more on Unclear on American Campus: What the Foreign Teacher Said

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
Date: June 27, 2005 6:57:07 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Unclear on American Campus: What the Foreign  
Teacher Said
Reply-To: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>


Dave,

The appropriate distinction is whether the student is a native  
speaker of English.

Since 1991, Pennsylvania has required all students whose native  
language is not English to pass a language certification test before  
being allowed to teach undergraduates. Carnegie Mellon applies the  
requirement to teaching graduates as well.

Carnegie Mellon explains the requirement as, "Any student who is not  
a native speaker of English should be tested regardless of  
citizenship. US residency or citizenship is no guarantee of English  
proficiency. A Canadian student who is a native English speaker does  
not need the test; a French speaking Canadian does."

TOEFL, on the other hand, does not have "passing" grades, but rather  
scores. Each admissions committee can decide for itself how to  
interpret those scores and what other information to consider.

Experience has showed us that English proficiency that is good enough  
to succeed in a PhD program does not necessarily assure sufficient  
proficiency to communicate effectively in a classroom.

The Carnegie Mellon test has four possible outcomes that authorize  
different levels of interaction with students, from "grading only" to  
"ready to TA (but may need training in teaching skills)".

Mary



On 6/27/05, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Egor Kobylkin <egor () kobylkin com >
Date: June 27, 2005 5:47:26 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: Unclear on American Campus: What the Foreign Teacher Said


> Many universities are trying to minimize the problem by
> creating programs to assess the English skills of
> international graduate students who are prospective teaching
> assistants and offering courses as needed

Dave, my two cents.

Too much buzz about the word "foreign". These teachers will probably
get  their Ph.D's soon, then green cards and then become US citizens
i.e. Americans. So the problem is not that they are coming from
abroad or something, but just their language skills. And interesting
enough, to get admitted to a serious university one has to pass TOEFL
and GMAT, both of them not the easiest test in spoken and written
English out there. One which passed TOEFL would be certainly in a
position to explain chemistry to a freshman.

So either the universities in question could not afford rejecting the
grad students that failed or would have fail TOEFL, or something is
wrong with the language tests themselves.

And anyway, with 50% of the foreign teachers in the university
system, it is not a question of the students being able to understand
teachers, but rather teachers to have enough motivation and abilities
to learn English. The notion "foreign" will not be helpful in
improving the quality of US education system, I believe.

Best regards,

Egor


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