Job Discussion Forums

[billybuzz]

If you work in an "English medium " instituition which language is the most commonly seen? In the classroom it should be the ONLY language, but is it ? How often do little notices come around informing the students about a future event, what language is it in ?Not the language of instruction . Wait there's more, this is just the tip of the iceberg .
Every year heads of departments and directors stand up and proclaim that students are not communicating or using the language of instruction either enough or in too many cases not at all . Any one spotted the connection yet ? How can these young people ever accomplish mastery of the language when their own overwhelms them as soon as they leave the clasroom ?
Even in office hours they use it ,tell me how does that help their English proficiency ?
Am I the only one who thinks that something is seriously wrong here ? Is it the same at other similar establishments ?
We find ourselves in workshops,conferences and seminars on a regular almost weekly basis expounding the virtues of teaching methods in the classroom ,yet when they set foot outside it all our good work is virtually undone .Even no smoking signs ,what language is it ? Not the language of instruction .
I could take you on a guided tour of a large private university and demonstrate how the language is ignored, almost invisible outside the classroom. But not today at least . Instead I await your responses telling me that its ok and that I need not lose sleep over this anymore because its the same everywhere else .

[Baba Alex]

[billybuzz]

Fair enough ,care to explain why even though current trends and practise suggest otherwise.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

With so few Arabic speaking teachers (in the Gulf), English is dominant in the classroom and offices ...

That doesn't mean typical encounters are models of interaction mind you ... with the usual tug-of-war going something like this ...

S - Hello teacher .. you give me paper
T - Hello, how are you ... what paper?
S - Absent .. no have the paper?
T - When were you absent?
S - Next week
T - Last week? Which day?
S - Saturday
T - Saturday's the weekend
S - Monday, monday!
T - Right .. here you are ... any questions?
S - Yes .. Thank you teacher ... bye

[thrifty]

Private unis in Turkey are crap. The students are rich and crap. If they were any good they would be going to a real uni. They are crap so they cannot get into a real uni so they go to a private uni. Teachers work at private unis in Turkey because they pay reasonable wages by Turkey standards and the hours are not too bad.

[Baba Alex]

[billybuzz]

So do you feel /think that having walls plastered with posters in any establishment is going to help the students if said posters are not in the language of instruction ?
Can you explain where is the reinforcement value of what they are expected to be taught in the classroom if every wall or available space is all in Turkish language ,which is for the most part has less complex structures than they are taught in the language of instruction .
Perhaps if they were "challenged" outside the classroom they might just remember more .
Btw Thrifty ,are your observations from personal experience ? What you say may or may not be true ,however,if you have any insight if the conditions I outlined are the norm I would appreciate some constructive input .

[Baba Alex]

[thrifty]

[billybuzz]

So far both you and B.A have managed to dodge the questions I've tendered ,so putting your personal issues to one side or your indifference to the topic . So do you think having a dominant L1 in ANY teaching environment is going to reflect negatively on the students as far as the language of instruction is concerned ?
Btw thrifty I would respectfully suggest that all teaching gigs are based on making money ,you just get a larger slice of it working where you do ?

[Baba Alex]

[dmb]

I too worked at an English medium uni. Quite often teachers' meetings ended up in shouting matches in Turkish. I actually did not mind this- my mate and I pretended to have the strop and said ' well if it is going to be in Turkish, we're off..... down the pub.'

Seriously though, I did wonder if the teachers' meetings ended up in Turkish how much of the lessons were conducted in English?

A while back I met this American kid who was studying at a private uni. He ended up leaving in the first term as most of the lessons were in Turkish and he didn't understand.

[billybuzz]

Thanks for your replies so far on this topic .I think this one is central to the reason why we are employed in the first place .Our employers expect us to use the "target language" all the time . If L1 is so dominant outside the classroom what chance do we have ? B.A your comments about English newspapers etc struck a chord with me .How far or radical a step would it be to make the language of instruction the first language of any English medium instuition? Why wait till the classroom to expose the students to it ? More insights or comments on this one please .

[thrifty]

The logic of this never ceases to amaze me:

Well-off students who cannot get into a real uni where the language of instruction is likely to be Turkish so they go to a private uni and pretend to do a degree where the language of instruction is supposed to be English. OK I know that some state unis have English as the language of instruction.

[Henry_Cowell]