Facilitating opportunities for international students to speak English and receive language feedback

Opportunities for directed practice are essential for language proficiency growth. Departments and labs can accelerate the learning process by providing practical, authentic practice and feedback. Additionally, regular opportunities to connect with fellow students and faculty members foster a sense of community and belonging for all students.

Be intentional about departmental cohorts and groupings

• Some departments at Cornell have reported success in placing a cohort of students from mixed language backgrounds together in a shared office to provide opportunities for robust collaboration, conversation, and connection.

Normalize the process of sharing and receiving feedback within labs or other working groups, and include language feedback in this process

• During talks or presentations, consider ways in which the group could provide feedback to the presenter on language and presentation skills, as well as the informational content. Keep in mind that while some speakers may be comfortable receiving this feedback publicly, others may prefer to receive feedback privately. This can be helpful for the professional development of all speakers, regardless of language background.
• Build a supportive culture of language feedback within the department or lab for students who speak English as an additional language. It may feel polite to say, “I can understand you well,” and if true, that’s great! However, if you have difficulty understanding the speaker, it would be more helpful to engage in constructive feedback. Non-native speakers of English do not necessarily know when they use inappropriate grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation. Receiving regular feedback from trusted colleagues in a supportive environment can be an important addition to an ITA’s language support, especially with field-specific terms and concepts.

Build in time for conversation during departmental meetings or events

• Demonstrate respect for students’ multicultural and multilingual backgrounds by creating opportunities in which all students can share important elements of their identity with each other through informal conversations, ice breaker activities or networking opportunities.
• Encourage participants to introduce themselves to the whole group, or at least to the people near them, at the beginning of each meeting or event until all participants know each other well.
• Prioritize learning the correct pronunciation of each other’s names. International students have reported that their names are often mispronounced or that they get called by the name of another student from the same country. Pronouncing someone’s name correctly is an important sign of respect toward their identity and background. Furthermore, people who feel confident about pronouncing someone’s name are also more likely to initiate conversation with that person.
• Help students get to know each other early in the year, perhaps using ice breakers or team building activities to generate conversation. Some examples include:
  • creating a Student Inventory to get to know your students better (this can be adapted to meet the needs of a particular class, research group, or cohort of students)
  • human bingo/ find someone who…
  • conversation stations: post questions around the room and have small groups walk around and discuss (this can also be done in virtual meetings using Jamboard)
• After an initial conversation or two, people are more likely to feel comfortable initiating or participating in subsequent conversations.

When possible, provide conversation supports

• Introverts or speakers who lack confidence may find it challenging and stressful to engage in unstructured conversations or open mingling situations.
• There are many ways to provide structure, which will help reluctant speakers engage more easily
  • Use the think-pair-share technique in a meeting. Before starting a large-group discussion, give participants time to think about the topic alone, and then time to discuss their response with a partner or small group. Trying out a response in a low-stakes environment first can help speakers feel confident enough to speak up in the large group.
• In unstructured social situations (like a coffee hour), provide a list of possible discussion questions, or put discussion starter cards on the tables. These resources offer sample discussion questions
  • Getting to Know You (And Your Team)
  • Icebreaker questions
• In any speaking situation, simply inviting reluctant speakers to say more can have a positive impact. Phrases such as, “Could you tell us more about that?” or - “Interesting point- can you explain that more?” will invite participants to expand on their brief statements, helping them to improve their proficiency while also feeling that their comments are valued.

Listen patiently until international students have finished speaking, even if their language is not very clear. If you are uncertain about what they meant, paraphrase what you understood before responding.

Additional ideas and suggestions offered directly by ITAs

Organize departmental workshops, activities, or resources directly related to language practice

• writing workshops with opportunities to learn more about professional writing and revision from peers, senior students, and postdocs
• English conversation groups in a reserved space, in which ITAs can speak with other grad students, faculty, or consultants on a regular basis
• field-specific lists of professional words and their pronunciation
• space dedicated to sharing field-specific language (terms, expressions), such as a whiteboard in a common area
• encouragement for native speakers of English to learn another language

Organize field-related gatherings that involve plenty of conversation

• reading groups or round-table discussions in which grad students can discuss topics related to their field
• discussion panels, guest lectures, Q&A sessions, or opportunities for students to voluntarily share research topics
• seminars or workshops to practice teaching material from the real courses they will TA within the department
• mentoring programs

Emphasize work/life balance and encourage participation in the local community

• Provide a list of community events or volunteer opportunities
• Encourage students to access resources from Cornell Student & Campus Life

Organize regular social activities

• coffee hours, lunch gatherings, TGIF, or picnics
• cultural activities such as pumpkin carving, Halloween costume contests, international movie nights, international week when students can share their cultural backgrounds
• short “sharing moments” where anyone in the department can give a short presentation on a topic of their choice (photography, music etc.)

Provide opportunities to develop the confidence to effectively communicate as TAs

• Acknowledge that teaching a class for the first time can be daunting, even for native speakers
• Go over common stressful scenarios (e.g., grade disputes, distressed students, academic dishonesty) and discuss how TAs might deal with them
• Organize mock teaching sessions so that everyone can identify their progress and areas to improve
• Encourage TAs to participate in teaching workshops from the Center for Teaching Innovation
• Discuss course evaluation results to identify areas for improvement.

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