International students: information literacy or academic literacy?

Abstract

Western universities continue to attract large numbers of international students. But we have not always understood their information literacy needs, which go much deeper than lack of facility with English and into the realm of educational philosophy. In order to enable international students to experience the education our universities are promising them, we need to develop integrated training programs that move beyond the basics of information literacy to what might be called "academic literacy." Librarians are in a unique position to initiate the development of such programs.

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The Challenge Of International Students

Every year Western universities invite hundreds of thousands of students from countries around the globe to study at their institutions. In the United States alone, the numbers have grown from 154,580 in 1974 to 366,359 in 1988 to 547,867 in 2001. Half are undergraduate students and half graduate. Some 54% come from Asia, 15% from Europe, and the rest are from every part of the world. [1] While it is clear that these students often need considerable help to manage their information needs in our setting, the aid they are receiving in many institutions tends to be sparse.

"Information literacy" has become a growing concern, especially since the release of the ACRL guidelines. It is commonly assumed that international students, as their English improves, can be made information literate using the same methods we undertake with our own students. That assumption, however, may be considerably short-sighted in light of the struggles such students face. On top of the easily identifiable issues of difficulty with the English language, unfamiliarity with our library systems, lack of comfort with technology, and tendency toward plagiarism, are obstacles that have to do with these students' very philosophies of life.

It is the contention of this paper that academics, beginning with librarians, need to be in the forefront of initiating programs that lead international students through information literacy into what may be called "academic literacy," that is, skill at using information within a Western academic setting. The barriers faced by international students in assimilating into Western academia are too complex to be overcome by the training we normally offer our own students.

Informational Struggles Of International Students

A number of studies have identified the following as key challenges for international students: English language hearing and speaking, library systems and technology, Western academic culture, and research and writing. Let us consider each in turn.

English language, particularly in the categories of hearing and speaking

Most international students have taken English language courses that focused on written rather than spoken use of the language. [2] They may pass the TOEFL but not be able to understand a classroom discussion. [3] International students regularly complain that Westerners speak too fast, using too many colloquialisms, idioms, and technical terms. On the other hand, professors who over-compensate by speaking too slowly or raising their voices are not appreciated either. [4]

International students often find themselves needing to ask a question but lacking the language skills to formulate it properly or to process the answer that is provided. For some, this means that the question never gets asked because the fear of appearing ignorant is stronger than the need to know. For others it means that the question is repeated endlessly in various forms until the answer becomes clear. [5]

This struggle with English is a foundational problem. It permeates all aspects of an international student's quest for information literacy, from taking notes in the classroom, to asking directions in the library, to the kinds of database searches that are done, to papers that are written. [6]

Library Systems and Technology

Compounding the struggle with aural and spoken English is the intimidation of library systems that are often radically different from those found in non-Western universities. The international student will generally be familiar with smaller collections, restrictive regulations on library use (including closed stacks, censorship, limited borrowing privileges, and so on), different classification systems and limited technology (though more and more non-Western students now have good computer skills).

Some of these difficulties can be easily addressed by basic training. Jiao and Onwuegbuzie found that mechanical barriers (equipment and technology) created the highest level of library anxiety among international students, followed by personal feelings of inadequacy in using library resources. [7] Neither these, nor the other factors they listed appear to require more than a few library skills seminars to overcome. Yet appearances can be deceiving.

Zoe and DiMartino report that while 85% of respondents in their study saw themselves as computer literate and had done online or CD-ROM searching, there was a wide disparity in reported level of satisfaction with results between native-speakers of English and non-native. Among those who spoke English as a first language, 67% reported satisfaction with the results of their database searching. Among those whose native language was not English, only 38% reported satisfaction with search results. Non-native speakers of English had most difficulty with search strategy, which in a full text database like LEXIS/NEXIS revealed problems with choosing and manipulating the proper terminology to produce good results. Lack of facility with English showed itself dramatically in struggles over obtaining useful materials from the database. [8] International students, even with training, often require help at critical moments when their research progress is blocked by their limited familiarity with Western systems. This creates a challenge for reference librarians and public services staff, because the questions asked may be many, frequent and difficult to understand. While librarians tend to be patient and helpful, the language/cultural barriers exist, and international students may see themselves being viewed as "invisible thorns in the flesh." [9] A single rebuff, or even an impression of unfriendliness given, will often render an international student silent just when questions most need to be asked.

