Vishwanth’s Homepage | Blog

12. 05.

Venkata Ganti ( Vish )

CA-514

Altman

12^th May 2009

The quality of education and resources for research provided by American Universities is higher than the Universities in other countries. International students generally go to high school in their home countries where the language of instruction is their native language. Students communicate in their native language at home and school and rarely in English. This condition creates a barrier for students who intend to pursue higher education at an American University. Western Institute of Technology (WIT) is a well known University for the advanced degrees in technology and management. WIT has a vibrant cosmopolitan student population mostly intending to pursue undergraduate, graduate or post doctorial degrees. Most international students work on campus to earn their living expenses. They are employed in various jobs ranging from cashiers, clerk, computer technicians, website developers, student assistants, tutors, and teaching assistants (TA). Professors hire graduate students to assist them to teach, test and grade students pursuing undergraduate programs. Although the International Graduate Students meet with the University’s English proficiency requirements to study but they are not tested for proficiency to work as a Teaching Assistant. This communication gap misleads students that studying and teaching require same level of competency in English. WIT should make the TA selection process stricter by testing students for their English speaking and writing skills.

Teaching requires TA’s to speak fluently, clearly and without a heavy accent. Students often complain that they cannot understand the pronunciation of certain words by a non native English speaker.  A comic situation was quoted in an article titled “Classroom Chronicles, instructors’ accents make lessons hard” published in the San Francisco Chronicle on 27^th November 1999. A professor at University of California at Berkeley mispronounced the word “authoritarian” as “auto-Italian”.  Students in his class kept wondering what auto-Italian meant and finally when a presentation was displayed in class, they learnt about the word being authoritarian. A situation like this in a well reputed institute like University of California at Berkeley demonstrates the need for teachers and their assistants to go through a training process and testing to meet the basic communication requirements for teachers. University of Minnesota sponsors a program of assessment for prospective international teaching assistants and sets a higher spoken language score than many of our peer institutions. At University of Minnesota a two-credit classroom communication course is offered for students with lower scores to help them improve their English skills. These teaching and communication courses address the practicalities of pronunciation, word stress, clarity, fluency and the rhythm and intonation of U.S. English. The courses engage TAs in practice teaching and discussions of cultural topics. The goal of this program is that international TAs develops the skills required for clearly organized, fluent and comprehensible communication.

English as a Second Language (ESL) training is important for any international student. English is the primary language of the USA and except for specific classes in other languages, academic studies at all levels are carried out in English. It is needed for everything from reading street signs to writing a dissertation, and the faster a student acquires a firm grasp of English, the easier his studies and life in the US will be. Students believe they will very quickly learn the minimum amount of English necessary to enter a school and, after that, things will take care of themselves. The “minimum amount of English” usually means a score or between 450 and 500 on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), a test which does not necessarily measure a student’s actual academic ability. The reality of the situation is that the TOEFL lasts only about two hours, while college will take up to six years of a student’s life. ESL training is offered by many different institutions, including colleges and universities, high schools and private language schools. Most of these will offer some kind of initial exam, such as TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) and IELTS (International English Language Testing System). These tests help place students according to their needs and skill level. After the ESL level is mastered, students can pursue English for Academic Purposes, or EAP. The EAP program is designed to help students attain the level of English necessary to excel in academic reading and writing.

In 2008 a study conducted by the Center for Teaching and Learning at University of Minnesota which looked at student satisfaction with the overall teaching ability of TAs who had taken required courses on English, teaching and U.S. culture. More than four out of five undergraduates in the study reported they were satisfied or very satisfied with their TA’s overall teaching. Departments hiring TAs must continue to monitor the language proficiency of their international graduate students and refer those who need additional help to the ongoing training and classroom support services available through the teacher training programs. Professional development training can be required by departments for all TA’s.

Some students feel it’s demeaning to take proficiency tests in English to prove that they have the required language skill to teach. They argue that meeting with the University’s English requirement to study is enough for them to teach. The WIT Foreign Student Association stood against the new policy of WIT Student Association to require all TA’s to pass an additional test to be able to work as teaching assistants. This new rule will result in some international students to losing their TA positions. WIT should not compromise the quality of education offered for undergraduate students just because few graduate TA’s will lose their jobs. Before joining WIT, all international students need to establish that they have sufficient funds to complete their education. They can be funded for their education by their parents, other members of the family or student loans. The University admissions department does not take into consideration the funds which are derived from on campus employment for granting admission. The excuse of not being able to pay the tuition fee or living expenses due to loss of employment doesn’t not have substantial validity.

