Composition: History & Theory: 1950 - 1959
Foreign Students
Description
After War World II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a contest to promote their opposing ideologies- Communism and Liberal Democracy. The attention of the whole world was brought to the emergence of technologies of those leading players and many students from all around the world headed toward these two superpowers to pursue their education ( Duke 51). Furthermore, The War Brides Act that was issued in 1946 facilitated the immigration of foreign-born wives, fiancés, husbands, and children of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, which resulted in an increase in the number of immigrants to the U.S in the late forties and early fifties (Foley 71). Some of the challenges that foreign students and immigrants who joined the universities faced in the 1950s include: the language barrier, problem of accents, inability to follow lectures, difficulty in adjusting to their new conditions, and maintaining their legal status in the country by doing satisfactory work in their study, according to immigrant laws (Madeleine 52). These challenges not only affected their emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being, but also their academic progress, as most of their cultural ties were left behind in their countries.
The revival of rhetoric did not only influence native speakers in freshman composition courses, but also foreign students. Discussion, argumentation and debate of philosophical and abstract themes were among the activities that foreign students had to master (Gibian 159). The effect of General Semantics that was common in teaching freshman composition in the fifties was also apparent in the teaching of foreign students (Berlin 97). For example, teachers held individual conferences with students to find out their individual needs and adjust their progress accordingly (Gibian 158). Furthermore, the influence of communication studies in freshman composition is obvious in teaching foreign students by focusing on speaking, listening, and reading. It emphasized cooperation rather than competition. For instance, students listed the errors in grammar and pronunciation of other students so as to share them in class and learn from these mistakes. As for the emphasis of linguistics, many scholars called for a linguist to teach foreign students. It was believed that “someone with linguistic training” would be the best person to teach English to foreign students because of his awareness of grammatical issues and his ability to analyze and diagnose language differences (Ives 143). Having a friendly approach is also among the qualifications of a good instructor. The instructor’s role was not purely academic; he was also an advisor and a counselor. With grammar, linguistics, reading, writing and listening dominating the teaching of composition classes, it’s only logical that teaching English for foreign students followed the same guidelines.
Only a few scholars in the 1950s were concerned with the difficulties that foreign students faced while studying in the United States, which explains the few number of articles found while browsing the two major journals in the field. This section consists of information presented in two articles from College English and six articles from CCCC that belong to this period.
An English Class for Foreign Students
The scholars of these journals commonly called for placing all foreign students in an English class that suits their needs. Scholars believed that having foreign students in a class of English-speaking students wasted the time of native speakers and focused the attention on the limitations of foreign students (Madeleine 52). Being away from their homes and socially shut out because of the language barrier, Sumner Ives and other scholars advised foreign students to seek English-speaking friends and to stay in a dormitory so as to interact more with native speakers, and consequently, improve their language competency (144).
In 1955, the participants in the Foreign Student in the Freshman Course workshop agreed on the following: 1) There was no satisfactory way to know in advance the English competency for foreign students which caused a problem for the student and the instructor. 2) The study load should be adjusted to the student’s competency in English. 3) Teachers should be bilingual or native speakers and use simple language with foreign students.4) Teaching grammar for foreign students was a must. 5) Teachers should avoid symbols in correcting papers. 6) Teachers were urged to use audio-visual aid in their classes. Tape recorders and hectograph machines were among the aids used in classrooms.7) The elementary level approach should be oral, followed by writing. The focus at that time in the English class was on “oral reading and writing composition” (Madeleine 51). As for textbooks, Judd’s Exercise in English for Foreign Students was one of the most common books to be taught for foreign students at that time.
According to George Gibian, the Harvard regular class routine for foreign students included: reading texts, oral reports where a student gives a summary of an article and the classmates make lists of his/her grammatical and pronunciation errors, reading idioms, exercise on the use of prepositions, word order, verb tenses, voice recording (playing back students’ voices and identifying errors), spelling activities, and practice in methods of debate and argumentation. In addition, teachers met with foreign students individually outside the classroom (159). These are some of the subjects assigned for foreign students at Harvard to write about: Why is Europe on the whole poorer than the United States? A precise account of either (1) an Ice- cream soda, (2) traffic jam, or (3) why coffee with sugar is better than coffee without sugar? What makes a man a great man? What should I like to improve in my English? (158).
Pulled Quotes:
- “The teacher can make this easier by taking up a few of the language formulas in polite usage; however, the student should be warned against drains in his time arising from the interest in his country of outside organizations” (Foreign 189).
- “I have explained immigration forms and passages in the catalogue as well as sentences in economics textbooks, and I have told students the polite formulas used among cultured people” (Ives 144).
- “Each student translated his own national anthem into English without use of dictionary (Gibian 159).
Samples of Foreign Students’ Writing:
My first days in America past with a few interesting things. The first day in school I was to the library. For one minute I was doing nothing only to look at the silence of the stodying students. I was glad to see a so rich library. Then something live moved behind me. It was a teacher. She ask me probably what I look for but I did no understand, so I said “No.” By her sad face I know she thought me deaf, so I laugh, and she look more sad. Then I said I am a foreign student, and she laugh and said where I was from. So we had a very interesting discuss. When I return to class I am still laughing because funny things happen in education (Madeleine 52).
“I am now four weeks in America. I thought I shall never be able to understand an American man to speak” (Madeleine 50).
One beautiful summer day a young gentleman was lying near the bank of a river and was enjoying the field’s fresh air. He heard a crackle near him. He jumped on his foot and saw the roaring bull coming to him. He ran to a near house, but the house’s doors were closed. Is no time to stand and think for bull is very angry. Now to jump in the river, it is nothing else to do. The bull scraped the earth with his anger. He knew that the young gentleman was soon to come out of the water. To stay in the water is too cold and to reach the other side is not possible, but the young gentleman thought of one trick. He dived under the water and the hat which was on the head left itself on top of the water. The bull looked at the hat and followed her going on the bank, So the young gentleman saved himself from the big danger. It has been so with me in college. In the beginning the English was a bull which almost destroid me. This class was the river. Maybe I still make mistakes but I know how to save myself (Madeleine 50).
Works Cited
- Berlin, James. Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985. Carbondale: SIUP, 1987. Print.
- Dukes, Paul. “Reading History: The Cold War.” History Today 34 (1984): 51-52. Web. 26 Jan. 2009.
- Foley, Judie. “From Liverpool to Cut Bank: The Story of Montana War Bride Ruth Poore Batchen.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History. 54.3 (2004):71-73. Web. 26 Jan. 2009.
- “The Foreign Student in the Freshman Course: The Report of Workshop No.8” College Composition and Communication 6.3 (1955): 138-140. Web. 24 Jan. 2009.
- Gibian, George. “College English for Foreign Students.” College English 13.3 (1951): 157-160. Web. 24 Jan. 2009.
- Ives, Sumner. “Help for the Foreign Student.” College Composition and Communication 4.4 (1953): 141-144. Web. 24 Jan. 2009.
- Madeleine, Mary. “English for Foreign Students.” College English 15.1 (1953): 50-52. Web. 22 Jan. 2009.
Date of Upload
3/14/09