Class Participation and Group Work

Instructors may find it challenging to engage all students in a culturally diverse classroom. It has been widely observed that international students may appear hesitant to contribute to class/group discussions, attributed to language barriers and cultural differences. However, instructors have an important role to play in creating safe learning environments where students feel that they can make a contribution. To aid in creating an inclusive classroom environment, teachers should have an enthusiastic approach to cultural diversity, active involvement in facilitating multicultural groups, and clear communication concerning responsibilities and expectations:

• Create a teaching atmosphere early in the semester which allows students to interact with each other
• Make expectations clear to international students about participation and what that entails
• When calling upon an international student, allow enough time for the student to collect his/her thoughts and formulate an answer in English
• Think creatively about ways of drawing upon international students’ specific cultural knowledge and have them share with the class
• Note cultural differences in participation levels: Take into account that asking questions in class or volunteering comments may be viewed in their home culture as rude and disrespectful to the teacher
• Structure group tasks so that international and domestic students are grouped together; assign roles for each member to ensure participation by all
• Make a concerted effort to build in opportunities for language minority students to share information about themselves as this is often the easiest for them to manage
• Organize group activities so that diversity of experience and knowledge are necessary for successfully completing the task
• Develop tasks that increase opportunities for domestic and international students to interact

While we often hear of the domestic student complaints about working with international students in groups, it is important to hear the perspective from international students themselves: “It is difficult to have many Canadians in a group. They talk very fast and don’t let us say anything. Also, they make us do the boring parts.”