The Problems of Taking English Courses Through English When studen

Today I’d tike to talk about some of the problems that students face when they follow a course of study through the medium of English if English is not their mother tongue. The purpose is to show that we’re aware. of students’ problems, and that by analyzing them perhaps it’ll be possible to suggest how some of them may be overcome.
   The problems can be divided into three broad categories, psycholngical, cultural and linguistic. The first two categories mainly concern those who come to study in Britain. I’ll comment only briefly on these first two and then spend most of the time looking at linguistic difficulties which apply to everyone wherever they are learning English. Some of the common psychological problems really involve fear of the unknown: for example, whether one’s academic studies will be too difficult, whether one will fail the examinations, etc. All students share these apprehensions. It’s probably beat for a student not to look too far ahead but to concentrate day-by- day on increasing his knowledge and developing his ability. The overseas student in Britain may also suffer from separation from his family and possible homesickness; enjoyment of his activities in Britain and the passage of time are the only real help here.
   Looking now at the cultural problems, we can see that some of them are of a very practical nature, e. g., arranging satisfactory accommodation; getting used to British money (or the lack of it!), British food and weather (neither is always bad!). Some of the cultural difficulties are less easy to define: they are bound up with the whole range of alien customs, habits and tradition--in other words, the British way of life. Such difficulties include: settling into a strange environment and a new academic routine; learning a new set of social habits, ranging from the times of meals to the meanings of gestures; expressing appropriate greetings; understanding a different kind of humor; and learning how to make friends, Being open-minded and adaptable is the best approach to some of the difficulties listed here.
   The largest category is probably linguistic. Let’s look at this in some detail. Most students will have learnt English at school, but if they’ve already been to colleges or universities in their own countries, they’ll have studied mostly in their own language except, perhaps, for reading some textbooks and journals in English. In other worth, they’ll have had little everyday opportunity to practise using English.
   When foreign learners first have the opportunity to speak to an English-speaking person, they may have a shock; they often have great difficulty in understanding! There are a number of reasons for this. I’ll just mention three of them.
   Firstly, it seems to students that English people speak very quickly. Secondly, they speak with a variety of accents. Thirdly, different styles of speech are used in different situations, e. g. everyday spoken English, which is colloquial and idiomatic, is different from the English used for academic purposes. For all of these reasons students will have difficulty, mainly because they lack practice in listening to English people speaking English. Don’t forget, by the way, that if students have difficulty in understanding English-speaking people, these people must also have difficulty in understanding the students!
   What can a student do then to overcome these difficulties? Well, obviously, he can benefit from attending English classes and if a language laboratory is available, use it as much as possible. He should also listen to programs in English on the radio and TV. Perhaps most important of all, he should take every available opportunity to meet and speak with native English-speaking people. He should be aware, however, that English people are, by temperament, often reserved and may be unwilling to start a conversation. Nevertheless, if he has the courage to take the initiative, however difficult it may seem to be, most English people will respond. He will need patience and perseverance!
   Other difficulties that the student may have, e. g. note-taking, writing, reading, etc., will be dealt with in other talks.