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I've had to support several ESL graduate students in the past. In general, they were smart and capable but really struggled with the reading and writing aspects of graduate work. They did complete the prerequisite ESL courses and passed one of the standard English test to enter university studies (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, etc) but there seems to be a disconnect between their preparation and their performance

I would like to know what other educators have done to support graduate students with limited English proficiency?

ff524
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Darrin Thomas
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  • Does your school offer an intensive English program or ESL certification courses? – LinkBerest Apr 30 '16 at 13:38
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    Did they pass some English proficiency test, such as TOEFL, before they entered graduate school? – Nobody Apr 30 '16 at 13:38
  • @JGreenwell yes we have an ESL program but there seems to be a disconnect between completing this program and actual graduate work – Darrin Thomas Apr 30 '16 at 13:41
  • @scaaahu yes the must past the TOEFL or an equivalent test – Darrin Thomas Apr 30 '16 at 13:41
  • I would mention that in your question as I have noticed this same problem at multiple universities, ESL program completion != proficiency or technical reading skills, and it will avoid the "take ESL course" answer – LinkBerest Apr 30 '16 at 13:44
  • In my observation, simply taking a class in English as a second language is by far insufficient to acquire even modest fluency... if one spends all one's spare time with people speaking one's preferred language, rather than practicing English. But I'd hesitate to try to demand that grad students speak English outside work... ! Thus, the unfortunate but observed conclusion is that most non-native English speakers cannot reliably be expected to improve much while in grad school, for example! (Or, for that matter, as faculty...) – paul garrett Apr 30 '16 at 18:49
  • @paulgarrett The fault does not lie entirely with the (much maligned) ESL students. It seems to me that some ESL students have no idea of the level of English proficiency needed to succeed in grad school. University admissions offices rarely mention such things in their promotional materials. – user_of_math Apr 30 '16 at 19:26
  • @user_of_math, oh, indeed, yes. I have no idea how to improve the situation, really, having observed a variety of failures over many years... – paul garrett Apr 30 '16 at 19:28
  • Support in what capacity? As a teacher? Research supervisor? Dean or other administrator? – ff524 May 01 '16 at 08:34
  • as a teacher and or supervisor – Darrin Thomas May 01 '16 at 08:51
  • Keep working on your own English, for starters? "yes the must past the TOEFL", etc. – Daniel R. Collins May 03 '16 at 03:28

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I think you should let the students know that they need additional practice and should be prepared to read more papers, seek help from the university Writing Center, and get a native English-speaking buddy to discuss the field with in-depth for practice. I know the last thing that any graduate student wants to do is more work, but it might help if you emphasize to them that you care about their long-term success in the field, and that reading and writing at a professional level in the field are crucial to that.

The foreign students and researchers I have worked with are primarily Chinese, so that colors my experience, I'm sure, but many of them were not educated with an eye to being good readers and writers. They may have been trained to read for memorization, not comprehension, because they expect to be told what to do by senior researchers rather than critically respond to ideas and generate their own. So it may not just be a language barrier you're dealing with here, but also a cultural barrier where research is conducted differently. Your students may not understand that they will be expected to interpret, rather than passively absorb, the literature, and that they will have to kick their reading skills up a notch if for no other reason than that.

See if you can enlist some of the native English-speaking grad students to reach out and lend a hand to their ESL colleagues. Again, I do understand that no grad student wants to do extra work (boy, DO I understand), but you can emphasize that it will benefit them, as well. They will improve their own understanding of the readings tremendously by having to explain them in terms their classmate can understand, and they will also become better collaborators. Make sure they know they can mention doing something like this in the "service" section of their CVs.

A Kat
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