'University too easy on teaching in English'

Utrecht University puts too little emphasis on teachers lecturing in English, report three staff members of teacher training institute IVLOS. Secondary schools offering bilingual education can serve as an example. The three IVLOS staff members argue that the so-called basic and senior teaching qualifications, the BKO and SKO respectively, should include quality standards. These should not centre on the language proficiency of teachers, but on their didactic skills to teach in English, to support students in improving their English and to be able to function effectively in an intercultural context . Annemieke Meijer, Rick de Graaff and Gerrit Jan Koopman study the didactics of teaching in English. Apart from that, Meijer also offers a course for university teachers lecturing in English, Koopman is involved in the English-taught teacher training course U-TEACh, and De Graaff mainly carries out research into Content and Language Integrated Learning, which focuses on learning a language in its context of real use. The IVLOS experts are amazed that secondary schools offering bilingual education are far more dynamic than universities. Whereas secondary schools guarantee the quality of English-taught subjects by for instance assessments and quality marks, the universities wrongly assume that their teachers – who are after all internationally operating researchers – and students are sufficiently proficient in English. 'NOWADAYS, STUDENTS ARE OFTEN BETTER AT ENGLISH THAN THEIR TEACHERS' According to Meijer, the Executive Board of Utrecht University is not fully aware of this problem. "Nowadays, students are often better at English than their teachers, which makes them very critical. In their eyes, a teacher with a Dutch accent is a bad teacher. Once, a student told me: 'I know that he is a very intelligent man, but sometimes I find that hard to believe because of his poor command of English.' Similar critique can be heard within the context of international research. Although it is all about perception, this problem should not be ignored." The preliminary results of a study into the experiences of Arts and Humanities’ teachers lecturing in English also pose a cause for concern, she says. "Not only do teachers indicate that they are less flexible and find it hard to be funny in English, they also feel that the quality of their teaching is compromised. They simplify the subject matter or give group lectures, because they do not feel confident in tutorials." 'IT IS A WASTED OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BUILD UPON BILINGUAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS' Her colleague Rick de Graaff points out that one of the tasks of university education is to improve the English language proficiency of students. "What is happening at the moment is that Dutch and English usage at an academic level is among the educational goals of university programmes, but that this is not included in the curriculum and not tested at all. Programmes do not know how to attain this goal and teachers claim not to be qualified to guide and assess students. In Anglo-Saxon countries much more emphasis is placed on, for instance, academic writing skills." That is why the three experts are in favour of including English-taught subjects in undergraduate programmes which pay attention to developing academic communication skills. Meijer: "There is a sharp transition between the undergraduate programmes, which contain no or hardly any English-taught courses, and the graduate programmes, which are often entirely offered in English." Koopman: "Moreover, it is such a wasted opportunity not to build upon the sound basis that has been developed at bilingual secondary schools." For a long time, Utrecht University intended to include an English language proficiency test in the BKO (Basic Teaching Qualification). This intention, which was also included in the Strategic Plan, was presented to Education Minister Plasterk, who upon the request of Member of Parliament Bosma had to report which measures universities were taking to improve the English language skills of their teachers. However, a university work group which recently dug into the implementation of the teaching qualifications advised against this proficiency test on the ground that a sound grasp of English is not required for teachers who do not lecture in English. The old condition - "the teacher is capable of expressing himself in the common language" – was maintained. Furthermore, as graduate students in internal assessments consider the English language skills of their teachers to be adequate, Utrecht University, which is moreover forced to cut its spending, has not put English language proficiency testing high on the agenda. Faculties are free, however, to carry out any testing they think necessary. Obligatory courses for all lecturers at Utrecht University as part of the BKO are out of the question, says the Academic Affairs Office in a response to the statements of the IVLOS staff members. After all, the BKO is a portfolio which demonstrates that lecturers possess the required qualifications. According to the Academic Affairs Office the programme, and not the Executive Board, determines which qualifications are needed. 'LECTURING IN ENGLISH IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM PRESENTING IN ENGLISH' The IVLOS staff members say that other universities do apply quality standards, some even provide obligatory support. De Graaff: "As the goal of English-taught courses is to prepare our students for an international English-speaking academic environment and as we strive to recruit students from abroad, we have no other option than to help teachers to deal with it and to enable them to support their students." The three experts believe that a proficiency test in itself will not have the desired effect. De Graaff: "It will give teachers a B2 level or higher, but that does not mean that they can offer tutorials to groups of students with varying levels or cultural backgrounds. Lecturing in English is quite different from writing a paper or presenting in English. It requires different skills." He favours the introduction in the BKO and SKO of an obligatory module which obliges teachers to demonstrate that they have given courses and guided students in English. Gerrit Jan Koopman remembers that secondary schools suffered similar problems in the early days of bilingual teaching. "Many 15 and 16-year old pupils spoke better English than their fifty-year old teacher would ever have been able to. We learnt that courses focusing on the didactics of learning a foreign language in combination with increasing their subject knowledge was far more effective than language courses. Teachers became increasingly self-confident, were more capable of helping their pupils and their work satisfaction improved." Meijer has woven these experiences into a university training: "I always advise university lecturers to put their cards on the table and to tell their students that they are in a very awkward situation, lecturing at the highest level there is in the Netherlands, in a language which is not their mother tongue and to students who often have different mother tongues." 'WHY JUDGE TEACHERS OF PORTUGUESE BY THE SAME CRITERIA' In a response to the call of the IVLOS staff members the Faculty of Science reports that improving the English language skills of their teachers and students is very important to them. However, the Faculty Board is not favourably disposed towards imposing generic obligatory measures, but supports the availability of proper facilities and increasing the demand for supporting instruments and methods. This year, for instance, the ‘Academic English for undergraduates’ course was offered for the first time. Teachers contributed to the course. The survey results are very positive and the faculty has decided to continue the course. According to Deputy Dean Peter Coopmans of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities it is nothing more than logical that the Executive Board says that the responsibility for the English language skills of the teachers rests with the faculties. He refers to the Language Code of Conduct which has been in force since 2004 and which states that the Dean ensures that the faculty employees have "appropriate language skills ". "This raises the question which skills are considered to be appropriate. I assume that this has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and must be discussed between the employees and their superiors. Which skills are required and which skills do employees already master? Teachers who are involved in an English-taught research master must be able to lecture and guide their students in English. If they are not able to do so, that should be discussed. But why should teachers of Portuguese, who have nothing or little to do with English, be judged by the same criteria?" Coopmans is thinking along the same lines when he discusses the wish to teach undergraduate courses in English. "If it is the obvious thing to do, for instance when preparing students for a research master, then by all means do so. But in many cases, communicating in English at an academic level is far less relevant, even in the graduate phase.” "We must be careful not to hamper our students by providing all teaching in English. Students who come from a bilingual secondary school have a very good command of English, but I have also noticed that many students prefer to ask their questions in Dutch during a lecture in English."XB

