ESOL Communication Barriers to Classroom Learning

by Diana Della Costa

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Abstract

Due to immigration trends in the U.S., large numbers of students who are non-native speakers of English are enrolling in U.S. colleges. Some of these students (sometimes referred to as ESOL students) face barriers in college. ESOL students’ barriers arise from several sources. First, their lack of experience with the culture of the U.S. college classroom. For instance, with regard to plagiarizing and cheating, some cultures consider knowledge to be in the public domain, so copying the work of others is merely using what belongs to the public. In some cultures, homework is considered an infringement of personal freedom, for example. How to show respect for a teacher varies from culture to culture, and time has different meanings to European Americans than it does to other people of other cultures.

Other areas of concern are linguistics, grammar, and technology. Culture influences the way a society uses language and leads to problems with fluency, pronunciation, and communication anxiety in the new language. Grammar learned in one language does not always follow the same grammatical usage of the English language. Technology is not always available to ESOL students outside of the learning environment and the use of particular visuals, colors, and symbols for web pages may be insulting to some cultures.

Also leading to a breakdown in the learning process is the fact that learning styles are influenced by culture. Thus, ESOL students’ learning styles may be in direct contrast to an instructor’s teaching style. Thus, instructors need to be cognizant of ESOL communication barriers to classroom learning so students from diverse cultures can be academically successful.

Review of Literature

Cultural Issues

While the classroom is generally believed a single culture, the learning that happens there is influenced by the students' cultures. “Culture is the backdrop within which teaching and learning takes place,” affirms Schnell (2000, p. 95). “All students learn in different ways and many times the way they have learned in the past affects their experience or may become a barrier to effective learning in the American classroom” (Kiernan, 2000, October 4). “Ignorance of these differences has often led to misunderstandings and breakdowns in the communication process, which could have been avoided, had the teacher been aware of these basic cultural differences” (Temes, 1994, p. 4).

Ideas about where the responsibility for learning lies varies from culture to culture. In North American schools, it is not uncommon for students of any age to question or challenge instructors during the learning process. “By contrast, in many other cultures, students do not expect to be able to challenge a teacher since they are taught to honor the [teacher’s] wisdom” (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzmann, 1994, p. 46). In some collectivistic cultures, the “‘self’ is defined primarily in terms of ingroup membership, with the family, (i.e. extended family) being the primary ingroup” (Guzley, Araki, & Chalmers, 1998, p. 3), and therefore students and instructors share the responsibility of learning. Thus, if a student is failing, the instructor adopts the mental attitude of not being a good teacher (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzman, 1994).

With regard to plagiarizing and cheating, “some cultures’ knowledge is considered to be in the public domain; other cultures believe it is disrespectful to alter an authority’s original words ... ” and “ ... there is no protection of new ideas with patent or copyright laws in China ... as there are in the United States” (Ladd & Ruby, 1999, p. 3). For example, “ ... Saudi students often expect the teacher to provide all the answers, rather than to present questions” (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzmann, 1994, p. 47- 48). The latter leads to undue stress for Saudi students when confronted with tests and assignments such as essays and often leads the student to cheat (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzmann, 1994). In contrast, students in individualist countries such as the United States are direct when communicating, and “conflict, while not necessarily relished, is considered a normal part of interactions” (Guzley, Araki, & Chalmers, 1998, p. 3). Other studies found that “Algerian students may criticize North American teachers for assigning homework. Such an encroachment on time outside of class is seen as an infringement of personal freedom ... ” (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzmann, 1994, p. 48).

The influence of context on the meaning of what is said varies. Brydon and Scott (2000) discuss communication patterns in regards to context. The authors say “the relative importance of the context in which listening takes place differs from one culture to another” (p. 87).

