Instructional Strategies for Non-Native Speakers of English

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.

Barriers

Vocabulary

A significant barrier for non-native speakers is vocabulary (Nation, 2001). Instructors might consider developing glossaries for their courses that provide definitions of key terms relating to course content.

Idioms can also be problematic: for example, saying “You’re on the ball!” might be misconstrued by a non-native speaker of English. There’s no need to avoid using such idioms — after all, that’s how students will become familiar with them — but the instructor might consider accompanying their usage with a more literal “translation.” For example, the instructor might say, “You’re doing a really good job — you’re really on the ball!”

Pace of Speech

Many non-native speakers have difficulty following lectures due to the pace of the instructor’s speech or they become lost by digressions an instructor might make during a lecture. Speaking more slowly and pausing between sentences or “chunks” of speech can help alleviate this issue.

Cultural Differences

Another barrier for non-native speakers of English can be cultural. Students might come from a cultural background where it’s considered impolite to take initiative or to ask questions about content or instructions. This reticence can affect how students interact with instructors, peers, or when making presentations. International students might also be reluctant to engage in group work if their prior experience focused on the individual rather than the team.

Strategies

Barriers such as the foregoing — vocabulary, pace of speech, cultural differences — can impede the cognitive performance of non-native speakers of English, but those barriers can also have an affective impact by diminishing the students’ self-confidence and self-agency and by increasing their anxiety. (Krashen,1986). Classroom strategies such as the following can help address both these cognitive and affective barriers.

Cognitive Modelling: Thinking Out Loud

Cognitive modelling is a form of metacognition (See CTE Teaching Tip: Teaching Metacognitive Skills) whereby an instructor actively demonstrates or models the actions and thinking processes that an expert would employ when confronting a problem (Cumming, 1995; Heeney, 2015). In other words, the instructor thinks out loud as they perform a task in order to show how it’s done. Consider learning how to tango. It would be impossible to learn unless the steps are demonstrated and clearly described by the instructor, and then practiced by the students as they receive feedback and additional demonstrations.

Using practical examples is key when engaging in cognitive modelling. In the university classroom, processes of how to solve a scientific formula, or how to write specific grammatical structures, or how a theory can be applied, can be thought out-loud by the instructor or can be demonstrated by showing how or writing the process on the board. Expert teachers often use rhetorical questioning in describing their processes: “So, why does this happen? Let’s think.” Students are able to see and hear how the expert thinks. 

Ideally, the thinking process is then transferred to the students by having them attempt a similar task in small groups, during which “thinking out loud” is encouraged. This social engagement enhances the students’ self-confidence, sense of agency, and alleviates their anxiety. This process is similar to Vygotsky’s (1978) Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) whereby experts and novices work together, and the teacher’s out-loud thinking scaffolds learning.

Cognitive modelling is beneficial to non-native speakers but also to all students in the classroom. However, cognitive modelling involves several other instructional strategies that have benefits for non-native speakers.

  • Information/instruction should be delivered in small chunks with activities that help consolidate the information before moving onto the next concept.
  • Instructions should always be clarified or paraphrased.
  • Instructors can use comprehension checks with students.
  • When a task is assigned, an example should be given.

Audio or Video Recordings

Rather than simply posting a PowerPoint presentation with a vast amount of text, an instructor might simplify the PowerPoint and add a voice recording or video within the presentation that uses cognitive modelling — such as think-aloud strategies — to explain concepts and procedures. Audio and video recordings allow learners to replay the lesson, which can support their comprehension (Recording in Classrooms, EdTech Hub).

Flipping the Classroom

In a flipped classroom, students engage with learning materials prior to attending class to prepare for an active learning experience in the classroom. Flipped classrooms often have three components: pre-work, in-class work, and post-work. Flipped classrooms give non-native speakers the chance to engage with the material prior to class. Materials are provided in formats where it is possible for learners to re-read and replay to ensure they understand. If there are pre-assessments as part of pre-work, instructors can gain an understanding of learner readiness and adjust accordingly. See CTE Teaching Tip: Course Design: Planning a Flipped Class and In-Class Activities and Assessment for the Flipped Classroom.

Support

If you would like support applying these tips to your own teaching, CTE staff members are here to help. View the CTE Support page to find the most relevant staff member to contact or connect directly with a CTE Faculty Liaison.

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