Notes from TESOL: Bill

Factors Influencing Chinese ESL Students' Social, Cultura and Academic Transitions"
Akiko Ota, Michigan State ELC and ABD at Portland State in Post Secondary Ed  otaakiko@msu.edu

(at the MSU ELC, 60% of the students are Chinese.  80-90% of the Chinese students are in the higher levels.  The lower levels are majority Arab.)

700,00 plus Chinese students in US.  @39,000 ESL students.  Increasing annually by more than 20%.  Their presence adds an estimated $22 billion to the US economy.  (where's mine?)

Problems: * ESL language problems *Campus resources (unfamiliarity)
(Transition periods:  1.  grieving, 2. adjusting, 3.  full transition)*old social networks are left behind.  * social/cultural challenges  *linguistic problems  *uncerstanding local and institutional culture
* being a minority for the first time  *difficult to integrate without knowledge of higher education in the US

Inteviewed eight male, eight female students.  All in second semester of first year, all in the highest ELC level (which is a credit course.)
Individual Themes:
1.  cultural relations with Americans
2. want to separate from the other Chinese
3.  adjustment to US culture and economic life
4.  presence of the Chinese community
5.  rigor vs respect

#1:  Are your cultural relations with Americans successful or not?
"I only have Chinese classmates or suitemates."
 "I'm the favorite Chinese in the dorm..."  This student was elevated and included in American parties.  This is considered important. (Miss Ota added that this particular went out of his way to speak with the Americans on his floor, hang out with them, go to football and basketball games with him, and he was very popular.)
#2:  "Too many Chinese on campus."
The Chinese students want students from other countries.  "How can I speak English?  Tell the ELC we need more diversity."  AUDIENCE COMMENT:  "In our college we wouldn't let the Chinese room together and our program went way up. (improved).  Ota:  "Our dorms open and close for vacations and they have other priorities in assigning rooms." (thus it is difficulty to arrange non-Chinese roommates and so on...)
"The rich Chinese are trouble.  I'm not rich.  I want to study."  (laughter)
#3.  Money management is a big problem.  First time in life managing money.  Always done by parents in China.  They want to eat 'home food' so they frequently go to restaurants and funds are quickly gone.  In China, money managed a month at a time.  Here the money must be managed for a whole year.
#4:  "I became lazy because other (Chinese) students were lazy."
Students make hasty housing contracts for a whole year.  They want to find something off campus but end up regretting it.  Far away.  Transportation difficulties.  Can't afford car.  Always trying to sublease.
#5:  High Workload=High Prestige in the Chinese student world.
Students were proud of how demanding their high schools were---hours and hours of homework every night, a marker for a high quality school and education (and by implicatin a smart or good student...)
"My high school was great.  Busy every day.  But the ESL has very lilttle homework--this is very confusing--class for four hours, one hour of homeowrk--what do I do for the rest of the day?"
Students are used to constant workload, so the ELC has less respect.
Control vs Freedom:  too much freedom in the ESL in the US.
Misconceptions about what is good.  In China we have "homework classes." (study halls?)

Student and Teacher Expectations
1.  "ESL teachers don't know me.  I don't get enough attention--as I did in China."
2.  Chinese expect: "Do not ask.  Just explain."
3.  Foreign teachers in China:  relaxed.  Classes are fun.  No problem if you don't do the homework.
(implication is that these teachers and their classes are not taken too seriously...)

Pedagogical Differences
1.  "You need to explain more--more information on the board."
2.  "Too much discussion is a waste of time."
3.  Curriculum and Testing:  In China, testing is from the textbook.
                                          In China, do the homework, do the text=you are ready for the exam.

What can we or should we do?
*students also need to change, but that's not enough.  But we have to adapt somewhat even if they have wrong expectations.  We must find a middle ground.
(the sample was too limited--only sixteen students)

Comments and questions
#1:  "We say American methods will help them succeed.  Are they aware of that?"
         Ota:  "No.  They're not. So, how can we help them understand?"
#2:    "In their culture they don't ask questions because that is seen as challenging, losing face."
       Ota:  "Yes. I come from that background.  (Ota is from Japan)  Our intentions as instructors is not enumerated fully.  [I think of Dr. Ren Zhongtang here at ODU, who has his PhD in Education worked in the Ed School for years.  Now he is head of the Chinese language program at ODU. He would make an excellent informant on this topic.]
#3: "There is an overlap."  (not enough information?)
        Ota:  "Yes, there is not much literature on this subject..."
#4:  "Did the students express desire for special disciplines?"
        Ota:  "No.  This is not a discipline specific program or research project."
#5:  "What kind of orientation do you have?"
         Ota:  Our orientation is not mandatory.  There is a competing orientation from the Chinese students' organization.