placement in RUSS 101--the other side of the coin

[Prof Steven P Hill]

Dear colleagues:

John Stuart Mill (or Jeremy Bentham) once wrote about "the greatest good for the 
greatest number."  That can be a compelling argument.

In Russian-language classes at U.S. universities,  we sometimes face a situation (say, 
in "Russian 101" or "102") that has NO ideal solution.   Namely, a mixed class partly 
consisting, on the one hand,  of traditional beginners, monolingual speakers of English  
who grew up in the US and know nothing whatsoever about Russian -- not even the 
alphabet, let alone any vocabulary. And, on the other hand, consisting of "heritage 
speakers" whose first language was Russian from birth to say, age 10 or 14 or 18 
(whenever their family left the former USSR).  

It sounds as if some of our colleagues have come up with workable compromises 
that enable them to hold onto BOTH contingents of students.  Three cheers if those 
solutions work well.

But it's possible that there will be other "101"  (or "102," etc.) classes where the 
split between the two contingents seems impossible to bridge.  Either the heritage 
speakers find the class is far too elementary and going too slow.  (Although in some 
universities the heritage speakers may end up with "A+" grades without making any 
effort, and some of them, the deliberate fakers,  probably are happy about that!)  

Or else, and this is what concerns me, the other contingent (traditional monolingual 
English speakers) find themselves out of their depth, trying to compete with the 
heritage speakers, become discouraged,  and conclude that "Russian is too hard."  
So the monolinguals after a couple of weeks DROP RUSSIAN and switch to Spanish 
or French, which their classmates tell them are "easy languages."  That's a bad 
outcome.  We can ill afford to lose some of the limited number of undergrads 
who actually select Russian for their first undergrad language to study.

Which brings me back to Mill or Bentham.  If the teacher of this sort of mixed 
class faces the unenviable risk of losing some students from one contingent 
or the other, then our friend Mill may offer a reasonable answer. 

If a class has, say, 1 or 2 or 3 heritage speakers who have "taken over" the class 
and dominate all the discussion (appearing to know "all the answers"), while the 
traditional contingent consists of, say, 10 or 15 or 20 monolinguals, and if the 
result is that several of the latter contingent have become totally discouraged 
and are preparing to DROP RUSSIAN, then the teacher may be confronted with 
a painful choice: losing a couple of heritage speakers, or losing many MORE  
monolinguals. 

If some of the promising solutions mentioned on this list-server (including 
my own) just won't work in a particular class at a particular school,  then we 
may be guided by Mill and Bentham's wisdom. It's less painful to move 1 or 
2 heritage speakers out of the "101 or "102" class,  than to lose 4 or 6 or 8 
monolinguals from that group. 

Mill's dictum can even have a compounding effect.  Those students who leave 
a "101" class (either heritage speakers or monolinguals) will probably spread 
the bad news to their friends and classmates around campus.  The question 
would be: HOW MANY doom-sayers are spreading this bad news? If, on a 
particular campus, it would be 4 or 6 or 8 monolinguals (who had become 
discouraged and left Russian in the early weeks), who would go around their 
dorms and other classes, bad-mouthing Russian as "too hard," then the 
resistance to taking Russian could grow exponentially..

On the other hand, if a class would consist of, say, 7 heritage speakers and 
only 3 traditional monolinguals,  and if the split seems unbridgeable, then 
Mill's wisdom would suggest trying to hold onto the seven at the risk of losing 
the three.  ("The greatest good for the greatest number.")

Needless to say, we all hope we can come up with solutions and compromises 
that will enable us to hold onto ALL the students in a class.  That's the best 
solution of all.  And this list-server, by enabling us to compare notes, is a big 
help in that direction. 

Best wishes to all,
Steven P Hill,
University of Illinois.
__ __ _ __ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _          

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------