Caught in the Tower of Babel

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Caught in the Tower of Babel

• University lecturers experience with
  internationalisation

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• By Hanne Tange
• Dept. of Language Business Communication
• Aarhus School of Business/University of Aarhus
• Mail hta_at_asb.dk

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Contents

• Background to the issue- current debates over
  internationalisation
• The current investigation- why focus on
  university lecturers?
• Theme 1 the language issue
• Theme 2 cultural diversity
• Some preliminary conclusions

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Background to the issue 1- the international
debate

• What is international education about?-
  intercultural learning vs. knowledge in the
  marketplace?
• What does international education mean for the
  actors affected by the process (e.g. students,
  lecturers)?
• What kind of learning and teaching practices does
  international education request?

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Background to the issue 2- the Danish debate

• How does the expansion of international programs
  affect Danish universities?
• What is the present and future status of Danish
  as a medium for teaching and research?
• What happens when non-professional language users
  are asked to communicate expert knowledge in
  English?

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The present inquiry

• Motivated by personal experiences from working
  with lecturing and administrative staff within a
  college of engineering.
• The investigation asks for lecturers
  experiences, aiming to develop a model for
  experiential learning.
• Currently at the mid-way point of my research, I
  have performed a total of twenty interviews at
  three institutions.

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Why lecturers?

• Because university lecturers are at the interface
  between institutional demands and student
  expectations.
• Because only little research has focused on the
  lecturers, which is unfortunate given their role
  in the socialisation of foreign students.
• Because there appears to be a knowledge gap
  between very experienced lecturers and those who
  are new to international education.

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The international classroom- from a lecturers
perspective
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Theme 1 language

• Linguistic imbalance lecturers may possess a
  sophisticated terminology in relation to their
  subject area, but only a limited repertoire for
  casual exchanges or small-talk as a result,
  certain types of messages go missing in the
  international classroom.
• Improvisation variation the fact that teachers
  and learners work in a second language limits the
  scope of their communication even proficient
  lecturers may have to cut out messages because
  they require a linguistic register that the
  students lack.

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Example 1 linguistic imbalance

• This is what makes it so absurd that you are
  able to discuss inflation and unemployment and
  issues like that, using the correct terms for
  this, and yet you are unable to tell someone you
  meet at a conference about your skiing holiday
  because you have no clue as to what a ski binding
  may be called in English. So you develop a very
  uneven vocabulary. (lecturer, business studies)

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Example 2variation repertoire

• Normally, when I teach in Danish, I will
  maintain eye contact with the students in order
  to check whether they understand what I am
  saying. And if I estimate that too many of them
  look tired, I will try to explain it in a
  different way. And as I told you in the
  beginning, this is where I find I am contained in
  some way because this will require my moving
  outside the terminology we have established, the
  words I used to describe the phenomenon in the
  first place. So it would end up as black talk,
  leaving them none the wiser. (lecturer, life
  sciences)

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Implications of the language change

• Lecturers self-image from good teachers to bad
  communicators
• Student feedback benchmarking what are the
  consequences of bad English?

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Theme 2 cultural diversity

• Diversity as a problem in the international
  classroom lecturers are confronted with strange
  behaviours, different academic backgrounds and
  new learning traditions. Many are overwhelmed by
  such diversity.
• Diversity as a resource know your students and
  make sure that they contribute their particular
  cultural insight and experiences then the
  international classroom may be transformed into a
  platform for intercultural learning!

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Example 1 stepping back to earlier times

• I guess I found it was like going back to the
  days when the lecturer would run the classes. Not
  a lot of discussion and not a lot of asking what
  do we do next, improvising our way through a
  lesson. In addition, their backgrounds are so
  different, which also means that it becomes more
  difficult to involve the students, which I find
  very hard. I guess this was a bit like reversing
  a development that we had been pushing forward
  for years. (lecturer, life sciences)

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Example 2- applying a global outlook

• We have certain types of courses which aim to
  provide students with some very particular
  skills . . . . It can be difficult for us to get
  them to work in an English-speaking context,
  where you will have to take into account the
  foreign students, for all of a sudden you need to
  move one level up and talk about principles
  instead, referring perhaps to some Danish cases.
  But you can no longer go on and on about the most
  important kinds of animal stocks in Denmark . .
  . . for you will have students there from Nepal,
  who speak only English, and who really dont need
  this kind of information. (lecturer, life
  sciences)

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Implications of student diversity

• New frames of reference examples and jokes that
  include the international students.
• New teaching practices lecturers play an active
  role in the socialisation of international
  students into the Danish university.

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Preliminary conclusions

• A general consensus that the change into English
  has affected the quality and dynamics of
  classroom communications negatively.
• Some disgreement with regard to cultural
  diversity whether this represents an opportunity
  or an obstacle in the international classroom.
• A call for expert knowledge and institutional
  support so far, lecturers have been left to
  develop new teaching practices on their own.

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• Thank you!
• any questions or comments?