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.

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.

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.

scholarly journals The Antecedents and Outcomes of Host National Connectedness: A Study of International Students in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alicia Bethel
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
International Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Social Adjustment ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Cultural Inclusion

<p>While research on international students’ acculturative outcomes typically indicates that they generally thrive, one common source of struggle, noted by practitioners, researchers, educators, and the students themselves, is their inability to form connections with locals. Situated within the stress and coping and cultural learning frameworks of acculturation research, this study (N = 1527) examines the antecedents and outcomes of host national connectedness (HNC) among international students in New Zealand. Results indicate that both individual (age, gender, English language proficiency, and the motivation to belong) and contextual (cultural distance and perceived cultural inclusion) predict international students ability to connect with New Zealanders. Contextual variables explain additional variance in HNC above and beyond that explained by the individual variables. Results also provide support for the important role of connections in overall adjustment outcomes, as host national connectedness mediates the relationship between cultural distance, cultural inclusion in the classroom, and English language proficiency and both socio-cultural and psychological adaptation. Hence, host national connectedness serves as the mechanism through which international students attain positive psycho-social adjustment during the acculturation process. Applications for international students, institutions, and policy makers are discussed.</p>

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