Policies, practices and politics of English language issues at the University of Melbourne Dr Sophie Arkoudis

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Policies, practices and politics of English
language issues at the University of
MelbourneDr Sophie Arkoudis
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Societal background

• Population over 20 million
• 23 of Australians were born overseas (UK, New
  Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China)
• An additional 20 had at least one parent born
  overseas.
• 200 languages spoken in Australia
• 2.2 indigenous Australians
• 2001 Australian Census

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Societal background

• 80 speak English at home
• Next common languages
• - Chinese (2.1)
• - Italian (1.9)
• - Greek (1.4)
• 0.02 of population have an indigenous language
  as their main language.
• Auslan is the main language for 6,500 deaf people
• 2001 Australian Census

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Issues in the Australian MediaReports in the
Sydney Morning Herald in June 2005 claimed to
have evidence that of quality falling at
universities as international students as
international students with poor English were
being awarded degrees, and then are eligible to
gain permanent residency.
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Postera Crescam LaudeWe grow in the esteem of
future generations
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International student numbers
1996 2,000
2000 4,800
2003 6,850
2005 8,000
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Top ten countriesChinaUSAMalaysiaSingapore
IndonesiaHong Kong IndiaJapanThailandSouth
Korea
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English Language entry requirements
IELTS 6.5 with minimum writing scores of 6.0
VCE English 25
VCE ESL English 25
TOEFL 577 including 4.5 in the Test of Written English Or 233 in computer based TOEFL including Essay Rating Score of 4.5
Previous experience Two years of study at an English speaking university
Foundation Studies EAP IELTS entry for 5.5 for entry and one year foundation course
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Positioning TheoryThe rights and
responsibilities of academics within the local
moral order of their teaching context.Explores
academics professional identity within the
realities of the university context with relation
to English language learning and content
teaching.
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Positioning analysis1. Not academics
responsibility.2. Language as deficit.3.
Language is overemphasised.4. Merging language
and content teaching.
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1. Not academics responsibility.

• If the university lets them in because they have
  the required English language skills, then we do
  not have to do anything for them. They should be
  able to cope.
• Academic from Law Faculty

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2. Language as deficit.

• Some international students need remedial work.
  Then I can teach them.
• Academic, School of Mathematics and Statistics

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3. Language is overemphasised.

• This is my position. Im looking for good
  thinking. And often good thinking can be visible
  even through the mists of limited language. I
  think of individuals from China for example who
  are utterly brilliant intellectually and thats
  very clear. There may be all sorts of
  weaknesses in their language but it is clear that
  these people are brilliant people. They have
  interesting insights. So I think it is possible
  to overemphasise language in assessment.
• Academic, Faculty of Arts

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4. Merging language and content teaching

• You know, because the international students are
  so overwhelmed, especially when they have just
  arrived, I make a point of getting the TLU to
  come to my class rather than just wait for the
  students to go there. That way, the students see
  the TLU as being a part of the subject that I
  teach and this encourages them to seek support.
• Academic, Faculty of Economics and Commerce

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Offshore programs
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Discipline specific language proficiency

• Part of the difficulty with this group was that
  while they did have some issues with the English
  language, they also lacked a knowledge of the
  theory of TESOL and therefore lacked a
  meta-language to talk about the issues we were
  discussing. They had been using grammar
  translation based text books and I dont know if
  they had any formal training in teaching English
  which would have introduced them to that
  metalanguage.
• Claude, Faculty of Education

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Language as culture

• There is no culture of critique in Thailand of
  course. I gave them a vocabulary to help them
  make the point. So I spent a lot of time saying
  here are useful words like, moreover, however,
  therefore, is underdeveloped, should be
  criticised, is poorly understood. Using those
  words gave their work a critical thread. But you
  have to get down to that level of here is the
  vocabulary that you will find helpful.
• Dave, Faculty of Education

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Language is overemphasised

• The students are anxious that despite what we say
  and that they meet our criteria, that somehow
  they are inadequate. I have conversations with
  students who apologise for their Singlish. As I
  teach them, I am aware of telling them that there
  is no difference between them and the students I
  teach at Parkville.. I try to reassure them that
  the surface errors that they may make are not an
  issue and that they are a high powered group of
  people.
• Dave, Faculty of Education

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University of Melbourne Survey of International
Students (2005)

• Graduating students concerns about their
  experience of the University
• The need for intensive support in the early
  stages of a students course to achieve effective
  integration of students, both local and
  international
• Having specific educational support to assist
  international students to participate
  successfully in a Western academic environment
• The importance of language support and skills
• The need to build a strong and inclusive
  community, a host culture where international
  students can engage comfortably with the rest of
  the University community.

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Conclusion

• English language is normalised within university
  policy and cultural issues are highlighted.
• In practice, academics adopt different discourses
  to justify their responsibilities towards
  students linguistic needs.
• These discourses are embedded within individual
  academics epistemological assumptions that
  frame their beliefs about student learning.
• These discourses appear to be discipline
  dependant.

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