Clashes Experienced by Alien Students in College

Clashes Experienced by Alien Students in College

Alien students usually encounter different challenges when they join universities or higher education institutions in general. These challenges are usually referred to as “clashes”, and they are grounded in the basic fact that these students are cultural outsiders. Bizzell suggests that students joining college or institutions of higher education experience three different clashes (Bizzell 1986, 1-15). Foremost amongst them, is the clash of languages; this, she argues, is due to the fact that Standard English is the academic language in most of such institutions. The second clash, which is perhaps a different way of looking at things, is more of discourse than of language, with the third one being a clash of cultural differences in the ways of thinking (Bizzell 1986, 2). Bizzell seems to agree with the third assertion the most, arguing that the clash between cultures and the world-views they bring is perhaps the most difficult to overcome, and constitutes the source of majority of the problems experienced (Bizzell 1986, 7). This essay argues that the mentioned clashes can be tied into a major one: a clash of cultural differences, as all the factors that contribute to the aforementioned clashes fall under culture.

The language clash is perhaps the most common argument to explain the problems non-traditional students experience when it comes to college life. Due to the fact that Standard English is widely accepted as the academic language, alien students are put in a difficult position where majority of their concentration goes towards language skills acquisition, rather than the real academic work (Bizzell 1986, 2). Opponents of this argument pose that it is possible for students to be able to express complex thought through the use of their own languages. Bizzell presents the argument that alien students should not be forced to learn Standard English, and that such lessons should be made optional. This would therefore mean that such students would be allowed to use their own dialects (Bizzell 1986, 3).

The second clashing issue is one of discourse forms and features of language, which is also widely discussed among scholars. As opposed to simply being an issue of language, it is more of a clash of how students organize their thoughts and arguments, not being acceptable in standard academic writing. This position is shared by Ann-Marie Priest, as she argues that most students, including her, usually struggle with the organization of academic papers, as, in most cases, they are repetitive and full of redundancies. She proceeds to argue that, even though it can be a challenge learning how to write proper academic papers, it is empowering and plays an important role in teaching students how to think (Anna-Marie 2012, n.p). This essentially means that there are certain “acceptable” forms of conveying academic thought, which would mean that learning this conventional discourse represents the only chance of achieving academic excellence. This would therefore serve to reaffirm the position held by the first approach: that Standard English is the only accepted academic language. There are however a few holes in this argument, as Anna-Marie Priest also confesses to struggling with writing essays, which would suggest that this issue not only affects basic writers, but also individuals with a good grasp of Standard English (Anna-Marie 2012, n.p).

This perhaps gives credence to the claims of Bizzell as well as a number of other scholars, that it should not be mandatory to learn Standard English. As perhaps teaching basic writers the discourse and reconciling the discourse convention differences would help solve the problem. This would allow alien students to effectively express complex thoughts in an academically acceptable form in their own language (Bizzell 1986, 6).

The third approach, used by Bizzell to explain the clash, is that there is a clash of thinking due to the various cultural differences that exist between alien students and the culture they are being asked to adopt. Their culture also serves to shape their world-view, which, in most cases, is different from the “universal”, academic one (Bizzell 1986, 6). In order for students to overcome this clash, it is necessary for them to learn the language and thus acquire a whole new world-view, a task that is not easily accomplished. Some scholars argue that since it is a cognitive problem, then cognitive psychology needs to be used to address the problem, through the use of cognitive models. Bizzell, however, disagrees with this notion, arguing that it would amount to stigmatization and ignore the obvious cultural differences that exist (Bizzell 1986, 7).

Northege agrees with this notion of different levels of understanding due to backgrounds and provides various challenges which may be encountered by basic writers. He argues that teaching should be structured in such a way that it does not stigmatize basic writers, but enables understanding at all levels instead. Northege supports development of unique identities within the given knowledge community, as opposed to forcing them to adopt a set identity (Northege 2003, 17-32). Bizzell also agrees with this argument and proposes to find a way to mediate between the basic writers’ world-view and the academic world-view to enable easier learning and eliminate the various clashes that exist (Bizzell 1986, 7).

Stephen Ranking in a lecture on “Communicating at University” also disagrees with the assertion that speech patterns and language usage should be used to measure intelligence, as they change depending on the social context (Ranking n.d, slides 1-52). This means that as long as the world-view is reconciled, it would be possible for basic writers to use their own language and discourse to achieve the same level of understanding. Effort should therefore not be spent for trying to teach the standard language, but rather used for shaping the student’s understanding and thinking, as well as grasping a standard structure provided to them to ensure that the manner in which they express these thoughts is consistent. In addition, Ranking suggests that there is a need to become bi-cultural in order to have a better understanding of the common world-view (Ranking n.d, slide 49).

In a certain way, the discussed clashes are related. Perhaps the most difficult to reconcile would be the cultural difference, as this would entail forcing a basic student to change the way of thinking, understanding or reasoning, a task that would already be difficult without having to adopt a new language altogether. It therefore starts with a clash of dialects, then of discourse and the features of language, which serve to provide two different sets of world-views, making it difficult for basic writers to fit in. They are thus left playing catch up for the majority of their academic life. In order to avoid the clashes, it is perhaps necessary for the students to be taught to reconcile the differences in ways of thinking and become bi-cultural.

---

 

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH GRADE VALLEY TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT

---

The post Clashes Experienced by Alien Students in College appeared first on Brook Writers.

Welcome to originalessaywriters.com, our friendly and experienced essay writers are available 24/7 to complete all your assignments. We offer high-quality academic essays written from scratch to guarantee top grades to all students. All our papers are 100% plagiarism-free and come with a plagiarism report, upon request

Tell Us “Write My Essay for Me” and Relax! You will get an original essay well before your submission deadline.