Effects of EFL Proficiency on Students

As language plays a key role in the transmission of information and the regulation of cognitive processes, proficiency may have profound effects on learning and development, particularly when it involves mastering a foreign language. A recent Australian study examines the experiences of five international students from Brazil, China, Colombia, Mongolia, and Saudi Arabia, and finds that the higher the level of English language proficiency, the lower the levels of cultural stress, academic difficulties, and negative emotions. For details, see "The Influence of Language Difficulties on the Wellbeing of International Students: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis."

Trade-Offs of the Elite

"The advantages of an elite education are indeed undeniable," concedes William Deresiewicz, whose Ivy-League Ph.D. is from Columbia. "You learn to think, at least in certain ways, and you make the contacts needed to launch yourself into a life rich in all of society’s most cherished rewards." Given that assessment and its import in a society that has grown increasingly materialistic and expensive, it seems almost cheeky to question what may be lost in the exchange. But then again, what did Socrates observe about an unexamined life? While its a moot question for most of us and scarcely likely to prove persuasive for those for whom it is not, at least a cursory glance at the disadvantages of an elite education may be in order.

Major Exodus

With decreasing mandated exposure to the humanities, fewer undergraduate college students are taking the introductory course that could awaken a lifelong passion for philosophy, history, or English. The latter appears to be one on the hardest hit with the rapid decline in English majors at the University of Maryland, College Park, reported by Colleen Flaherty in the pages of Inside Higher Education, a textbook case of a problem that is pervasive and growing. 

Whom Does the Engine Train?

"In spite of our collective belief that education is the engine for climbing the socioeconomic ladder ― the heart of the 'American dream' myth ― colleges now are divided by wealth more than ever," Vicki Madden, a veteran teacher and instructor, observes in her New York Times op-ed. As a token student in my era, I am not surprised. As data amassed by Profs. Michael Bastedo and Ozan Jaquette reveal, only 14 percent of students in America's 193 most selective colleges come from the bottom half of her socioeconomic strata and just 5 percent from its lowest quartile. The more elite the school, the greater the gap, not only among students' financial status but the students themselves. "As the income gap widens and hardens, changing class means a bigger difference between where you came from and where you are going," Madden concludes. Ah, there's the rub. The price demanded for a better life for self and family should not be the abandonment and even betrayal of  your people, the kith and kin left behind where you came from. 

Visigoths at Academe's Doors?

"If the scuttlebutt about reading is true, the Visigoths are at the door,"
 warn Drs. David Joliffe and Allison Harl. An array of national surveys
 and studies suggests neither high school nor college students spend
 much time preparing for class, the central activity of which entails
 reading assigned articles, chapters, and books. Similar reviews indicate
 college students spend little or no time reading for pleasure. As major
 players in general education, most of which requires substantial reading,
 English department faculty are increasingly asking themselves:
 What are our students reading and why?

Like I Mean This Doesn't Help, You Know

"What the poor, the weak and the inarticulate desperately require is power, organization, and a sense of identity and purpose," affirmed the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-WI), "not [the] rarefied advice of political scientists." Nor, we would add, a gloss that deems recent research on inarticulate speech patterns, viz., the use of filler words such as um, like, you know, "a minor victory for the inarticulate, who think more, even as they stumble in speech." Um, I mean, this doesn't like help, you know, even if it is easier and cheaper than constructively addressing the matter by improving our educational system.

Too Little, Too Late?

Responding to changes in the SAT announced by the College Board, Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, has dismissed the modest reforms as a case of too little, too late. "The blunt fact is that the SAT has never been a good predictor of academic achievement in college," he writes in Time, citing high-school grades as a better indicator. Not content to leave it at that, Botstein adds yet another charge to his litany: "SAT scores have also become an integral part of another money-making racket ― college rankings." He is, of course, not the only critic of the changes. In her Washington Post op-ed, Alexandra Petri agrees they do not go far enough, suggesting the test should consist of a single question: "Can you use Google?"

Lord of the Ring?

Many university professors would quite willing forgo Tolkein's magical ring for a successful finale to their quest for the equally elusive one of tenure. In his two-part series in Inside Higher Ed, Jacob Vigdor, a professor of public policy and economics at Duke University, offers some advice on "How To Earn Tenure." Hopefully, it may help your mission to be Lord of the Ring. Part 1  Part 2

Angelica's Journal/Angelica's Journey

"On top of it all, I'm stressing out over what school is going to believe enough in me to accept me. I'm afraid that if I don't get into a great school, the word will never hear Angelica Herrara," the aspiring writer wrote in her journal ― a practice she'd begun at age 10. Thanks to it, in part, I don't believe that will be the case. "I pray somebody hears the honesty I am proclaiming in my words," she added. To which I say, amen. "If nobody listens, nobody hears the voices of the might be greats," our world will be impoverished far more than this working-class girl with a dream. From Journals to Journalism: Tracing the Trajectory of Literate Development

Are Sinking SATs an Education Omen?

