it; the key function of language for social bonding; frequent recourse to first language comfort zones rather than the use of the lingua franca. Value Added: The research focuses on English language issues in a non-English speaking country, an understudied area in higher education. It draws attention to the use of Russian as a secondary lingua franca among students for whom it is their other language of fluent communication. Recommendations: University level educators should be more aware of the specificity of the problems in the use of English by international students, including such as underestimated listening comprehension issues, tensions connected with the use of polite forms and the mismatch between communication skills in English and the academic needs. The impact of language identity on international students social networking should be taken into account as well.

scholarly journals QUESTIONING EAP: A CRITIQUE OF THE ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES COURSES AT UNIVERSITY

2021 ◽  
pp. 401
Author(s):  
Natalia Fedorova
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
First Language ◽  
English For Academic Purposes ◽  
Academic Environment ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Language Requirement

Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses are meant to prepare international students for their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in an English-speaking academic environment. Prospective university candidates for whom English is not the first language are required to complete a pre-sessional EAP course if their IELTS score is lower than the admissions requirements. Even though, in terms of the language requirement, the lack of language proficiency is the only reason preventing international students from entering their degree programmes directly, the course they are required to take is an EAP course rather than a General English one, hence, not directly addressing their lack of general language proficiency. In this essay I question the need to impose such a course on international students: is EAP in its current shape necessary for their success at university or is it merely a product of neoliberalism in higher education?

Email requests in an ELF academic setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-79
Author(s):  
Judit Dombi
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
The Past ◽  
Address Forms ◽  
Academic Communication ◽  
Pragmatic Strategies ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Email messages have become the prevalent medium in academic communication between students and faculty at Hungarian universities. Over the past decade communication with international students of diverse language and cultural backgrounds has made the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) typical in a previously culturally homogeneous setting. This paper analyzes email requests written by international students of various first language (L1) backgrounds (N = 37). The aim is to characterize requests in terms of directness, strategy use, request modification, address forms and closings. Findings shed light on three salient features of ELF requests: an overall preference for direct strategies, a limited range of internal modifiers, and uses of mostly formal, though not always academic address forms. Given the goal-driven nature of ELF interactions, the paper argues that these characteristics may serve as pragmatic strategies to preempt misunderstanding and to enhance intelligibility. Furthermore, interactants’ wish to express identity and their engagement in constructing new norms specific to their unique ELF contexts may also underlie their pragmalinguistic choices.

scholarly journals The impact of an accent: the experiences of international college students from India in the greater Toronto area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheline Chevrier
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
International College ◽  
Global Language ◽  
The Impact

India is one of the world’s largest sources of international students with 553,440 studying abroad globally, its Ministry of External Affairs estimated in late 2017 (Vanderklippe, 2019). Canada has become an increasingly attractive destination for this cohort of international students. With English as the dominant global language for commerce and politics, and the fact that more people now use English as a second language than a first language (Crystal, 2003), these speakers become uniquely positioned in an English-dominated environment such as Canada, due to their accents. This exploratory study investigates the experiences of Indian international students studying at colleges in the Greater Toronto Area (“GTA”) in relation to speaking with a foreign accent. The primary data was collected through five interviews. This study is enlightened by Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital, specifically linguistic capital, which is employed in order to make sense of and understand the participants’ experiences across varying social fields. Keywords: international students; Indian international students; college; Toronto; Canada; foreign accent; perceptions; experiences, cultural capital

scholarly journals The impact of an accent: the experiences of international college students from India in the greater Toronto area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheline Chevrier
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
International College ◽  
Global Language ◽  
The Impact

India is one of the world’s largest sources of international students with 553,440 studying abroad globally, its Ministry of External Affairs estimated in late 2017 (Vanderklippe, 2019). Canada has become an increasingly attractive destination for this cohort of international students. With English as the dominant global language for commerce and politics, and the fact that more people now use English as a second language than a first language (Crystal, 2003), these speakers become uniquely positioned in an English-dominated environment such as Canada, due to their accents. This exploratory study investigates the experiences of Indian international students studying at colleges in the Greater Toronto Area (“GTA”) in relation to speaking with a foreign accent. The primary data was collected through five interviews. This study is enlightened by Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital, specifically linguistic capital, which is employed in order to make sense of and understand the participants’ experiences across varying social fields. Keywords: international students; Indian international students; college; Toronto; Canada; foreign accent; perceptions; experiences, cultural capital

scholarly journals Acculturative stress and native and U.S. culture immersion of international students at a community college

