A meeting of minds

A classroom is a meeting of minds in which each party needs to have a sensitive understanding of the other's culture, identity and beliefs. International students face special difficulties which an alert teacher can help to resolve.

In some cultures, to question a lecturer is to attack his/her competence. Students whose learning experiences have been shaped by this "silence" tradition are uncomfortable with posing question and critique, especially if this is directed to a person of higher status (Johns, 1994). Teachers interpreting this silence from their own cultural perspective may believe it indicates a lack of interest or understanding.

For some students, the pressure to succeed can be very high due to complex cultural and family obligations. This may result in behaviour such as persistent challenge, a refusal to accept a negative answer, or taking a query on to higher levels to seek a more favourable outcome. Language is often a problem even if students have met levels of competence set for entry requirements. An international student reported (Makepeace, 1989, p. 27), "When reading Torts cases, I thought vasectomy is the craft of making vases.....Of course all the problems which foreign students face are laughable to local student."

In relation to language problems Badley suggests (1998, p.136), "It is not that overseas students need an enfeebled curriculum but rather that they learn better from lecturers who use clear and direct English and whose use of jargon and subject specific language is properly signalled and explained."

There can be cultural, gender and religious factors that affect the degree and type of interaction among students, including a tendency for different racial groups to maintain social distance (Nesdale & Todd, 1993). At a classroom level opportunities can be created for interaction and group work which encourage interaction across all groups

How can a "meeting of minds", both student to student and teacher to student, be encouraged in the classroom?

• Badley, G. (1998). The TQA and its impact on international education. Innovations in Education and Training International 35(2), 133-139.
• Johns, A.M. (1994). Languages and cultures in the classroom. In P. Labella (Series Ed.) Survival skills for scholars: Vol. 12. Teaching from a multicultural perspective. (pp. 60-76). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Nesdale, D. & Todd, P. (1993). Internationalising Australian universities: The intercultural contact issue. Journal of Tertiary Education Administration, 15(2), 189-202.
• Makepeace, E. (1989). Overseas students: Challenges of institutional adjustment (SCED Paper 56). Birmingham, U.K.: Standing Conference on Educational Development.