Some cultures rely more than others on unspoken information contained in the context to determine the meaning of a message. In high-context (HC) cultures, such as Japan, the Arab states, and the Mediterranean countries, the context of statements can be extremely important. Much of the meaning in such cultures is carried not only by the words that are spoken but also the situation in which they are uttered. On the other hand, low-context (LC) cultures, such as the United States, Germany, and most northern European countries, people rely less on the overall communication situation and more on the words spoken to convey meaning. (Brydon & Scott, 2000, p. 87)

“In Mexico, there are different ways to indicate the height of a person, an animal and a plant or inanimate object. Using the wrong one for a human can be offensive” (Ferrin, 2001, April 2). As a result, “teachers need to be sensitive to the atmosphere of the classroom, and there are some more skilled than others at this” mandates Cherney (2001, June 14).

Also, there are different ways of showing respect for a teacher, such as standing or not standing when the teacher enters the room, and talking or not talking when the teacher is talking, and being ready or not being ready when class starts (Tillyer, 2000, October 1). Students from India are taught to observe all rules during a school day, and are taught to stand in unison to greet the teacher, remain silent, and pay close attention when the teacher is speaking (Focus on India, 2000, p. 2).

Conceptions of time also vary from culture to culture. Being on time is a cultural norm in the United States; however, “this monochromic notion of time is alien to many students who come from cultures, which do not focus on the use of time” (Masterson, Christophel, & Zitzmann, 1994, p. 48). Nelson and Pearson (1996) state:

Time ... has a different meaning to European Americans than it does to African Americans, largely because of their countries of origin. Europeans lived for centuries in harsh climates where timing of planting, cultivation, and harvest was a matter of life and death. Doing things ‘on time’ was of crucial importance to survival. Africans lived for thousands of years in places where food was simply picked, not planted or harvested, and where time was not crucial to survival. One of the results is a different mythos about time. Some Native Americans see time as renewable seasons with no real beginning and no real end. The Hopis have no word to designate time .... (p. T-9)

Teachers who are not aware of time and cultural differences often will reprimand students for tardiness to class and for turning in late assignments. Some students may arrive as late as “30 minutes for a 90-minute class” (Gibson, 2000, September 26) and then greet everyone with a handshake and/or kiss since “there are some cultures in which it is impolite NOT to greet everyone in a classroom, even if one is late” (Tillyer, 2001, March 3). Other times students will wait two or three weeks before submitting homework. Nonetheless, “punctuality is certainly de rigeur in English-speaking cultures, and we do our students a disservice by not making them aware of it. Lateness will mark them as rude, unreliable, and thoughtless, especially in business but also in school and social activities” (Tillyer, 2001, March 3).

Linguistics

Culture also shapes one's use of language. “It is important to remember that culture influences the way we use language” (Gamble & Gamble, 1998, p. 247). “There is a theory called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that explains differences among cultures by looking at the linguistic patterns of their languages” (Zeuschner, 1997, p. 103). This theory hypothesizes that people think within the linguistic patterns and boundaries of a language. These linguistic patterns may influence how an ESOL student uses verb tenses in English. For example, some languages such as Hindi use a continuing present tense more frequently than American English does, so an ESOL student may write something such as “I am wanting to learn English” when the simple present tense is the correct verb tense, “I want to learn English.”

Another serious problem for ESOL students is often pronunciation of mainstream American English. Pronunciation is not only a cognitive process, but also a physical one. Muscles in the mouth and throat need to be retrained to produce new and different sounds for the new language (Medlock Adams, 2001).

Often some students are strong on fluency, good at communicating and understanding English, while others find it hard to communicate and understand what is spoken in English. Therefore, it is important for instructors “to know something about ... student’s native languages and understand the reason for his/her errors” (Perez-Apple, 2001, p. 1).

In addition to influencing mental and physical processes, culture influences emotion. Gamble and Gamble (1998) say “culture is known to correlate with the amount of fear we experience about communicating in public. For example, many Japanese and Taiwanese are more apprehensive about communicating in public than are Americans. In contrast, Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, and Israelis and other Middle Eastern peoples are typically less apprehensive than Americans” (p. 26).

With regard to pronunciation, Spanish speakers often have trouble with English words that begin with “kn” or “wr” or “th” even with help. “The voiced 'th' (as in that) in English ... doesn’t exist as a phoneme in Spanish” (Donatello, May 27, 2001). Consequently, native speakers of Spanish may have difficulty mastering the voiced “th” in English.

