The elephant is still in the room, but shrinking: International
Student Language Issues in the Business School
Language issues in the Business
School
Mike Courtney
Xiangping 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 Unit
Business 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?
Embedded
•
•
•
•
Identified PG & UG modules
ELT attends lecture
Follow on class tailored to tutor requirements
Teaching targeted to lectures, reading,
assessment & encourages seminar participation
Programme
specific
sessions
• Students studying on related
programmes are invited to attend
• Teaching tailored to the programme
General open
session
• Available to students with no
integrated classes
• Classes cover weekly themed topics
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