Western Academic Culture

For many international students, the mentoring/discipleship model of education is the only one they have known. In this system, the teacher is a god-like figure who lectures, remains quite distant from all but his special students, equates intelligence with the ability to memorize, and provides whatever critical thinking is required in the classroom. Fact, not analysis, is all important. Parker points out that many of his international students "were so concerned with getting the 'right' answer that it was sometimes difficult to expand the depth of understanding of concepts or skills." [10]

Western education may be contrasted with that of much of the rest of the world by observing that for Westerners information is not a goal but a tool. [11] Unlike the centuries- old cultures around us, Westerners have largely abandoned reliance on their informational heritage in favor of a new ethos based on discovery. Most cultures derive their intellectual nourishment from their large and ancient knowledge base, valuing information for its own sake, passing it on to other generations through education, and adding to it only after considerable thought. Westerners, for the most part, value their knowledge base only to the extent that it is useful.

In the classroom this means that there are usually many options in which vigorous debate is considered a higher function than merely "knowing." For the international student, the ability to memorize is no longer the highest measure of intelligence. No longer is the teacher revered and never contradicted. Instead, a profoundly barbaric methodology is perpetrated in the classroom--knowledge is not a treasure to be valued but a tool for analysis and critique, bound up in the concept of "critical thinking." Students challenge the views of their teachers and teachers of their students. Virtually anything that has been published is open to vigorous scrutiny.

To understand just how disturbing and difficult this academic culture is to an international student, consider the classroom in which a professor is never to be contradicted even if his pupils know he is wrong. Then think of the average Western university classroom where virtually anything a professor says can challenged as soon as it is uttered. Elkins argues that the average Chinese student tends to view such behavior as "aggression." [12] Professors, for their part, find the reticence of international students to make a contribution in the classroom frustrating. Part of the difficulty is facility in English, but the major drawback is that these students have never before been given "permission" to do the kind of give-and-take discussion, evaluation, critique, demanded in the Western style classroom. They are both uncomfortable with the method and unpracticed in using it. This problem is eventually overcome through hard experience in the classroom, but it would be preferable to offer training sessions that practice these skills until students feel comfortable using them in class.

Torkelson points out the following traits and skills which are valued in the West but not evident in many students from other parts of the world: extroversion (especially for Asian students), encouraging and accepting creative ideas, active participation in the classroom, and the ability to "think on your feet." He suggests that the only solution to learning how to function in a Western classroom is for these students to change their educational philosophy. [13] Parker points out that the strong task orientation common in international students can stand in the way of developing alternate reasoning styles or applying the results of their tasks to a variety of situations. Such students also have difficulty in "designing creative or multiple solutions to problems." [14]

Research and Writing

Given the facts that a large percentage of international students have been taught that information is an end in itself, that creativity and analysis are risky and non-approved activities, and that one's teachers (including the writers of books and articles) are to be revered, it is not surprising that most such students assume that research and writing is merely the task of finding what others have said, synthesizing it, and reporting it in a paper. Their essays tend to have a broad focus and to be primarily descriptive. If these students do move into the area of persuasion, they generally ignore or make light of opposing points of view and their papers appear more like exhortations or sermons than research papers. When a particular style is demanded (APA, MLA, Turabian, etc.) it is followed loosely if at all. To make matters more challenging, the amount of plagiarism in papers from international students is high, due to the philosophy that research is essentially reproduction of the work of others. Faculty need to understand that different educational cultures do have different standards and that the seeming lack of academic finesse among international students may simply be a reflection of academic training that follows other rules. Many professors are unsympathetic to the underlying reasons for these "defects," assuming them to be the result of poor English skills, disorganized thinking patterns and the lack of remedial instruction in academic writing. Angelova and Riazantseva report one professor as stating:

   My philosophy is that it's not my job to teach them how to write.
   I'm not a writing instructor. If they have major problems, they
   should take a writing course, hire a tutor or get an editor. [15]