Challenges for the Haitian Creole speaker that might impact intelligibility are the final syllable/final phrase stress pattern. This is so because “this pattern hinders pronunciation of: a) correct stress placement; b) correct pitch and intonation patterns; and is c) very distracting to the listener” (Perez-Apple, 2001, p. 1).

In a like manner, speakers of Slavic languages have a slightly different alphabet and a phonetic language that has each sound represented by a particular letter (Ginalska, April 1, 2001). English is not this way and poses problems for this culture. “Most Japanese do not see any differences among the s-sound, f-sound and th-sound. Japanese ears are not familiar with these sounds; just simply recognize they are the same sound,” says Hoshi (November 3, 2000).

Grammar

Regardless of students’ Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores, even those scores over 600, which are considered to signal high proficiency in English, ESOL students cannot write properly and clearly in English (Zhang, 1994). This is because grammar becomes “more important or less important depending upon a number of learner variables and instructional variables that each ESL teacher must consider” (Zhang, 1994, p. 1).

ESL college students belong to the category of adults with formal English instruction, and their purpose is to enter professional careers after graduation. Whether each ESL student sees himself in this way or no, all ESL students applying to colleges in the United States have to take a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of 500 in order to be accepted .... Such a score on TOEFL typically indicates that ESL students have learned English school grammar in their home countries. However, school grammar itself is far from enough to enable them to efficiently communicate in both written and spoken English in America. (Zhang, 1994, pp. 1-2)

The rules governing the use of articles require deep study for ESOL students while native speakers are unaware. Kohl (2000) says “the articles a, an, and the are difficult for many non-native speakers of English to learn properly. Some of the rules that govern article usage are very subtle; only years of experience with the language will enable you to understand and apply these rules” (p. 1). An ESOL speaker does not know that “the choice of a or an depends on pronunciation, not spelling” (Kohl, 2000, p. 6).

What motivates a non-native speaker to master some aspect of English is influenced by the non-native speaker's home culture. Spanish speaking students “make recurrent mistakes in their written papers. The most common are in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary choice” (Gilhooly, September 25, 2000). Tillyer (September 25, 2000) says these errors occur because students do not deem them important since “they have not been made aware of them in Spanish ... Spanish speakers respond positively to the notion of gaining respect and that if it is pointed out that sloppy writing will not gain the writer any respect, the Spanish learner will often go the extra mile to eliminate sloppy mistakes” (Tillyer, September 25, 2000). Consequently, teachers may get students to learn things by appealing to the values of their home cultures.

Spanish students are not alone in making grammatical errors. It seems that French students “can be quite good at presenting and organizing their ideas,” but “their essays are often marred by elementary mistakes in ‘spelling, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary choice,’” says Hanson (October 1, 2000).

In contrast, Jones (March 23, 2001) states that some Arab countries have varying educational traditions and “modern education is a relatively recent phenomena in Gulf countries. “By far the greatest challenge for them in writing is at the lexical/grammatical level.  They simply have neither the lexis nor the grammatical control that would allow them to write ‘acceptable’ English prose.”

Browne (March 20, 2001) says, “Arabic and Arabic-speaking students ... ” have three major problems with writing: 1) long-winded logic: Arabic rhetoric is indeed very circular, perhaps because repetition gives writers a chance to show off their ability to use the language. Verbosity is a highly respected characteristic in writing. Being concise, simple and clear is not .... 2) Lots of run-on sentences: Extremely long sentences are common because there is no terminal punctuation for sentences in Arabic. Sentences are separated by commas or the word ‘wa’ (and). Periods come at the end of paragraphs. 3) Lack of details: part of the reason that details are often lacking is that how you say something is perhaps more important than what you say ... writing is often an exercise in memorizing what the instructor said and putting it down on paper later on.

