Stories of the First-Year Experience

A 'Second Language' Perspective

Lorraine Bullock (Lecturer - Faculty of Arts)

A friend of mine was teaching English to a group of second language speakers in a migrant English program. This particular lesson was built around describing words. To illustrate the language of description she described of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. In great detail she compared the beauty of the butterfly with the nondescript form of the caterpillar. She spoke of colours, textures, and the freedom enjoyed by the butterfly after it leaves the restriction of its caterpillar form. She wrote the descriptive words on the board so the students could see the way in which the description of the butterfly was formed in sentences. At the end of about ten minutes she asked if there were any questions. The first response was: "Please, what is a caterpillar?". I think my friend's experience illustrates a fundamental aspect of transition for both first and second language speakers. The point it raises is that we cannot expect new students to engage with the genres of tertiary study if they do not have a basic understanding of the function and place of these genres within the discourse community. The problems of transition cannot be solved by providing a list of language rules for essays in first year course books. The places to look for solutions to the problems of transition are in the new perceptions and experiences that include social as well as academic experiences. The academic butterfly is the sum of many diverse parts that go beyond the use of a specialised register or structure of text.

A fundamental feature of transition is the change from one state to another. For many students transition is more than the change from secondary school to university. This physical transition is part of a larger internalised transition that affects almost every part of their lives as they move from adolescence to adulthood. Transition is more than learning new ways of study, how to find your way around new environments and finding new friends; transition is a new self realisation, which is exciting for some, threatening for others and probably a mixture of both for most. Consider then, the transition required for students who are not only dealing with all these pressures of change but also having to do it in a different culture and through a different language.

A colleague was working in a post graduate program with several second language students. She worked with the subject tutors and assisted students with the language and structure of their theses. During the initial sessions she became concerned about the work of one particular student. Although she had seen this student several times, in each session they always seemed to go through the same material. The problem was that while the text contained a great deal of detailed information it lacked focus and it also lacked an argument. So they would revise the draft, closely working with the language and structure of argument then the student would leave focussed on developing the argument in more detail. The next session the draft would come back in its original form - the argument would be missing and in its place very detailed descriptions of previous research, current literature and every possible feature of the background to the problem. However, in spite of all the detail the text had no voice of the writer, no point of view and no argument. So once again my friend would try to help the student find her own voice among the wealth of detail in the work. They would rework the material in outline and once again the student would leave only to bring the work back in its original form at the next meeting. After this had gone on for several sessions my friend in desperation told the student that unless she was prepared to change her manner of presentation her thesis was bound to fail. As the sessions progressed it became obvious that development of an argument was not the real problem. My friend could see that the student's perception of herself as a student and a writer was embedded in the way in which she understood the development of her thesis. By asking her to completely change her approach to the material she felt she was also being asked to change the way in which she understood herself. She saw the perception of herself as a person being threatened by the imposition of a culturally determined genre and the language that supported it. For the student the thesis requirements had assumed a form of cultural imperialism. So the outcome of meeting these requirements meant she had to recreate herself in a form she could no longer recognise. Therefore she chose instead to resist this reconstruction in order to maintain her own sense of identity.

This is, of course, an extreme example of the problems of transition experienced by most second language speakers. However while most students make the transition into a new learning environment with quite a deal of success, there is an element of truth here that relates to the basic problem most of the second language speakers have to face. It does not matter whether they are international students or local students from non-English speaking backgrounds, they are expected not only to be fluent in the language of the institution but also to understand and be able to master the communicative genres that may be very different from those they know and understand. Transition for many second language speakers is not only a transition to learning in a different language; it is often a transition to a different way of learning itself. Many of the transition difficulties experienced by first language speakers, e.g. making new friends, understanding new forms of assessment, do not come anywhere near difficulties experienced by second language speakers when they find they must deal with new approaches to knowledge as well as new social and cultural patterns of behaviour. The resulting culture shock is one of the reasons that many second language speakers spend most of their time sitting at the back of the lecture theatre or the tutorial trying to understand what is required of them in this particular situation. Traditionally this has been seen only in terms of a language problem. The second language speaker is identified as a person having difficulty with the language, or in their writing, having difficulty with generating the correct grammatical structures. While it cannot be denied that language is an important consideration for all second language students it is not the only, or even the primary, consideration. For many second language students the communicative expectations they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis are terrifyingly alien. These are students who may have spent anything up to ten or twelve years learning English as part of their education. Many leave home quite confident of their language abilities only to suffer severe psychological distress, or culture shock, when they arrive finding as one student told me, "I know what you are saying, I just don't know what it means!".

