Should Chinese be banned?

A number of the PRC students interviewed at Monash indicated that one of their aims in coming to Australia was to improve their English language skills. Some even expressed some disappointment at finding themselves surrounded by so many of their compatriots at this University.

However international their content, the disciplines we teach in Australian universities are conceived, elaborated and passed on in English. Their discourse is framed in English, and that is what we expect the students to acquire, use and contribute to – and what the students themselves expect to acquire and use.

But we need to recognise that few if any students from mainland China arrive on our campuses with the level of English language skills they would need to work monolingually in English, and that even the best of them are likely to take at least half a semester (6 weeks) to develop facility in thinking in English.

For these students, then,