Apart from being useful for finding TA jobs, the additional English speaking and writing training would help students after they graduate and work in a professional environment. Many companies feel that international graduate students lack the skill needed to write professional reports and documentation. Companies would prefer a non- native graduate who has undergone additional training in English to a student without any special training. This emphasizes the need for students for focus on English development as much as on their regular course curriculum.

As an International graduate student at Western Institute of Technology, I would prefer to take an additional test to prove my proficiency in English and establish that I have the necessary skills to be hired as a teaching assistant. Inspite of  taking additional training and courses if the University feels that I do not meet their requirements to be a teaching assistant , I will consider looking for other jobs available on campus to finance my living expenses and lower the burden on parents. I would be glad that WIT has given me an opportunity to polish my English communication skills by taking up additional courses. I strongly believe that the skills that I have acquired in the process of preparing for teaching assistant position will help me at a later stage in life. I am confident that WIT will find a student who is more deserving and talented than me to fill in the TA position.

Download this article in

Doc Format

DOCX format

PDF Format

28. 04.

Venkata Ganti ( Vish )
CA-514
Altman
28th April 2009

Writing this essay made me recall the bed time stories my grand mother told me when I barely knew what the word ‘communication’ means. I loved listening to stories about kings, war and mythology. Back in the ancient times, kings would have specially trained pigeons or other birds, which would carry message notes to the neighboring kingdoms. This was from of message delivery was believed to be more secure than getting it delivered by hand from another person. As if these messenger birds know the geography of the whole kingdom, they would fly far off and deliver the letters to the right person.

Occasionally my grand father would spare some time to play with me and tell some of his childhood stories.  He spoke to me about how he would write letters to his friends and other family members living from his hometown. During his time, it would take about two weeks for a letter to be delivered from the day of postage. Having a telephone connection was considered a luxury that was affordable only to a handful of people in his town.  This was the scene 75 years back.

Among many inventions of our modern world, the Internet stands out as an amazing development with its effects on almost ever aspect of social life. The Internet has greatly transformed the world in unimaginable ways, bringing different parts of the world into closer touch with one another than ever before.

The primary, and arguably most noble, intent of the Internet is to assist in mankind’s pursuit of knowledge. The rapidly increasing information source, together with the ability to exchange knowledge faster than ever before is opening a whole new environment for learning and researching. Prior to the Internet, people might spend all day long on finding needed knowledge in a library. Today, with the assistance of the Internet, we can find what we need quickly and conveniently. The resources available in school or local libraries once limited students’ knowledge; nowadays, they are able to access a nearly infinite number of resources via the Internet. Students also have chances to discuss what they have learned, share ideas, and exchange knowledge with other people all over the world by means of interaction through email or forums; and distance is no longer a concern.

Furthermore, the Internet provides people the equity that they do not have in real life. In a face-to-face encounter, people tend to judge others’ characteristics based on their first impression of others’ looks. On the contrary, the Internet helps us to understand a person through their ideas, their very own dispositions, but not the outward aspects. In the real world, many people who are shy rarely speak out and thus do not have opportunities for interaction. Via faceless online interaction, they will feel more confident to contribute their ideas to the public. The Internet has created a virtual world where all people, no matter what their genders, ages, races, or statuses, are welcome to express their opinions, share ideas, and interact with each other.

The Internet has triggered many innovations in many aspects of life. With the Internet, trading, communication, finance, and so on, become more convenient than ever. With just a mouse click, customers can stay home and get their shipments delivered direct to them; emails take seconds to arrive; information flows of finance markets are kept updated. However, just as every aspect of life, the Internet does have some unhealthy sides. Today we sometimes hear about the technology’s impacts on relationships and interpersonal communication. But the fault lies not with the technology itself, but rather with human’s intentions to misuse the facilities that the modern technology has provided them with.

When a person says ” I will get in touch with you soon”, it can mean coming in contact in more than one way. It could be through an email, web conference, text message and easiest of all; a call from his cell phone.

