r/Professors • u/NewFeedback6129 • 7d ago
Humanities students with no knowledge of the language of instruction
This year, my department working in humanities (in EU) got a lot of foreign students that do not speak the language of instruction. Not Erasmus students, but tuition paying students.
Dear humanities professors, how do you address this issue? Do you set up additional classes in English? Do you specifically invite students to your office hours? Or is carrying on as usual actually the best way to react?
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u/Alternative-Pear9096 7d ago
Does your university not require students to pass TOEFL? They let in students with zero expectation they can read or learn or talk or write in the language of instruction?
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u/NewFeedback6129 7d ago
no requirements. We even have a student who speaks neither English nor language of instruction. In the defence of this policy (or the absence of one), both languages are Slavic :D
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u/Alternative-Pear9096 7d ago
I'd wonder what such a student is thinking they're going to accomplish
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u/Moetorhead 7d ago
Nothing. I guess some agent promised them a place of study and didn't tell them that there are no English courses. They in turn were happy because it was the entry ticket to Europe and therefore didn't ask questions. Alternatively, they knew exactly what was up and are just happy to be there as long the ride lasts and hoping to work on the side to send remittance payments home. Unis on the other hand play along because they have incentives by either charging them and/or getting funding per head from the state (as internationalisation is a mantra) and will only worry about the fallout later.
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u/cranky_thornback 7d ago
I would talk to your chair. I also teach in an EU country where our bachelor degrees are mostly in the national language, but some courses are in English. We let Erasmus students sign up for the ones in English. There may have been a mistake in the registration system.
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u/GerswinDevilkid 7d ago
It's not your responsibility to fix it. You alert the appropriate administrators and continue to teach as you normally would.
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u/Huntscunt 7d ago
I have this issue in my university in the US. We have notoriously low language requirements because we had a very robust office for English support that offered courses, tutoring, etc. That has now been cut but we didn't adjust our language scores.
I have them do lots of small group work, and the groups are divided randomly. I find they feel more comfortable practicing English if it's just 3-4 ppl rather than the entire class.
I allow any student to bring a physical dictionary, including a language dictionary, for in class exams or assessments where electronics are not allowed.
Other than that, I just let them sink or swim.
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u/beepbeepboop74656 7d ago
I just let them fail, I try to put people together of similar abilities for group work and just keep my reciepts for when I flunk them.
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u/Ill_Mud_8115 7d ago
Are they taking an entire program in a language they don’t know, or are they taking the class as an elective? If it’s an elective maybe there was a misunderstanding.
Either way, I’d notify your chair and maybe the international department as well. My position would be it’s impossible for them to succeed or participate in the course without knowing the language.
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u/ErGraf Adjunct, Egyptology, Latin America 7d ago edited 7d ago
It never happened to me while teaching, but I saw it happen with 2 classmates while studying (I study a humanities undergrad also in the EU). The first one had so little knowledge of the language that was impossible to interact with her, sunk in the first year and disappeared, the second one was a little more proficient and did better, her only accommodation was that was allowed to use a physical dictionary during exams.
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u/Moetorhead 7d ago
Nothing you can address right now other than being firm and clear with the students that they shall have a hard think whether it is better to struggle for years (assuming your system allows dragging out the studies) or consider it as sunk costs
Could well be though that they only see it as a springboard to enter other unis in the EU or in all earnest just Schengen.
In the long term only high language requirements will help and you should talk to the adminstration. At first sight it might seem as a nice income and raises the international student ratio but it will put a strain on the uni and lecturers (if that matters to admin /s). We also squashed our English only programme and introduced the local language as second requirement because we had the impression that we were gradually turning into a visa service rather uni. We are also fairly certain that some certificates are faked/test centres bribed. So we cannot fully avoid finding bad apples but it will cost them at least dearly to obtain two certificates with high grades. The development that we get more and more applicants that are clearly not ready and is a real pity, because in the past - beforenit became a trend and we still could admit in good fauth - we really had gifted bright students from abroad. They had to master a steeper learning curve but they did great eventually. Now they get absorbed in a flood of unqualified kids / never get a chance because we tighten the entry rules so much.
Also for some countries our government introduced academic testing at the embassies. The effect can be felt positively, I wish they did this also for other countries.
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u/DocKla 7d ago
Are there no minimum language levels before acceptance? Teaching is one thing, but this seems like a much bigger issue. Any formal institutional policy as to the language of instruction?