Students of foreign GTAs say language presents a barrier
by Kathy Walsh Kansan staff writer
When Lori Holazpfel walked into her Math 115 course, she expected to understand the instructor.
Holazpfel, Omaha junior, said she ended up teaching the course to herself because her graduate teaching assistant spoke little English. Although the GTA wrote everything on the board, Holazpfel said she could not understand his verbal explanations.
This is a common complaint among KU math students.
The math department employs 46 teaching assistants, 20 of whom are foreign.
However, Philip Montgomery,
associate director of mathematics
and director of pre-calculus courses,
said that some students used their
foreign teachers as an excuse for not
doing well in a course.
Montgomery said he thought students had a difficult time understanding accents different from their native, either it was foreign or regional.
"I think it is difficult for students to come out of high school, especially in Kansas, and understand people who have a different accent," he said.
Montgomery said the department once received complaints from stu-
denis who said they could not understand a faculty member who had a Chinese name. The teacher had been born and raised in New York.
Students get used to different accents, Montgomery said, but it just takes more effort on the students' behalf.
Montgomery said mathematics GTAs taught only freshman-level courses. Math 105 and Math 111, however, are taught by professors.
Elizabeth Soppele, director of the Applied English Center, said that University policy made it unlikely teachers they could not understand.
She said all foreign GTAs were required to take a language proficiency test.
The Board of Regents requires a score of 220 out of a possible 300 for teaching eligibility, Soppelsa said. KU requires 240.
Sopselma the foreign applicants for GTA positions had two test options. The first is to take the Test of Spoken English before they come to KU; the second is to take an old version of the test at the center.
Soppela said students needed to be aware that foreign GTAs offered beneficial, ways of teaching than they had been exposed to in the past.
She said students benefited because they were given a broader perspective in the field, as well as an opportunity to learn about the GTA's country.
Megan Hughes, Lawrence senior and member of Student Senate's Foreign Students Committee, has had two foreign GTAs at KU. She said communication was not a problem.
"I have always been fortunate to have TAs that I could understand," she said.
Hughes said she thought some students tended to walk into a foreign GTA's classroom with the notion that they would have a bad experience.
"There was definitely a language barrier," he said. "It would have been easier to learn the material if there had not been one."
Joe Prue, Rat-Fairford, England, sophomore, said he had a foreign GTA for Math 102.
Yuqianjun Chen, math GTA and Taiyuan, China, graduate student, said she had not had any students complain that they could not understand her grammar or pronunciation.
Chen said that because mathematics was universal it was easier to teach than other courses, such as philosophy.
Group to study women's role at KU
by Thom Clark Kansan staff writer
A report evaluating the status of women in higher education is being discussed by a joint committee of the KU Human Relations committee and the university board, which will release its own report on the status of women at KU.
The report, "The New Agenda for Women in Higher Education," addresses maternity and paternity-leave policies and problems of sexual discrimination and harassment on college campuses.
Kim Dayton, professor of law and a member of the joint committee, said a report recently released by the American Council of Education to identify university areas that were deficient toward the needs of women.
Dayton said the report also looked at women's study programs, support
from higher administration, the number of women faculty and the salaries they received.
Carol Coburn, assistant director of the Student Assistance Center and a member of the subcommittee, said the University Senate Executive Committee had directed the joint committee to examine the report and evaluate the status of women at the University of Kansas.
Dayton said it could be a year before the subcommittee, composed of four members of the Human Relations committee and four members of the affirmative action board, finished its own report.
"We will be addressing a broad spectrum of issues in the report," Dayton said.
Bob Jerry, professor of law and chairman of SenEx, said the subject would require the report to take even longer.
"We would like the report to be thoughtful rather than quickly prepared," Jerry said. "It requires thoughtful analysis."
Coburn said a letter addressing the group's initial concerns would be available for SenEx next week.
Dayton said if SenEx and the administration approved the committee's initial findings, financial support would be necessary to continue the subcommittee's report. A part-time employee would be needed for research and locate information for the subcommittee.
Jerry said financing for the project would require the support and approval of the administration.
"University governance has a dry program budget," Jerry said. Funding a study project would require the executive vice chancellor, he said.
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 8, 1989
Louisiana Purchase
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Open Meeting: Tuesday Feb. 14, 1989
Time: 6:30 p.m.
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