Language Barrier
I have had a student who does not speak good english. She struggled with tests depsite spending much time reviewing with her. How do these students overcome this barrier?
Latasha ,
this is very true. I think in these situations some individual work or tutoring can help them start to overcome these insecurities.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Language Barrier can be an issue with a student some students hold back participation in class because of issues with language barrier.
Sharon,
this is definitely a touch situation for all involved. I think the best we can do is try to help the student as much as possible. Obviously if they have no English there is little we can do to help, but if they have some English skills, hopefully we can help them along a little.
Dr. Ryan Meers
In most post secondary colleges you are only allowed to speak english, I worked at a school and no one was allowed to speak another language as it offended other's.I agree, it is a diservice to those who can not comprehend english.The school would only be enrolling them for finanical gain. Then what are the instructors supposed to do?
For students who do not have a good command of English, I tend to spend some extra time with them, offering help, but of course this is going to be time consuming. I generally would speak to them slowly, repeating words often.
I also encourage the stdent to read the daily newspapers, listen to news and learn new words every day.
Jacqulin,
This is a great strategy & idea to help these students learn the concepts as well as get more comfortable with English in a much less threatening environment.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Some schools are not financially able to offer ESL programs. However, the school can make it a requirement to do a basic english course before admission.
One of the ways that I help these students is to have them participate in very short oral presentation in small groups. I also encourage them to review terms in the chapters that they do not know before they proceed to the next page.
When having students in this situation, it should be noted at the time of enrollment and within the department. Having access to ESL courses availible should be the responsibility of admissions. Whether it's on campus or off-site by another school. To admit someone that doesn't have a grasp of the language is to do a diservice to that person's long term goals.
I believe there should be a ESL program in all schools for these particular students. Otherwise there learning experience will be a very difficult one.
Danielle,
This is definitely a challenge. One thing you can do is to make sure she has as much time as possible.
Another option is to have someone who speaks her native language help her in the "translation" of the test.
Just a couple thoughts.
Ryan
