Speaking the Target Language outside the Classroom in

Speaking the Target Language outside the Classroom in Friendship Groups: A Comparative Study of International and Local Students at the University of Hertfordshire with a Focus on their Employability © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Overview 1. My language learning experience 2. Aims 3. Background, Definitions and Lit 4. My pilot study 5. Results 6. Summary of results 7. Discussion and Conclusion © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Salzburg Postcard 1985 © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Outside the Classroom © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Back in Oxford 1986 A German Society Trip

Aims 1. Do students practice the target language outside class? 2. What helps and what hinders students’ spoken language skills outside class? 3. To what extent do some UH students relate speaking the language they are learning to their chances of future employment on the global stage?

General Background 1. International students at UH do not appear to be intermingling very much with UK or other nationality students 2. What about MFL (SFG)? 3. Learning a language should involve learning about the culture in which it is embedded (Kramsch, 1998)

Background and Employability Leading international recruiters look for graduates who can: § Demonstrate high level communication skills (foreign language skills) § Work collaboratively in teams of multi-ethnic people (Diamond, Walkey, et al. , 2013)

Definitions Friendship Groups Rawlings, 1983, 1989; Wright, 1984 in Jehn & Shah, 1997 § Close, positive and pre-existing ties Policarpo, 2015 § 1. Family, 2. Presence = ‘being-there’ 3. Trust oriented, 4. Self oriented = ‘unconditional support’

Literature Review 1. Students at the University of Hawaii were found NOT to be forming co-national and international friendships except in tutor-led activities (Rienties & Nolan, 2014) 2. Studies in Florida prove that those students who reported higher levels of social integration had better average marks (Massi, et al. , 2012)

Literature Review § Activities are needed to help students to feel less shy, ‘isolated and alienated’ (UK SU Survey, 2009 in Dr Theo Gilbert, 2015) § Eye contact and inviting shyer students to speak are among Theo’s suggestions in understanding compassion in group work © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Literature Review § Using peer-assistants can be helpful and may lead to better employment prospects (Jayne Parry, 2015 last year’s LTI Conference Brochure)

Thesis Statement Research at UH is likely to reveal that international and local students are not intermingling with other learners enough to practise their speaking skills outside class in order to improve spoken language skills, form international friendships, increase social cohesion among peers and improve chances of future employment.

Pilot Study § 10 UH international students studying on English foundation/preparation for study courses (6 IFP, 4 EAS) § 10 UH students studying German as an additional subject in the Business or Humanities Schools (MFL/SFG)

The Student Respondents 1 § All are able to speak the target language with some degree of fluency § End of Semester B (2 EAS Students end 1 st ) § Pre-uni entry(Undergraduates/postgraduates) § Undergraduates

The Student Respondents 2 § Gender: English 5 Male / 5 Female German 2 Male / 8 Female

The Student Respondents 3 § Age: EAS IFP German Under 26 0 5 10 26 -35 1 1 0 Over 36 3 0 0

International Respondents § International students are currently living in the target language community 1 st Language (mother tongue): § 7 Arabic § 2 Chinese § 1 Hindi/Gujarati

Home Students studying German § 6 students learning German have never lived in a German speaking country § 6 students learning German have English as an Additional Language © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Questionnaire § Paper-based § English and German versions § Look at students’ learning behaviour § Some charts comparing local and international students § Some quotations © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire

Results

Q 3. 1 Amount of time students speak the foreign language outside class English 80%100% 60%80% 40%60% 20%40% 0%20% German 0%20%

Students Quotations German 1. ‘Apart from classmates and tutor, I don’t know anyone who speaks German’ (Eng 1 st & only fluent lang) 2. ‘Not enough German friends’ (English & Pujabi 1 st langs) 3. ‘I have a friend who is German’ (Eng & Tami 1 st langs) 4. ‘No one around me speaks German. Not many people see the value or have the initiative to learn a language’ (English 1 st lang. Fluent Singhalese)

