Non-native speakers of English, especially those lacking fluency in the language, may experience unique barriers to learning in their university courses. This teaching tip identifies some of those barriers and proposes strategies that instructors can implement to help these students.
Learning activities
Fostering an effective discussion can be challenging in a face-to-face situation and even more so in an online environment.
Critical reflection is a “meaning-making process” that helps us set goals, use what we’ve learned in the past to inform future action and consider the real-life implications of our thinking
As learning tools, writing exercises are valuable because they help students think critically about course material while encouraging them to grasp, organize, and integrate prior knowledge with new concepts.
Assigning tasks to small groups during class can have many benefits, such as involving students in their own learning,
There are three main points to consider when preparing to deliver a lecture or lead a tutorial:
Group work can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills
Having a diversity of skills and ideas within a group often enriches the group process and can improve the final product.
Initiating and sustaining a lively, productive discussion are among the most challenging activities for an instructor
Active learning is based on constructivism, a learning theory that asserts that learners construct their own understanding of a topic by building upon their prior knowledge