Other professors in the same study viewed international student writing as disorganized and as lacking a clear initial statement of purpose, yet these same professors demonstrated little understanding of the educational and cultural backgrounds of their students. [16] While it is true that these students have come into our educational culture, and thus will need eventually to conform to our way of doing things, there is room for flexibility and understanding as they gradually begin to grasp the Western academic model

Academic writing from non-Western countries is not, in fact, disorganized, but is guided by thought patterns not easily recognized by Westerners. Hinds, for example, has presented a fascinating study showing that much Asian writing places its thesis/statement of purpose at the end, asking the reader to move through the presentation until the reason for writing is clear. The structure of such essays generally follows set patterns and is not at all chaotic. [17]

A Proposed Solution

Every year more and more international students enroll in Western universities. In the United States alone there are about half a million. We like their influence on our own students' global understanding, and, to be frank, we like their money, which is often paid at a premium rate. But we are letting them down. A study of services to international students in Britain found only token adherence to standards and procedures put in place to ensure academic success, with the majority of remedial teachers being on temporary contracts. [18] There is little reason to doubt that the same results would be found in North American institutions under a similar study. It is interesting that the ACRL information literacy guidelines make no mention of the needs of international students. [19] While the guidelines themselves may reflect the ideal of information literacy for a Western student, they need to address the complex problem of making such literacy intelligible to those of other traditions. At the very least, the guidelines need to suggest remedial steps required and any alternative approaches that might better suit an international student while at the same time adhering to Western standards for information literacy.

The solution to the academic problems of international students need not be complex. Despite the objections of some scholars that international students should not have to be forced to abandon their past educational philosophies in favor of ours, [20] it is clear. that they have come to us for an education, that this education is Western, and we are obligated to orient them into our philosophy. If that is a given, the answer is clear: To serve the needs of international students, we need to provide them with a compulsory, comprehensive, competency based battery of training that will have them both understanding and showing skill in our Western approach to education. We are thus speaking of academic literacy, not merely information literacy.

Who should be the primary movers in the development of such programs? The best people for the task are likely academic librarians with the help of academic administrators and faculty. Librarians are the most likely members of the campus community to observe the information needs of students, both from the standpoint of library systems and from students' involvement in the classroom, as they begin the research process or simply seek a quiet space to read or prepare for an examination.

What is required? At minimum, the following:

1. A program that is both compulsory and competency based, so that students with different levels of understanding and ability can test out (using a variety of tests now available or to be devised) when they are competent. Existing tests could be used for some elements, while new tests would have to be developed for others.

2. A library skills course followed by a minimal one credit research course.

3. A series of training seminars in the Western philosophy of education, with practice provided in critical thinking and discussion techniques. [21]

4. A research writing course. [22]

5. Ongoing remedial English in both spoken/aural and written forms that will increase the initial level of competency to that demanded by the program in which the student is enrolled.

All of this, of course, will cost money, but our international students are already providing a great deal of funding to our institutions. We have largely ignored their needs far too long. A concerted unified academic literacy remediation program would go a long way toward allowing us to say that we are providing them what we promise in our promotional literature.

Notes

[1] Data from Institute of International Education, http://www.opendoorsweb.org/ (accessed August 12, 2002)

[2] Paula D. Ladd and Ralph Ruby, "Learning Style and Adjustment Issues of International Students," Journal of Education for Business 74, no. 6 (July-August 1999): 363-364; Guofang Wan, The Learning Experience of Chinese Students in American Universities: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. Preoria, OH: Bradley University, 1999. ERIC, ED 439653: 17.

[3] Wan, 8-10

[4] Nancy Moeckel and Jenny Presnell, "Recognizing, Understanding, and Responding: A Program Model of Library Instruction Services for International Students," The Reference Librarian no. 51/52 (1995): 312.

[5] S.E. Volet and A. Tan-Quigley, "Interactions of Southeast Asian Students and Administrative Staff at University in Australia: The Significance of Reciprocal Understanding," Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 21, no. 1 (May 1999): 102-103.

