Improving Foreign Language teaching for International Students

Abstract

The processes of internationalization and globalization are ubiquitous. The growing number of international students in universities prompts the necessity of research into the best ways of teaching and learning the language of a host country. Language is a connecting link of prime importance in building up an efficient and suitable educational environment for an international student in a foreign country. This qualitative study sought to identify the most effective practices of teaching the host language as second language in leading universities of two countries: Germany and Russia. We interviewed ten teachers in each university regarding the specifics of organizing courses to teach the host country language as a second language. Our analysis revealed the difficulties teachers usually face in their work with international students, as well as effective methods and models of teaching international students. We interpret these findings using a framework for English Medium Instruction proposed by Dafouz and Smit (2012).