Helping International Students Overcome BeyondtheCriticalAge Barriers in College Education

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Helping International Students Overcome
Beyond-the-Critical-Age Barriers in College
Education

• By
• Kimberly Gillette, Ph.D.
• Shou-ching Chao, Ph.D.
• Rand Rasmussen, Ph.D.
• University of Minnesota-Crookston

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Agenda

• Background Information
• Language Requirements
• Critical Age Barrier
• Solutions Measures
• How it came to be
• QA

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Background Information
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Background Information

• University of Minnesota, Crookston
• 1207 students, fall 2008
• 100 degree seeking international students
• 38 ESL students
• 4 exchange students
• 142 international students (11.7 of population)

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International Student Enrollment - UMC
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Countries

• Canada
• China
• Cote D'Ivoire
• Czech Republic
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• Korea, Republic of
• Malaysia

• Nepal
• Nigeria
• Russian Federation
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• United Kingdom
• Zambia

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Language requirements and assessments

• UMC measurable requirements
• Toefl score 520 or better
• IELTS score 6 or better
• EPT score of 520 or better
• Overall abilities of our new students
• Weak in English
• A true story from a new student
• Skills in listening, speaking, reading, and
  writing
• Writing identified as the weakest area

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The Critical Age barrier

• The hypothesis by Eric Lenneberg
• Natural language acquisition can occur in a
  limited time (i.e. before puberty or 12)
• Children have innate language abilities that help
  language acquisition (i.e. learning)
• Children complete the acquisition process at the
  end of puberty or the Critical Age
• foreign accents cannot be overcome easily
• automatic acquisition (of 2nd languages) from
  mere exposureseems to disappear

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The Critical Age barrier

• Its implications to us as educators
• Decreased teachability
• Decreased learnability
• Extra hard work for educators and students

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Helping students with a right start

• Overcoming culture shock
• Integrating into a new academic community
• Improving overall language abilities
• Language courses
• Student tutors/mentors
• Writing Center
• Goal get them well prepared for regular course
  challenges

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Helping students with a WRITE start

• Creating a writing center
• In response to a call from a local Employer Focus
  Group in 2007
• Needs from our international students
• Space and facilities

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The Writing Center goals policies

• Goals
• Teaching students writing strategies
• Making them better writers
• Providing an outside-class opportunity to address
  their writing concerns
• Policies
• Teaching writing skills versus fixing papers

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The Writing Center Services

• One-on-one writing conferences
• Help overcome students shyness
• Can focus on individual strengths weaknesses
• Can address their language needs
• Can increase students confidence
• The importance of an enclosed conference place
  away from public eye

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The Writing Center Service accessibility

• E sign-up system
• User-friendly to remove students fear (i.e. I
  come to the WC because my English is bad.)
• Accommodating students busy schedule
• Facilitating canceling and re-scheduling
• Enabling students to plan their work accordingly
• Making sure students dont forget their scheduled
  conferences

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The Writing Center Service accessibility

• E sign-up system
• http//www.crk.umn.edu/Services/academicassist/wri
  tingcenter/appointment.htm

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The Writing Center Data collection

• Who are using the Writing Center
• Student requests their actual needs
• Common problems in student writing
• Share data with course instructors

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The Writing Center Data collection
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The Writing Center Data collection

• Report (tutoring)
• Report (missed conferences)

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The Writing Center Student Resources

• For the writing process
• Guidelines for the entire writing process
• Guidelines created by our own faculty / staff
• For the research process
• How to find info from online
• How to evaluate online sources
• Useful tools
• For language learning and testing
• dictionaries

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The Writing Center Student Resources

• http//www.umcrookston.edu/Services/academicassist
  /writingcenter/resources.htm

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The Writing Center Collaboration with faculty

• Writing Center as a supplementary source of
  academic assistance
• Collaborating with composition faculty and other
  program instructors
• Collaborating with ESL and international program

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Grand Opening
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Assessing the need

• What do we need?
• How can we make this happen?
• Objective justification

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Attaining support

• Specific, measurable objectives
• Facility
• Beginning early
• Clear cogent plan

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Accessing the money

• In-house or grant?
• Re-assigning positions
• Using what you have

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References

• Krashen , S. Second language acquisition and
  second language learning. Retrieved on October
  22, 2008, from
• http//www.sdkrashen.com/SL_Acquisition_and_Learn
  ing
• UMC Employer Research Committee. (2005). An
  executive summary of employer survey and focus
  group research results for the University of
  Minnesota Crookston Baccalaureate level
  graduates. Crookston University of Minnesota,
  Employer Research Committee.
• UMC Writing Center. (2007). Policies and
  procedures.

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• Thank you!