TEACHING & LEARNING MATTERS A Publication from The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning
DECEMBER 2014
Teaching to Connect with International Students The 1800+ international students currently enrolled at VIU are good reasons to reflect on best practices for the engagement of all our students, with a special eye toward those practices that will increase traction for students who are still in the process of adapting to a new culture and learning environment. Whether we are students or instructors, our culturespecific assumptions about teaching and learning directly shape the roles we take in delivering or experiencing formal education. These assumptions, if unexamined, can sometimes interfere with our interests and goals. For teachers working with a population of international students, it may help to keep in mind the process model known as “Intercultural Competence” as a way of developing best practices for engagement of students from various backgrounds.
An “Intercultural Competence” Framework The “intercultural competence” model (Deardorff, 2009) is a way of thinking more systema cally and consciously about how we interact with and respond to our interna onal students. Intercultural competence begins with respec ng cultural difference through such prac ces as ac vely and openly demonstra ng our curiosity about others’ background, their place of origin, and their culture. Many instructors do this effec vely by structuring me at the beginning of a course to get to know students. This does not mean singling out the interna onal students, but rather making it a point to get to know all students and develop a sense of their prior experience. A subtle, indirect but sure way of gaining insights into your students is to survey their background knowledge of the course content itself, with a few short, fun “challenge” ques ons about selected course topics on the first day of class. How students respond will give you a good sense of how their previous educa on—wherever it took place—has prepared them for your course. Another way to learn about students is to ask them to pair up, interview each other (using a set of ques ons you have designed to guide the inquiry), and then ask them to present each other to the class. This approach not only ensures that your internaonal students quickly make friends and become members of your classroom community, but it also helps those who may lack confidence in their language abili es or their public speaking. It’s easier for shy students to speak publicly when the subject of their presenta on is not themselves. The technique also has the added value of promo ng careful listening—and increased intercultural competence—in all your students.
Learning more about your students’ background and past experience inevitably increases your own self-awareness, which is another phase in the intercultural competence process model. Instructors in this phase will have reflected on their own cultural assump ons, and will have reached an understanding of how their own culture can be the basis of bias. Doing so makes one more effec ve in observing, interpre ng and suspending judgment on what students say and do in class. To take a very simple and obvious example, we might observe a student who avoids par cipa on in whole-class discussion, and wonder if she is somehow incapable. Through increased awareness of the student’s background, and conscious suspension of judgment, we might go on to learn that the student is simply responding to his/her culture’s norm not to express personal opinions openly. Our reac on to the student will be more effec ve when we take into considera on the fact that he or she may be working within a different set of cultural expecta ons. Our goal through intercultural competence is to develop the ability to frame our responses to students. We want to develop the habit in ourselves of observing and responding to internaonal students’ ac ons, words and work from a place of knowledge, comprehension and empathy. Through this process we will be able to move beyond the no on that our interna onal students start with deficits that have to be overcome. (Asmar, 2005; Swartz, 2009). Instead, we can develop what Ryan (2011) would call a “transcultural” approach. In this case we start with the assump on that all of our students bring something to the table, and our job is to structure interac ons whereby all students’ assets are acknowledged and leveraged in the learning process. Continued on back
specula ve ques on together. Create regular “team tasks” or discussions where groups of 4 or 5 students are asked to make a collec ve decision re quiring the use of specific course content. Make it a quesStrategy 1: Pro‐ac vely check in with your students early on of “choices among op ons” rather than a ques on of and o en. open-ended response or inven on, so all of the students Your goal here is two-fold. You want to learn about your stucan par cipate equally, no ma er their language level. dents so you can respond to them more effec vely and com On day one of the course, ask students to develop collecpetently; and at the same me you are sending them a mesvely their own set of classroom policies for a safe and resage that you see them, and they ma er to you (a primary spec ul learning environment. Making their own rules imbasis of respect). For example, some instructors, knowing that mediately gives students a sense of community, collec ve they will have students who, for cultural reasons, are unlikely ownership and responsibility for one another. to take advantage of office hours, have success requiring eve ry student to par cipate in a “group office hour.” This occurs Strategy 3. Level the playing field for all students, by making with the professor and several students at least once during classroom presenta ons, lectures, etc. more easily accessible the first part of the semester. The gesture ensures that every outside of class. student receives direct a en on; Students should be able to review and turning the visit into a group Try this ac vity on the first day of your course... and study as their habits, customs ac vity reduces the stress for ...to promote inclusiveness for your interna onal students and schedules allow. For this purthose interna onal students who pose, consider the following mechamight not otherwise dare ap1. Place students randomly in groups of 5 or 6 (do not let nisms for distribu on of course conthem self-select). proach the professor on their tent. own. 2. Ask students in each group to take turns interviewing Post your slides and other leceach member of the group, one by one, with the goal of ture-related materials on VIULearn conducting an “inventory” of the group’s total “assets.” More generally, the goal is to Assets are the specific skills and special talents (both aca(D2L) before class, so students can create community by means of a demic + non-academic) each student brings to the group. preview them and par cipate more two-way flow of informa on with 3. After the groups have conducted their inventories, ask easily during the class mee ng. your students. This will give you a each group to create a company that creates and delivers a Before all-class discussions with sense of how students are experiproduct or a service, based on the collective inventory of students, ask them to write down an encing your course, but will also skills and talents possessed by the group members. answer to your ques on, and/or have the effect of communica ng 4. Ask groups to give a name to their new company, and to discuss it briefly with a peer. You are to students your interest in develop an idea for a logo and how they would market their now free to call on even the shyest them—and hence the respect product or service. of your students, who can at least you hold for them. Early in the 5. Ask groups to prepare a short 1-2 minute presentation of read out loud what he/she wrote or term, for example, use mechatheir “companies” - they explain the concept and describe report on what his /her peer said. the role each group member will play in running company. nisms such as those indicated in A er class, post your slides/ earlier paragraphs to learn more 6. The groups are then asked to present their companies to handouts/materials from the class the whole class. about your students. As the term mee ng in VIULearn (D2L), so stuprogresses, try any of these infordents can review on their own, at own pace. mal, ungraded, data collec on tasks at the end of class, such as: These are just a few small ideas for crea ng classrooms that are The 30‐Second Survey: ask your students to write down welcoming for students of all backgrounds, cultures, and na on(anonymously) one thing that’s going well and one thing es If you’ve discovered your own strategies that work well, ali they’re struggling with we invite you to share them with us. VIU faculty are also wel The One‐Minute Paper: ask students to summarize a key come to peruse the Centre library for resources on this topic, or idea from the course content (might be anonymous or schedule a conversa on with a Curriculum, Teaching and Learnsigned, depending on your purpose) ing Specialist to discuss your class. The Muddiest Point: ask students to write down anony-
What are Best Prac ces for the Transcultural Classroom?
mously something that they’re finding difficult to comprehend Strategy 2. Take the ini a ve to connect students with other students, so as to foster community. Many students may feel isolated in courses for a variety of reasons, some of them cultural. To build a stronger sense of community in class, try any of these approaches: Stop in the middle of your presenta on, and ask students to pair up informally and tackle a problem or answer a
Asmar, C. (2005). Interna onalising students: Reassessing diasporic and local student difference. Studies in Higher Educa on, 30(3), 291-309. Deardorff, D.K. (Ed.). 2009. The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica ons Inc. Ryan, J. (2011). Teaching and learning for interna onal students: Towards a transcultural approach. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Prac ce, 17(6), 631-648. Swartz, E. (2009). Diversity: Gatekeeping knowledge and maintaining inequali es. Review of Educa onal Review, 79(2), 1044-1083.