Communication: Language Barrier and Learning Methods

         

       For my capstone project, I would like to explore how language barriers can affect learning methods.

 

Language is a primary vehicle for communication, both written and verbal. Yet, it is also viewed as a barrier to effective communication and expression. There are changes and acceptance to how we interact with others who speak a different language and how adjustments are made to guarantee educational success. Additionally, when students are faced with adapting to language differences of professors with a second language, there are adjustments in learning methods to be incorporated, which may be outside of normal practice. 

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As part of this project, I will explain how language differences can affect a student's learning outcome and how standard learning processes are adjusted to ensure this barrier does not hinder students' educational success. Moreover, I hope to understand how these changes at higher education institutions promote effective intercultural communication.

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My research will also include survey feedback of students who personally took a class from a professor whose primary language was not English. Multiple open-ended survey questions will examine student learning adjustments, non-verbal cues, and adapted communication style. 

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Intercultural Adaptation Theory

In the simplest form, the Intercultural Adaptation Theory is the process by which a person adjusts their communication style, behavior, and norms to adapt to the current environment (Tomin et al, 2016). This adaptation process is thought to decrease misunderstandings in communication and ultimately learning (Tomin et al, 2016). Trying to assimilate into a new country and understanding a new culture with different norms can be challenging. And trying to teach or learn from someone who speaks a different primary language and is accustomed to different cultural norms presents two challenges to the communication process – language barrier and cultural differences.

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Barriers:  Accented English, Multilingualism, Cultural Differences 

Communication among different nationalities typically involves a difference in language. Language barrier is a common challenge in effective communication, and it becomes a more compounded challenge in the educational setting when the professor speaks English but it is highly accented because the professor is from another country (Alberts, 2008). Students often struggle with understanding the professors’ teaching, thus learning outcomes can be affected.

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As students migrate internationally for higher education, so do doctoral students and educators. To this end, the commonality of one main language is not as common anymore. But the ability to effectively communicate and understand one another using a common language and exchange of communication is critical. While there are some benefits of multilingualism, this can prove difficult in the learning environment (Litvak, 2020). As one can probably guess, the main challenge is with communication. Educators try to balance diversity and adaptability with promoting and ensuring the educational success of all students. The lack of one common language to communicate can create conflict between the educator and the student as well as among other students in the class (Litvak, 2020).

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For example, a professor who speaks four different languages with English being the least fluent and is teaching US students whose primary (and sometimes only) language is English can unintentionally create a learning environment that is perceived to be stressful. Many students encountering a professor from another country often have negative perceptions and attitudes to begin with (Alberts, 2008). When faced with taking a professor who speaks multiple languages but is less fluent in your main language, a student can experience undue anxiety and the perception of ineffectiveness in teaching is then formed (McCroskey, 2002).

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Cultural diversity and understanding in communication are important because cultural differences and unfamiliarity can also pose a challenge to effective communication. When encountering someone who speaks a different primary language than yourself, there are likely cultural differences that may also present a challenge. Meaning, even if the person does understand your language he/she may not identify culturally with what or how something is being expressed (Yao et al., 2012). For example, understanding American politics, football, or cultural stigmas of certain groups of people is much different than understanding English. And understanding cultural differences are critical to effective intercultural communication. 

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Investigation

To further investigate the adjustments in learning methods of students taking a class from a professor whose primary language was not English, I conducted a survey with multiple open-ended questions. These questions specifically centered around adjustments in learning methods, non-verbal cues, communication during office hours, and adapted communication style.

 

Feedback was gathered from four participants where two of the participants are enrolled in graduate school and two were enrolled in undergrad. The two graduate students are international students from English speaking country, while the other two students are US citizens. Three questions that were motivated by my research interest were given to each participant and a summary of results are below.

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Q1:  What adjustments did you make as a student to understand and communicate with your professor who did not speak English as a first language? 

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Q2:  Did you attend office hours? If so, were those meetings productive and how? Did non-verbal cues help any?

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Q3:  Think about your learning environment during class, did you have to modify the way you had to take notes, etc?

 

While the population of participants was small for this research project, the responses and analysis confirmed the following based on categorization the results:  75% of the participants shared that they had to make adjustments to the way they communicated with professors who did not speak English as a first language. However, the adjustment in communication style varied by student. 75% of the participants stated that they did attend office hours but non-verbal cues did not really help or hinder the communication process, if any were even present/noted. 100% of participants shared that they had to modify their learning methods in classes with professors who did not speak English as a first language. Some adjustments to learning techniques included changes to note taking, figuring out how to better grasp key concepts for studying, and keeping information streamlined between zoom and in-class. The most compelling evidence amongst the finding was that students had to modify their approach to learning.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, completing every step that was necessary in the Capstone Project had many positive influences.     I enjoyed researching and answering the question of how someone’s second language was able to affect their dialogue and the way they communicate with others. This issue becomes prevalent in everyone's life at some point or another, whether a student must overcome a language barrier for a work project or a professor.

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A key takeaway is that while this research focused on higher education, the strategies and tactics employed by students and professors to ensure effective communication and learning success can be applied to the workforce as well. As a soon to be graduate, being open, accepting, and adaptable will be skills that are paramount to my future success. The ability to recognize the language difference and make changes imply that language barriers are temporary situations with attainable solutions.

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References

Alberts, H.C. (2008). The Challenges and Opportunities of Foreign-born Instructors in the

Classroom. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 32(2), 189–203. https://doi-org.libdata.lib.ua.edu/10.1080/03098260701731306

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Litvak, N. (2020). Language Aspect in Education As an Aspect of Intercultural Rivalry. KnE

Social Sciences, 65-75. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v4i13.7698

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McCroskey, L.L. (2002). Domestic and International College Instructors: An Examination of

Perceived Differences and Their Correlates. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 31(2), 63.

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Tomin, V.V., Sakharova, N.S., Eremina, N.V., et al. (2016). Intercultural Adaptation of Students

in the Information Field of Cross- Cultural Interaction. Global Media Journal, 7(2).

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Yao, Y., Foster, K.K., Buchanan, D.L., & Powell-Brown, A. (2012). College Students’

Perceptions of Interactions with International Faculty. International Research and Review, 2(1), 17–31.