While discrimination on racial grounds was abolished several decades ago in the United States, it still exists in other forms, which have received little attention from scholars and researchers alike. One such form is language-based discrimination, which affects learning experiences of students from various cultural backgrounds. Previous studies have explored discrimination on religious and gender discrimination because of the sensitive nature of such beliefs and support from various segments of society.
This study explores the problem of language differences and its impacts on learning experiences of international students. It shows that language difference is a barrier toward effective intercultural relationship and effective learning.
Consequently, there are specific discrimination issues that result from language differences in a learning environment. One must acknowledge that the study may not explicitly cover the problem of language difference and related discrimination among international students because many people have failed to admit discrimination on such grounds.
Language remains a part of one’s culture. Thus, language acts as a powerful mode of communicating, transmitting cultural values, beliefs, attitudes and personal opinions. It is an indicator of one’s identity and an established form of a cultural institution. In this sense, language becomes a means of identifying people, which may be applied in cultural and other settings for discrimination due to a lack of membership of a given group (Rodriguez 1).
It is an ongoing fact that many international students who cannot communicate clearly in English experience some forms of discrimination in their learning environments (Huynh 1). Apart from workplaces, language-based discrimination also affects students. In most situations, victims of language discrimination are not selected, but rather they come from foreign countries in pursuit of better education in the United States.
Consequently, the White racial majority and other fluent speakers of English may consider them as burdensome and inferior (Gonzalez 21). English remains the language of instruction and business in the United States. Consequently, it promotes efficiency and unity among students and instructors. However, discrimination on a language basis is often motivated by the desire to maintain relevance and hegemonic status of Whites as superior race in the United States.
Scholars have studied the problem of cultural and social adaptation among foreigners in different cultures, particularly students who opted to pursue further studies in the United States. For instance, Gonzalez explored language-related challenges among international students by focusing on the outcomes of TOEFL tests and noted that many international students did not have adequate English proficiency relative to their native counterparts (Gonzalez 21).
Students who managed to pass such test often reported serious challenges with their academic progress because their knowledge of English language was not adequate to meet higher education standards. On this note, Gonzalez asserts that American education system requires educators who can meet diverse needs of international students with regard to culture and language differences (Gonzalez 21).
Lee and Rice studied racial perceptions among international students in the United States by exploring culture and nationality as forms of neo-racism (Lee and Rice 381-409). Neo-racism reflects discrimination of people based on their cultural orientations, but it differs from the traditional racism of discrimination of people based on their biology attributes. However, neo-racism propagates racism among foreigners because it functions to “maintain racial hierarchies of oppression” (Lee and Rice 381).
These authors evaluated various challenges, including cultural intolerance, confrontation, perceptions of unfairness and inhospitality, which international students faced in America. In this context, language-based discrimination plays a significant role since a major element in one’s culture. The authors concluded that some of the most serious issues that international students faced were due to inadequacies of the host country (Lee and Rice 381).
Siapera (46) looks at cultural diversity as multicultural dilemmas within the global context. The main issue in discrimination has been the extent to which host societies must acknowledge and accept some common sets of values so that they can coexist with foreigners (Siapera 48). However, the concept of universalism or particularism may be difficult to achieve under language practices. Therefore, there is a critical deviation from liberal approaches to cultural diversity and accommodation.
While such liberal models require host society to provide equal treatment for all persons irrespective of their cultural orientations and differences, differences among culture groups may not permit such practices. This situation creates multicultural dilemmas to international students who experience discrimination in language or in any other forms.
Seeking for further studies in the United States implies that one will have American education delivered in American language (Siapera 48). Although foreign students may prefer contents delivered in their languages, this choice might not be possible so long as the United States determines the language of instruction. Therefore, it reflects the desire among the host society to retain its hegemony against new immigrants like international students.
The need to preserve one’s culture and position though language-based discrimination is likely to persist in the US to show that Americans are in control and foreign students must learn English to coexist with them (Huynh 1). While it is legal for foreign students to communicate in their native languages, they find it extremely difficult to communicate with their hosts.
However, immigrants, including international students in this case, may fail to express themselves clearly. In addition, international students who experience isolation would be unable to communicate in their mother tongues. Thus, such students need to adjust to foreign cultures in order to satisfy the needs of foreign languages and cultures. It is imperative to note that such cultural changes through assimilation may affect one’s values related to his or her identity.
In other words, foreign languages cannot tolerate one’s heritage and cultural practices. Therefore, identity struggle and dilemmas result from the inability to communicate and the need to learn a new language in order to communicate with members of the host society (Huynh 1). In this context, international students who struggle to learn new languages may experience disintegration with regard to cultural value systems. However, this process may remain unknown to many students.
Rodriguez notes that immigrants have ability to reinvent language to meet various needs in society (Rodriguez 6). For instance, children from mixed backgrounds may not identify with a specific race in America. Rather, such children would create new terms as ‘Blaxican’ to show that their parents are Blacks and Mexicans. According to Rodriguez, such children are reinventing language and reinventing America and self-identity in society.