Personal conversations and business conversations are intended for people on each end of the phone - not for a room full of people or those walking along the street, relaxing on a park bench, or waiting in a doctor’s office. Nor should these conversations be inflicted on people relieving themselves in a public bathroom, enjoying a cup of tea in a restaurant, or deciding which bottle of juice or which shirt to buy inside a store, or locked in an elevator with no escape.

When did we get so promiscuous with our personal and business information that we spew it about? If there is no problem about privacy for the speaker, how about privacy for the unwitting listeners? How can telephone talkers not feel the publicness of their conversations? Perhaps they invent a bubble around themselves; they are so engrossed in their conversation they aren’t aware of others. Maybe they believe themselves to be invisible to others.

In the past one week, I’ve been working on this essay and it made me more observant about people and the way they communicate. While walking to school I saw a man roller-skating while talking on the phone. Two days later later, I saw a woman spinning her wheel chair with a phone to her ear; later, a man was walking his dog and talking on the phone. I was struck by how extraordinary were the situations in which this new invention - the cell phone - was being used. That gave me a brain storm: to mark the turn of a new century, someone should publish a photography book showing how cell phones were invading our world and shaping a new life style.

Cell phones do make life easier; all calls can be received wherever you are, and no matter how busy you are, you can keep in touch with clients, family, and friends. How can one complain about technology that does that? The benefit of this technology should be to free up time, assured that no call will go unreceived, and all calls can be returned at the most convenient time. But, rather than turn off the phones when occupied, people keep them on at all times. They are never free. In effect, cell phones now burden, not free people.

You can’t stop progress. Cell phones are with us; they are an integral part of our lives. My complaint is not about their existence; they can be helpful. My complaint isn’t even about the danger of talking while driving. My complaint is that in addition to helping people keep in touch, cell phones interfere with personal relationships, pushing people away. It’s wonderful to be able to call your honey from wherever you are (although lovers certainly have found ways to do that long before cell phones). But how often have you seen fiends walking down the street - with one talking on the phone? Or, families at a restaurant or social event, with everyone chatting but the father (or mother) separated by the cell? What is intended as a together activity gets interrupted when one of the people “goes away” via the cell phone.

This technology is now used to undermine relationships. There was a time when this issue would have been related to gender; women generally are more attuned to relationships, so they might have been more sensitive to someone pulling away from them. But women have become as much a victim of the cell phone rudeness and isolation as men. It’s as if there is a status for not just having a cell phone but having it ring while out with others.

A far cry from the novelty of seeing someone on skates or in a wheel chair talking on a phone, there was a movie that again suggests the extraordinary may become ordinary. In Jet Lag,” a woman is in the airport security line talking on her phone. In mid-sentence, she puts the phone on the conveyor belt, walks through the screening, picks up the phone on the other side and resumes her conversation - without missing a beat. The really best part though, is when she’s on the toilet talking. She goes to flush, drops the phone, and watches in horror as it swirls down the drain.

I’m glad she was using her best friend to help with her crisis of the moment, but I applaud the flushing, feeling the relief of women in the other stalls; they could now sit in peace. Maybe I’m wrong, though. Maybe cell phones can bring people together since she then borrowed one from a stranger at the airport that ended up as her husband.

Instead of driving people apart, mobile phones and the net are helping them maintain social ties, says an article from BBC News network called “Hi-tech bring families together”. It was found that traditional so-called “nuclear” families were more likely to have more hi-tech gadgetry in their home than almost any other group it measured. Multiple mobile phones were found in 89% of nuclear families and 66% had a high-speed net connection. The US national average for broadband is 52%. It also found that 58% of these types of families were likely to have more than two computers in the home.

This led to 53% of those questioned saying that new technologies had increased the quality of their contact with distant family members, while 47% said it improved interaction with those they live with. The growing use of cell phones, computers and the net meant that families no longer gathered round the TV for shared experiences but this did not mean, said the report that these communal times had vanished. Instead it found that 52% of net users who live with their spouse and have children go online in the company of someone else several times a week. For many, greater use of the net came at the expense of TV watching, with 25% saying they now spent less time watching television. Only 58% of 18-29 year olds said they watched TV every day.

Going by the saying “ Every coin as two sides; revolution in communication technology has good and bad shades to it. In the case of people living oceans apart, technology brings people closer; and in the case of people who live closer, technology drives people them apart. No matter how quick and efficient modern communication means are becoming; they can never stand as a replacement to in-person meeting.

Click below to download this article.     

Docx Format

Doc Format

PDF Format