Alexandra Krasova, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
While pursuing my PhD, I have been simultaneously working at the American Language Institute (ALI), designing and teaching developmental English courses for international undergraduate multilingual learners of English as an additional language (EAL). This has been an amazing experience for me as a graduate student because it helped shape my professional identity, develop and improve my teaching practices, and immerse me in diverse languages and cultures.
Relying on my own experiences as a PhD student, teaching EAL has been meaningful for me in multiple ways. In this blog, I want to highlight several advantages and challenges of working with my EAL students, as well as to share different applicable approaches for the EAL classroom.
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
One of the many EAL learners’ strengths is their cultural and linguistic diversity. They speak different languages, yet in this context, English becomes the language they generally communicate in. This fosters an immersive learning environment for everyone, as well as an ability and opportunity to communicate about their various cultures and languages with their classmates in a shared language - English.
For me as an instructor, this helps me to focus on students’ cultural and linguistic diversity, and to create assignments that emphasize their plurilingual identities. For example, multilingual students in my Media Presentations class at the ALI created a collaborative multimodal newsletter as one of their major projects, which gave them the chance to describe social events from their native countries. In Figure 1, you can see an example which was created by a group of EAL students who chose to present about an important annual event in Japan. These pictures were shared with their consent.
One more assignment that I encourage in the EAL classroom is the use of translanguaging practices. Translanguaging, highly valued in academic settings in general and the EAL classroom in particular, can describe challenging and transforming language hierarchies (García & Otheguy, 2019). Translanguaging motivates the use of a learner’s full linguistic repertoires, and this can be conducive towards the goal of learning a new language
(García & Otheguy, 2019). Figure 2 shows an example of translanguaging practices of undergraduate students studying English in the United States. It reflects their ability to integrate two or more languages to convey meaning and transfer their message. This was a multimodal project in my classroom as well.
Anticipation of Challenges
Since EAL students come from different countries and speak different languages, it can be hard to predict the general and idiosyncratic challenges they bring to the EAL classroom experience. However, teachers can notice certain common challenges such as English grammar, plagiarism, or citation and documentation in MLA/APA styles.
For me, there were challenges that were difficult for me to predict when I first taught international students. Every semester, I have international learners who are aware of -some of-the challenges they generally face, and others who are not. Consequently, one of the assignments that I integrate in order to anticipate the learner’s challenges is a freewriting activity that requires them to describe their positive and negative experiences with learning EAL, identify what they aim to improve, and explain what they think their strengths are. By analyzing their responses and seeing their expectations, I am better able to predict what might be challenging for each student in particular, and I design activities that respond to their concerns. I can also track patterns where many students might identify struggling with similar skills and plan my classroom activities accordingly. For instance, rhetorical appeals seem to be confusing for some of my EAL students as many of them report that they do not study them in their other language programs.
In Fall 2024, I had students from Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Japan, who willingly shared their perceived challenges in improving their English language skills. Being a student myself has helped me to understand EAL students’ struggles better and accommodate their needs in a more meaningful way. I can relate to many concerns and challenges that they are experiencing, and it encourages me to be a better educator. For example, when students are overwhelmed with their assignments or if they need additional support with a certain skill, I always find ways to be flexible and accommodating by extending deadlines and increasing my consultation hours outside the classroom for instance.
Level of Anxiety
In ELI courses, students complete weekly writing, major assignments, and final projects in every level. Students sometimes report that they find certain tasks extremely challenging in the EAL classroom. One reason the students report is the level of anxiety which can be related to their cultural and linguistic background. One specific example is public speaking. In their other language programs, some learners report that they are rarely asked to complete such a task. In their EAL classroom, they do not only have to give an oral presentation, but they also have to do that in a different language, which to some of them is very challenging as they report. When it comes to giving oral presentations in front of an audience, namely their EAL classmates, some students report being unaware of the expectations from such a project in United States classrooms, which makes it very stressful for them.
On my part, I make sure to help students better understand the genre requirements, and to give them clear instructions and guidelines about expectations and grading criteria. In my EAL classrooms, students seem to feel more supported and relaxed if I provide rubrics, step-by-step instructions, and examples. These strategies seem crucial for students improving their EAL.
I also provide students with examples from my experience, such as samples of my graduate school assignments and tasks that I had to complete. This humanizes me as their instructor, cultivates rapport between my students and I, and makes me not only more accessible to them but also a person who has faced my own challenges as well.
I hope graduate students reading my blog can benefit from it in several ways. First, this blog provided concrete examples as inspiration to use in the classrooms. Second, sharing my experiences of teaching as a graduate student helps me reflect on my classroom practices and further improve them. Finally, being a graduate student and an instructor at the same time provides a space for shaping my professional identity while communicating with diverse students and creating student-centered instruction and assignments, with special focus on international students learning English as an additional language. While it came with challenges, working with international EAL students was a learning opportunity that inspired my dissertation and helped me stay motivated throughout my PhD journey.
I am open to collaborative projects, discussions, and shared assignments. Please feel free to contact me.
Alexandra Krasova, Instructor
American Language Institute
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Reference
Otheguy, R., García, O., & Reid, W. (2019). A translanguaging view of the linguistic system of bilinguals. Applied Linguistics Review, 10(4), 625-651.
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