Students Quotations English 1. ‘Speaking English is everywhere. For example, shopping, eating…’ (Chinese speaker) 2. ‘Because I don’t have friends and in my class only 2 students’ (Arabic speaker) 3. ‘There is no time to communicate with native or non-native speaker. I spend all my time to do my homework. There is no time even to do independent study’ (Arabic speaker)

Q 6. 1 Employability and Outside-Class Speaking Practice Not important Not very important Neither important or unimportant German English Quite important Very important 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. 2 Employability and meeting friends from different countries Very important Not very important German Neither important or unimportant English Quite important Not important 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. 3 Employability, meeting friends from other countries and speaking the target language outside class No answer stated Not important Not very important German English Neither important or unimportant Quite important Very important 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Summary of Results § Half the international students studying English speak it 50% of the time with friends, whereas those local students studying German only speak German 0 -20% of the time outside class § International students seem to spend a great deal of time studying alone in their rooms and not socialising very much outside class § Students studying German would generally welcome as many opportunities as possible to practise speaking it outside class with friends § Relating to future employability chances, students surveyed show overall disparity of opinion

Discussion 2 minutes to discuss any points relating to this topic 3 minutes for questions, which I will try to answer 2 Minutes for conclusions

Conclusion of Discussion

References • • • • Crystal, D. 2006. How language works. Penguin: London Diamond, A. & Walkey, L. et al. (2013) “Global graduates into global leaders”. CIHE Dunne, C. 2009, "Host students' perspectives of intercultural contact in an Irish University", Journal of Studies in International Education, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 222 -239. Gilbert, T. (2015) Assess compassion in Higher Education? Why and how would we do that? University of Hertfordshire LINK, School of Education. Volume 2, Issue 1 (Student Union Survey, 2009) Kramsch, C. 2014, "The challenge of globalization for the teaching of foreign languages and cultures", Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 249254. Kramsch, C. 1993, context and culture in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press: Oxford MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. 2007. “Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World”, 2007, pp. 234– 245 (12) Massi, L. , Lancey, P. , Nair, U. , Straney, R. , Georgiopoulos, M. & Young, C. 2012, "Engineering and computer science community college transfers and native freshmen students: Relationships among participation in extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, connecting to the university campus, and academic success", IEEE, p 1 Parry, J. (2015) Peer-assistants. UH LTI Learning & Teaching Conference Brochure Policarpo, V. 2015. What is a friend? an exploratory typology of the meanings of friendship. Social Sciences, 4(1), 171 -191. doi: 10. 3390/socsci 4010171 Rawlings. 1983, 1989; Wright, 1984 in Jehn, K. A. , & Shah, P. P. (1997). Interpersonal relationships and task performance: An examination of mediation processes in friendship and acquaintance groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(4), 775 -790. doi: 10. 1037/0022 -3514. 72. 4. 775 Rienties, B. & Nolan, E. 2014, "Understanding friendship and learning networks of international and host students using longitudinal Social Network Analysis", International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 41, pp. 165 -180.

Acknowledgements § Many thanks to: The The The ELT Team German Team LTI Team Ethics Team Student Participants

Acknowledgements And special thanks to my colleagues: Dr Theo Gilbert Dr Fang Jinrong Jeannette Clark Lynne Stokoe Larry Bethany Gloria Richards Janette Bradley Angela Hammond

Acknowledgements Friends and Family: Katherine and John Benford Robert Goldmann Marika Fromm

I’m going to practice my German with Eva tomorrow

This presentation is dedicated to my grand-mother, Lucie Fromm (née Freund)

Appendix Blank Questionnaires for English and German G: Friendshippilot questionnaire English version paper-based. docx G: Friendshippilot questionnaire German version paper-based. docx Ethics Approval Notification Protocol Number: a. HU/SF/UH/02301 18/03/16 - 1/12/16 © Anita Fromm 2016 University of Hertfordshire