"Special Considerations for Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom,"
Vol. X, No. 6, May/June 1998

Jane Dunphy

MIT's commitment to diversity in the student body is truly commendable. The Institute's increasing attention to quality teaching is equally impressive. However, these two laudable goals may, to some extent, be at odds.

A multicultural classroom implies multiple assumptions about academic conventions and success. This multiplicity can enrich the students' experience, but it can also present an obstacle to the full and productive participation of some class members. It is incumbent on us, as teachers in this environment, to understand these difficulties and help all our students to engage fully in their education.

Although these considerations apply to cultural diversity in the broad sense, my focus here is on MIT's international students, who come from 108 countries and constitute a large part of the student community. Eight percent of the undergraduates and 33 percent of the graduate students come from countries where academic conventions are vastly different from those of the U.S., in general, and from those of MIT, in particular. (See table.)

Many of us focus on language differences when we consider MIT's international students, but other aspects of our multicultural environment must be addressed. Three areas where our sensitivity to cultural difference can enhance learning are classroom dynamics, approach to assignments, and navigation of hierarchy.

Classroom Dynamics

With some exceptions, the general model of university education outside of the U.S. involves large lecture halls filled with many students listening to an authority read or speak in a formal manner from notes. In some countries, such as France, students graduate from the most prestigious engineering schools with an enviable theoretical background, but have done very little experimental or practical work. There is seldom interaction between instructors and students in or out of class. As a result, international students accustomed to the "Professor as Authority/Student as Empty Vessel" model can feel adrift as they try to adapt to the interactive dynamic that is more and more the goal of education at MIT.

Understandably, a new Japanese student may feel alienated in a large management class, where 40 percent of the grade is determined by participation; or a Korean student may feel trepidation in a graduate seminar where students regularly make presentations.

Of course, students react differently. Some, regardless of their nationalities, embrace the chance to engage and do so appropriately. Occasionally, a student resents the time spent in discussion, has no patience with peer comments, and has trouble respecting the instructor or accepting the system. More commonly, students need time to learn our discourse customs. For example, we expect students to express opinions readily, but we typically soften disagreement in English using forms like "I see your point, but, ... ", or "Don't you think...?" Extra encouragement is needed to overcome students' unfamiliarity with class dynamics, their self-consciousness about accent and lack of fluency, or their fear of being wrong.

We can provide this encouragement in several ways:

• If the context allows, we can use different kinds of questions to stimulate interaction. For example, students find solicitations like "Can you guess what might work here?" or "What are some situations where we'd find this?" less intimidating than the more direct "What do I plug in here?"
  
• Rather than waiting for volunteers to respond to each question, we can "cold call" on international students who are conspicuous for their lack of participation. In general, they welcome an invitation into the discussion but lack the confidence to initiate. If we make clear that they can "pass" penalty-free when they have nothing to contribute, most students do not find this system threatening.
  
• Occasionally, we can also try to wait up to 10 seconds after asking a question before moving on. Americans are more uncomfortable with silences than those from many other cultures. We often rush in to fill pauses. When international students are willing to make contributions, they may need extra time.
  
• They may also need us to check for clarification. An expression like "If I understand you, you're suggesting that ... " or "So, you think that ... " provides the chance to check for mutual comprehension and the opportunity for restatements.

Written and Oral Assignments

Explicit guidelines for oral and written assignments are helpful for all students, but essential for international students. While problem sets and exams that focus on data manipulation are relatively self-explanatory in approach, the content and format of other common assignments at MIT are not.

For example, we cannot assume that French students understand how to structure an argument memo or a research paper for an American academic audience. Our preference for the "bottom line on top," that is, placing the author's main point or opinion in the introduction to a document and using the following pages to support that opinion, is not a universal approach to writing. In fact, it is contrary to what many well-educated European students have been taught - to "save the best for last." Their rhetorical style requires an expansive overview of both sides of an argument before a final synthesis provides the author's position.

Similarly, many international students have no way of knowing how to structure and deliver an effective oral presentation that conforms to our expectations unless explicit guidelines are provided. They wonder what information effective American speakers typically include in an introduction to a 20-minute research presentation. What constitutes an effective slide? We need to provide them answers.

