[lg policy] Europe's Push to Teach in English Creates Barriers in the Classroom

[Harold Schiffman]

Europe's Push to Teach in English Creates Barriers in the Classroom

As universities on the continent try to make English academe's lingua
franca, students might be losing out
Europe's Drive to Teach in English Creates Barriers in Classroom 2


Thomas Lekfeldt for The Chronicle

Phillipp Schröder, who grew up in Germany, studied in England, and
teaches in Denmark, says 80 percent of his teaching is in English. "I
prefer to speak German, or Danish, for that matter," he confesses. "I
have frustrations in English."

By Aisha Labi

Like a growing number of scholars in Europe, Philipp J.H. Schröder, a
popular professor of economics at Aarhus University, is something of a
polyglot. A native of Germany, he earned his undergraduate degree in
England and now lives and teaches in Denmark's second-largest city.
His English, though moderately accented, seems flawless in
conversation, so he would appear the ideal candidate to preside over
an increasingly common type of classroom in Europe: one with few
native English speakers but where English is the language of
instruction.

Mr. Schröder estimates that about 80 percent of his teaching is now in
English, but he has few illusions about how fluent he truly is."I
prefer to speak German, or Danish, for that matter," he confesses. "I
have frustrations in English." He is not alone. As universities across
Europe offer more programs in English to attract an international
student body and raise their international profiles, the growing pains
are becoming evident. Some students complain that their professors'
language skills are not classroom-ready. Some professors complain that
their students, many of whom come from different countries and
cultures, aren't adapting well to their new environment.

With more than 2,000 programs being taught in English, several experts
are beginning to discuss these concerns.
Critics of the growing use of English include nationalist politicians,
students and professors, and pedagogical experts, who have argued that
adopting English as a lingua franca imperils other languages and
creates classrooms and lecture halls in which cultural differences
hinder communication and comprehension.

Even supporters of the practice acknowledge that the swift embrace of
English has often taken place with insufficient preparation, and that
universities must do more to deal with the complications that can
arise. The internationalization of higher education, in which students
come together speaking different languages and are accustomed to
radically different learning styles, has produced a "Bermuda Triangle
of pedagogy, culture, and language" in many universities, says Karen
M. Lauridsen, an associate professor at the Aarhus School of Business
and Social Sciences, who has developed training programs at her
university to help professors deal with such challenges.

Profound Cultural Differences

When European universities began offering programs in English, Ms.
Lauridsen says, it was assumed that some of the initial hurdles would
disappear as older professors retired and younger professors, with
more international experience, took their places. In Denmark, for
example, previous generations of academics had relatively little
experience studying or working abroad, but all doctoral students are
now required to spend at least a semester in another country.

Instead, Ms. Lauridsen says, it has become apparent that teaching
difficulties are not simply a question of language but are rooted in
profound cultural differences. For example, she says, "here in the
northern part of Europe, we place great emphasis on autonomous
learning, and expect students to work independently and critically
present the information they are presented." Elsewhere in Europe,
teaching methods emphasize students' listening to lectures, taking
notes, demonstrating their learning through written tests, and being
able to repeat what they have learned from professors' lectures.

Moreover, information that some students might grasp immediately could
leave those from another culture befuddled. Students' ways of handling
that kind of confusion also vary widely. "In a lot of Asian cultures,
there is a big thing about not losing face," Ms. Lauridsen notes, "and
students don't want to admit that they don't know what they need to
know." In such cases, even if students do end up trying to confront
the issue head-on, meeting with their professor might not solve the
problem. Because many Asian students tend to "always nod and smile
like they have understood," she says, "it takes a while to decode some
of these students, for those of us who are used to more direct ways of
interacting."

Lowest Common Denominator

These kinds of difficulties are common in English-speaking countries
as well. Even universities in Britain, which attract more overseas
students than do those in any other country in Europe, "need to
address the fact that they can't just teach in English the way they
teach native speakers," says Ms. Lauridsen. "They also have
multilingual, multinational classrooms."  Mr. Schröder says the
dynamic in his classrooms is similar to what he observes at academic
conferences, where few people are native speakers of English.
Discussion tends to settle around what he describes as "a lowest
common denominator."

Sometimes that's not a problem. "In subjects like economics, there is
not a lot lost really by people having a very meager use of language
and being narrow in their vocabulary," he says. But in disciplines
where language is more central to intellectual debate, meaningful
scholarly discourse can be a challenge. In part by seeking assistance
through programs that Ms. Lauridsen and her colleagues have developed,
Mr. Schröder has come to understand that a central part of teaching is
motivating students and helping them interact with the material rather
than simply make their way through it.

His hard work has paid off. In 2008 he was named Teacher of the Year
at the Aarhus School of Business and Social Sciences—a rare accolade
for a professor from the economics department.  Understanding how to
motivate multicultural students also transformed his approach in the
classroom. Now, for example, he says, he is much more aware of
difficulties that might arise from pairing students from different
cultural backgrounds for collaborative projects.

 To be sure, the introduction of English into the classroom has had
plenty of successes. A Danish survey conducted last year found overall
high levels of satisfaction with the level of English in classrooms
among both students and professors. But, says Ms. Lauridsen, "there is
always room for improvement."

Teaching Better Teaching

Aarhus professors who feel that their English-language skills could
benefit from some polishing have long had the option of taking
courses, but a pilot program offers them a more comprehensive set of
resources. Along with five other universities in the region, Aarhus
has developed a series of courses not just aimed at improving language
skills but also focused on broader pedagogical and cultural issues.