In addition, Tillyer (March 11, 2001) says,

Many students (many of them from China ... ) are speaking and writing almost incomprehensible English because they are trying too hard to write complex and sophisticated language. This problem stems from attitudes toward writing in the L1 [first language]. In many cultures in the world, meaning and clarity are subordinated to other considerations, such as elegance, complexity, the need to impress, and so on.

Gleeson (December 30, 2000) observed that other grammatical ESL errors include the use of more double negative expressions in writing than English grammar does such as in Japanese grammar. Also, Asian students in general tend to take a long time to finish writing a topic sentence as opposed to Europeans, and many “Chinese students have never written a poem before in any language” (Tibbetts, October 29, 2000) even though poetry is a useful tool to language teaching.

Furthermore, “Japanese education does not emphasize evaluation of long passages or essay-writing, students have a very poor understanding of how long passages go together” (Hanae, February 19, 2001). Consequently, this and other grammatical errors are “hangovers from the native language, and too big a gap in fluency between the two languages” (Hanae, November 11, 2000).

“Lacking knowledge of English etiquette, ESL students are sometimes hampered in their communication” (Zhang, 1994, p. 4). Richardson (March 2, 2001) points out,

If you think of how you learn English (if that is your native language), we spend years verbally before we ever begin to read, and then it’s another several years before we approach grammar and syntax. It’s just the opposite in most formal educational settings.

As for punctuation, Tillyer (March 11, 2001) writes, “that in some countries, students are being taught to use a small mark that is neither a real comma or a real period ... ” and " .... the tendency to put the punctuation midway between words, and the writing itself midway between the upper and lower lines comes from the preoccupation with symmetry, with appearance.” Tillyer (March 11, 2001) also says, “Asian students are obsessed with using justified margins. They like to make a symmetrical appearance to their computer writing ... ” even though “justified margins are a no-no in English for personal writing. ” According to Eyerman (September 25, 2000), “the Chinese language puts all punctuation in the middle of the line of writing, and also separates punctuation from characters with space on both sides.”

Nayar (March 30, 2001) discusses a different viewpoint on ESOL pedagogic issues such as differences in rhetorical organization. These issues are

... presented as learner weakness or learner inadequacy or learner incompetence rather than as attributes of the target language ... the issue is not that Arabs talk or write periphrastically ... but that the logic of formal English rhetoric, which is basically Aristotelian, may present difficulties to mind sets that use other equally valid logic and rhetorical patterns of presenting information to suit the communicative event or situation. (Nayar, March 30, 2001)

When instructors have ESL college students in a classroom, instructors need “to realize that the way adults learn a second language is quite different from the way we learn our native language while we are growing up ... ” (Zhang, 1994, p. 2). Adults learn differently than children and literacy skills are transferred from one language to another even though some items do not transfer well.

In general, educational institutions are providing support programs for ESL students in mainstream Language Arts classes. “Research indicates that it can take 5-7 years for Limited English Proficient students to fully develop their cognitive, academic skills in the new language. Students benefit most when the support teacher and the mainstream teacher work together ... things that aren’t in ... ” a " ... textbook are vitally important to non-native speakers” and difficult for them to understand (Fries & Christianson, 1999, pp 1-2). For example, aspects of English grammar such as modal verbs: will, may, can, must, and should. All in all, “LEP students many have difficulty comprehending texts because of cultural differences and limited language skills” (Fries & Christianson, 1999, p. 3).

Technology

“The information age dawned when Congress passed the Communications Act of 1934, calling for ‘universal service’ to ensure equitable access to communications technologies and introducing the concept of a ‘public interest’ in communications” (Kranich, 2001, p. 4). Despite this decree, research indicates that there is low income, rural, disabled, inner city and minority groups who do not have the same access to computers and access to telecommunications networks as the general public. This disparity is seen whether the population is rich and poor, English and Spanish speaking, old and young, immigrant or Native American (Kranich, 2001).

