Page 5 - ELG1601 Jan Issue 432

ELdata
January 2016 Page 5

International education booming

tudent mobility ‘has
increased dramatically
Sover the recent past’,
according to the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Claudia Civinini analyses the recent Open Doors report and tracks the accounting for nearly 70 per
Development (OECD) report cent of the surge in enrolments.
Education at a Glance. With the remarkable growth in the number of international students in the US This could make international
number of international students institutions more reliant on for-
worldwide increasing by 50 per eign tuition fees, thus exposing
cent in the 2005–12 period, the the US Department of State’s double the number hosted by the per cent and 78 per cent respec- 2014–15 also saw a surge in them to changing economic
industry seems be enjoying a Bureau of Educational and Cul- UK. However, the OECD warns tively. Brazil has become the non-degree students – up 18 per trends. Meanwhile, the rest of
record-breaking period. tural Affairs. that its market share is declining, sixth-biggest sending country, cent from the previous year. This the colleges are missing out on
This is echoed by Open Not only was the past aca- with competitors such as Japan a position that could be at risk is especially evident in countries the positive aspects of interna-
Doors, the annual statistical demic year the ninth consecutive and some European countries now that government scholar- like Brazil and Mexico, register- tionalisation – not just the $30
report on international students year of steady growth, but it also picking up, Icef Monitor reports. ship scheme Science Without ing impressive growth of 174 billion boost to the economy but
in the US conducted by the registered the highest growth China, India and Bra- Borders has been frozen for the and 228 per cent respectively. also an important contribution to
Institute of International Educa- rate in 35 years, bringing up zil accounted for most of the next academic year. The category of ‘non-degree’ scientific and technical research
tion since 1919, which reveals international student numbers to growth in international student Other source markets which is diverse, including exchange and the creation of long-term
that the country’s colleges and an unprecedented 927,926 – a 10 numbers. While China is still experienced significant growth and EFL students. Of the business relationships.
universities are hosting 73 per per cent increase from 2013–14. the top sending country (31 per were Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, 93,587 total non-degree stu- Overseas students also bring
cent more international students The US reconfirms its role as a cent of the total), India and Bra- Mexico, Iran, Nigeria, Kuwait dents, 47,170 were enrolled in an international perspective
than a decade ago. The report leading destination for interna- zil registered a higher growth and Venezuela. A small decrease intensive English programmes, that helps US students prepare
was released in November by tional students, hosting almost rate in the 2013–15 period, 29 in the international student influx and this particular group expe- for global careers – a crucial
was noted from South Korea, rienced an overall growth of 11 contribution, since Open Doors
Canada, Taiwan and Japan. per cent from last year. reports that only 10 per cent
Reversing a four-year trend, California, New York and of US students graduate with
RESEARCH NEWS in brief the total number of post- Texas were the top three host- international experience. This
graduates grew faster than ing states, and New York is however an all-time high,
undergraduates, a pattern most University, the University of with 304,476 studying abroad
clearly visible from India, South California and Columbia in 2013–14. The region experi-
Chinese students anxious but enthusiastic Kuwait and Vietnam’s figures. University were the top three encing the largest growth in US
AN ENGAGINGLY written study by Philip Landström of Sweden’s Karlstads University tackles China, however, sent three hosting institutions. According student numbers is Latin Amer-
Foreign language anxiety among Chinese senior middle school students. Noting that speaking in times as many undergraduates to an analysis of Open Doors ica and the Caribbean, but the
front of others is hard enough without it being in a foreign language, he gently introduces tricky as postgraduates – with Chinese by the Chronicle of Higher top three destinations for US stu-
concepts like Horowitz’s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which scores undergraduate numbers over- Education, international student dents remain the UK, Italy and
between 36 (not at all bothered) and 180 (deeply nervous). taking the Chinese postgrad growth is not shared equally by Spain, accounting for roughly 30
There’s a recap of Xiaoqing’s 1990s study of foreign language anxiety (FLA) in China. This attributed total for the first time. all institutions, with just a tenth per cent of the total. n
anxiety mostly to low-proficiency teachers with no opportunity to practise outside class. Landström notes
that today’s Chinese students download music with English lyrics, play English-language video games and Figure 1: % increase of top 20 US source markets 2013–15
come into much more contact with the language. A 2013 survey by Lui of 547 university English degree
students found 70 per cent reported feeling anxious while speaking English.
Landström’s own study was of 14-to-16-year-old learners, who ‘may perceive anxiety differently’
from university students. They were tested on FLCAS and described their feelings in interviews.
In a section mercifully light on graphs and tables and strong on clarifying narrative, the study
concludes that much of the student’s FLA is caused by teachers. He highlights comments such
as, ‘I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting’ and ‘I get nervous when I
don’t understand every word the English teacher says.’ Other key factors making students
anxious are their performance compared to their peers, and not having prepared what they are % increase
going to say in class. Despite all this, the students still reported a strong interest in and
enthusiasm for learning English.
For more see www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A828495&dswid=7661
Wake-up Call after 93 per cent drop-out rate China India South Saudi Canada Brazil Taiwan Japan Vietnam Mexico Iran UK Turkey

