Language as an instructional barrier: Towards support for international faculty

Abstract

Unfamiliar accent and lack of fluency in English language have been identified as key challenges for international faculty in USA universities and colleges, particularly non-native English speakers and writers. These can have negative effects such as loss of interest in a given course, and possibly lead to poor performance. Currently, there are little or no evidence that most USA universities have effective strategies to support international faculty who write and speak English as a second language. Even learning management systems (LMS) provide little or no functionality to support non-native English speakers. This paper presents a summary of scholarly discussion on how language issues such as lack of fluency and unfamiliar accent can affect teaching and learning, and various strategies that universities can adopt to support international faculty working in the USA. This discussion took place in one of the catalyzing collaborative conversations (C3) sessions at Frontiers in Education Conference 2016.