VOA教育报道2022--了解背景对美国留学生来说很重要

Understanding Context Is Important for International Students in US

International students in the United States need to understand context and culture if they want to succeed in their studies, experts say.

Understanding context means knowing the situation in which something happens and words that are being used in the specific situation.

Dr. Susan Barone is the Director of the English Language Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. The Center provides English-language training for international students.

To explain how understanding context and culture relate to academic success, Barone talked about the word participation¹.

Barone explained that for students in some parts of the world, participation means to listen carefully, while in other parts of the world it may mean to speak quickly, often without waiting for others to speak first. She said that sometimes a student's expectation for participation is not the same as a professor's expectation.

Dr. Barone said, "it's such a relative term. It's relative to each instructor². Each student will have their own understanding of what that means. How do they read the specific context for what the participation expectation is?"

Additionally, she said another difficulty for some international students is understanding idiomatic³ and conversational⁴ English used by American students. At Vanderbilt University, she noted⁵ that it is difficult even for international students with very high levels of academic English.

Preparation for study in the U.S.

So, what can international students do to better prepare before they arrive in the U.S.?

Barone suggested that students think about all areas of their language ability beyond academic language. For example, students should pay attention to how well they can speak and understand daily conversations compared to how well they can write academic papers.

Knowing their abilities, students can look for help once they are in the U.S. Support services exist at both large public universities and smaller, private colleges. Since large public universities usually have more international students, it can be more difficult for them to provide individualized training, such as tutoring, to all international students.

Barone added that international students should also learn vocabulary, expressions and writing that are common in their field of study. For example, engineering students would communicate differently than those who study literature. Similarly, daily conversations involving sports or food will have their common language.

Support services at American colleges

Josh Teaster is the Acting⁶ Director of the Admissions Office of Oberlin College and Conservatory⁷ in the state of Ohio. He said the school has provided general English-language support for its international students for many years. Recently, it has added support for English commonly used in music. He says this helps students succeed in their music studies and performance.

But providing language training for international students is not the only way universities help them.

Purdue University is a large state university in Indiana with 50,000 students, and 22 percent of them are international. One way the university attempts to help international students is to provide intercultural training for students in the U.S. For example, Purdue provides online training to help American students better understand accents from people around the world.

Annette Benson works at Purdue's Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment⁹ and Research. In an email to Voice of America, she wrote that all students "are expected to hone their listening skills" to help them understand different accents. That way, international students are not the only group responsible for helping¹⁰ people understand them, Benson explained.

Dr. Lan Jin is an intercultural research specialist at Purdue. She is Korean-Chinese and has been living in both China and the U.S. Before working at Purdue, she was an international student there.

Because of her own experience as an international student, she knows how important it is for students to deeply learn about the context they are in. While having international student friends is important, she wrote to VOA that international students should do their "best to increase the time spent in groups of American students to learn about different cultures."

Jin noted that in the U.S., students can meet individually with professors and talk to them about any difficulties they are having with their studies. This is different than in some cultures where it is more difficult for students to meet with professors.

American colleges and universities also provide counseling for students, including web-based counseling services. Jin explained that this is sometimes a good choice for international students who worry about being negatively judged when they look for mental health counseling.

Immerse in local culture

Jin advised international students to immerse, or deeply involve, themselves in local culture. Jin said: "There are tons of opportunities and resources available in US universities. Go explore, engage, and enjoy. Remember that this time in your life represents a real opportunity. Make the most of it."

Barone from Vanderbilt said that students benefit when they have an open attitude. Being open means being more likely to try new things and speak with a variety of people. In this way, she said, "the entire context becomes their classroom. From the moment they are immersed, there's opportunity to learn".

Words in This Story

context -n. all the details and especially the cultural aspects of a situation

specific -adj. relating to a precise, limited thing, fact, or idea; the opposite of general; for example, the address of a house or building gives the specific location

academic -adj. relating to schools and school subjects

relative -adj. relating to different perspectives or positions, not being the same for every person. Judged in comparison with other things. For example, 15 degrees Celsius¹¹ may feel cold to one person but not to another person.

instructor -n. a general term for someone who teaches, either in schools or in other situations

idiomatic -adj. referring to expressions, usually small groups of two or three words, that have different meaning when grouped together than the individual words themselves. The expressions are often used in conversational language of native speakers. For example, He got up on the wrong side of the bed is an idiom which means the person is in a bad mood.

accent -n. the way a person pronounces a language, based upon the region, country, and family background they come from.

mentor⁸/mentorship -n. someone who gives guidance to another person, usually when training and teaching that person for an extended period of time. For example, teachers with many years of experience will mentor new, inexperienced teachers. Mentorship is the act of mentoring¹².

hone -v. to improve one's ability, usually referring to a skill. For example, "The tennis player honed her skill by years of practice."

counseling -n. advice and help given from one person to another, usually in a professional way. The word counseling by itself usually means help for mental health. But there are other types of counseling such as financial counseling, legal counseling, and the like.

negatively -adj. badly, not in a good manner

engage -v. to interact with something or someone, such as having a conversation with someone or attending a social event

1 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

2 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

3 idiomatic   

adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的

参考例句：

• In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
• In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。

4 conversational   

adj.对话的，会话的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a conversational style.该文是以对话的形式写成的。
• She values herself on her conversational powers.她常夸耀自己的能言善辩。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

8 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

9 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

12 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网