Artikel
on 28/04/2010

Utrecht University puts too little emphasis on teachers lecturing in English, report three staff members of teacher training institute IVLOS. Secondary schools offering bilingual education can serve as an example.

The three IVLOS staff members argue that the so-called basic and senior teaching qualifications, the BKO and SKO respectively, should include quality standards. These should not centre on the language proficiency of teachers, but on their didactic skills to teach in English, to support students in improving their English and to be able to function effectively in an intercultural context .

Annemieke Meijer, Rick de Graaff and Gerrit Jan Koopman study the didactics of teaching in English. Apart from that, Meijer also offers a course for university teachers lecturing in English, Koopman is involved in the English-taught teacher training course U-TEACh, and De Graaff mainly carries out research into Content and Language Integrated Learning, which focuses on learning a language in its context of real use.

The IVLOS experts are amazed that secondary schools offering bilingual education are far more dynamic than universities. Whereas secondary schools guarantee the quality of English-taught subjects by for instance assessments and quality marks, the universities wrongly assume that their teachers – who are after all internationally operating researchers – and students are sufficiently proficient in English.

'NOWADAYS, STUDENTS ARE OFTEN BETTER AT ENGLISH THAN THEIR TEACHERS'

According to Meijer, the Executive Board of Utrecht University is not fully aware of this problem. "Nowadays, students are often better at English than their teachers, which makes them very critical. In their eyes, a teacher with a Dutch accent is a bad teacher. Once, a student told me: 'I know that he is a very intelligent man, but sometimes I find that hard to believe because of his poor command of English.' Similar critique can be heard within the context of international research. Although it is all about perception, this problem should not be ignored."

The preliminary results of a study into the experiences of Arts and Humanities’ teachers lecturing in English also pose a cause for concern, she says. "Not only do teachers indicate that they are less flexible and find it hard to be funny in English, they also feel that the quality of their teaching is compromised. They simplify the subject matter or give group lectures, because they do not feel confident in tutorials."

'IT IS A WASTED OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BUILD UPON BILINGUAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS'

Her colleague Rick de Graaff points out that one of the tasks of university education is to improve the English language proficiency of students. "What is happening at the moment is that Dutch and English usage at an academic level is among the educational goals of university programmes, but that this is not included in the curriculum and not tested at all. Programmes do not know how to attain this goal and teachers claim not to be qualified to guide and assess students. In Anglo-Saxon countries much more emphasis is placed on, for instance, academic writing skills."

