Frustration with non-native speakers

Something that caught my attention from this case study was the frustration most international students discovered. Although all of these students appeared to be different, with different backgrounds, they all seemed to suffer some of the same irritations. After reading this case study and analyzing the outcomes, in what ways do these international students face frustration with writing?

Most international students make the decision to come to the US for new challenges and opportunities, however they do not truly know what lies ahead of them until they come and experience it. “All students report some degree of culture and academic “shock” upon entrance to the university as undergraduate students.” One student says she went from almost no writing to having to write something every week. I know this would be very frustrating for me, a drastic change. Unfortunately this decreased their confidence in writing.

This case study did show the differences these students faced such as language differences, writing style differences, and cultural differences. Language differences are a common issue among the students. Most used English as their second language. Coming into a world that speaks only English in a classroom would be frustrating at times. Frequent issues happen with language and the use of language in everyday conversation. Some of these students use different languages for communication purposes. They might use one language when talking to family and friends and another when in the classroom. One student found herself trying to defend her use of a word that was correct in South Africa but now did not exist in the US. She says, “It shattered my already meager confidence.” Her use of language, even if in English, is marked as different. Another student had discovered new terms in English that she could not translate in her own language, Romanian.

Some students expressed frustration with writing styles. For some, styles from their home country are drastically different from the styles in the US. One student found that some writing in Spanish does not have the same sentence construction in English. “In limiting the writing styles accepted in the university, students become frustrated.” Universities assume these students will just adapt to the writing style and structure of the university. If only countries would get together and come up with a consensus on a writing structure for all. I have much respect for international students. Coming into a new country with the norms being completely different from that of their homeland must be difficult.