Lab Report and Poster
This lab report was completed by me and my team members. This lab report was based on the proposal that we came up with the idea of language Barrier on student success. Then our groups have conducted the surveys by Google form and concluded results from those participates. The lab report is based on the IMRAD style, including abstract, introduction, method, results, and discussion. Use the data of language Barrier on student success to analyze each part of the writing and conclude the significance of this lab. The poster also uses the IMRAD style to describe the lab process. Compared to the lab report, it only refers to the important point of the lab report and makes generalizations of each part of writing. The poster can make our lab report in detailed and clear.
The Effect of Language Barrier on Student Success
Abstract:
Language barriers make it difficult for some college students to focus in the classroom and may result in a decline in academic performance. In this study, 33 science major students were randomly selected as the sample size. Then a survey consisting of four questions was then emailed to these 33 students to examine the effect of language barriers on their academic performance. Out of the 33 students, 56% believe that the language barrier was attributed to an instructor’s varying dialect. Approximately 27% believe they have experienced some form of language barrier in their science classes and 21% felt that the language barriers affect their scores in science classes and 36% believed that language barriers in the class affect their performance. The findings suggest that the language barrier in the classroom stems from the varying dialect of a professor. The data indicates that an instructor’s foreign dialect can negatively impact a student’s academic performance.
Introduction:
The City College of New York (CCNY) is composed of students and faculty members from diverse backgrounds. With students and faculty from different cultural backgrounds come different languages, which gives way to numerous language barriers. A language barrier is the inability to have effective communication between two individuals who speak different languages. These barriers can become problematic when attempting to communicate effectively and may prevent the comprehension of information. The focus of this study will be the impact of a student’s academic success at CCNY when in a course with a professor that has a foreign dialect. CCNY’s policy on student academic success is defined as, a student who earns a grade of C or above in all their coursework. This study will employ the same definition of student academic success as CCNY. The hypothesis is that the language barriers faced by STEM college students can bring about immeasurable negative effects on their academic success.
Materials and Methods:
The sample size was limited to science majors at CCNY. For this study, the metric in determining students’ academic success comes directly from CCNY’s website. The university defines academic success as students who earn grades of C or higher in their courses, so the same metric was applied to this study. Next, to gather the qualitative data needed for this study, a short survey was created through Google Forms. The survey was then sent out to thirty-three CCNY science majors through blackboard. The participants in the survey were then asked to complete the questions listed below with yes or no, and non-applicable (N/A), when necessary.
The findings were then recorded in Microsoft Excel where they were then tabulated.
Results:
From the data collected, more than half of the science majors claimed that there was a language barrier present in a course they have taken. This may mean that their professor had an accent making it difficult for the students to understand the lecture. As shown in figure 2 below, about 27% said that they have experienced this language barrier in a science class. As seen in figure 3, 21% of students said that because of the language barrier, they did not pass the class, which suggests the language barrier got in the way of their academic success. There may have been other alternatives to academic success for the rest of the students that did pass and that includes, searching up videos, attending tutoring with other professors, or seeking help any other way. The results that were received are a strong indication that the language barrier somewhat affects student performance at CCNY. Therefore, being in a classroom where the instructor has a heavy accent, makes it very difficult for some students to understand and learn which results in failing the class.
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Discussion:
The primary goal of this study was to examine how language barriers effect college students’ academic performance. The results indicated that the language barrier among college students pursuing a science degree negatively impacts their academic performance. We found that the professor’s heavy accent brings negative effects to the student which prevents students from achieving good academic performance. The majority of students indicated that the professor’s accent caused them to have language barriers in the classroom, which confirmed our hypothesis. Although some students think they have not experienced language barriers in science classes and have not been affected by them. Only a few indicated that they have experienced language barriers in science classes and have subsequently not passed their class. There was a weak correlation between language barriers in class and science classes. There was a strong correlation between the language barrier in the classroom and the professor’s accent. The performance of students in the classroom is related to the professor’s accent because the accent will decrease students’ attention and their classroom communication. Similarly, the findings of a study that was conducted by Georgia State University suggested something similar, “From the perspective of many undergraduate students, many NNESs lack the linguistic competence to serve as instructors, and their ‘inadequate’ language strains classroom communication” (Subtirelu 2015). Thus, language barriers effect students’ academic success in college.
Limitation:
The study may have been unclear on whether the language barrier comes from students or professors. Although the professor’s accent is a factor that effects student performance, students’ own language problems may also effect their performance in class. Since this is an anonymous survey, it reduces the possibility of dishonest results. However, some participants can answer questions more randomly, or dishonestly which greatly reduces the reliability of the data. One possible way confusion could be prevented in the future would be to be as specific as possible. For example, the first question could be rephrased to “Have you ever taken a course where you had difficulty understanding your professor due to your instructors’ foreign dialect?”
Future experiment:
To yield more conclusive results, we could have created two surveys, one for the language barrier coming from the professor and one stemming from the student, with both corresponding to the students’ academic achievement. Also, in regard to language barriers, we could consider other factors that could potentially affect a student’s academic performance. Some factors could include cases where the student is international and is therefore not fluent in the English language, or cases where the student has poor communication skills as a result of mental illness such as anxiety.
References:
Subtirelu, N. C. (2015). “She does have an accent but…”: Race and language ideology in students’ evaluations of mathematics instructors on RateMyProfessors.com. Language in Society, 44(1), 35-62. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/10.1017/S0047404514000736
Poster