That is why the three experts are in favour of including English-taught subjects in undergraduate programmes which pay attention to developing academic communication skills. Meijer: "There is a sharp transition between the undergraduate programmes, which contain no or hardly any English-taught courses, and the graduate programmes, which are often entirely offered in English." Koopman: "Moreover, it is such a wasted opportunity not to build upon the sound basis that has been developed at bilingual secondary schools."

For a long time, Utrecht University intended to include an English language proficiency test in the BKO (Basic Teaching Qualification). This intention, which was also included in the Strategic Plan, was presented to Education Minister Plasterk, who upon the request of Member of Parliament Bosma had to report which measures universities were taking to improve the English language skills of their teachers.

However, a university work group which recently dug into the implementation of the teaching qualifications advised against this proficiency test on the ground that a sound grasp of English is not required for teachers who do not lecture in English. The old condition - "the teacher is capable of expressing himself in the common language" – was maintained.

Furthermore, as graduate students in internal assessments consider the English language skills of their teachers to be adequate, Utrecht University, which is moreover forced to cut its spending, has not put English language proficiency testing high on the agenda. Faculties are free, however, to carry out any testing they think necessary.

Obligatory courses for all lecturers at Utrecht University as part of the BKO are out of the question, says the Academic Affairs Office in a response to the statements of the IVLOS staff members. After all, the BKO is a portfolio which demonstrates that lecturers possess the required qualifications. According to the Academic Affairs Office the programme, and not the Executive Board, determines which qualifications are needed.

'LECTURING IN ENGLISH IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM PRESENTING IN ENGLISH'

The IVLOS staff members say that other universities do apply quality standards, some even provide obligatory support. De Graaff: "As the goal of English-taught courses is to prepare our students for an international English-speaking academic environment and as we strive to recruit students from abroad, we have no other option than to help teachers to deal with it and to enable them to support their students."

The three experts believe that a proficiency test in itself will not have the desired effect. De Graaff: "It will give teachers a B2 level or higher, but that does not mean that they can offer tutorials to groups of students with varying levels or cultural backgrounds. Lecturing in English is quite different from writing a paper or presenting in English. It requires different skills." He favours the introduction in the BKO and SKO of an obligatory module which obliges teachers to demonstrate that they have given courses and guided students in English.

Gerrit Jan Koopman remembers that secondary schools suffered similar problems in the early days of bilingual teaching. "Many 15 and 16-year old pupils spoke better English than their fifty-year old teacher would ever have been able to. We learnt that courses focusing on the didactics of learning a foreign language in combination with increasing their subject knowledge was far more effective than language courses. Teachers became increasingly self-confident, were more capable of helping their pupils and their work satisfaction improved."

Meijer has woven these experiences into a university training: "I always advise university lecturers to put their cards on the table and to tell their students that they are in a very awkward situation, lecturing at the highest level there is in the Netherlands, in a language which is not their mother tongue and to students who often have different mother tongues."

'WHY JUDGE TEACHERS OF PORTUGUESE BY THE SAME CRITERIA'

In a response to the call of the IVLOS staff members the Faculty of Science reports that improving the English language skills of their teachers and students is very important to them. However, the Faculty Board is not favourably disposed towards imposing generic obligatory measures, but supports the availability of proper facilities and increasing the demand for supporting instruments and methods. This year, for instance, the ‘Academic English for undergraduates’ course was offered for the first time. Teachers contributed to the course. The survey results are very positive and the faculty has decided to continue the course.

According to Deputy Dean Peter Coopmans of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities it is nothing more than logical that the Executive Board says that the responsibility for the English language skills of the teachers rests with the faculties. He refers to the Language Code of Conduct which has been in force since 2004 and which states that the Dean ensures that the faculty employees have "appropriate language skills ".

"This raises the question which skills are considered to be appropriate. I assume that this has to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and must be discussed between the employees and their superiors. Which skills are required and which skills do employees already master? Teachers who are involved in an English-taught research master must be able to lecture and guide their students in English. If they are not able to do so, that should be discussed. But why should teachers of Portuguese, who have nothing or little to do with English, be judged by the same criteria?"

Coopmans is thinking along the same lines when he discusses the wish to teach undergraduate courses in English. "If it is the obvious thing to do, for instance when preparing students for a research master, then by all means do so. But in many cases, communicating in English at an academic level is far less relevant, even in the graduate phase.”

"We must be careful not to hamper our students by providing all teaching in English. Students who come from a bilingual secondary school have a very good command of English, but I have also noticed that many students prefer to ask their questions in Dutch during a lecture in English."

XB

Tags: academisch onderwijs | ivlos

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