If Scholastic Aptitude Test scores are barometers of educational quality, the trends are alarming. Average SAT scores have plummeted 20 points since 2006. Changes in 2005 intended to level the playing field have failed with access to quality education a likely contributor to a racial gap that finds overall average SAT scores of nonwhite students dropping 22 points, compared to 4 points for their white counterparts and a 41-point rise for Asian Americans. Unsurprisingly, family income also correlates with test scores. The trends have disturbing implications for U.S. higher education, as many students arrive on campus ill equipped to succeed.  

It's Academic

“Throughout the history of American higher education, the academic library has supported the university in its academic mission,” Dr Stephen E. Atkins writes in The Academic Library in the American University. Noting its evolution over three-and-a-half centuries, the former president of the American Library Association continues, “The academic library has become a depository of materials that support faculty and graduate student research in an almost infinite variety of disciplines.” For my part, I shall be forever grateful to the academic libraries of Brazil for that is where I found my beloved wife, a reference librarian in the humanities.

Practically Abandoned by One’s Friends

Whence, where, and why the English major? Adam Gopnik asks in the New Yorker, noting its impending demise like the Latin prerequisite before it ― “a dying choice bound to a dead subject.” Despite his sympathies, Gopnik finds the apologias of the discipline's defenders unpersuasive, mocking “The Economic Case for Saving the Humanities” proffered by Brown University’s Christina Paxson as “the kind of Letter to a Crazy Republican Congressman that university presidents get to write.” Like most pragmatic parries, it surrenders the tradition’s essence in the vain hope its accidents might carry the day or, at least, prolong the inevitable. Hardly surprising, given the bottom line for Paxson’s fellow economists: “Is it worth it?” ― not the best way to defend the intrinsic worth of the humanities, even in an age that abhors such “useless knowledge.”

The Natives Are Restless

"Because the horse is not dead, I feel I’m allowed to keep beating it," Nicholas Carr begins his report with a metaphor that will endear him neither to the ASPCA nor my daughters. When it comes to this horse, however, viz., student preference for printed textbooks, few beat it more soundly. The digital natives are restless, as evidenced here, here, and here. For Carr's analysis of the latest study, see Student to e-textbooks: no thanks. It's e-text worth perusing. 

Pursuing Knowledge Is Never Useless

As an inveterate researcher, I have often advised those engaged in the lifelong quest for knowledge that the relevance of a specific finding may rest in doubt for years, perhaps a lifetime. In a puzzle in the order of magnitude and complexity that is life, a missing piece oft remains undetected until its adjacent counterparts have been discovered. On her aptly named site Brain Pickings, Maria Popova cogently encapsulates a seminal 1939 essay by U.S. educator Abraham Flexner on “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge.” As Flexner rightly observes, “The world has always been a sorry and confused sort of place.” Thanks to Popova and Flexner, however, a tad less.

Garbage In, Culture Out

While the musical proclivities of more affluent youth in developed countries often turn towards trash, in a rubbish dump on the south side of Asunción, underprivileged Paraguayan youngsters have found an innovative means to make music. Using instruments crafted from discarded oil tins and other refuse, their orchestra, known locally as Los Reciclados, and in English as the Landfill Harmonic, has performed in Brazil, Panama, and Colombia, and has journeyed as far as Europe to play Mozart and Beethoven. As the orchestra's founder and director, Favio Chavez, a music teacher and environmentalist, aptly notes, “The world sends us garbage. We send back music.” And the world is richer for it. Landfill Harmonic 

Revolting Academics

Eleven leading British academic associations have issued an open letter condemning government plans for open access publishing as a “rushed policy” that threatens the “international standing of British Universities and research.” Signed by the Royal Historical Society, the Political Studies Association, and the Council for the Defence of British Universities, among others, the critique calls open access a “fundamental revolution” in academic life and expresses fears about the publication of papers falling to university administrators.         Academics Revolt Over Open Access

A Wealth of Words

There’s a positive correlation between a student’s vocabulary and the likelihood he'll graduate from college and his future income, Prof. E.D Hirsch, Jr. notes in a recent commentary. Vocabulary is a relevant  proxy for a range of educational attainments ― not just skill in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, but knowledge of science, history, and the arts. “If we want to reduce economic inequality,” he concludes, “a good place to start is the language-arts classroom.” A Wealth of Words

Secondary Thoughts

Not every adult feels the sustained melancholic presence of their high-school years. Some simply put in their time, graduate, and move on with their lives. But for many others, the adolescent years occupy a privileged place in their memories. Author and satirist Kurt Vonnegut aptly described high school as “closer to the core of the American experience than anything else I can think of.” Perhaps, that's why some never fully abandon its confines even decades later. Why You Truly Never Truly Leave High School

Idle Worship

“There is no such thing as not worshipping,” the writer David Forster Wallace once advised college graduates. “Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” He then delineated a litany of false gods that will fail us in the end: money, beauty, power, and intellect. With appreciation to Brain Pickings' Maria Popova for calling his address to our attention. This Is Water 

What, Me Worry?

The mission of Edge is succinctly, if self-servingly, stated: "To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves." Each year, Edge poses a question to its hand-picked clique of scientists, scholars, writers, artists, and sundry thinkers. This year, the question is: "What should we be worried about?" The essays culled for publication merit our attention, if only for the insights they provide into what the self-proclaimed "Brights" may have in mind for the 99%. Verbum Sapientis will spotlight a few of our selections here. Stay tuned.