In class, we should demonstrate in our handouts the precise, organized, and thorough approach that we expect to see in students' written assignments. We should make great efforts to use the organized board technique, affirming body language, sincerity, and enthusiasm that mark effective presentation skills. In addition, we must make explicit our expectations about the format as well as the content of documents and presentations. Where appropriate, we should guide the students to models such as journal articles that exhibit the characteristics we seek in our students' work.

Another area that must be addressed explicitly is the role of academic honesty in assignments. Keep in mind that English language cultures have a particularly rigorous approach to protecting intellectual property. In some cultures, individual and independent expression of ideas is not greatly valued; instead, students are expected to honor respected authorities by repeating their contributions verbatim. In addition, standard documentation conventions are not widely used in all intellectual communities. Students from such cultures may have difficulty understanding or accepting our concept of plagiarism and the intricacies of documenting sources of information. By letting our students know that we are aware of such differences and by working with them to understand the expectations at MIT, we can avoid awkwardness or worse.

Respect & Hierarchy

International students frequently express concern about how to navigate the hierarchical system at MIT.

The difficulty is obvious even at the most basic level. The English language is unusual in that it does not have a grammatical way to indicate hierarchy. We use "you" for everyone - friends, parents, professors, bosses - unlike French with the tu/vous distinction, Spanish with the tz/usted distinction, or Japanese with its complex system of grammatical markers for respect and hierarchy. We sometimes indicate formality by using complex sentence structure (e.g., "I was wondering if it would be possible. . . .", instead of "Can I . . . ."), but not always. Something as subtle as rising intonation on one word can indicate acknowledgment of hierarchy. It is a challenge for new international students from cultures with strict linguistic and behavioral codes for showing respect to navigate the system here.

Imagine a typical MIT class - an 18.01 lecture, a small graduate seminar, or a HASS-D course. It is highly likely that some students are drinking Coke or coffee, likely that several are eating donuts or bagels, and possible that one has bare feet. This level of student informality is startling, even offensive, to new students from countries such as Mexico and Thailand. It can seem highly disrespectful of the instructor and, as a result, can affect the newcomers' attitudes towards their peers and their instructors.

To further confuse the situation, the MIT faculty, and academic and research staff vary in their levels of familiarity. Some conduct themselves, their classes, and their interactions with a formality that may be comfortingly familiar to some international students. Informality, however, seems to be more common at MIT. Instructors regularly sit on desks, swinging their legs as they talk or listen. They are sometimes on a first-name basis with students, and many are available for help, or enjoy friendly conversations outside of class. The level of comfort is such that the better teachers at MIT can admit ignorance in class, not a common occurrence in many countries.

There is, in fact, much more negotiation of hierarchy at MIT than international students are likely to have encountered. It is confusing. The result may be inappropriately passive or inappropriately bold demeanor in the classroom. Again, many problems can be avoided by being aware of potential difficulty, by explicitly acknowledging our own styles and motivation, and by stating our expectations in matters such as terms of address and classroom behavior.

Realizing the Potential of the Multicultural Classroom

The cultural diversity at MIT is an exciting resource, which, if fostered sensitively, can enrich the intellectual lives of all of us. If we, as teachers, make a concerted effort to chat occasionally with international students before or after class and express our curiosity about, or awareness of, some of the differences between MIT's educational culture and that of other countries, we will go a long way toward increasing comfort levels. We must be willing to spend some time in the first week of classes discussing our motivation for structuring classroom dynamics the way we do. We should provide throughout the term explicit guidelines for any assignments where different cultural assumptions may shape the end product in a way that does not meet our expectations. These guidelines will allow international students to play the game with the same rules as the American students.

International students who feel their differences are understood will be more likely to engage fully in the experience that MIT provides. In addition, they will feel more comfortable pursuing questions about other aspects of their environment.

Explicit discussion of these issues in and out of class will have the added benefit of heightening the awareness of American students to different cultural assumptions in academic life. As teachers, we can be instrumental in creating a multicultural environment that truly benefits everyone.