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From: matloff@bizet.Berkeley.EDU (Norman Matloff)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Student preparedness
Message-ID: <19035@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 12 Jan 89 20:18:19 GMT
References: <4893@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <6435@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <558@mccc.UUCP> <3350@arcturus> <18958@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <5314@pdn.UUCP>
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Reply-To: matloff@iris.ucdavis.edu (Norm Matloff)
Organization: EECS, UC Davis
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In article <5314@pdn.UUCP> reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach) writes:
>In article <18958@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> matloff@iris.ucdavis.edu (Norm Matloff) writes:

>>In my experience, the problem is not really with the person's ENGLISH
>>as it is with his/her GENERAL communication skills.  In other words,
>>I think that most foreigners who are poor teachers in English would
>>also be poor teachers in their native language.

*      None the less, there are too many foreign instructors out there who
**do* have very poor english skills.  In fact, there are many foreign students
*who enter US universities without adequate english skills as well.  I know
*that some universities are really pressed for help, but something needs to
*be done to get these people to a level of english that does not inhibit 
*others or themselves.

I think that by implication you were also referring to foreign-born
engineers in U.S. companies, where they have even worse communication
problems.

I agree.  But again, I feel that it is much more a matter of GENERAL 
communication skills than a matter of accent, grammar and vocabulary.
Most foreign (East Asian) engineers do very much need to improve on 
the latter aspects, but they need EVEN MORE to improve non-language 
specific communication skills.

Unfortunately, they tend to do neither.  I once took a survey of 
Chinese students in my CS program, and found that during their school 
years in their own countries (Taiwan, Hong Kong, China), they didn't 
pay much attention to their language courses, even their CHINESE 
courses; they put most of their effort into their technical courses
instead.  I know that high schools in Hong Kong tend to have separate 
"majors" for "arts" students versus "science" students, and the latter 
usually don't place a high value on languages/communication.

In light of the foreign students' immigration goal which I have mentioned,
it is ironic that they don't place more emphasis on improving their English.
Good English would certainly enhance their job/immigration prospects very
strongly.

    Norm