I teach at a community college and often have some of my former students who are now in mainstream college courses stop by my office to complain about their classes. They complain that the teachers talk so quickly, that they have so much reading to do, that it’s hard to work in groups with native speakers, that the teacher tells jokes they don’t understand, that they feel marginalized, etc.
Universities want the money they get from foreign students. The international students want to get a college degree, out earning big bucks and don't want to spend three extra unpaid years doing intensive English courses. ESL English teachers want to keep their jobs so tend to promise more than they can really provide.
For economic reasons the dream has been promoted that if an international student has a basic command of grammar, is communicatively competent even to a limited extent and has a vocabulary of 5000 words then they can compete for a college education alongside North American students who have a much higher command of the English language.
For the last 11 years I've taught/coordinated the ESL classes for matriculated students at a state university. For the ten years before that, I taught intensive ESL in a college feeder-type program. Over these last twenty-one years, I've seen/participated in a lot of denial of reality.
Here is one myth for which there is very little/no empirical evidence: Language can be adequately learned in chunks of 20-25 hours a week for 8 weeks of intensive English -- and with not more than a year of these chunks a student can be ready for an academic environment. This myth is the one that many ESL teachers promote -- since this myth is what sustains their employment, their paychecks, and their livelihoods. Let's get real here. This model is only viable for a certain kind of student -- and in the many years I've taught I haven't seen many of these students.
When low frequency vocabulary words, terms and expressions are used by professors it's because these words are necessary and if the international student does not have a really wide vocabulary they will miss important points, context and implications.
If international students spoken English is limited then they are at a huge disadvantage in exchanging ideas and opinions and cannot argue effectively. International students need a lot more English language skills to really benefit from college education.
Lecturers should not try to present information in language less sophisticated than the course content warrants. Lectures should be exciting and interesting and not snail-paced.
All of these myths result from the commodification of English. It's a product folks. We sell it. We sell it like snake oil. The only way it's going to change is if we tell the truth -- first to ourselves and then to those administrators who see our students as cash cows -- to be processed
Quotes and analysis edited from three recent College ESL English Teacher posts.
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