NEEDS ANALYSIS AND COLLABORATION TO SUPPORT GRADUATE ESL INSTRUCTION

Kay Stremler, MA (TESOL), PhD (Chemistry) Lecturer, ESL Program;

kstremle@emich.edu

TESOL 2015

Session Outline

Situation Needs SurveysEAP Applications Discipline-Specific CollaborationConclusions

Eastern Michigan University

Graduate focus on Masters degreesEastern Michigan University has nearly 5,000 graduate students pursuing master's degrees, graduate certificates, specialist degrees and doctoral programs in more than 180 unique academic programshttp://www.emich.edu/graduate/admissions/

Student populations• Total students on campus: approx. 24,000• Total graduate students: approx. 5,000• Total international students: approx. 1,000

Internationals at EMU, Fall 2013

Top 10 Majors for Internationals – About 56% are Graduate Students

Accounting and Finance 127

Computer Information Systems 80

Computer Science 69

Business and Management 54

Clinical Research Administration 52

Chemistry 33

Engineering Management 30

Economics 29

Biology 28

Engineering Technology 27

EMU ESL Program

Intensive English Admission

ESL Conditional Admission to a degree program

- Classes do not count for credit- Students may take only ESL classes

- Classes may count for credit- Students may be eligible to take degree courses at the same time

Students in both admission types participate in the same classes with the same course requirements and the same program advancement procedures.

EMU ESL ProgramFoundations

Beginning

Intermediate

Advanced

Academic

Graduate

Writing Writing Writing Writing Writing Writing

Reading Reading Reading Reading Reading Reading

Spk/Lis Spk/Lis Spk/Lis Spk/Lis Spk/Lis Spk/Lis

Electives Electives Electives Electives Electives Electives

Discipline-specific courses

Faculty Survey Goals

Understand student’s needs for additional language and cultural support to be successful

Focus on language skills and cultural knowledge needs across specific types of assignments and academic units on campus

Establish contacts across campus for further collaboration in support of international graduate students

Faculty Survey Approach

WhoInstructional faculty and academic administrators How/WhenSurvey Monkey, distributed via email in 2011WhatThirteen questionsIdentifies college and departmentFocus on faculty who teach internationals in graduate coursesFour specific multi-part questions about:

oral skills tasks requiring written skills critical analysis skills academic interactions at U.S. universities

Oral Skills Questions

Please indicate tasks requiring oral skills where your international graduate students need improvement (check all that apply).Answer Optionsdiscuss course topics or research projects with a group of studentspresent projects or research in an academic environment

present projects or research in a professional environmentunderstand and be understood by EMU course instructors in class

participate in impromptu discussion with others in their major field of studyprovide instructions to undergraduate studentscommunicate effectively (verbally) with other professionals in their fieldOther (please specify)

Writing Skills Questions

Please indicate tasks requiring written skills where your international graduate students need improvement (check all that apply).

Answer Options

write essays on exams or outside of classwrite technical research papers

write experimental scientific research papersintegrate sources into writing

document/cite sourcesquote, paraphrase and summarizeself-edit grammaruse peer review and revision/editing strategies

Other (please specify)

Critical Analysis Questions

Please indicate tasks requiring critical analysis skills where your international graduate students need improvement (check all that apply).

Answer Options

read research articles

read research abstractsread academic text books

summarize and analyze research articlessynthesize information and ideas from multiple journal articles

Other (please specify)

Cultural Perspectives Questions

U.S. cultural perspectives are reflected in academic interactions at U.S. universities. Please mark all of the areas that you think international graduate students in your department need to learn more about (check all that apply).

Answer Options

American academic expectationsAmerican professional expectationsAmerican work ethic and pacepresenting their opinioninteracting with others who have differing opinionsasking questions and clarifying information politelyplagiarism and cheatingmanaging miscommunications

Other (please specify)

