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English Learning Before SCU
One central theme from conversations that I had with multilingual students was the expansive preparations and coursework to study English that students engage with before they come to Santa Clara. While students applying to colleges in the United States may submit standardized tests for college admissions, TOEFL tests or "Test of English as a Foreign Language" are often required for students applying from outside of the U.S. These tests, like standardized SATs or ACTs are often taught with preparation work in designated TOEFL learning classes. Coursework for these courses emphasizes general writing, reading, and speaking.
Much like other standardized tests that students take for college admissions, the TOEFL test (and other related language tests) are highly competitive. Students are pressured to receive certain scores to be able to apply to certain elite schools, adding to an already competitive culture of education. So for many students coming from different countries and language backgrounds, English language learning can already presuppose high stakes, competition, and academic stress.
Subject Coding
When referring to the multilingual student interviews, I have assigned each student a number instead of using their names. I hope that this practice not only protects student interests (as some of these conversation topics can be personal) but also places emphasis on their experience as a student primarily. Below is the table for these names (Student 1-6).
Meeting Different Expectations at SCU
In my conversation with Student 2, they expressed how one of their first encounters with college-level English learning was from a philosophy course (CTW or C&I) that demanded different skills than they had prepared for in their standardized language exams. While general reading and writing were emphasized in language prep courses, SCU introductory classes demand different skills and participation in class, as contextualized by Student 6 (a generalization of experiences, but still the experience of Student 6.)
Writing "In General"
Another challenging aspect of English language learning in its current state is the preparation that courses emphasize students learning to "write in general." At SCU, and every other college or university, genre conventions, writing styles, and contexts for writing always inform the types of writing that students learn. It's difficult (and maybe impossible) to be adequately prepared for college-level writing courses when students have been prepared to write 'generally.' More and more, courses at SCU have expanded written assignments to include more kinds of prompts and create different genres of projects. Reflective pieces, multimodal projects (like podcasts or videos), and other types of written assignments are starting to become more and more popular for these writing courses at SCU. Check out Elizabeth Wardle's "You Can Write to Write in General: Bad Ideas About Writing" essay to learn more!
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Here, Student 3 is addressing this gap in the current nature of English language preparation. While high school English course material may have taught the 5 paragraph essay structure, there is a huge variation in genre conventions between subjects and different majors.
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