[6] Carmela Briguglio, "Language and Cultural Issues for English-as-a-Second/Foreign Language Students in Transnational Educational Settings," Higher Education in Europe 35, no. 3 (2000): 426-430; Fiona Cownie and Wendy Addison, "International Students and Language Support: A New Survey," Studies in Higher Education 21, no. 2 (June 1996): 221-231; Krzysztof Batorowicz, "A Fair Go? The Problems and Needs of International and Non-English-Speaking Background Students at Australian Universities," Youth Studies Australia 18, no. 3 (September 1999): 37-40

[7] Qun G. Jiao and Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Library Anxiety Among International Students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Education Research Association (Point Clear, AL, November 17-19, 1999). ERIC, ED 437973. Compare their earlier study: Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Qun G. Jiao, and Christine E. Daley, The Experience of Non-Native English Speaking Students in Academic Libraries in the United States. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Mid-South Educational Research Association (Memphis, TN, November 13, 1997). ERIC, ED 438815

[8] Lucinda R. Zoe and Diane DiMartino, "Cultural Diversity and End-User Searching: An analysis by Gender and Language Background," Research Strategies 17 (2000): 291-305.

[9] Soo Young So, International Students and American Academic Libraries: An Empowering Relation. Report to American Library Association, February 1994. ERIC, ED 369403: 7.

[10] Parker, 5. Compare Maria Angelova and Anastasia Riazantseva, '"If You Don't Tell Me, How Can I Know?' A Case Study of Four International Students Learning to Write the U.S. Way," Written Communication 16, no.4 (October 1999): 504-505; Kate Cadman, "'Voices in the Air': Evaluations of the Learning Experiences of International Postgraduates and their Supervisors," Teaching in Higher Education 5, no.4 (October 2000): 479-481; Cynthia M. Helms, "Reaching Out to the International Students through Bibliographic Instruction," The Reference Librarian no.51/52 (1995): 296; Ladd and Ruby, 366; Moeckel and Presnell, 311; D. Randall Parker, Teaching, Learning, and Working with International Students: A Case Study. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association (Point Clear, AL, November 17-19, 1999). ERIC, ED 438756: 5-7.

[11] The reasons for this are varied--the break immigrants have made from their unified tradition to a multitude of traditions in the West, our Western pragmatism, and the influence of Existentialism/Postmodernism which have devalued the worth of information outside of a useful context. The ultimate reason, however, may be much more simple--in the West, as nowhere else, we are deeply burdened by information overload. See Gary P. Radford, "Flaubert, Foucault, and the Bibliotheque Fantastique: Toward a Postmodern Epistemology for Library Science," Library Trends 46, no. I (Spring 1998): 616-634, who argues that, with the sheer number of texts available in a modern library, the searcher must create a context in which certain texts are valuable and certain are not, based upon the usefulness of the texts to provide information for the required context.

[12] Michael Elkins, Chinese Students Avoid Interpersonal Communication: An Analysis of the Problem and Suggestions for Retention. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Central States Communication Association (Oklahoma City, OK, April 7-10, 1994). ERIC, ED 374474.

[13] Kris Torkelson, Using Imagination to Encourage ITAs to Take Risks. Paper presented at the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Annual Convention and Exposition (26th, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March 4-7, 1992). ERIC, ED 349898.

[14] Parker, 6-7.

[15] Angelova and Riazantseva, 509.

[16] Ibid., 518

[17] John Hinds, "Inductive, Deductive, Quasi-inductive: Expository Writing in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Thai," in Coherence in Writing: Research and Pedagogical Perspectives, ed. Ulla Connor and Ann M. Jones (Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 1990): 89-101.

[18] Cownie and Addison.

[19] Information Literacy Competency Standards for HigherEducation. 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html (accessed: 9 July 2002).

[20] See the literature cited by Cadman, 479; compare the discussion of Angelova and Riazantseva, 495.

[21] For examples of programs providing such training, see Interlink (http://eslus.com/) and the impressive orientation program for graduate students at the University of Melbourne (http://www.gradstudies.unimelb.edu.au/services/skills/aopips/). Melbourne's variety of seminars provides a useful model that would be readily adaptable to most higher education institutions.

[22] See my web site: Writing Research Papers in North American Academic Institutions--A Guide for Students of All Nations (http://www.acts.twu.ca/lbr/research_essays.htm), for an example of research writing instruction.

William Badke, Trinity Western University, Canada

William is an Associate Librarian with extensive experience teaching research method and writing to international students both in classroom settings and online.