Scholars have continued to explore the relationship between language and identity with the hope of defining self. For instance, in the essay, Mother Tongue, Amy Tan explains that she “began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with” (Tan 48). How these “different Englishes” or even languages other than English define an individual’s identity is a critical source of concern for many students.
Countries recognize foreign students’ right to use their own. These are dialects, which reflect their heritage, identity and unique individual identity. Therefore, educators must recognize that issues of language difference in education and the related discrimination continue to be critical sources of concern for international students, educators, parents and other concerned stakeholders.
While language variations are sources of major concerns, foreign students must understand that by failing to express themselves fluently English, they should recognize that they are learning a new language and would develop fluency over time (Huynh 1). On the other hand, foreign students who express themselves in native dialects do not make any language mistakes; instead, they are speaking languages of their identity and home discourse correctly.
In this regard, educators may encourage international students to use languages they understand to help students how to learn language code switch and its application to audience, in various places and time. In doing so, they may require translators, but ultimately honor cultural and linguistic differences in society. In addition, this would facilitate mastery of foreign language among international students.
International students who have experienced discrimination among their colleagues feel discouraged to interact with native speakers. Such negative outcomes limit adaptation of foreign students to local dominant culture and language. Consequently, such international students feel alienated, which is costly to them (Huynh 1).
Discrimination in any form requires “energy, time and emotion” (Huynh 1) to handle effectively. This may have negative impacts on the student’s academic activities. In some cases, acts of discrimination may be subconscious based on the perception that international students have come to compete and take something away from Americans.
One must acknowledge that it may be difficult to eradicate language discrimination completely (Huynh 1). At the same time, it is also necessary for foreign students to understand that elimination of discrimination may not happen soon (Siapera 48). However, foreign students and host societies may strive to reduce language-based discrimination.
For instance, host countries or learning institutions should offer classes that aim to promote cultural awareness, socialization and to highlight issues on how to handle different types of variations and inequalities. These are strategies to reduce misconceptions about international students, ethnicities and capabilities. In addition, faculty members should also recognize the presence of international students in their classes (Huynh 1).
International students may also find it necessary to avoid people who discriminate or will not accept them in class works or social circles. This is a viable means of managing and coping with prejudice. On the other hand, international students may fail to express themselves as they strive to make conscious efforts to understand and interpret their classmate’ behaviors. This is not a deliberate act of exclusion among international students.
Rather, it is a strategy to protect one’s self from possible discrimination. On this note, one can recognize that fear of possible discrimination may drive international students into exclusion because they are unable to speak fluent English. Such cases may indicate how students experience and express language prejudice due to mistrust in their social groups or classrooms. Thus, when fear plays a key role in one’s conscious, it becomes difficult to consider such cases as discrimination.
It is difficult to determine whether language-based discrimination targets certain ethnic minorities in colleges because few students report such cases (Huynh 1). Thus, language prejudice may exist but remain difficult to ascertain its impacts. As a result, there are few recorded cases of language-based discrimination.
Besides, international student may speak English poorly or with heavy accent. Therefore, it is difficult to recognize whether students who discriminate others on a language-based ground rely on accent, poor English or failure to speak English completely among foreign students (Rodriguez 6). Overall, the United States has made efforts to accommodate linguistic needs of international students by offering translation opportunities while instructors make personal efforts to ensure inclusions in their classrooms.
In conclusion, this essay demonstrates that language-based discrimination has negative impacts on learning experiences among international students. Consequently, they may not be able to concentrate on their academic works. In addition, it strives to show that language-based discrimination may not merely result from expression challenges, but from underlying, subconscious issues too. Language-based discrimination is likely to continue as host societies learn to tolerate language inadequacies of international students.
Sources used in this study indicate various forms discrimination, including language-based directed to international students. For instance, Siapera shows multicultural diversity dilemmas in which host communities’ cultures must dominate foreign cultures.
Huynh, Lee and Gonzalez explore language-based discrimination and other forms of discrimination and their related impacts on international students while Rodriguez shows how minorities strive to reinvent language to define themselves. Tan shows individuals’ struggle to learn new language for self-expression in a dominant culture.
Given the existence of discrimination on language grounds, it is imperative for host countries’ institutions to offer linguistic assistance classes for international students alongside classes on cultural orientation and understanding. This would allow host communities to understand other cultures and languages with the aims of facilitating tolerance and acceptance.
Works Cited
Gonzalez, Virginia. Second Language Learning: Cultural AdaptationProcesses in International Graduate Students in U. S. Universities. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2004. Print.
Huynh, Anh. I still feel like I don’t belong here. 2012. Web.
Lee, Jenny J. and Charles Rice. “Welcome to America? International student perceptions of discrimination.” Higher Education. 53 (2007): 381–409. Print.
Rodriguez, Richard. “‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans.” The Chronicle Review (2003): 1-7. Print.
Siapera, Eugenia. Cultural Diversity and Global Media: The Mediation of Difference. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2010. Print.
Tan, Amy. Mother Tongue. Web.