Discussing Lingua Franca And Communication Issues Faced By International Students In Melbourne Colleges

Question:

Discuss About The Lingua Franca In International University?

In the recent time, traffic of international students in different countries has increased in huge extent. This is due to the reason that, with the increase in the career opportunities and diversity in the courses, more colleges are attracting students from different countries. However, in the recent time, it is being seen that the number of the students opting for international courses are majorly from the developing countries and the countries, which are not having English as their main language (Braine 2013). Thus, students are facing the problem of communication due to their lack of knowledge in English.

This essay will discuss about the issues being faced by the international students in terms of English speaking skills in studying in the colleges in Melbourne. Moreover, this essay will also discuss about the solution process in accordance to this issue using the Schamar’s 7r’s framework.

Melbourne is one of the attractive destinations for the students from all around the world due to the presence of good number management universities. The figure given below is showing the increasing trend of student immigration in Australia.

However, the major portion of the students opting for studies in Melbourne is not having strong knowledge and communication skills in English. This is due to the reason that, majority of the students are coming from the Asian regions where English is not the national language (Pennycook 2017). This issue is creating challenge for the international students in their stay in Melbourne. The mode of study in these colleges is English along with the mode of communication is also English. Therefore, these international students are in the urgent need of some sort of solutions in improving their English. The need is considered as urgent due to the reason that, their daily livings and the studies are all depending on their knowledge on English language (Jenkins 2013)

It is suggested that updated technology should be used in order to overcome the identified issue. The suggested solution is an availability of online app that will provide English speaking skill and assistance to the international students (Pareja-Lora et al. 2013). The app will be designed in coordination with the teachers from number of colleges in Melbourne. Inputs from the teachers will be beneficial in designing the app due to the reason that teachers are having the exact idea about what type of communication and language issues are being faced by the international students. Moreover, the app will also have the live portal between the teachers and the students in order to enable the students in meeting their queries at any point of time and from their convenience (Yang 2013).

Another key feature of this app will be the translation facility. This is important due to the reason that inputs from the teachers will not help the students in communicating in their daily life. In that case, the translation option will help the students translating their mother tongue in English instantly. Online app is being suggested over the traditional English speaking classes due to the reason that, in the current scenario, nearly all the students are having Smartphone and it will be easier and convenient to use the app in their mobile devices (Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2015). In addition, it is also to be noted that majority of the international student works as part time in order to earn their daily living. Thus, it will be difficult for them in attending the spoken English class in regular basis with addition to their college schedule. Thus, the app will serve as holistic solutions for the international students in improving their English skills (Wang, Teng and Chen 2015)

Solution process using Schamar's 7r's framework

Schamar’s 7R’s model will be used in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested solutions. This model or framework will help in classifying the innovative ideas and the level of innovation being involved in the solution. This will help to conclude the extent to which the discussed idea is innovative in nature and it will serve the purpose. The following sections will discuss about each of the elements of the framework in relation to the English speaking and assistance app.

This element refers to the effectiveness of the idea in serving the core or basic purpose or issue. In this case, the core issue is the lack of English speaking and communicating ability among the international students. Thus, the core aspiration of the students is to have a portable assistance service, which will assists them in improving their English communication skills. Revolutionary

The idea can be considered as game changer due to the reason that, currently there are various apps available in the market for the students but they are having holistic benefits as this one. The currently available apps are mainly serving as learning materials and expert interactions in relation to the subject. But the concept of the discussed idea will revolutionize the existing scenario by providing instant solutions to the language issues. This will enable the students to deal with the daily communication issues of the international students.

The discussed idea can be implemented rapidly and fast. This is due to the reason that, application development is much easier in the current time with the help of various expert software developers. Moreover, with the rapid popularity of Smartphone and app markets, it will not be difficult for the students to get access to the app.

The idea can be implemented in small scale as a pilot project on certain number of students in Melbourne. This will help to determine the effectiveness of the app in serving the key objectives. Upon successful evaluation, it can be promoted in large scale. It can also be done locally due to the reason that, there are number of apps such as ABC and Pocket Book, which are only based in Australia. Thus, the discussed idea can also be implemented locally. Moreover, the cost will also be lower due to the reason that majority of the popular and most productive apps in Australia are free of cost. This app will also be offered as free of cost. Revenue will be generated from the advertisements in the apps.

The key objective of the discussed idea is to provide the instant solution to the students in order to help them in dealing with the daily communication issues. On the other hand, the presence of online portal and learning materials will help to improve the English skills of the students. Thus, it can be concluded that this idea is addressing the right issues of improving their English skills for their studies and meeting the daily communication needs in order to stay in Melbourne.

The more inputs of the teachers will be used in the process, the more will be the effectiveness of the app. This is due to the reason that input from the teachers will be helpful in guiding the students in improving their English skills. On the other hand, the more teachers will get involved in the project, the more will be the effectiveness of the online learning portal in the app. Thus, the idea is effective and is in the process of optimum use of the resources.

The idea is having the potential to replicate in large scale. In that case, the project for the students in Melbourne can be considered as pilot project. The app can be added with more subjects other than just English and can be targeted in other areas also. Addition of more languages will help to reach out to larger section of the society.

Conclusion

This essay discussed about the issues of English communication skills being faced by the international students in studying in the Melbourne. In addition to this, this essay also discussed about an effective solutions, which will have both short term and long term impact for the students. A mobile app is being suggested in this essay, which will help the students to meet their daily communication requirements as well as learning English. The effectiveness of the solution is being evaluated with the help of Schamar’s 7R’s framework.

Reference

Braine, G. ed., 2013. Non-native educators in English language teaching. Routledge.

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Zosh, J.M., Golinkoff, R.M., Gray, J.H., Robb, M.B. and Kaufman, J., 2015. Putting education in “educational” apps: lessons from the science of learning. psychology Science in the Public Interest, 16(1), pp.3-34.

Internationaleducation.gov.au. (2018). International Student Data 2016. [online] Available at: https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/Pages/InternationalStudentData2016.aspx [Accessed 12 Mar. 2018].

Jenkins, J., 2013. English as a lingua franca in the international university: The politics of academic English language policy.

Pareja-Lora, A., Arús-Hita, J., Martín Monje, E., Read, T., Pomposo Yanes, L., Rodríguez Arancón, P., Calle Martínez, C. and Bárcena, E., 2013, September. Toward Mobile Assisted Language Learning apps for professionals that integrate learning into the daily routine. In Proceedings of EUROCALL (Vol. 20, pp. 206-210).

Pennycook, A., 2017. The cultural politics of English as an international language. Taylor & Francis.

Wang, B.T., Teng, C.W. and Chen, H.T., 2015. Using iPad to facilitate English vocabulary learning. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 5(2), p.100.

Yang, J., 2013. Mobile assisted language learning: review of the recent applications of emerging mobile technologies. English Language Teaching, 6(7), p.19.