Sharpe (2001) states,

More English programs are being delivered via the Internet .... There are no statistics to tell us but we do know that 391 million people in the world currently have access to the Internet and that by 2003, the number will climb to 774 million people, an increase of almost 40 percent.” (pp. 45-46)

Nonetheless, educators who use the Web as an instructional tool or course enhancement need to “remember that the Web is a global medium. Readers may not speak English as a primary language, so ... ” avoiding “regional or cultural expressions” (Goldsborough, 1999, p. 6) is important for understanding a stated message. Therefore, when creating a website for educational use, there are key concepts that the instructor or designer should be concerned about in regards to the anticipated target audience (Sheridan & Simons, 2000).

Sheridan and Simons (2000) say when designing a website, be wary of symbols and images that may be misunderstood, inappropriate, and or culturally insulting for the average user, along with any links that might be offensive as well. “It is important to realize that when you create a link to someone else’s site you become associated with that site in the minds of those who travel to it from your page ...."

Then there is the issue of visuals and color. The icons on word processing taskbar are not understandable, so the icons indicating a file “does not look like a file folder in many parts to the world” (Sheridan & Simons, 2000 p. 2). Using fancy bullet points in text such as miniature six--pointed stars may be insulting to the Islamic world since to Islamic culture, it represents the Mogen David star (Sheridan & Simons, 2000). Likewise, colors should be used with caution, as some cultures are sensitive to certain colors and some color combinations and might react negatively to the colors usage (Sheridan & Simons, 2000).

Further, Sheridan and Simons (2000) recommend asking the following questions when designing a website:

What language(s) should a site appear in? English, whose English? There are more non-native speakers of English in the world than native ones .... Who’s it for? A site intended for more than one Anglophone culture, or for large members of ESL speakers needs to reign in extravagant words, idioms, slang, and turns of phrase. Similes and metaphors need to be examined for their intelligibility and appropriateness across cultures and languages .... Are technical terms explained if non-technical users will be in the audience? Are measuring systems explained or multiple systems employed, e.g., inches and centimeters? (pp. 2-3)

Cultural Issues in Education

In the U.S.A., “between 2000 and 2020 ... there will be 61 percent more Hispanic children, aged 14-17 ... ” and " ... the numbers of Asian/Pacific Islander, American India, and Alaskan Native children are projected to increase by 73 percent, while ... the number of White children is projected to decrease by 11 percent” (Diversity: Issues and Responses, 2000, p. 3). However, achieving English proficiency is not a requirement for high school graduation.

Some immigrant teens come to “the U.S school system with significant gaps in their schooling ... ” others " ...  may be oral proficient in English ... ” but " ... their reading and writing skills lag those of their student counterparts” (Chu Clewell & Ruiz-de-Velasco, 2001, p. 2). Further compounding the problem is when ESOL students enter higher education. ESOL students are isolated from “language development teachers, and the division of the day into 50-minute periods militate against the kind of individualized instruction students with special leaning needs may require” (Chu Clewell & Ruiz-de-Velasco, 2001, p. 2). Many times unfamiliar instructional practice leads to anxiety for ESL students. Research has shown that students’ feelings are tied to the ability to learn (Bassano, 1983, p. 1).

“More than 300 languages are spoken in America, and nearly 32 million people in the United States speak a language other than English while at home” (Gribbin, 2000, p. 7) while others live in communities where English is rarely heard or spoken. Spanish speaking cultures’ adolescents, Latinas, “learn to use support systems, be it their family, peers, or extended family, to guide them as role models. Teachers often replace the family support system ... ” (Hewlett-Gomez, 2000, p. 25). These varying concepts ultimately affect the effectiveness of the educational process in the United States for ESOL students in general. Higher education in the United States has been “engaged in an ongoing debate about how to best enroll, educate, and graduate students from groups historically underrepresented in higher education ... ” (Gross Davis, 2000, p. 1).

Another area of concern is accent reduction along with pronunciation problems. “Techniques of teaching pronunciation are often left out of TESOL methodology programs. Many ESL/EFL teachers have never taken a course in phonetics” (Rolle, October 25, 2000). Generally, the only problem associated with accent reduction is the ability to be understood by native speakers (or other non-natives) (Belletti, October 31, 2000). Nonetheless, “accent reduction is an important part of ... school. Company executives believe that an excessive foreign accent is distracting to clients (Houston, October 31, 2000).

