International students and further education colleges in England: The context, policy tensions, and some aspects of practice

This chapter sets out the context of publicly funded further education colleges in England, outlining the position and development of these complex institutions within the broader educational structure. This is followed by discussion of some tensions and contradictions which arise from government policies partially driven by anxieties derived from debates surrounding levels of immigration together with recognition of the imperatives and opportunities arising from globalisation. The benefits of the internationalisation of education have been expounded whilst simultaneously enforcing visa regulations which impede the efforts of colleges to make inroads in the international student market. In particular, disparities between the treatment of the further and higher education sectors are highlighted. The paper also provides an account of practices which have emerged in a single FE college in England over a decade of working with international students following an access to HE course. The chapter indicates some of the many benefits which have been brought to FE by international students as well as the ways in which a college has developed its practices in response to their needs

Fusing pedagogic horizons: Language and content teaching in the mainstream

C1 - Refereed Journal Articl

Collaborating in ESL education in schools

B1 - Chapter in Research Book

Frilled up science: Developing practices within collaboration

10113

Sinking or swimming? Chinese international students and high stakes school exams

In this paper we examine the academic and language learning needs of Chinese international students preparing for high stakes examinations in an independent secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. We argue that the needs of these secondary students and their teachers are different from those of their tertiary counterparts, yet have received almost negligible research attention by comparison. We focus on Commerce/Economics subjects as those which many Chinese students seek to study at university, but which present particular challenges for them at school level. In particular, we analyse the linguistic and academic demands of one examination paper in this subject group in order to identify the linguistic knowledge, the disciplinary background knowledge and the cultural background knowledge students are presumed to have by the teacher. We match this analysis with the interview comments of the Commerce/Economics teacher, who, while concerned about the educational needs of these international students, struggles to learn how to meet these needs in his classroom. We conclude by arguing that more professional support needs to be made available to content area teachers of international students before the rhetoric of government policy regarding the quality of education for international students matches the reality

Teachers' stances towards Chinese international students: An Australian case study

C1 - Refereed Journal Articl

Writing blah, blah, blah: Lecturers' approaches and challenges in supporting international students

The increase in numbers of international students who have English as a second language (ESL) and are studying in English-medium universities has renewed the emphasis of English language development in higher education, particularly concerning academic writing. Much of the discussion has concentrated on developing best practices in providing support via Language and Academic Support (LAS) programs. However, the main challenge in recent years has focused on integrating disciplinary and language learning. What has been largely missing from the discussion are the views of lecturers and students regarding the strategies they use to develop academic writing in the discipline. This paper addresses this issue. The analysis reveals that academic writing within the disciplines is largely an individual endeavor for both lecturers and their students. Lecturers focus on explaining what skills students are required to demonstrate in their assignments, but students are more concerned with understanding how they can develop these skills. The implications are discussed concerning the development of a whole institutional approach for integrating language and disciplinary teaching

International students in Australia: Read ten thousand volumes of books and walk ten thousand miles

A number of international students, predominately from Asian countries, are present in universities in the UK, United States, and Australia. There is little research exploring their experiences as they negotiate the disciplinary requirements of their courses. This paper investigates students' agency as they write their first assignment for their Master's of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages course and the academics who teach them. Talk around texts and the positioning theory are used to analyse the data. It is argued that the students demonstrate strategic agency, which allows them to better understand the academic requirements of their disciplines. The analysis reveals the complexities involved in international students' adaptation to disciplinary discourse and the implications for teaching and learning in higher education. (Contains 1 figure.