Purpose |
As language teachers, we often focus on grammatical accuracy, and when a student has mastered form, we assume that the meaning and function of the words are also accurate; however, social rules of speaking vary both in context and within different cultural groups. These are the “pragmatics of conversation” (Beebe, 1995). In a university context, both students and teachers need to be active and present, reflect on various viewpoints, and discover deeper connections between themselves, the classroom and their community. One way we achieve this is through collaborative learning environments; however, “solidarity between speakers” (Beebe & Takahashi, 1989) and non-threatening environments are difficult to achieve without the knowledge of social rules of speaking in various contexts.
Hence, our goal is to heighten teachers’ and students’ awareness of their own culture’s speaking habits, and to build awareness of cross-cultural speaking breakdowns. The objective of the activities is both to build awareness and to give practical suggestions for improving how we navigate these situations, fostering empathy and community in and outside of the classroom. |
The number of international students at UC Berkeley has risen, and it is clear that UC Berkeley teaching faculty want help reaching these students. The Berkeley International Office (BIO) 2014 report on International Student Enrollment shows nearly a 5% rise in the number of international students from 2013-2014, following the trend of increased international student enrollment over the last 10 years. Taking this trend into account, it is clear that the UC student landscape is continually becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse.
The need for more support for international students became clear to us when, in fall of 2014, we participated in the College Writing Program’s information fair for faculty and GSIs teaching multilingual and international students. The fair was attended by lecturers and GSIs from across the disciplines seeking pedagogical resources for their international and multilingual students. Interestingly, the booth that had the most interest was the one giving information and tools for helping students participate in class. This suggests that UC instructors want more tools and resources to help overcome both language and cultural barriers to successful student engagement in the classroom. We believe this is the case with university instructors around the country who are teaching and increasing number of international students.. |
Rationale |