ESL students seek to navigate an English-speaking community

Resources at UNC aim to make the language transition for non-native English speakers easier, but they don’t address every challenge.

Gigi Taylor is an English as a Second Language specialist at UNC’s Writing Center. She helps international students whose first language is not English with their assignments and adaptation to learning in an English-only environment.

“The big challenge ... for some of them is that even though they’ve studied English and can speak English very well, can read and write very well, they may never have been in an environment where English is the only language spoken,” Taylor said.

These students have to adjust to English spoken faster and the slang and colloquialisms that come with it.

“Slang doesn’t make it into the textbooks, and it changes so quickly,” Taylor said.

“There could be a lot more.”

Although international students make up 3 percent of the undergraduate population, they make up about 20 percent of the traffic in the Writing Center, Taylor said.

“They can get feedback on not only their language use but also on the rhetorical expectations of American university assignments, which are different from maybe a lot of the writing expectations that they’ve had before,” Taylor said.

UNC’s International Student and Scholar Services helps students adjust to life in the U.S., and Taylor said international students have the same academic resources as American students. But the Writing Center, she said, is their only resource for building language skills.

Graduate student Kaylyn Gootman works at the Writing Center, which she said works with ESL students every day.

Gootman said staff at the Writing Center are trained to help all students, but they learn specific strategies to help students whose first language isn’t English.

“I wouldn’t say it is an extra challenge. It is just different than what the average UNC student (whose) first language (is English) would go through,” Gootman said.

Gootman suggested training for faculty and teaching assistants to help international students.

“That way everyone can be on the same page for just knowing what to look for or what may come up in the classroom that maybe prior training hasn’t covered,” she said.

To attend UNC, international students must pass an English proficiency test, but these tests don’t help students learn cultural norms or how to adjust to the American style of education.

Taylor said international students whose first language isn’t English might have a harder time keeping up in the classroom and might participate less.

Taylor provides tips, workshops and consultations to faculty who contact her about teaching international students.

“I do provide workshops for tailoring instruction to accommodate international students or to include international students more effectively,” she said.

For Taylor, these language resources are important because they promote inclusivity across the campus, but they are not enough.

“There could be a lot more,” she said.

Making the transition

Chien Ming Lim came to America from Malaysia to pursue an education. He spent his first two years at a community college before transferring to UNC as a junior.

Lim said going to community college first made sense financially and also because he wouldn’t have to take the SAT.

“Imagine if you are born in a country where English is your first language, and you still find it hard to enter the university with your SATs,” Lim said. “For international students, (it) would basically be even harder.”

Lim grew up speaking English in school and a Chinese dialect with his family, allowing him to have an easier adjustment to English-based learning.

Lim said international students whose first language isn’t English might have a harder time because they are scared they might say the wrong thing or have the mentality that they don’t belong.

“For example, if you go abroad, if you learn Mandarin, you can go to China right now. You will feel shy and scared to speak to the locals, although you know the language pretty well, because you don’t have that much practice. I would say it is the same concept for international students coming here.”

Adam Putera Farid Iskandar, a junior from Malaysia, said he had to adjust to accents at UNC and the different style of learning from what he was used to.

“Here in the U.S., you have to think through it. Your professors will not give everything for you. You have to do your own research, your own extra studies on whatever subject you’re taking,” he said.

“You have to be independent. You have to motivate yourself to study.”

Iskandar said he hasn’t utilized all the resources available to international students but hoped there was a program where international students can gather to discuss their time abroad and adjusting to the U.S. style of learning.

“It would be nice if international students had the opportunity to get together and for maybe once a week, have coffee together, discuss stuff that is significant to international students but might not be as significant to American students.”

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