Nevertheless, “experts agree that cultural diversity on the college campus presents numerous benefits” (La Fage, 1998, p. 5) to one and all. An understanding of cultures leads to academic success. “Colleges, universities, elementary and secondary schools must recognize the implications of a growing population of ethnically diverse students .... Adequate research and implementation of innovative programs will ... improve the overall quality of educational programs” in the United States (La Fage, 1998, pp. 8-9).

ESOL Learning Styles

Reid (1998) defines learning styles as “internally based characteristics, often not perceived or consciously used by learners, for the intake and comprehension of new information” (p. ix). Studies of ESL students’ learning styles have indicated “that learning type preferences are often influenced by culture ... ” and “teachers must become more aware of the reasons that their ESL students respond differently in class” (Reid, 1998, p. 109). In addition, Reid (1998) says “teachers must become sensitive to the difference between identifying typical behavior and preferences and over generalizing trends into stereotyping students according to widely held socio-cultural assumptions ... ” because “within a cultural group, variations among individuals are often as great as their commonalities” (p. xii).

“It has become common knowledge that the majority of international students learn through the lecture method” (Ladd, & Ruby, 1999, p. 2). However, a study conducted by Reid (1998) showed that ESOL learners had " ...  strong major learning style preferences for kinesthetic and tactile learning .... ESOL students from specific major fields often preferred specific learning styles (for example, engineering students preferred tactile learning, and students in the hard sciences preferred visual learning)” (p. 18). In addition, Reid (1998) found that “the longer ESOL students stay in the United States, the more their learning style preferences resemble the preferences of native English speakers” (p. 18).

Summary

In summary, the literature review suggests that key societal factors such as immigration trends in the United States are affecting education. This is especially evident in Florida where there is a growing Hispanic population among the original inhabitants who were mostly Anglos of European descent. Communities and businesses in Florida, as well as school districts and higher educational institutions, are adapting to the influx of Hispanics and other culturally diverse groups. Problems exist for students of diverse backgrounds that interfere with academic success, such as lack of English proficiency, cultural expectations, differences in linguistics, grammar and syntax, and etiquette, along with the use and availability of technology. Also, there are differences in learning styles for ESOL students from traditional students that need to be identified and addressed. Consequently, instructors need to be cognizant of ESOL barriers to classroom learning so students from diverse cultures can be academically successful.

References

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Richardson, D. M. (2001, March 2). Looking for like-minded learners. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, achieved at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Rolle, C. (2000, October 25). Failure of pronunciation drills. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, achieved at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Schnell, J. (2000, Spring). A comparison of faculty dominance in U. S. and South African University classrooms as it relates to cross-cultural relations. The Florida Communication Journal, 27(1 & 2) 93-104.

Sharpe, B. (2001, May/June). Bringing online courses into the ESL/EFL classroom. American Language Review, 45-46.

Sheridan, E. F., & Simons, G. F. (2000). Going global online: Monitoring your cultural presence in cyberspace. Retrieved January 19, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.webofculture.com/home/anaysis.htm.

Temes, M. (1994, December 5). The need for cross-cultural training for ESL teachers. Unpublished ELT 1 – Final Paper.

Tibbetts, D. (2000, October 29). Poetry. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, archived at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Tillyer, A. (2000, September 25). Culture. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, archived at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Tillyer, A. (2000, October 1). Misplaced students. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, archived at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Tillyer, A. (2001, March 3). How to adapt ESL students to American classroom behavior? Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, archived at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Tillyer, A. (2001, March 11). ESOL. Message posted to TESL electronic mailing list, archived at TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

Zeuschner, R. (1997). Communicating today (2^nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Zhang R. (1994, August 12 & 13). The role of grammar in the teaching of writing to ESL college students. Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Conference of the NCTE Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar. Norma: Illinois State University. Retrieved December 6, 2000 from: http://www2.pct.edu/courses/evara/ATEG/P5N18.HTM

Contact Diana Della Costa, Professor of Humanities, Communications, and Social Sciences.

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