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardaye R. Hansen ◽  
Yuliya Shneyderman ◽  
Gloria S. McNamara ◽  
Lisa Grace
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
International Students ◽  
Acculturative Stress ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Native Culture ◽  
International College ◽  
The U.S

Research shows that international college students experience high levels of acculturative stress, which can adversely impact their health and college success. The levels of immersion in one’s native culture and the culture of the U.S. may impact levels of acculturative stress in international students. This cross-sectional study examined community college international students (n = 243). Immersion in a student’s native culture was positively associated with acculturative stress, while immersion in the U.S. culture was negatively associated with acculturative stress. Students who spoke English as their first language and whose families moved to the United States experienced lower levels of acculturative stress. The results of the study imply that some international students may require more support in order to succeed in their college environment.

scholarly journals Factors of Code-Switching among Bilingual International Students in Malaysia

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 332
Author(s):  
Paramasivam Muthusamy ◽  
Rajantheran Muniandy ◽  
Silllalee. S. Kandasamy ◽  
Omrah Hassan@ Hussin ◽  
Manimaran Subramaniam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
First Language ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Teaching Community ◽  
Main Factor

The present study aims to identify the factors that can potentially affect code switching in a college classroom in Malaysia. The participants were twenty bilingual international students enrolled in an English course in Malaysia. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the participating students. The findings of the study indicated that the main factor behind code switching among the students was incompetence in the second language. Other factors that could account for code switching were maintaining privacy, the ease of speaking in the first language compared to speaking in English, avoiding misunderstanding, and unfamiliarity with similar words in English. Therefore, code switching was found to be an effective strategy used by the students to make their intended meaning explicit and to transmit some knowledge to other students in classroom interactions. This study provides some implications for English teaching community including language learners, teachers, and curriculum developers.

scholarly journals Intervention in engineering students�?? final year capstone research projects to enhance their written, oral and presentation skills

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Blicblau ◽  
Kourosh Dini
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Research Question ◽  
First Language ◽  
Oral Communication ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Intensive Intervention ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Local Students

This article describes an intervention and enhancement approach to improvement in capstone student&rsquo;s written, oral and presentation skills as part of their final year research project requirements especially for international students, whose first language is not English. Training in these skills have been incorporated into the early stages of the final year research (capstone) project, as an intervention and enhancement program, incorporating a series of intensive seminars and practical applications to provide the students with these capabilities.<span>&nbsp; </span>In this paper, we report on the research question &ldquo;how does an intensive intervention and enhancement program in an engineering capstone research project effect students&rsquo; perceptions and their capabilities in communicating their research findings.&rdquo; Results of student responses showed statistically significant differences between perceptions of local and international students in categories of intervention and enhancement in a tutorial environment for writing, oral communication and presentations. International students perceived the intervention and enhancement process of greater benefit to their engineering future than local students did. Overall, the results from this work are relevant to both international and local students who may be lacking in specialised reporting and English skills.

scholarly journals IELP and Year 10 EAL/D Curriculum in Australia: An investigation into the adequacy of prior knowledge to international students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Crossley
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Teacher Qualifications ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Common Space ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Definition Of

Emerging English as an additional language and dialect (EAL/D) teaching concepts suggest that the current education system for international students is lacking consistency. While the new Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL 2020 Reporting Tool (DET, 2019), and other initiatives, show efforts being made to support students whose first language is not English, international students continue to struggle to successfully transition from language school to mainstream school education. Data is collected from IELTS Writing band 5 and EAL Developmental Continuum indicator S3 (DET, 2019). It is analysed using mostly Fairclough’s (2013) but also Gee’s (1999) and Foucault’s (cited in Garrity, 2010) definition of Critical Discourse Analysis and supported by Krashen’s Second Language Acquisition Theory (1982) for a look at the psychological impact of the transition on students. An unachievable gap between the existing IELP and EAL/D courses is showcased and found to be caused by unassociated course content, independent governing bodies and inequivalent and inefficient teacher qualifications, restricting Year 10 international students from being successful in their education. A pathway course to provide a common space (Nakata, 2011) between the curriculum expectations of the relevant governing bodies, ESOS (2018) and VCAA (2017) /ACARA (2018b), and broader qualified educators to teach the courses, are recommended.

Difficulties in Metaphor Comprehension Faced by International Students whose First Language is not English

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette Littlemore ◽  
Phyllis Trautman Chen ◽  
Almut Koester ◽  
John Barnden
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
First Language ◽  
Metaphor Comprehension
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