Teaching Non-Native Speakers

After reading the study done on the international Stanford students and their ability to write and communicate in English, I found it interesting that many of the students decided to choose their majors based on their confidence in learning and applying English to their daily lives. After looking at the results and what the international students were saying about first learning English, I was wonder, is one's confidence in English a major factor in the way that students choose their major?

As I reflect back to people I know at James Madison, I do not see many international students in the Humanities and Social Science fields. I am an IDLS major, and Elementary Education minor, and there are no international students in them. My IDLS courses are a majority of English and writing classes where there have been no international students that I can recall. I find this interesting and never thought about the reasoning behind it until this article. It was fascinating to see the link between one's confidence in English and the decision to choose a science or technology major.

I do believe that a student's confidence affects their choice of major in college. For example, in my family I have two younger sisters. I have always been strong in the English and language arts area of school, while my middle sister, a senior in high school, has always been strong in math. Due to the lack of confidence in English, she has chosen to apply to colleges with the idea of being a biomedical engineer because of her writing skills. She has helped me confirm the idea that confidence in the language does affect your decision in what you will major in for the future, whether you are an international student or not.