Faculty Survey PrioritiesQuestion: Please indicate tasks where your international graduate students need improvement:Oral Present research projects or research

in an academic environment

  Participate in impromptu discussions with others in their field

Writing

Self-edit grammar

  Quote, paraphrase and summarize

  Document/cite sources

  Integrate sources into writing

  Write essays on exams or outside of class

CriticalAnalysis

Summarize and analyze research articles

  Synthesize information and ideas from multiple research articles

Culture

Presenting their opinion

Graduate ESL Courses

Course Content

ESLN 512 Graduate ESL Writing

ESLN 514 Graduate ESL Reading

ESLN 516 Graduate ESL Spkng/Lstng

ESLN 518 Graduate ESL Vocabulary

ESLN 562 Research Communication for Int’l Students in Science and Technology

ESLN 565 Professional Healthcare Communication for Int’l Students

Discipline-Specific Professional Skills

ESL integration across campus through collaboration to meet needs

Creation of customized graduate-level, credit-bearing courses

New aspect of our ESL Program offerings: Discipline-specific professional skills

Discipline-Specific Course Development

1. Define needs with content department facultya. met with department graduate program advisor or advisory board

b. reviewed feedback with program advisorc. received additional program materials (syllabus, articles, lab teaching assignment description, etc.

2. ESL staff collaborated to design skills, assignments and assessments.3. Reviewed course design with program advisor. 4. Instructor developed final syllabus, calendar, materials

>>> Approx. timeline – 3 months; we set the pace

Chemistry Faculty Survey Priorities

Oral Comprehensible presentation of scientific and technical methods and concepts

  Impromptu scientific discussion and instructions to students

Writing Appropriate use of citations and incorporation of prior work in scientific report writing

  Use of peer review and self-revision/editing strategies.

Critical Thinking

Analyze and summarize scientific journal abstracts

  Summarize a scientific journal article

  Synthesize scientific information and ideas from multiple journal articles.

Culture Presenting their scientific reasoning

  Asking questions during scientific discussion

Unique Features

Professional communication skills Professional competence (ethical context)

beyond academics Cultural competence in a professional

setting Discipline-specific academic skills and

language development

Skills, Assignments and Assessments

Articulate skills needed, discipline specific assignments and assessments of competence

Describe in terms that faculty collaborators can relate to

Use iterative collaboration to guide definition of the framework

Use framework as basis for syllabus, assignments and calendar

Sample Skills, Assignments and Assessments

Skills Assignments Assessments

Appropriate use of citations and incorporation of prior work in scientific report writing

Written evaluation of hedging and qualifying claims in a scientific journal article. Written introduction to an experimental research report. Written discussion and conclusions sections of an experimental research report.

Written assignments assessed for expression of ideas:• Identification of

author/ source

• Logic

• Comprehensibility

• Grammatical accuracy

• Use of own words

• Organization of main

points

• Structure

• Use of specific

language

• Appropriate use of

citations

Success!

Ongoing communication with program advisors Pre- and post-testing of skills Student surveys (post-course and one year

later) Faculty feedback one and two years after first

offering Immediate identification of course revisions

(minor) with program advisor Regular individual faculty and student feedback

Pre- and Post-Testing

Tasks– Critical analysis demonstrated through reading and writing

Task 1 Analyze an abstracts’ components. Answer each question below by identifying the number of the sentence(s) that provides the information requested e.g., 1, 2, etc.

Swales and Feak (2009)

Task 2

Write a brief summary (as a short paragraph ) based on the abstract content.

Student Feedback

Overall how helpful were the goals of Research Communication for International Students in Science and Technology to you for success in your graduate program?

Response choices:

Very helpful, somewhat helpful or not sure

Feedback requested at course end and 1-year later

Program Faculty Feedback

1-Year after 1st course offering completed Do these students demonstrate the

writing skills necessary to succeed in their program?

YES

Conclusions on Course Effectiveness

ESLN562 course goals support student success in their graduate programs

Students are better prepared for overall program success

Course is a graduate program elective for chemistry and biology international students

Fourth course offering completed Fall 2014

Participation in chemistry program revisions as a collaborator (2014-2015)

Course Offering Expansion

Simultaneously developed and taught ESLN565 for the graduate Clinical Research Administration program

1. same process2. different context/needs3. five years of successful completion4. required course for internationals in CRA program

Resolving original problem of plagiarism in research writing

Sustaining program dependent on interactions with community partners

Conclusions

Goals: To provide:1. Professional language support for international graduate students – regardless of TOEFL score2. Resources for graduate program faculty

Outcome: To remain a collaborative, innovative, effective service to our campus.

Acknowledgements

ESL Program Director

Professor of Chemistry and Graduate Advisor

Chemistry Department Chair, Chemistry

Professor of Biology and Graduate Advisor

Interim Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Professor of Clinical Research Administration and Graduate Advisor