WHAT HAPPENS when a large motivated group of adult learners starts using Computer Assisted Korea Arabia
Language Learning (Call) for self-study in the workplace? They stop using it after a short while, reveals
a study by the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Languages (CASL). Self-study
with language learning software in the workplace: What happens involved 326 US government
employees in two groups – beginners who chose a target language and mixed-level students learning
Spanish. Two popular self-study technology-mediated programs were accessed via the internet.
Participants in both groups agreed to keep a weekly learner log and complete periodic assessments.
The most striking result was that, despite initial involvement, participant attrition was so high that % increase
outcomes data were very sparse. Only half of the beginners who chose a language actually accessed
the account, and fewer than a quarter spent more than ten hours self-studying on the software. The
only participant completing the full 200 study hours was a career linguist who spoke five languages
already – clearly not your average language learner. None of the learners of Spanish took the exit
test, and only twelve out of the 94 who were above beginner level self-studied for ten hours or more.
Kong
The most common complaint was about lack of support – beginners in Arabic or Chinese in particular Germany Nigeria Kuwait France Indonesia Nepal Hong Venezuela Malaysia Thailand Colombia Spain
experienced difficulty without explicit instruction. Other negative comments centred on the irrelevance of
the content. Technological problems appeared another important obstacle to course completion.
The research suggests self-study with Call might not be appropriate for adult learners in the
workplace as the programs cannot be easily personalised to cater for specific language needs. New Centres of Excellence named
Programs that avoid grammatical explanations might not be the best fit for beginners either, as
they need explicit support and guidance.
Previous research also indicates that support, guidance and interaction are critical for online THE LATEST group of Gazette
learning, so stand-alone Call programs might not work without an adequate support system and Centres of Excellence, listed here
they need to compensate for the lack of interpersonal interaction. in alphabetical order, features five
See http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2011/nielson.pdf new entrants: EC Manchester; the
London School of English, Can-
Iranian academics Paaws for thought terbury; Milton Keynes College;
Stafford House School of English,
IRANIAN ENGLISH as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners’ Argumentative Writing Performance Canterbury; and Studio Cambridge.
in Private Language Institutes is a clear well-written investigation, presented informally enough The highest riser is Nile, Norwich,
for even non-academic ELT journalists to follow. Its introduction includes detail on how most with 14 out of 15 points. Congratu-
Iranian students will study English at school but often acquire their ‘communicative skills in the lations and a happy new year to all
English language’ only through supplementary classes at private language schools. A total of 69 these high-scoring schools. n
‘argumentative essays’ (putting forth a point of view) in this study were written by students at one
of these private languages schools – often preparing students for Ielts or Teofl. The authors note Bell Young Learners.. (9/15)
that little research had been done on this sector of Iranian EFL. EC Manchester......... (8/15)
The English essays were scored by two EFL specialists trained to MA level, each with at least nine The English Experience,
years’ experience, using the established Prototype Analytic Argumentative Writing Scale (Paaws). Norwich...................... (9/15)
The Paaws scale includes ‘fulfilment’ (whether it actually answered the question) and various English in Chester... (14/15)
other aspects of essay-writing including ‘mechanics’. Unlike readers from a US-style liberal arts The London School of Eng-
academic culture where English composition is taught to native speakers, I had to look up lish, Canterbury........ (10/14)
elsewhere what ‘mechanics’ means in this context. It turns out not to involve cogwheels, but is the The London School of
technical part of writing that includes spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. English, London...... (12/14)
The essays the Iranians wrote in this study excelled in ‘content’ and ‘organisation’, and were Milton Keynes
competent when it came to completing the task as per the question. They were adequate at College.................... (10/15)
grammar but let down by their inadequate grasp of the aforementioned ‘mechanics’. I would have Nile, Norwich............ (14/15)
liked the study to have included some actual examples of this. Stafford House,
Canterbury.......... (11/15)