Nice, Dylan Post 3, Blog

When I first started teaching in the Rhetoric Department in the fall of 2016, I was very nervous about working with international students, since my previous teaching experiences included very few of them (and nearly none who were ESL). And admittedly, when I first engaged with the written work of ESL students, I was perplexed as to how I should comment on it and evaluate it. Early on, I made the mistake of attempting to correct all the errors which only left their drafts a confusing mess, the student discouraged, and me exhausted. What surprised me (but shouldn’t have) was the observation that one ESL student’s paper could be very mistake prone and good while another could be less mistake prone but…not as good. Of course, just like native speakers, grammar alone doesn’t account for the sophistication and development of ideas. Over time, I've become much more accustomed to the idiosyncrasies in my ESL students’ speech and writing. For ESL students who make frequent mistakes, I limit my written corrections to those that significantly confuse meaning. What I’ve found to be just as challenging as language mistakes are some of the cultural differences international students bring to learning in the Rhetoric classroom. For instance, Chinese international students are less familiar and comfortable than their American counterparts with criticizing policy. The final project in my course is titled “What’s the Problem?/What’s the Solution?” Student are asked to write a paper in which they argue something is a problem, then give a speech in which they prescribe a solution. Both aspects require students to be openly critical of an existing facet of society or policy. Due to their reluctance to criticize governmental bodies in either the U.S. or in China, Chinese international students often choose problems and solutions that are trickier to navigate. I’ve received proposals that are hyperlocal (e.g. one doctor in a remote area of China is using electroshock therapy), difficult to establish, (e.g. Chinese students play video games too much), or academically uncontroversial (e.g. climate change is real.) I’m still uncertain how to best approach guiding them toward problems/solutions they’re comfortable taking on and that produce fruitful, interesting research.

Comments

  1. David KimeSeptember 15, 2020 at 4:23 PM

    How international students approach controversial topics has never been something that I've considered, largely because I have never really worked with an international student in such a way. However, with your example of Chinese international students (and I can imagine many students from other cultures) who have this reluctance, I cannot say that I am surprised by their reactions. So, I find your uncertainty as to how to urge them forward to be clearly justified. I have always found it difficult to encourage students (any student) to approach problems that they are comfortable with when they feel so unsure about so much. It can be a near fight to get them to select a clear topic. I wonder if the best solution, at least within the early stages -- such as a Rhetoric course -- might be to narrow the topics for them, to give them a list of "acceptable" problems. This way they can see examples of criticizing society/policies and don't feel the pressure of selecting a (potentially uncomfortable or seemingly risky) topic.

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