Teaching culturally diverse groups

1. Teaching culturally diverse groups Jude Carroll January 2014 Presentation at the University of Sheffield

2. Here’s what I was told about aims for the session • hands-on • primarily for teaching staff • Faculty of Science • focus on ‘international students’ • integrating multi-cultural cohorts ‘.... cross-cultural communication and cultures of learning’

3. My big question for teachers How do their students’ • educational mobility • cultural diversity • skill at learning in English • global perspectives impact on classroom practice? What are the links? What are the influences?

4. ‘Teaching culturally diverse groups’ ‘Introducing an international and intercultural perspective into how you teach & what you teach .....’ ‘Thinking about what you are trying to achieve / produce.....’

5. ‘International students’: who are they? ‘cultural’ distance travelled fees and money capability with English Foreign…. overseas …. offshore …. ‘Thestudents who don’t pay home fees’ ‘The students who are not from [here]’ ‘Students who speak a language other than [national language] at home’ Students who travelled by a plane to study’ Anyone who calls themselves ‘international’ ‘We are all international’ There’s no such thing: students are students. -unfamiliar with ‘how it works here’ -’strange’ expectations -inappropriate skills far from support far from family far from help

6. ‘Diverse students’: many factors you might include I suggest a focus on 1. Educational mobility Students moving across [national] boundaries Programmes moving to students (Transnational Education) Students returning ‘back home’ 2. Pedagogic variation [academic cultural differences] ‘Same words, different meaning’ 3. Learning and teaching in English Students: variable levels of competence and confidence [some teachers, too] Not the same as ‘learning English’

7. These factors inter-relate

8. Students’ key learning issues: • Language [learningin English] • Transition to new learning culture • Having appropriate academic skills • Engagement and participation. ‘Taking part’’ • Collaboration, mixing. Intercultural communication • Relevance. ‘A useful piece of paper’

9. Issues for students Your role? Adaptation …. adjustment ...... accommodation • developing language capability • New academic culture • building necessary skills. • participation [‘Getting the most from ……’] • collaboration & mixing • checking (where are they so far?); enhancing students’ language learning • Mediating between pedagogic cultures • Coaching, providing practice, giving feedback • Choreographing. Structure. prepare and plan. • Designing & supporting tasks and group work

10. Focus on students’ transition to [this place] ways, [this place] assumptions, [this place] expectations From what to what? Where are the predictable ‘sites of conflict’? How can teachers help students recognise ‘new game, new rules’ …. then ensure they have the skills to play that new game?

11. Transition: from what to what? ‘Students expected a different culture …. but not a different culture of teaching and learning. They didn’t expect a different meaning for the word ‘examination’. Poulton, 2009 .... ‘the challenges of adapting to a different academic culture appeared to be more acute than adapting to a different cultural and social environment’. Gu et al 2010

12. I say, ‘Call me Jude’ ‘I call my teacher Dr. X’ • I call my teacher Dr. xxx • A good teacher notices I need help and offers it. • A good teacher tells me good answers to good questions. • To learn, I must listen to the teacher. Really listen. • I read the textbook many many many times. Exam questions and answers are from the textbook. • When students ask, I help with study-based issues. • I select the issues but the students must find their own answers • I want students to discuss, argue, solve problems. What’s their conclusion? • I want students to read around, to choose good bits ….and to weave them together to make an answer. I want their answer …. not the answer

13. ‘previous educational experiences’ • Teaching methods • Relationships between teachers & students • Assessment • Writing • Reading Discussion of the rationale Experience and reflection Explicit guidance Practice and feedback

14. ‘The cultural onion’ (Schein 1990) • Artifacts • Rules and norms • Beliefs, values, attitudes • The outer signs and signals of differences • ‘How we do things’ ‘How we communicate’ ‘How things should be done’ Rationale for why things are as they are How we see and experience the world and each other 1 2 3

15. Teachers as academic cultural mediators: same words, different meanings Teacher Student Read Write Examination Dissertation Supervisor Help Good work 9:00 AM ‘my own work’ ‘logical case’

16. the artifact the rationale First names for teachers Reading list Word limit on essays Specific times to see teachers group work 70% as a top mark No: describe the artifact Yes: explain the rule

17. What generic skills? Teacher support? Language auditor / enhancer Cultural mediator Skills coach Choreographer of participation Making students interact Curriculum designer Learning from lectures Self-management Criticality ‘taking an evaluative, evidence-based, personal stance…..’ Academic reading Academic writing Teacher-supported skill development

18. tools and equipment information examples motivating reasons Practice of the ‘sub-skills’ feedback Putting sub-skills together. Practice time working with an expert to aim high feedback practice

19. Teacher-supported skill development Programme-level planning and delivery Early checking[‘Where do I stand against the standards?’] Design in practice and feedback Practice, practice, practice ….. over time Skills learned as an integral part of content learning

20. Language auditor / enhancer Cultural mediator Skills coach Choreographer of participation Making students interact Curriculum designer In lectures: listening, thinking, making notes, making connections, making sense .... In interactive sessions and labs: talking, working with ideas, making meaning, solving problems, practical work In supervision and one-to-one: dialogue, planning, agreeing and disagreeing, asking / providing information What can teachers do? • Lighten the language load • Make structure obvious and explicit; use structure to organise contributions • Require preparation and require planning • Use techniques to value and welcome contributions • Ask questions to check understanding Participation: taking part

21. Language auditor / enhancer Cultural mediator Skills coach Choreographer of participation Making students interact Curriculum designer • Prepare students • Plan a collaborative task • Project manage: observe and monitor the process; intervene carefully to manage conflict(s) • Process the experience: force students to reflect on their experiences; Think about assessing the process as well as the product Making groupwork work: How?

22. What more could you do? Which change(s) would make a difference? INTEGRATION COLLABORATIONINCLUSION social interaction, social ‘glue’ Organised ‘getting to know’ Teaching cross-cultural communication In-class discussion to practice cross-cultural communication Group tasks which bring students together Assessing process and product (sometimes) Help students manage conflicts

23. Summing up