The elephant is still in the room, but shrinking: International Student Language Issues in the Business School

Language issues in the Business School

Mike CourtneyXiangping Du

Tracy Allardice

This presentation

• 1) Mike Courtney – Business communication skills in the Business School. Language standards , expectations and CEM.

• 2) Xiangping Du – cultural issues - the motivation of Chinese students

• 3) Tracy Allardice – current English language support provisions in the business school

International students

• International students form 15% + overall of all UK students

• 12% + of all UK undergraduates• 66% + of all full time UK postgraduates

(source; Caroll, Oxford Brookes, 2011)

Skills and language

• Language is the ‘base’ skill for all skills we are trying to develop

• Language and culture influences individual cognitive style – e.g., theory of knowledge

• Language issue awareness and support in the Business School is constantly improving

Language, culture and cognitive style

• “In China, there is no word in Putonghua (standard Chinese) for marketing......linguistically, marketing is but part of the larger discipline of selling..”

(Newman, P., Bryant, T. & Minghua, J. (2004) Marketing, selling and ethics: A yin/yang perspective. UHBS.)

International English Language Testing Service (UCLES)

• A ‘fluency’ based assessment – not an ‘accuracy’ based assessment

• Entry to UG programmes requires IELTS 6

• What can/should we expect from the IELTS indication?

IELTS 6

• 6) Competent User. Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations.

• For bandscale 6 - Raw score – 23-25

IELTS 6 example from CEM ‘Essentials for Marketers module

• McDonald’s target market is every segment of the demography. For example, segments of the demography are family gender age. Also this project involves a level of service provided by McDonald’s and its competitors. The study was carried out research in the market in order to raise the profile of service that exist and the difference in the quality of existing services in the market.

Some problems

• Test centres vary in terms of staff training and language competence

• A minority of students cheat – but growing reliability issue - ‘doubles’ taking the test etc:

• “Students from the mainland are paying as much as 10,000 yuan (£1000) a bandscore to their doubles to sit the IELTS” (Hong Kong Standard, May 31st, 2011)

A good support model within modules: CEM embedded support

• Contextualised, Embedded and Mapped (timely)Business communication skills support – run in PG Essentials For Marketers, Semester A and B, in conjunction with Newcastle Business School.

• Similar embedded support in other UG and PG modules.

Other considerations

• Assessments could be shorter to ‘force’ fewer errors and less plagiarism

• Encourage a simplified ‘academic’ style – in line with the ‘plain English’ campaign.

• Encourage student self-access for self improvement – already in good immersion lab

• Use exemplar modelling and podcasts• Utilise all BS support provisions (Tracy)

Chinese Student Motivation for Learning English

– CEM experience

Xiangping Du

Academic Skills UnitBusiness School

Traditional Motivation Models• Instrumental – learning a language to achieve practical goals, e.g.

qualification or employment

• Integrative– Learners’ intrinsic interest in learning the language and

culture of the target language

• BUT– It focuses on learners’ perspective and neglected external

social & cultural aspects

Gardner (1985)

Contemporary Motivation Models

• Features– Broad societal macro-perspective– Chinese students

• 4 Models– Instrumental– Cultural – Identity-based – Situational

Gao et al (2002)

Instrumental Motivation• Communication – Mandarin – communicative tool

• Certification– 80% - Chinese English Test (CET) Band 4 & 6

• Information – Concealed news/information from English website

Du (2009), Gao et al (2002)

Cultural Motivation• Integrative – foreign experience – Speak highly of the English language & culture– Integrate with the English community

• Intellectual – home identity – Learning English will enable learners to

appreciate their national language & culture– Chinese nationalist ideology; Confucian tradition

of responsibility

Du (2009); Gao et al (2002)

Identity-based Motivation

• In-group Identity – Racial-ethic / national identity – peer groups

• Inter-group Identity – Global citizenship – international / global

community

Situational Motivation

• Home Situation – No-entry to national HE– Teacher / parents

• International Situation – The status of English as an international language

Students in CEM Projects

• Various educational, linguistic and cultural backgrounds

• Diverse motivations

• Diverse cognitive styles

Some teaching and assessment implications

• English has its norms and rules – how far can we expect learners to conform to ‘native speaker’ rules?

• English is an international lingua franca– encourage learners to continue to learn academic and social

English– Respect diverse learning motivations and individual cognitive

styles

• Inter-language performance – level of performance we are prepared to accept in terms of accuracy?

General implications for teaching support• Lecturers should understand international student

motivation and previous educational background.

• Lecturers should not see themselves as privileged holders of native English norms but flexible reflectors to develop learners’ interaction strategies and communicative competence in English, enhance learners’ abilities to accommodate to and communicate with speakers having different cultures and language backgrounds, and cater to learners’ needs and desires as a whole (Bialystok, 1990).

• Bicultural and bilingual teachers should be proud of their constructive position in sharing the experiences of learning English as an additional language.

English language support in the Business School

Business Communications

Why Business Communications & not In sessional English?

• To change student perception & improve attendance

• To tailor language support to BS needs

How do students find out about classes?

• Some required to attend as a condition of progression from pre sessional English

• UG Direct Entrants are tested• Others encouraged to see it as beneficial to their

studies and performance• Classes open to all – encourage all international

students to attend• Enquire in ASU for timetables

What language support is available?• Identified PG & UG modules• ELT attends lecture• Follow on class tailored to tutor requirements• Teaching targeted to lectures, reading,

assessment & encourages seminar participation

Embedded

• Students studying on related programmes are invited to attend

• Teaching tailored to the programme

Programme specific sessions

• Available to students with no integrated classes

• Classes cover weekly themed topics

General open session

What other help is there?

• Changing Border Agency rules to 5.5 IALTS in each component

• ELT following the same guidelines with pre sessional English graduates

• International student section on ASU website• Staff guide to International student support in

the Business School• UHSU English Cultural Orientation Society