As the number of international students increases at many postsecondary institutions across Canada, the need to “internationalize” has become a trending subject in recent publications and educational dialogue. Internationalization can be defined as "any systematic, sustained effort aimed at making higher education responsive to the requirements and challenges related to the globalization of societies, economy and labor markets” (Van der Wende, as cited in Niehaus & Williams, 2015, p. 60).
Naturally, there are many educational rewards that can be attributed to student diversity; however, the increasingly heterogeneous reality of postsecondary classrooms has also presented new challenges for stakeholders, including faculty. Two examples of challenges that faculty at Conestoga have recently experienced include
- Difficulty “reading” students in the classroom to verify their level of engagement, comfort, and comprehension.
- Difficulty knowing when or whether it is appropriate to use figurative language and idiomatic expressions while teaching.
These examples represent two of the less-obvious, or “hidden”, communication challenges that are especially difficult during the early stages of study when relationships are still forming, students are still adjusting to their new academic and social environments, and acculturative stress is heightened.
Acculturative Stress Theory
Lueck and Wilson (as cited in Tiwari, Gopal Singh & Hasan, 2017) explain that acculturative stress occurs during the process of adjusting to a different culture, characterized by a deficiency in mental health and well-being. Microaggressions can intensify the level of acculturative stress that international students experience; for example, "covert forms of inhospitality, cultural intolerance, and unfairness" and "being perceived as unintelligent because of speech characteristics and language proficiency" are just some of the experiences that can raise acculturative stress (Houshmand, Spanierman & Tafarodi, 2014, p. 377).
Furthermore, the work of Maxwell (as cited in Brydon & Liddell, 2012) reveals that international students "[find] it difficult to approach academic staff due to feelings of shyness and often feel more concerned with teacher input than with their own learning outcomes" (p.999). This sense of shyness, in turn, can cause students to withhold questions and requests for support, thereby leaving it up to faculty to create ongoing, guided opportunities for students to communicate their needs and demonstrate their comprehension. It is especially helpful for these opportunities to occur in class, as anecdotal records indicate that new international students are less likely to interact with learning management systems (such as e-Conestoga) or pursue other support services. Ultimately, they rely on their professors to guide their learning.
Conceptual Fluency Theory
As faculty endeavor to support international students, the need to communicate clearly (through speaking, writing, and listening) is essential. Communication can become strained, however, if factors such as conceptual fluency are not taken into account. Danesi (2016) describes conceptual fluency as a “recurrent type of classroom error” that involves gaps in the recognition and interpretation of language (p. 145). He explains that students tend to "think" in their first language as they speak their second language. This guides their choice of words and other structures in the formation of sentences and utterances, which may obscure the intended meaning of their messages (Danesi, 2016). He also asserts that "the control of figurative language is crucial if true second language proficiency is to be achieved by classroom learners" (Danesi, 2016, p. 145).
With this, the proposal of conceptual fluency theory is for educators to incorporate metaphors, idioms, and informal expressions into the language of teaching, but to do so in way that is controlled and appropriately supported. For example, when a professor says, "The bottom line is profit,” she may follow this statement with the explanation, “In this context, the bottom line refers to someone’s or something’s principal objective.” This explanation could be even be illustrated on a slide or whiteboard and then added to a list of vocationally-relevant idioms and expressions.