The four one-day and two-day courses, each of which is limited to
about 30 participating professors, cover such topics as working in a
multicultural and multilingual environment and offer tools for
building intercultural competence, increasing student participation,
and understanding how the Danish "learning culture" compares with
other cultures.

The courses are optional, but there has been so much demand that the
program has had to turn some professors away, Ms. Lauridsen says. One
hurdle, she says, is that "as always, those who sign up for the
courses are not necessarily the ones who need them the most."

The system is not entirely voluntary, however. Student evaluations are
taken into account, and if professors "don't meet student
expectations, or if we have student complaints, we need to take
action," she says. Part of that remedial action, she explains, would
be for the professor who communicated poorly to take a course.

Aarhus's proactive approach to the challenges of teaching in English
remains the exception. In Finland, forcing professors to improve their
English skills is seen as an infringement of academic freedom.
Resistance to Reform

Søren Berg Rasmussen, a political-science master's-degree student from
Denmark whose entire college experience has been at the University of
Helsinki, where he is active in the student union, says the quality of
English that he has encountered among his professors has been almost
uniformly poor.

If professors were required to take the tests of English as a foreign
language that students must pass in order to take those same courses,
Mr. Rasmussen guesses that "half the teaching staff would not be
allowed to teach in English."

In terms of his own professors and instructors, he says, the
percentage is even higher. He has often felt better off relying on
texts than on his instructors' classroom command of English.

Concerns are widespread enough among students, he says, that the issue
comes up often in conversation. For foreign students, who have chosen
Helsinki based in large part on its reputation as an internationally
oriented institution, "it's one of the things that easily becomes a
disappointment."

He and other students have pressed the administration for
more-stringent standards for English among instructors, but have met
resistance.

Jukka Kola, vice rector in charge of teaching and studies at the
university, says that he is aware of the complaints Mr. Rasmussen and
other students have raised, but that they have been relatively limited
in number.

"We know there are some problems, but there could also be problems
when you are teaching even in Finnish or Swedish," he says, referring
to Finland's two national languages.

Student dissatisfaction could have more to do with pedagogy than with
linguistic ability, he says, and Helsinki has no plans to institute
any language requirement for professors who teach in English.

"Teaching is based on research, and our professors are very
international, which should provide them with quite good English in
their areas of specialization," Mr. Kola says. The 35 English-language
master's-level courses the university offers already require extra
work of the professors, who must translate their course materials from
the original language. Imposing an additional language-test
requirement could be a deterrent to their teaching in English, at a
time when the university is seeking to expand its English-language
offerings.

For his part, Mr. Rasmussen is not persuaded by the argument that
having produced high-quality research in English is evidence of an
ability to teach in English.

"I don't think it says anything about your skills in teaching English,
whether you can produce a text. In theory, you could produce a text in
Finnish and have someone translate it," he says.
Get Their Act Together

Wolfgang Mackiewicz, director of the Language Centre at the Free
University of Berlin and president of the European Language Council,
thinks there are two explanations for the reluctance on the part of
some universities to ensure professors' command of English.

Institutions believe that simply increasing the number of courses in
English will enhance their international reputations, and
administrators all too often assume that "quality will happen of its
own accord," he says.

"I've heard quite a number of rectors say, 'This is a transition
period, and the problems will sort themselves out.'"

As more universities offer a broader range of courses in English, Mr.
Mackiewicz says, they need to develop formal policies to focus on the
complex mix of language, pedagogy, and culture with which they are
faced.

"We have to encourage universities to think about these things and get
their act together," he says.

At his institution, Mr. Mackiewicz says, "I want courses not to be
taught entirely in English, I want them to be taught bilingually,"
with international and German students able to express themselves in
English and German.

The Free University's location in Berlin and its history as a product
of the cold war are essential components of its institutional identity
and must be taken into account in formulating a language policy, he
says. "Each institution has to consider their situation within their
own given context."

The Free University has sought assistance with language training for
its professors from the University of Edinburgh, Mr. Mackiewicz says.

Grant proposals are being considered for a European project that will
explore how well universities are grappling with the challenges of
teaching in English and help institutions develop strategies for
improvement.

That project—to be coordinated in part by Ms. Lauridsen and her
colleagues at Aarhus—will receive financial backing from the European
Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, which is
increasingly focusing on the challenges of multilingualism.
The Future of English

The fate of French and German, and before that Latin, as dominant
languages of European higher education, holds potentially sobering
lessons for the future of English.

In a recent book, The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of
Babel, Nicholas Ostler, chairman of the Foundation for Endangered
Languages, argues that the ubiquity of English will lead to its
eventual demise as a global lingua franca, long before other, more
ostensibly vulnerable languages.

The kind of simplified, lowest-common-denominator English that is
increasingly spoken by non-native speakers in university classrooms
throughout Europe represents a failure, not a triumph, for the
language, Mr. Ostler argues.

Mr. Schröder's own experience would seem to back up that hypothesis.

He recently co-taught a one-day course with a native English speaker.
One of the students praised his language abilities on the evaluation
form, saying he couldn't even understand the other instructor.

"For these audiences," he observes, "my having an accent and using
more limited vocabulary is not necessarily a disadvantage."

http://chronicle.com/article/Europes-Drive-to-Teach-in/126326/

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