Internationalizing Higher Education

2016 ◽  
pp. 188-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Snow Andrade ◽  
Norman W. Evans ◽  
K. James Hartshorn
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Educational Mobility ◽  
Academic Tasks ◽  
Future Direction

Although global educational mobility often requires fluency in a foreign language, this fluency may be insufficient for academic tasks, and institutions may provide insufficient opportunities for further linguistic progress. This chapter examines higher education practices for the assessment of English language skills and continued development of English language proficiency for international students. Implications indicate that although institutions view international students as critical to strategic planning and feel these students need increased English language proficiency, institutions generally have not considered innovative approaches. The results support the viability of the proposed framework to guide institutions through a thorough examination of current practices and identification of future direction for research.

scholarly journals What happens to international students’ english after one semester at university?

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 4.1-4.17
Author(s):  
Neomy Storch ◽  
Kathryn Hill
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Language Test ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Impact

There is a common expectation, particularly amongst international students, that studying in an English-medium university should automatically produce a significant improvement in their English language skills. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that this is not necessarily the case.This paper reports on a study which investigated the impact of one semester of study at a university on the English language proficiency of a sample of 40 international students. This was measured by comparing the students’ scores on a diagnostic English language test at the beginning and end of their first semester. A comparison of discourse measures of writing in terms of fluency, complexity and accuracy was also undertaken. Background information, including details of ESL support, if any, was collected for all participants via questionnaires, and interviews were conducted with a subset of the participants.It was found that studying in an English-medium university generally led to an improvement in English language proficiency. The paper identifies a number of factors which appear to support language development, as well as factors that may inhibit it.

What happens to international students’ English after one semester at university?

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 4.1-4.17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neomy Storch ◽  
Kathryn Hill
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Language Test ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Impact

There is a common expectation, particularly amongst international students, that studying in an English-medium university should automatically produce a significant improvement in their English language skills. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that this is not necessarily the case. This paper reports on a study which investigated the impact of one semester of study at a university on the English language proficiency of a sample of 40 international students. This was measured by comparing the students’ scores on a diagnostic English language test at the beginning and end of their first semester. A comparison of discourse measures of writing in terms of fluency, complexity and accuracy was also undertaken. Background information, including details of ESL support, if any, was collected for all participants via questionnaires, and interviews were conducted with a subset of the participants. It was found that studying in an English-medium university generally led to an improvement in English language proficiency. The paper identifies a number of factors which appear to support language development, as well as factors that may inhibit it.

Engineering Pathways in a U.S. Public Institution of Higher Education

2017 ◽  
pp. 236-259
Author(s):  
Fabiola Ehlers-Zavala ◽  
Anthony Maciejewski
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Land Grant ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Land Grant Institution ◽  
The U.S

This chapter relates a strategy that emerged from a larger effort of a land-grant institution in the U.S. to more rapidly increase the number of international students on campus and diversify its student body through the development and implementation of pathway programs. Pathway students are international students that do not meet the criteria for direct entry into a university due to lower levels of English language proficiency and/or GPA. The authors discuss strategies for ensuring success in these endeavors.

scholarly journals Improving English Language Proficiency of Graduate Students by Online Learning Apps available on Smartphone

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 535-543
Author(s):  
Shahida Naz ◽  
Mamuna Ghani ◽  
Shahid Nawaz
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language Skills

The field of digital literacy is developing rapidly; consequently, the interest of researchers has also shifted now. The current research study was to explore the role of online learning Apps available on smartphones in improving graduate students' English language proficiency. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this study. Data were collected through a questionnaire that had close-ended and open-ended questions. Questionnaires were distributed among 480 graduate-level students studying in 6 universities of Punjab, Pakistan. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22.0) to find out results in the form of Percentage, Mean Score, Standard Deviation by applying the Independent Sample T-Test. The results of the study demonstrated the potential of Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) as an anticipatory approach to improving English language skills. Results showed that students were pleased to use smartphones to improve their English language proficiency. They responded positively about the role of smartphones in improving English language skills. On the basis of findings, the researcher concluded that smartphone plays an important role in improving students' English language proficiency.

Postgraduate Internationalisation in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (07) ◽  
pp. 1791-1805
Author(s):  
Concepta McManus ◽  
Abilio Afonso Baeta Neves ◽  
Cyntia Oliveira ◽  
Henrique De Oliveira Castro
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Strategic Planning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Funding Agency ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
Current State ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Almost All

Understanding the current state of the Internationalisation of postgraduate courses in Brazil was essential to serve as a basis for constructing effective policies in funding agencies. It also helps to understand the capacity of the higher education institution to carry out more effective strategic planning and internationalisation plans. This study looks at replies to a Brazilian national funding agency (CAPES) questionnaire on Internationalisation within Higher Education Institutes in Brazil, based on the postgraduate experience. Results showed that Internationalisation is based on mobility with little comprehensive thinking on its role towards academic achievement within the Postgraduate Programs realities, beyond the mobile individual.  English language skills need to be improved. While most institutions have offices that treat this theme, they lack an active engagement with the postgraduate programs and strategic planning, seen as vital for almost all institutions.  Resources are necessary to build infrastructure and capacitate lecturers and staff to this end.

The discursive (mis)representation of English language proficiency

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Agnes Bodis
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
International Education ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Media Representation ◽  
The Media

Abstract International education constitutes a key industry in Australia and international students represent a third of university students at Australian universities. This paper examines the media representation of international students in terms of their English language proficiency. The study applies Critical Discourse Analysis to the multimodal data of an episode of a current affairs TV program, Four Corners, and social media comments made to the episode. Using Social Actor Analysis, the study finds that the responsibility for declining standards at universities is assigned to international students through representations of their language use as problematic. This is supported by the visual representation of international students as different. By systematically mapping out the English-as-a-problem discourse, the paper finds that the media representation of language proficiency and language learning is simplistic and naïve and the social media discussion reinforces this. This further contributes to the discursive exclusion of international students.

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