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Thriving in Academe
Issues To Consider

Some Challenges to Instructors

What international students bring to a course may not always be what meets the eye.

How do I get international students to participate in class when they seem so shy?
Shyness may not even be the issue. True, female students from some cultures are reserved in public and tend not to express their opinions. But what may actually be at issue here is the role of silence. In the U.S., we tend not to like silent moments; we may even be uncomfortable with them. This phenomenon can manifest itself in the classroom when the instructor asks a question, and the student whose hand shoots up in the air the fastest gets to answer. What may be overlooked is that in other cultures silence is respected; it is encouraged as a sign of contemplation and thoughtfulness. Students from these cultures tend not to respond immediately after the question is posed. A possible adaptation: Before asking a question, preface it by saying something like, “I will ask a question and will give you 30 seconds to think about the response. Please don’t raise your hand until I ask for it.”

In trying to develop my students’ critical thinking skills, I like to engage them in critical questioning of assumptions and arguments. How can I get my international students to participate? They seem so reluctant.
The perception that such activities are adversarial may cause some international students to not participate in class discussions and to perform poorly on certain written assignments. Implied in that perception is the need to avoid confronting figures of authority because it is either presumptuous or shows a lack of respect. This is true in regard to challenging other students’ opinions, and it is doubly true in challenging statements made by the instructor or the author of a course text. A possible adaptation—have students, preferably in mixed pairs, develop two arguments in favor of a position and two arguments in opposition. Use brainstorming or class discussion to depersonalize the arguments.

I have noticed that international students may be proficient in reading and writing in English, but are either under-prepared or timid when it comes to oral communication. How can I help them?
One simple solution is to allow international students to read their responses, reports, and other materials from prepared notes. Another approach is to pair international students with native students for the preparation of information, and let them share in presenting it. If it is obvious that the problem lies in lack of skills, the students should be referred to the ESL center or a similar campus agency.

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