Transition for these students means transition to new ways of communication, new ways of interacting, new perceptions of the people with which they interact as well as different ways of learning. A simple example of the cultural determination of perception can be seen in the way in which many second language students regard their Australian contemporaries. Many second language students form an initial impression of Australian students as being rude and insensitive because of the way in which they interact with their tutors. They notice that Australian students do not stand when the tutor comes into the room, they call tutors by their first name, they interrupt when the tutor is speaking, they do not always arrive on time to class, and worst of all, they offer their own opinions which usually contradict the opinions given by the tutor. After a while most second language speakers realize that what they are witnessing is a different climate of learning. Learning in this discourse community is carried out as a cooperative process between the tutor and the student and the interaction that makes up the tutorial and seminar is based on mutual cooperation that encourages the student to be a critical and self-motivated learner. However students coming from a tradition in which learning is carried out in a more hierarchically defined structure find this seeming lack of acknowledged authority difficult to contend with. The perceived casualness of the different teaching interactions are misread and second language students literally do not know how to respond or interact. It is my experience that second language speakers are ingenious in their methods of overcoming some of these problems, for example, attracting attention without having to call me by name! When we talk about terms of address and the social interaction of seminars they will say that they would like to call me by my first name but they literally cannot, their culture overrides the immediate situation. So I am "Miss" to some, Lorraine to others and Ah, um, (cough) to others, sometimes for all of first semester and beyond.

The ways in which things are done in all societies are based on culturally defined practices. Part of the transition process for second language speakers is the need to realize that the functions with which they are familiar may not be carried out in ways that are also familiar. For example, it might surprise academics who are first language speakers to find that the rational, well constructed arguments that form the basis of many essays and articles are seen by many second language speakers as being far too direct, abrupt and in some cases, downright rude. What needs to be offered when there is a clash of culture are transitions not of language but of worldview that includes differences in genre, perception, knowledge and practice. They are transitions that will be made more easily if the first language speakers with whom the second language speakers must interact understand something of the scope and size of these problems. Finally we need to remember that the new ways of thinking and doing are methods of learning that belong to this culturally determined discourse community. They are not better ways of learning just different ways. Difference need not be threatening if it is defined in this way - as difference, not superiority. Brigid Ballard and John Clanchy have written several excellent books that deal with many of these problems and for anyone interacting with second language speakers they provide a useful introduction to many of these issues. The Language and Learning unit in the University also provides excellent assistance and expertise in helping with problems that occur when second language speakers make the transition to learning in this discourse community.

All transition is about change, about finding individual space within the new community, and it incorporates issues that have been identified as traditionally belonging to second language speakers. However it also can be seen that these issues apply to both first and second language speakers. The first year student's transition to university can be just as bewildering as interacting in a new culture is for the second language speaker. Perhaps, if as members of this discourse community we continue to think of transition in this way, that of introducing a new member into the language, culture and society of this particular discourse community, it will be easier to find more ways of affecting the transition for all students.

References

• Ballard, Brigid and John Clanchy (1984) Study Abroad: A Manual for Asian Students. Malaysia: Longman.
• Ballard, Brigid and John Clanchy (1997) Teaching International Students: A Brief Guide for Lecturers and Supervisors. Deakin: IDP Education Australia.