Academic Affinity and Beyond
Susan DePhilippis
Judith Otterburn-Martinez
Atlantic Cape Community College, NJ
Purpose
• ESL Curricula changes
– Approximately 500 students enrolled
– Are ESL students prepared when they leave the ESL
program?
• Foster colleague awareness
– What issues/concerns do other departments have with
Non-native English Speakers (NNES)?
Session Overview
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Administration
Development
Questions and Results
Lessons Learned:
– ESL curricula adapted
– Linguistic needs identified
– Academic culture needs addressed
Administration of Survey
• Administered through Survey Monkey
• Full time and adjunct faculty asked to participate
face to face and with a handed note given at a
mandatory faculty day
• Survey and information followed up by email and
Survey Monkey link
• ESL department chair reminded department chairs
for faculty participation
• Second email reminder with link
Survey Content and Response
• 16 question survey
– Questions asking to compare native and non native speakers
about frequency, performance and grading of:
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Oral presentations
Writing assignments- in and out of class
Behavior during class sessions
Behavior when interacting with professors
Demographic information about professors
• 115 responses ( 34% full time & 66% adjunct)
• Variety of disciplines- English, Math, Science, Computer
Science, Psychology, History, Communication, Business,
and Art.
Example Questions
3. With what Speech issues do your non-native English speaking
students struggle giving ORAL PRESENTATIONS that native
English speaking students do not? (Choose all that apply.)
Areas of Problems in :
• volume 44%
• pronunciation 71%
• hesitation or repetition 40 %
• speed
• length
• eye contact & body language 33%
• other: _________________
Example Questions
4. With what DELIVERY AND VISUAL AIDE issues do your
non-native English speaking students struggle giving
ORAL PRESENTATIONS that native English speaking
students do not? (Choose all that apply.)
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completing assignment appropriately
accuracy of information given
combining facts, information, opinion and conclusion in a logical, cohesive
way
applying “book” information to real-life scenarios, drawing original conclusions
plagiarism
collaborating with classmates: participating in group assignment
sentence structure – order of subjects, verbs, objects, adjectives, etc. 63%
word choice 49%
55%
verb tenses and timeframes
spelling
other: _________________________
Example Questions
6. With what issues do your non-native English speaking students
struggle regarding these WRITING ASSIGNMENTS that native
English speaking students do not?
 following/ understanding directions
 accuracy of information given
 combining facts, information, opinion and conclusion in a logical,
cohesive way
 applying “book” information to real-life scenarios, drawing original
conclusions
 plagiarism
 expressing individual ideas, thoughts and opinions clearly
 sentence structure – order of subjects, verbs, objects, adjectives, etc. 76%
 prepositions (on, in, at …) and articles (the, a, an) 51%
 word choice 55%
 verb tenses and timeframes 58%
 Spelling
 other: _____________________________
Example Questions
8. With what issues do your non-native English speaking students
struggle doing these EXAMS and/or other course ASSESSMENTS
that native English speaking students do not?
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difficulty finishing the work in the given timeframe
following/understanding directions
accuracy of information given
combining facts, information, opinion and conclusion in a logical, cohesive
way
completeness of information given
applying “book” information to real-life scenarios, drawing original
conclusions
expressing individual ideas, thoughts and opinions clearly
sentence structure – order of subjects, verbs, objects, adjectives, etc. 56%
prepositions (on, in, at …) and articles (the, a, an) 44%
word choice 56%
verb tenses and timeframes 58%
Spelling
other: ___________________________
Example Questions
9. Mark which aspects of grading are important when assessing ALL
students’ writing assignments and exam answers. (1 being least
important and 3 being most important)
1
2
3
N/A
Content
11%
5%
83%
1%
Organization
7%
39%
54%
1%
Development of
Ideas
6%
29%
63%
2%
Critical Thinking
5%
18%
76%
1%
Grammar/Lang
Usage
15%
44%
41%
0
Spelling
19%
48%
34%
0
Example Questions
10. What do non-native English speaking students struggle with
during class sessions that native English speaking students
do not? (Choose all that apply.)
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lateness/leaving early
absenteeism
unprepared (no text, paper etc.)
homework incomplete or not done
does not work well with others
disruptive
note-taking
listening/responding to impromptu questions/dialog 42%
does not participate/very quiet
73%
cell phone calls or other distractions
other:____________________________
Example Questions
11. With what do non-native English speaking students
struggle when INTERACTING with you as the course
INSTRUCTOR that native English speaking
students do not? (Choose all that apply.)
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does not attend office hours
disappears for multiple class sessions
does not explain problems 39 %
inability to communicate effectively with instructor 40 %
inability to resolve needs (ex. questioning grade on a
test, missing a quiz etc) 38 %
• other:_______________________________________
Colleague Awareness
Point: involving the faculty of other disciplines in the
process of identifying cultural and linguistic needs,
so they will be more approachable to post-ESL
students.
 ESL Presentation to whole faculty (fall 08)
 Break out session (fall 10)
 Anonymous survey
 Interviewing faculty on an ongoing basis
Lessons Learned:
Negative
• In survey, unclear of department v. course taught
• In survey, unclear on how many and how
frequently professors have NNES students
• With survey, further study is needed for online
instruction
• Within department, no tracking for student success
or failure
Lessons Learned:
Positive
• New lower level grammar course implemented this
spring
• New lower level pronunciation course projected
start fall 2012
• Revising all course outcomes based on data
• Continuing dialogue with colleagues as ESL
curricula changes
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS?
Thank You!
For more information, comments
or questions please email us:
Susan: sdephili@atlantic.edu
Judith: jotterbur@atlantic.edu